Rise of the Tomb Raider

Oh, Lara Croft, you’re always looking for a lost city, chasing the ghost of your dead father while being hunted by secret organizations. You never rest. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, you’re the same, as the game builds upon the foundations of its predecessor, with a more carefully written story – where your journey is not at odds with how you play anymore – and complex level design. The decision to put the act of raiding tombs as a side-activity in your new games remains as head-scratching as ever, however.

This time, you’re searching for the mythical city of Kitezh. Your father lost his credibility – and life – chasing the so-called Divine Source, which is supposedly hidden in this city and capable of granting a person eternal life: legend tells that there’s an immortal man in Kitezh, called the Prophet, who leveraged this power to heal his people and acquire immense wealth. When the game begins, Lara, you’re climbing the snow-laden mountains of Syria, trying to get to the Divine Source before those Trinity bastards, who intend to use the Divine Source to impose their control over the world.

The original legend of Kitezh tells that the Mongols were going to attack the city, but since its inhabitants were pious individuals – praying instead of arming themselves for the fight – the Gods protected the place by making it be… swallowed up by a lake. It’s a fascinating tale because of its ambivalence and ambiguity: did the pious people of Kitezh drown or somehow manage to live underwater, receiving divine protection?

Rise of the Tomb Raider doesn’t delve into this tale – the city is actually near a mountain and is now linked to a device that grants eternal life – but its narrative chooses to position a pious character as the villain. Konstantin, the big bad mercenary, believes he has the marks of stigmata in his body. In his mind, he’s chosen by God to carry out His will, which makes his acts of brutality – sometimes even against his own people – much tenser, imbuing them with righteous anger. Konstantin’s companion, on the other hand, uses religion as a form of control: unlike the mercenary, this character is fully aware of their selfish motivations, twisting the other’s faith to manipulate Konstantin’s actions.

Trinity is said to be your nemesis, Lara, but in practice, it’s just a name that is thrown around. Konstantin and his partner work for them, yes, but just so they can acquire the means to achieve their true goals: while the mercenary only answers to God, the other character seeks personal gain, so Trinity is but a tool to them.

Meanwhile, Lara, you continue to be wholly defined by your relationship with your father. You seek to clear his name, of course, but your quest is more about you than him, as it’s about discovering if he sacrificed time with you for a thing that really exists or for just a myth; if you were put aside for empty tales and promises or for something truly world-shattering. In other words, you’re looking for the Divine Source, but you’re actually searching for your own worth, Lara. Your father consumes all your thoughts. It’s his voice that we often hear when you’re resting at a camp, and it’s his absence that you lament when you get near Kitezh: “If only dad could have seen this,” you say. Therapy goes a long way, Lara.

Much like its predecessor, Rise of the Tomb Raider takes itself very seriously, so it’s interesting to notice how the grim tone impacts your personality. You are no Nathan Drake, rarely making a witty remark about the dangerous situations you get yourself into. You’re much more somber, much more palpable. This makes the violence in the story – and in the gameplay – rawer and more troublesome. Just like Drake, you kill hundreds of enemy soldiers in your journey, but while Uncharted’s carefree tone invites us to ignore this detail, your games go in the opposite direction and push us to pay attention to it, to see your violence, and witness your brutality.

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s you who gets the short end of the stick, Lara. We often see you limping, badly cut, and bleeding. The sadistic side to this violence is undeniable, with the camera showing the damage done to your body in its full glory, such as when you fall into a pit of spikes. Your deaths are usually framed up close, so we get a full view of your painful expression as the spikes puncture your throat and leg, and your eyes bulge in shock. The death scene lingers for a while to show your weight slowly pressing your body down against the spikes, making blood spurt out more profusely. Oh, don’t worry, Lara, you’re back at the nearest checkpoint immediately and none the wiser… ready to fall in the same pit again, yes, but luckily the person controlling your body is more attentive this time. What’s this about control? Never mind, my dear, it’s not important in the slightest.

But since you’re secretly a mutant just like Wolverine and can magically heal yourself each time the wound is not fatal, Lara, one is left wondering what’s the point of this focus on violence against your body, as Rise of the Tomb Raider seems to refuse to commit to it. This issue is much less prominent here than it was in the first game, yes, (thank the Prophet for small blessings), but it’s still very much present.

