Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox One Review

Game Description

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to 2013’s video game Tomb Raider reboot. It’s the eleventh entry in The Tomb Raider Series which follows Lara Croft’s epic adventure in Siberia to find the legendary ancient city of Kitezh while battling Trinity a paramilitary organization seeking to secure the city’s secret of immortality. Lara Croft must journey through the unforgiving environment and battle enemies with firearms and stealth as she explores hidden tombs, solve puzzles, scavenge for resources and complete side quests.

Basic Information

• Price: 46.50$ or 27.99€ (Included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)
• Developer: Crystal Dynamics
• Publisher: Square Enix
• Director: Noah Hughes, Brian Horton, Daniel Neuburger
• Producer: Rose Hunt
• Designer: Jason Botta, Michael Brinker
• Release Date: November 10^th, 2015
• Genre: Action-Adventure
• Mode: Single Player
• Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Mac OS & Windows
• Awards: NAVGTR Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards, 19^th Annual D.I.C.E Awards, Satellite Awards, SXSW Gaming Awards

Ratings from Other Websites

• ESRB Rating: Mature 17+ Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
• Metacritic: 86%
• Common Sense media 5/5
• IGN 9.3/10

Graphics and Sound

The game looks stunning with snowy mountains, dark forests and crumbling tombs built with great imagination and accuracy.

The game graphics were praised by critics for creating detailed environments for players and making every area unique. However several reports of frame rate drop were noted here and there but those issues were pathed up in further updates.

Presently the game runs smooth on all the platforms giving best performance on next generation consoles and PC. In PC graphical setting can be tweaked further for a more custom and user friendly experience

The sound in the game is very nice, immersive and support’s game narrative. The vice acting, the music and the overall experience is breathtaking making the game come alive, creating a thrilling and adventurous environment

Story and Gameplay

The Player controls Lara Croft, who is on the quest to discover the legendary city of Kitezh. Lara has a large variety of weapons with alternate firing modes. Players can use stealth weapons such as bow and arrow to progress through the game. Players can use the game environment to kill enemy like bushes for assassination and firing explosive barrels

The game start in the snowy mountains of Siberia where Jonah and Lara are trying to find the hidden city of Kitezh.

They both get separated by an avalanche. Lara while battling her way through trinity, Remnants (natives trying to protect divine artifact) and the harsh environment finds Jacob (Later to revealed as the Immortal Prophet). He tells her about the key to artifact called Atlas and guides her to the entrance in the city of Kitezh.

While being captive of trinity Lara came to know that her father’s lover Anna was an agent of trinity all along, sister to Konstantin a trinity field commander (main antagonist).

Later on Remnants and Lara come on one page to protect the artifact from the hands of trinity. Trinity Launches their final attack on remnants but Lara manages to kill Trinity’s field commander Konstantin and all the trinity soldiers. Lara then destroys the divine artifact killing the immortal prophet and the deathless ones.

Combat & Puzzles

Core of the game is its combat and beautifully crafted puzzles. Combat is amazingly designed in all stealth, ranged and melee types. You can play in any style your heart desires. Ranged weapons like Sniper Rifle and bow and arrow (Grenade, Fire and Poison) are perfectly designed for killing enemies from the shadows.

For stealth type you can utilize beautifully crafted environment at your disposal by hiding in the bushes and shades and assassinating targets. In melee type you can attack your enemy with ice axe and combat knife, besides all these you can use a lot of weapons like Pistol, Shot Gun and Assault Rifle to ambush and kill your enemies.

Along with beautifully crafted Combat system the game is full of fun puzzles geniusly embedded in the game mechanics giving it a more immersive experience. Some puzzles are a part of main quests and others are a part of side quests.

Side quests

Besides main quests the game is full of interesting side quests. These quests can be completed to get great rewards. You can use these rewards to upgrade your weapons for a more immersive combat experience.

Challenge Tombs

One of the beautiful mechanics of game are the challenge tombs. They give the game its unique thrilling look. In each tomb you have to solve a master mindedly crafted puzzle to unlock unique skills. These skills prove very useful as you progresses further in game.

Game length

The game length is about 15- 20 hours for completing only the main quests. For all the side quests you will require an extra 15-20 hours making the total game length about 30-40 hours.

DLCs

Several downloadable story and contents additions were released for digital purchase and download like

• Blood Ties
• Lara’s Nightmare
• Baba Yaga: The Temple Of The Witch
• Cold Darkness Awakened
• Endurance Mode

Verdict

Rise of the Tomb Raider is overall a stunning action adventure game raising the bar by its rollicking adventurous story, Strong villains, gorgeous vistas, smart puzzles, immersive combat mechanism and challenge tombs. Once again Lara steals the show through her versatility, complex ambitions and hardened resolve becoming one of the most fascinating action hero in video games today.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Trailer