A delicate balance between resilience and emotional vulnerability gave us the best Tomb Raider game in years
Rise of The Tomb Raider Syria-Raise Water (Moving Raft-See Description) Walkthrough
It's been more than a decade since Crystal Dynamics, the developer best known for the Tomb Raider franchise, first introduced players to its reimagined version of Lara Croft. 2013's Tomb Raider painted Lara as someone who can adapt and overcome almost any situation while maintaining a level of emotional depth and self-awareness, a quality that the game's sequels would continue to explore.
The original was an excellent game that I've completed on no fewer than three occasions, and while her latest outing, 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, has its merits, I still stand by 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider as the most engaging and interesting take on Lara Croft for how it emphasizes her vulnerability. The result is a story that combines all the hallmarks of what you'd expect from a great Tomb Raider game: suspenseful supernatural elements and an exciting and romantic notion of archaeology, all tied together with an exciting and surprisingly emotional story.
After the events of the first game, Lara is still traumatized by her trial by fire on the island of Yamatai and her father's recent disappearance. Her quest to find her father and restore her family's legacy leads her to the frigid peaks of Siberia and onto the path of Trinity, a "Knights Templar meets military entrepreneurs" organization with a pseudo-religious goal of world domination. Unfortunately, this puts Lara alone in the unique position of foiling their plot, by defeating her with a truth no one else will believe.
