Lara Croft has been through a lot. Honestly, maybe too much. By the time we get to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the grit and grime of the 2013 reboot have evolved into something much darker, much more personal, and—let’s be real—a little bit uncomfortable. It's the end of the "Survivor Trilogy," developed by Eidos-Montréal instead of Crystal Dynamics, and you can feel that shift in DNA immediately. It isn't just a game about raiding tombs. It’s a game about a woman realizing she might be the villain of her own story.
That’s a heavy pivot for a franchise that started with pixelated gymnastic feats and T-Rex fights.
I remember playing this back in 2018 and thinking, "Wow, Lara is kind of a jerk here." She’s obsessed. She triggers an actual apocalypse because she's so desperate to beat Trinity to a Mayan dagger. It’s a bold narrative move. Most games want you to feel like a flawless hero, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider forces you to sit with the consequences of Lara’s colonialist-tinged "archaeology."
The Stealth Evolution You Probably Missed
The combat in this game is often criticized for being too sparse, but that’s actually its greatest strength. It’s a predator sim. When Lara covers herself in mud to blend into a jungle wall, it feels less like Uncharted and more like Predator. You aren't just shooting guys; you're dismantling them from the shadows.
Eidos-Montréal leaned heavily into the "One with the Jungle" vibe. You have these fear arrows that make enemies panic and shoot their own teammates. It’s brutal. It’s visceral. And frankly, it’s the most mechanically interesting the series has ever been. In the previous two games, you were often forced into these massive, loud arena shootouts. Here? You can clear entire camps without ever being seen. That’s the peak Croft fantasy.
👉 See also: Why 4 in a row online 2 player Games Still Hook Us After 50 Years
Verticality and the Fear Factor
The level design in Paititi and the surrounding Peruvian jungle is dense. It’s vertical. You’re using grapple swings and rappelling down into pitch-black caverns. There’s a specific tension here that the earlier games lacked. Remember the Cenote? That level is basically a horror game. The way the lighting hits the water while those... things... are screeching in the distance? Pure atmosphere.
It’s worth noting that the game allows for independent difficulty scaling. This was a massive win for accessibility and player preference. You can turn off the "white paint" on ledges (which tells you where to jump) while keeping combat easy, or vice versa. If you want the puzzles to be hard, you can make Lara stop talking to herself and giving away the answers. It’s a small detail, but it changes the entire feel of the exploration.
Why Paititi is Both Great and Grating
Let’s talk about Paititi. It’s the massive hub city in the heart of the hidden jungle. On one hand, it’s a technical marvel. The scale is huge. The NPCs have schedules. The side quests actually try to flesh out the culture of a civilization that’s been isolated for centuries.
But it’s also where the game's pacing kind of trips over its own feet.
✨ Don't miss: Lust Academy Season 1: Why This Visual Novel Actually Works
You’ll be in the middle of this high-stakes race against a global paramilitary cult, and then you’re forced to walk slowly through a market to find a missing dice set for a kid. It’s jarring. However, the world-building is undeniably deep. If you actually stop to read the murals and the artifacts, you see the amount of historical research—specifically regarding Mayan and Inca mythologies—that went into this. They didn't just make up "generic jungle god." They used the actual myths of Ix Chel and Chak Chel to drive the plot.
The Tombs Are Finally the Main Event
If you felt like the 2013 game was too much "Call of Duty" and not enough "Tomb Raider," this is the entry that fixes that. The tombs in Shadow of the Tomb Raider are massive, complex, and deadly. They aren't just one-room physics puzzles anymore. They are multi-stage gauntlets.
- The Mirror Puzzle: Requires actual spatial reasoning.
- The Forge: (If you have the DLC) It’s a giant, rotating tower of death.
- Tree of Life: Blends platforming with combat in a way that feels organic.
The rewards for these tombs actually matter, too. You get unique skills that you can't get through the normal level-up tree. It incentivizes you to actually be a tomb raider. It sounds simple, but the previous games often made the "optional" tombs feel like an afterthought. Here, they are the best part of the experience.
Looking at the Technical Side
Even years later, the game looks incredible. The HDR implementation in the jungle canopy, where light filters through the leaves (god rays), is still a benchmark for many PC enthusiasts. On a PS5 or Xbox Series X, the 60fps patch makes the movement feel fluid in a way that the original launch didn't quite capture. If you're playing on PC, the DLSS support and ray-traced shadows (though limited to shadows, not reflections) still hold up against 2024 and 2025 titles.
🔗 Read more: OG John Wick Skin: Why Everyone Still Calls The Reaper by the Wrong Name
The Trinity Problem
Every game needs a villain, and Trinity has been the boogeyman for the entire trilogy. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we finally meet the leader, Dr. Dominguez. He’s... actually a decent character? He isn't a mustache-twirling villain. He’s someone who truly believes he’s saving his people.
The problem is that the organization "Trinity" as a whole still feels a bit generic. They are just endless waves of guys in tactical gear. After three games of fighting them, the fatigue sets in. The final boss fight is also a bit of a letdown—it’s a "dodge and poke" affair that doesn't quite match the cinematic scale of the rest of the game. But the emotional payoff between Lara and Jonah? That’s where the real ending happens. Their friendship is the heart of the series, and the way it’s tested here feels earned.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re diving back in or starting for the first time, don't just rush the story. You’ll miss the soul of the game.
- Turn off the Survival Instincts: Go into the settings and disable the "glow" on objects. It forces you to actually look at the environment to solve puzzles. It’s much more rewarding.
- Dress for the Occasion: The outfits in Paititi aren't just cosmetic; many give you buffs to stealth or resource gathering. Swap them out based on your playstyle.
- Focus on the "Scavenger" Tree: Early on, get the skills that allow you to harvest more resources from animals and plants. Upgrading your bow and knife early makes the late-game combat much smoother.
- Don't Skip the DLC Tombs: Unlike many games where DLC feels like "cut content," the seven challenge tombs added post-launch are some of the best designed puzzles in the entire franchise.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider didn't get the same universal acclaim as its predecessors, mostly because it took risks. It slowed down. It focused on atmosphere over explosions. It made its protagonist unlikeable for a while. But in hindsight, it’s the most "Tomb Raider" game of the modern era. It respects the player's intelligence and leans into the darkness of its premise.
If you want a game that looks like a blockbuster but plays like a methodical, atmospheric adventure, this is still the one to beat. Grab the "Definitive Edition" if you can—the extra tombs alone make it worth the shelf space.