Lara Croft was a mess.
Not the "cool, dual-pistol-wielding, backflipping-off-a-dinosaur" mess from the 90s, but the "I have severe PTSD and my father’s reputation is in the toilet" kind of mess. When Rise of the Tomb Raider dropped in 2015, it had a massive weight on its shoulders. It had to prove that the 2013 reboot wasn't just a fluke and that this "Survivor" version of Lara could actually, you know, raid some tombs.
Honestly? It nailed it. Even looking back from 2026, there’s a specific magic in the Siberian frost that the sequel, Shadow, couldn't quite replicate.
The Kitezh Obsession: What Really Happened
People often forget how personal the stakes were here. This wasn't just about stopping Trinity, the shadowy Illuminati-style organization that’s been the thorn in Lara’s side for years. It was about Richard Croft.
Lara spends the first half of the game basically chasing a ghost. She’s looking for the Divine Source in the lost city of Kitezh because she realized her dad wasn't crazy—he was just right about things no one else wanted to believe. It’s a bit tragic. You see her records of therapy sessions, her frantic notes, and her absolute refusal to let the "Truth" go.
🔗 Read more: Lust Academy Season 1: Why This Visual Novel Actually Works
The game takes us from the dusty, orange heat of Syria to the bone-chilling blues of Siberia. Crystal Dynamics used some seriously impressive tech for the time—deformable snow that actually reacted to your footsteps and "TressFX" hair that didn't just look like a block of plastic.
Why Siberia Felt Different
- The Hubs: Geothermal Valley was massive. Like, "why are there 33 documents here" massive. It felt like a living space where people (the Remnant) were actually trying to survive.
- The Tombs: The biggest complaint about the 2013 game was the lack of actual puzzling. Rise fixed that. The Prophet’s Tomb and the Cistern were genuine "aha!" moments.
- The Survival: You weren't just picking up ammo; you were stripping bark from trees and hunting deer to upgrade your quiver. It felt grounded. Sorta. Until you start crafting poison arrows out of mushrooms in the middle of a gunfight.
The Technical Wizardry of the Foundation Engine
Let’s get nerdy for a second. Rise of the Tomb Raider ran on the Foundation Engine, and even today, the lighting holds up. They used a "resolution-agnostic voxel method" for volumetric lighting. Basically, that means when light hit the fog or the snow, it looked dense and real, not like a flat texture.
Digital Foundry did a whole breakdown back in the day, noting how the game used asynchronous compute to handle these effects. It wasn't perfect—the Xbox One version struggled to hit a consistent 30 FPS in the heavier hubs—but it was a visual benchmark.
Camilla Luddington’s performance was captured using the Mova system. Instead of the old-school white balls on the face, they used fluorescent paint to track thousands of points of expression. It’s why Lara’s face looks so exhausted and pained throughout the journey. You can actually see the "ominous beauty" the developers were aiming for.
💡 You might also like: OG John Wick Skin: Why Everyone Still Calls The Reaper by the Wrong Name
What Most People Get Wrong About Lara's Arc
There’s this common narrative that Lara is just "female John Wick" in this trilogy.
That’s a bit of a surface-level take. In Rise, Lara is deeply flawed. She’s selfish. She drags Jonah—the absolute saint of a man—halfway across the world into a frozen wasteland because she needs validation.
By the end, when she meets Jacob (who turns out to be the literal Prophet), she has to make a choice. Does she take the Divine Source to prove her father’s theories to the world, or does she destroy it to protect the people?
She chooses to break it.
📖 Related: Finding Every Bubbul Gem: Why the Map of Caves TOTK Actually Matters
It’s the first time we see the "Survivor" Lara start to transition into the "Protector" role. She realizes that some secrets are better left buried, even if it means her father’s name stays tarnished in the history books.
Actionable Insights for a 2026 Playthrough
If you're revisiting this game on modern hardware (or perhaps the Remastered collections that have been popping up), here’s how to get the most out of it:
- Skip the "Busywork" Collectibles: Don't feel pressured to find every single coin cache. They can turn the game into a slog. Focus on the murals and the documents; they actually flesh out the lore of the Prophet and Trinity.
- Play "Baba Yaga: Temple of the Witch" Early: This DLC is integrated into the main map. It adds a psychedelic, horror-tinged layer to the story that is arguably better than the main plot.
- Try Endurance Mode: If you want the actual survivor experience, the Co-Op Endurance mode is a blast. You have to manage hunger and warmth while raiding procedurally generated tombs. It’s a totally different vibe.
- Language Proficiency: Actually pay attention to the murals. Levelling up Lara’s Greek and Russian isn't just a gimmick; it unlocks the best gear through the coin caches you'll find later.
The Legacy
Rise of the Tomb Raider sold over 11.8 million copies for a reason. It balanced the "Uncharted" style spectacle with actual exploration. While Shadow leaned harder into the jungle and stealth, and 2013 leaned into the origin story, Rise sits right in the middle as the most balanced experience.
It’s the game where Lara Croft stops being a victim of circumstance and starts being the one who hunts the hunters.
To really master the game, focus on the "Grim Whisper" skill tree first. Being able to craft arrows without stopping and getting a "dodge kill" is the difference between a frustrating combat loop and feeling like a legendary adventurer. Grab the "Double Shot" skill early too—taking out two Trinity guards with one bow draw never gets old.