Shadow of the Tomb Raider Reviews
Review in Italian | Read full review
As what may be the last hoorah for this particular story arc, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a stereotypical stealth-action game, but one which manages to separate itself from the pack by excelling in everything that makes this genre what it is.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider makes a predictable journey into darkness, but it's still brutal fun.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a perfect example of a modern AAA video game. It has all the polish and extraordinary visuals you'd expect from the third entry in a huge franchise, but it's also held back by uninspired writing and an emphasis on archaic video game conventions like boring gunplay. These weaknesses detract from the overall experience, but it still manages to be a fun, polished, and absolutely beautiful game.
Devoid of context, this is the action-adventure title of our dreams, executed on an astonishing technical level.
That being said, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is still absolutely worth playing, and it's an easy recommendation. There's challenge to its gameplay, of which every facet feels great to control.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an enjoyable action-adventure for the most part, yet frequently falls victim to a haphazard narrative and structural pacing that stops the trilogy's finale from truly standing out.
By the way, thanks, devs, for bringing to life my greatest fear as a child—the possibility of getting eaten by piranhas. I'm not going to be able to go swimming for a long time.
The ability to play your way, no matter what, make Lara Croft's latest journey worth taking.
There's still a ton to love within Shadow of the Tomb Raider and if you enjoyed the previous two games in this new era of Lara Croft, then I absolutely expect that you'll dig what's found here. While I find this to be Lara's weakest adventure of the bunch, I'm still excited to see what lies in store next time around for one of gaming's most prominent characters.
With Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we get one of the best episodes of the whole franchise. It doesn't intend to revolutionize the formula the reboot put in place in 2013, but it has a quite interesting story and a dashing setting, offers a well balanced experience and has a huge amount of challenges that will surely please a lot of virtual explorers.
Review in French | Read full review
Shadow of the Tomb Raider ends the series reboot, and it serves as a wonderful final chapter, bringing back all of the things that made the franchise a hit, while adding so much more.
All new Tomb Raider games were good, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider – despite some flaws – is the best of them all. It's the most balanced game in the series, with all the things Croft’s fans hanker for (with emphasis on fantastic exploration).
Review in Polish | Read full review
Lara is the main reason you'll play this game, and as long as you go into with the right expectations, you won't be disappointed.
Overall, you get a bigger adventure with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, as well as a bigger world to explore. To cap it all off, the story does the character justice by pushing Croft towards a more mature and badass persona through her obvious and logical flaws. It hits all the right notes and tries new things to give the series a different direction. In the end, it's an impressive upgrade from the last game.
Give me a female lead who wakes up, pisses out her diaphragm and does a shot of Jager while she's still on the toilet. Give me someone who is messy, who makes mistakes not out of a misguided and entitled sense of right and wrong, but because human beings are flawed and have complicated motivations. It's a tall order in an atmosphere where AAA games are designed just as much by their investors as they are their writers, but in the case of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I still wish they'd actually get their hands dirty.
Despite some minor flaws, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an excellent addition to the new trilogy that started with the reboot in 2013. The fact that this game favors exploration over action sequences is a huge plus for me. It's also worth mentioning it's one of the most beautiful looking games you will play all year long. If you liked the new Tomb Raider games, then you will certainly enjoy playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider as this game brings back to the roots of the series where it focuses more on exploration rather than action.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is more of the same Tomb Raider experience we've known since 2013, and that's precisely why you should be making the trek to Paititi.
Were it not for a lack of polish, Shadow of the Tomb Raider would stand right alongside the other action-adventure giants in truly defining the genre. It has a lot of heart, all of the pulsating set pieces that series has become known for and a primal Lara Croft at the height of her powers. As it stands, Shadow is still one of the best conclusions to a trilogy I've come across as it respects what it has always done best rather than muddy the waters with needless gimmicks.