Scott: So many of the flaws are baked into Shadow because the game follows the template of its two predecessors-a template that, five years after its last reboot, Tomb Raider might need to push past. But like everything else in this game, Unuratu's story ultimately just serves to fuel Lara's development, and it's incredibly frustrating-because Shadow of the Tomb Raider is almost within arm's reach of being compelling, don't you think? Like you said, there are interesting ideas-the bulk of the game is built around the hidden city of Paititi, a place that has a tremendously compelling hook (What if an explorer like Lara found a living, thriving society where she expected to find ruins?) and you meet Unuratu, the deposed queen of Paititi seeking to curb the influence of a growing cult. The trouble is, there isn't much in this game that doesn't seem to immediately undercut itself. And when the game lets you, it's kind of a joy to just not worry about a story at all and descend into a beautifully lit cave on a line of rope or swan dive into ridiculously blue oceans. Joshua: To its credit, the game gets a bit better in its second half-everything starts to gel, and you start to get into a nice rhythm between the game's trifecta of exploring, fighting, and puzzling.
Your time is split between exploring the jungle, stealthily killing guys, solving puzzles, and following the game’s dull-but-over-conceived story. That’s the other odd thing about Shadow: a gameplay loop that, at least in my experience, was oddly and lurchingly paced. Instead, the artifacts that increase your language skills end up being just another meaningless in-game pick-up-a percentage to be tracked on your menu screen. A better version of this game might have built that mechanic into your interactions, with NPCs giving Lara more trust or resources after she makes an earnest effort to engage with their culture. It’s especially strange because Shadow, like the games before it, makes Lara learning new languages a key part of the game. It seems like a great idea-until you turn it on and realize that Lara is still speaking to everybody in crisply accented English, creating the bizarre spectacle of two characters having a lengthy back-and-forth in two totally different languages. Take the game’s “immersive mode,” which makes it so all the indigenous non-playable characters speak in their native language. Sure, the stakes are pretty high, but is there anything that justifies this level of sadism?Ī lot of Shadow ends up feeling like this: Big ideas that were either imperfectly conceived or incompletely executed. When I wrapped a rope around an enemy soldier’s neck and hung him from a tree branch-leaving him gasping for air until he finally, mercifully died-I felt a discomfort that the game clearly didn’t intend. But there’s something about the viciousness of Lara’s toolset that rankles a little, too. It’s definitely fun, on a purely visceral level, to lurk underwater until a bad guy walks by, then drag him under and drown him while his oblivious allies have their backs turned. Scott: It’s very weird! And look, I’m human.
Maybe because you have some problems with tonally inconsistent stories about the plunder of indigenous peoples? Or are you a little tired of white-savior narratives? Do you tend to be annoyed by stories that just give lip service to criticizing said narratives but ultimately end up being pretty chill with them? Why wouldn't this game work for you, Scott? Joshua Rivera, GQ contributor: I don't know, Scott. So, Josh: Why isn’t this game working for me? In other words: I should be the prime audience for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the third video game in the new franchise.
#SHADOW WARRIOR GAME OF THRONES MOVIE#
I even liked the Alicia Vikander–starring movie reboot that came out last March. I loved its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, which took Lara Croft to Siberia for some open-world shenanigans (and, if you ask me, ran laps around Uncharted 4). I liked the 2013 video-game reboot, which played like a kind of survivalist Uncharted. Scott Meslow, GQ culture critic: I’m comfortable calling myself a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise.
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