sp5der Rise of the Tomb Raider Review

The first adventure game I ever played. At first, I had high hopes for it, but after 10 hours, the game becomes so bland and soulless that you just want to forget you ever launched it — let alone spent money on it. I think it’s worth starting with the positives, just to somewhat balance what I’m going to describe below. The graphics are truly impressive: lighting is well-crafted, and the cave locations where Lara uses a lamp look genuinely beautiful and immersive. The character models, textures, and shadows are also solid — no complaints there. The first snowy area clearly shows the developers’ effort in the visual department. That’s where the positives end. The dumbest thing they could’ve possibly done in a game set in Russia was to completely ignore the location's authenticity. The peak of the Russian references comes down to a phrase — “cruel hammer of hope.” Then come random Cyrillic phrases without even basic translation. The whole game is soaked in the cliché of “Evil Russia,” with numerous lines about Soviet propaganda and domestic posters that should’ve had slogans but were left blank — as if the devs thought, “Eh, good enough.” And in its main mission — to portray Russians as ridiculous for an English-speaking audience — the game succeeds perfectly. In today’s context, you could even call that an agenda. As I said earlier, after 10 hours of gameplay, the process becomes extremely repetitive: identical loot scattered across the map, limited combat methods and executions, linear level design, excessive grinding, and a mediocre DLC. Verdict: A characterless, hollow game full of propaganda, covered by a pretty visual shell and cold winter atmosphere. Not recommended for purchase — you’ll lose nothing by not having this game in your library. 4/10 & Tier: C