Rise of The Tomb Raider is the second of the Tomb Raider reboot series released between 2013 and 2019. It has taken me over a decade to finally get round to playing it, I settled back into the style with ease. Rise of The Tomb Raider is set a year after the events of the first game and sees Lara set out to find the lost city of Kitezh and the Divine Source. Which leads Lara first travelling to Syria (a bold choice considering when the game was released) before subsequently travelling to Siberia. Lara is not the only one after it, as is returning antagonists, Trinity, who are also after the Source. While there is more to the story this is best experienced first hand.
The story is well told, excellently written as Rise of The Tomb Raiders’ head writer, Rhianna Pratchett. The story, the locations and characters are improved by some margin through the collecting of journals, audio diaries or relics do play a role in fleshing the story out. This is because without collecting them, some minor points in the game may be confusing if you did not collect any of the journals.
The game builds upon the design of the first game. There are carryovers such as Lara being able to use rope arrows to traverse the environment or remove blockades. While in the first game there were different arrow types, there are more added in Rise. The same goes for the other combat options. Another way in which Rise builds upon Tomb Raider (2013) is upon the return of features such as challenge tombs, campsites and open ended exploration as you can return to prior areas to find new secrets or unlocks.
Rise has nine challenge tombs, which all provide nice little puzzles to solve with each one taking about ten minutes or so. Completing these tombs unlock upgrades which can unlock new skills or deepen them.
Alongside these tombs, the game also has optional side quests which like the challenge tombs are fun little asides which also provide nice little bonuses. As Rise was released in 2015, you have to remember it contains the gameplay styles of the time, such as there being multiple quick time events sprinkled throughout.
When it comes to gameplay, Rise contains same combat mechanics as the prior game and climbing mechanics. As Lara can scale any directed walls with the use of her ice picks much like the first one. In Rise these ice picks can be upgraded to act more like a grappling hook when the gaps which need to be traversed are larger than Lara can traverse without the use of tools as well as the introduction of Broadhead Arrowheads, which allow Lara to clamber up specific surfaces. These arrows can be upgraded to be used on all climbing surfaces.
A major difference from the previous game is how the upgrade system works. In the previous game, upgrades were unlocked through the collection of salvage which could then be spent on upgrades. In Rise, upgrades are done differently as each upgrade required the need to collect specific resources to unlock particular upgrades to increase the capabilities of the bow etc. While the collection of resources is used on upgrades, the player through exploration, finding artefacts, documents and combat encounters, the player gains XP which can be used on three different skill trees. Each tree focuses on different set of skills which unlock a range of new abilities and upgrades. There is a third way the player can access upgrades through the collection of Byzantine Coins which can be traded for new gear which can improve traversal, unlockable costumes or upgrades.
One thing which I had forgotten about the Tomb Raider reboot series was the bombastic nature of the games, clearly inspired in part by Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series. Within the first hour, there were several set pieces that would have made even Naughty Dog blush as they were a little bit too inspired by Michael Bay. But while they were bombastic, they were still well designed and fun to play.
Rise also doesn’t suffer as much as previous game of the clashing characterisations of Lara Croft from how she acts in cut scenes and during regular gameplay such as during combat. In Rise, how Lara acts in cut scenes and in game play is much more aligned. Which means the characterisation of Lara is more coherent as unlike the first game she isn’t going from being horrified by the situation which she found herself during the cut scenes to suddenly being battle hardened and unfazed by her actions during the gameplay sequences.
The game unsurprisingly at this point in time is very stable, at least on PC. I set the game the game to near Ultra settings for all options. Only a few settings were slightly turned down and the resolution was set at 1080p. While the computer was more than capable of running the game completely maxed out and at 1440p, the full maxed settings did lead to fans spinning very quickly and therefore noisily, which didn’t create the most comfortable environment to enjoy the Rise of The Tomb Raider.
Other than this personal noise related issue, the only other issue I encountered while playing through the story and the two expansions was that on very rare occasion, enemies would not load in as required. This meant forward progress could not be made and therefore a checkpoint reload was required. This action solved this problem each time it occurred as everything would load in properly at the second time of asking.
The two story expansions, Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch and Blood Ties are great little expansions. While Baba Yaga is unrelated to the main story, it is a good little side quest which like the collectable journals deepens the player’s understanding of the Remnants time in the valley. Blood Ties is set during the campaign, but as it is accessible in the menu, it can be played at any time. Blood Ties occurs at Croft Manor, it is set between in between Syria and Siberia. It is an exploration focused expansion and gives further details which ties into the main story. These are included as part of the the Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration edition which is the only edition you can digitally so these two expansions “technically” come at no extra cost.
Rise of The Tomb Raider is an excellent game and like its predecessor is a game you should very much experience. I should make I don’t take as long to get round to playing the last game in the trilogy, seeing as it has been out already for five years.