Lara Croft has come in and out of vogue so many times I’ve lost count. This last reboot they’ve done however, seems to be sticking the landing in just the right way. Rise of the Tomb Raider, though not my favorite name, addresses several of the main concerns with the 2008 reboot and expands upon the new formula in thoughtful ways. It was even engaging enough to pull me away from Fallout 4 until I was finished, which is saying a lot about the quality of the game.
Returning to previous areas in the older game didn’t quite make enough sense to do very often. One of my favorite things in this game was unlocking new tombs and treasures once I had gotten a new piece of gear. It gives you ample opportunity to return to older areas and the rewards for doing so were fun enough to warrant the extra effort. They also made sure to include more challenge tombs this time around which, seeming as the series is mainly about raiding them, I was glad to see. They were my favorite part of this game and a great reason to place Rise of the Tomb Raider as my number 6 game in my top 10 games for the year.