Let’s move on to the Prophet himself, then, this mysterious figure who is said to be an immortal man, capable of miracles and enrapturing people with his speeches, to the point where they all prefer to die before spilling any secrets. This absolute loyalty frightens Trinity, as you can imagine. They want to eliminate the Prophet not only because of his heresies – the villains are a bunch of religious zealots with ties to Rome – but also because they fear the power he has over the people, wanting to claim it for themselves.

The twist about his identity, however, is so obvious that we are left questioning for hours why it’s taking so long for it to be finally revealed. The story could have spent more time developing him after the revelation, too, instead of relegating important information – such as how he handles knowing he’ll outlive even his grandchildren – to some letters found in the environment.

Your games are also pretty different from Uncharted when it comes to their level design, Lara. While Drake’s adventures are pretty linear and take place in various different locales, Rise of the Tomb Raider, for example, has a much more focused, but open design: the adventure is set in just one region, which is divided into complex levels, each with hidden tombs, crypts, and tons of collectibles to find. This puts the spotlight on exploration: you have the freedom to search each area for secrets, even acquiring new items and upgrades that allow you to visit previously barred rooms and caverns. The game is not a full-fledged Metroidvania, however, because the backtracking is limited to just some optional collectibles, tombs, and caverns, never giving you access to entirely new levels and areas.

Talking of collectibles, the treasures we find here are made a tad more interesting than the ones in Uncharted, precisely because, instead of a cold description, we get to listen to your voice, Lara, as you make comments about them. You gasp when finding a reliquary box, for example, showing genuine excitement over the object. Your commentary on the treasures may be brief and mostly inconsequential (sorry, dear), but it gives room for your personality to shine, inviting us to care about these old objects because, well, you do.

But the main reward for exploration is finding the entrance to the game’s various puzzle-centric tombs, and you finally get to raid them. Each one has its own theme, and an effort was made to link them all to Kitezh. You can find an ancient cistern that used to provide water to the city, for instance, or a crumbling prison inside a mine, or even an abandoned infirmary. Some letters and documents tie these places to the history of Kitezh and help develop its people: some tell small but tragic stories – such as the contrast between the diary from the man who designed the cistern and the letters from the people using him to do it – while some paint the city under a specific light, like the ones in the prison that show Kitezh’s religious fanaticism.

These tombs usually revolve around a single puzzle that requires two or three steps, which evolve or subvert a single idea – much like the shrines in Breath of the Wild, although Rise of the Tomb Raider has just nine of them instead of more than a hundred. In the cistern, for example, you must use a bomb to blow up a passageway to change the water level. Then, you have to do the same thing two more times, but now having to find a way to transport the bombs to the next spot, using a single raft in different ways. The tombs are the best part of Rise of the Tomb Raider, so it’s a shame there aren’t more of them.

The game’s focus, then, lies not on puzzle-solving, but on set-pieces: buildings will crumble under your feet, Lara, helicopters will relentlessly chase you down, entire armies will try to capture you, but you’ll escape in the last explosive second. There’s nothing too terribly inventive regarding these scenes – your adventure pales against the likes of Uncharted here – but they get the job done.

In regard to action, Rise of the Tomb Raider is just like any other third-person shooter – including, of course, the Uncharted series. You know the drill, Lara, by now you’re basically a killing machine who also happens to raid tombs: you’ll find cover, choose the best weapon for the situation, and shoot down the bad guys. You’ve got your trusted bow again and can now craft grenades and ammo on the fly to spice things up. In the normal difficulty, however, you won’t have to think too much during most shootouts: any weapon you pick – be it a bow or a shotgun – will do the job. It’s more of a power fantasy, in a way: you can even melee waves of heavily armored soldiers with your simple pickaxe if you’re feeling more aggressive, after seeing the politicians people usually vote for. But you start most combat missions in stealth mode, so you can clean most of the map without firing a single shot if you’re feeling more subtle.

Finally, the grittier tone of the game is also reflected in the soundtrack. Instead of having an energetic, swooping score, Rise of the Tomb Raider goes for a brooding soundscape. It makes the scenes tenser, yes, but also lessens the “adventurous” feel of, well, the adventure.

But rest easy, Lara, that Rise of the Tomb Raider is still a very competent follow-up to your 2013 reboot, even if one could wish it focused more on the adventure aspect of things – doubling down on the exploration and letting you do a lot of what you were born (daddy-issued) to do – rather than on the action itself.

July 26, 2025.

Review originally published on June 17, 2021.