Rise of the Tomb Raider
It seems that Lara has moved on, but has the series developed, too?
£39.99 from Feral Interactive, feralinteractive.com NEEDS macOS 10.13.4 or later, 2.3GHz Core i5, see website for graphics cards
The opening of Lara Croft’s latest adventure had us worried.
It starts with Lara trudging slowly through snow, the only requirement being to hold W as the game plays itself around you. We had flashbacks to the previous game’s interminable, set-piece heavy intro. During a cutscene-laden climbing tutorial, we missed a prompt, fell and died. We managed it on the next try, climbed a bit higher, and had to watch another cutscene where Lara falls but is fine. Here we go again? Actually, no.
The opener is frustrating, but over quickly. Rise then sticks to a mostly consistent level of interactivity. There’s still plenty of set-piece spectacle, but these pace-breaking action segments trust you to read clues and react. This is emblematic of Rise as a whole. It’s not that Tomb Raider’s missteps have been eradicated, but they have been dramatically reduced. Slo-mo quick time event sequences, awkward conversations, and by-the-numbers miniboss fights take up a lot less of the 15-or-so hour running time.
Lara’s adventure starts in Siberia, where she’s hunting the Divine Source. There’s an important difference in the plot this time: Lara has initiated her quest. Though things soon spiral out of control, she’s no longer an unwilling participant in events, which is crucial to how she is treated; she no longer feels like a victim of her environment.
The story is still clumsy at times, yet much better in some regards. Lara has a resolve that didn’t exist before, and that means there’s no clumsy disconnect between the story of a woman traumatised by her actions and the gleeful feeling of killing off a camp full of bad guys. It’s just as well, because the combat remains highly enjoyable. Stealth and action are deftly blended. Most foes begin unaware of Lara’s presence, giving you scope to creep around. With patience, and using objects as distractions, it’s possible to systematically clear out most patrols. Often, it’s more fun to quietly take out a few foes than start a fight.
Crafty croft
Lara has access to a small selection of weapon categories – pistol, rifle and shotgun – with various styles of each. Most feel good to fire, the panicked inaccuracy of the automatic rifle being the only real exception. Pistols feel lightweight and clinical, while the pumpaction shotgun is chunky and gratifyingly deadly. Once again, the bow is the star of the show. Having to draw back and charge shots provides a nice rhythm to the combat, especially when paired with some of the skill upgrades. We especially liked the feel of the rapid fire skills, which let you instantly fire fully charged follow-ups after your first shot. Aimed correctly, even heavily-armed guards fall with a single salvo.
Lara is now able to craft combat tools on the fly. Arrows and special ammo can
The combat remains highly enjoyable; stealth and action are deftly blended
be created at any point, but you can also use things found in enemy camps. A bottle can be turned into a Molotov cocktail; a petrol can into an improvised explosive device. This costs resources you’ve acquired, but we were never so low that we couldn’t set light to clustered soldiers. You can craft combat tools even as you move Lara with the keyboard; as usual, we recommend using a non-Apple mouse or a gamepad. Moving between cover while grabbing a petrol can is frictionless, and gives combat a welcome feeling of fluidity.
Columbus, eat your heart out
When not fighting, you’re exploring large, open hub areas – sprawling, intricate environments that, for the most part, you can leisurely pick your way through – the only distractions coming from the odd wolf, bear or big cat. Navigating uses a standard set of interactions, thrown together in various combos – jump, swing, grab, attach – each requiring a specific key press. It’s a simple, streamlined system, and you’ll seldom run into problems. It’s a shame there’s not more danger, but the presentation does a lot of the heavy lifting. Scaling giant buildings or huge cliffs still feels risky, even as the interactions involved are slim.
Optional challenge tombs boast some of Rise’s most intricate puzzle design. Each is short, but they use the standard interactions in interesting new ways. If there’s a downside to the game’s exploration, it’s that collectibles still feel like the end goal rather than a bonus along the way. Lara’s route through an area is rarely in question, especially due to Survival Instinct, an optional view that highlights your next objective, pertinent puzzle pieces, resources and collectibles.
We miss the cavernous brain teasers of Lara’s early adventures. Lara visits plenty of ruins this time, but they’re all solved through familiar and comfortable interactions. With a few notable exceptions, surprise comes through spectacle rather than design.
In many ways, Rise is peak sequel design: a very similar game with a set of expanded and additional systems. But it’s better because you spend more time engaging with those systems. It doesn’t fully eradicate the missteps around the edges of interactivity, but it lets you spend longer enjoying the core action and exploration.