But she will also gain explosives and a selection of shotguns, pistols and machine guns throughout the game. Her signature weapon from the reboot, the bow, is back with a number of upgrades and special arrows. And as the story unfolds, Lara gets stronger, more capable and her arsenal improves. Each tomb unlocks an ancient power that will be added to your skill tree, making Lara more powerful and equipped for the battles she has ahead of her.Įverything you do contributes to Lara’s experience points or XP in Rise of the Tomb Raider. There’s no hand-holding here, it’s back to old school Tomb Raider, but perhaps not as tricky as it used to be.Īnd there’s an incentive to completing these optional tombs too. But it was when I discovered one of the game’s optional “Challenge Tombs” that my heart really started to race.Įven if you use Lara’s Survival Sense, activated by pressing R3, the tombs can only be completed by your logic and skill. The return of tombs starts gradually in Rise, with little puzzles intertwined with the challenges of the main story. There are plenty of side-missions to pick up, hunting to do and even mini-quests to discover, such as destroying all the Soviet flags in a given area.Īnd this is where the true tomb raiding comes into play. Crystal Dynamics has taken this on board and introduced an open world feel for Rise of the Tomb Raider.Īlthough there are times when Rise of the Tomb Raider feels really focused on storyline, you can take a break whenever the need takes you. The original Tomb Raider reboot was accused of being too linear. Related: Xbox One Elite Controller vs Regular Wireless Controller While this review will be spoiler-free, Rise of the Tomb Raider tells a tale of loss, betrayal, mortality and ultimately it all becomes a little otherworldly – as has been the case with past Tomb Raiders.

Instead this is a Lara who’s learnt how to handle pain, command an arsenal of weapons and kill droves of enemies. Gone are the slightly horror movie-esque moments where Lara is weak and howling, along with the snuff-movie style deaths (apart from the occasional impaling). Since the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Lara has come a long way as a character, and the developers have too. It manages to capture what made the original Tomb Raider games so successful and iconic, and bring it into a modern era – with a modern Lara Croft. Available on Xbox One (tested), PC coming early 2016, PS4 coming holiday 2016Īlthough Rise of the Tomb Raider is the game that’s putting the tombs back into Tomb Raider, in reality this is a title that does so much more.

Rise of the tomb raider ps4