Shadow of the Tomb Raideris a haunting, cinematic look at Lara Croft as she transverses the steppes and underworlds of the modern home of ancient Mesoamerican culture.
Developers Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics redefine Croft in the final installment of her origin series by tossing away her iconic dual-pistols, and transforming her from a hapless orphan into a hardened tomb-dwelling adventuress that who must stop the coming Mayan Apocalypse.
This transformation takes you on a journey that offers exciting platforming action in a story that will leave you wanting more.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider wraps up Lara's early days in somewhat satisfying fashion, but narrative and performance issues prevent the action-adventure game from reaching the same heights as the previous series installments.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Discover the Secrets of Mesoamerica
After a massive storm crashes her plane, Lara enters Cozumel, Mexico.
As Lara worms her way through a Day of the Dead celebration, she pushes aside grieving mothers and husbands, following the trail of Trinity, the organization that murdered Lara's father.
In the process of navigating an ancient world teeming with secrets, she accidentally initiates doomsday and witnesses the devastating consequences as floods and fires ravage the landscape.
You can freely explore Shadow of the Tomb Raider's semi-open world using base camps that let you fast travel across the map.
The hubs are settlements that are populated by NPCs that tell heartbreaking stories of homes ruined by disasters.
As you explore different hubs, you can undertake side missions to aid the despairing citizens.
The most impressive hub is Patiti, a hidden city that reimagines the gilded city of El Dorado in a realistic, not golden, Mesoamerican manner.
As you work to stop the Mayan Apocalypse, the story begins to unfurl.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider's single-player campaign is a captivating journey that you can complete in roughly 20 hours.
There are around six or seven hours' worth of post-game content, though this mostly revolves around discovering challenge tombs and completing side missions sprinkled throughout the world.
Ultimately, Shadow of the Tomb Raider doesn't have a huge amount of replayability, so you can probably be done with it around the 30-hour mark.
Become the Jaguar
In typical series fashion, the $59.99 Shadow of the Tomb Raider features platforming action interwoven with firefights.
In this latest adventure, however, our gunslinging hero fully embraces her dark side as she slithers through muddy jungles.
In fact, she relies on stealth mechanics more than ever before.
Almost every combat section can be tackled without firing a single bullet.
As a massive fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, I am more than partial to that play style.
You move naturally and easily through the environment, much like the jaguar that you defeat and skin early in the game (you repurpose its hide for armor).
You can rappel down cliff edges, swing from branches, and grapple swing through the harsh world.
While only certain ledges can be climbed, and a path is more or less set for you, the platforming still feels exploratory.
More than anything, the action highlights that Lara Croft is more courageous and dangerous than ever before.
Your main weapons are a bow and knife, though submachine guns, shotguns, and hip pistols are available when it's time to partake in firefights.
When you pull back the bow, the taut line trembles in Lara's fingers, patiently waiting to unleash an arrow flurry upon your foe.
Firearms have an accurate feel, too.
Shotguns spray bullets with a weighty kickback, and the submachine gun mows down enemies with an authentic feel.
With Skill upgrades, you can improve Lara's weapon handling.
You can upgrade Lara's weapons using materials and salvage collected from the jungle, and unlock new abilities using Skill Points earned from XP accrued during your adventures.
Stealth kills, collecting salvage, killing wild animals, discovering artifacts, and learning languages net XP.
Skills have three branches: Scavenger, Warrior, and Seeker.
Scavenger grants several survival abilities, including Caiman's Breath, a skill that increases Lara's lung capacity when she swims underwater.
Raposa's Threat is a Warrior skill that provides headshot assistance.
And Eagle's Talon is a Seeker skill that lets Lara string up enemies in trees for stealth kills.
Your skill selection genuinely affects the gameplay, transforming Lara into a gun blazer or stealth jungle assassin.
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle
Simply put, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a gorgeous game.
The ancient Mesoamerican ruins that rule the lush jungle are rendered in startling, life-like fashion, and the cinematic chase segments that see you outrunning mudslides or a Gatling gun-equipped helicopter are breathtaking, film-like moments.
Unfortunately, Shadow of the Tomb Raider continues the long-running Tomb Raider trend of presenting a huge discrepancy between cut-scene Lara and her in-game model.
Cut-scene Lara is expressive, emotional, and shockingly human.
However, her in-game model has a stone face.
That's especially bewildering, as the NPCs' in-game models tell their stories with emotive tenderness.
On the upside, the sound design is impressive.
Authentic rhythms pulsate throughout the game, lingering behind the superb graphics with an anxious caution that the deadly jungle demands.
For example, the Eye of the Serpent level features tension-filled music that sounds as if it was ripped from a horror movie.
Beyond the score, the soundtrack includes hisses from the serpent-tongued undead that are pure nightmare fuel.
The Croft Legacy
As in other Tomb Raider titles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider lets you visit Croft Manor, Lara's childhood home.
This time, however, you only experience it through the eyes of young Lara, as details about her past are revealed.
If you anticipated a return to the classic Croft Manor training level, you will be sorely disappointed.
However, the Croft Family's legacy of brilliant puzzle solvers is present throughout the game.
Each puzzle is intricately made, being thoughtful toward story and level design.
For instance, in Eye of the Serpent stage, you must figure how to manipulate the water level inside the crypt in order to turn the wheels that open the chamber door—while avoiding the undeaded enemies.
The puzzles aren't easy, but finding the long overlooked missing piece, or final step, is one of the best, and most satisfying feeling in all of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
PC Power
To run Shadow of the Tomb Raider at minimum specs, your gaming PC needs at least the Windows 7 operating system, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 40GB of storage.
My gaming laptop that houses a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and the Windows 10 operating system lives between Shadow of the Tomb Raider's minimum and recommended specs.
The game's Steam page lists the recommended specs, too.
They include a 3.4-GHz Intel Core i7 4770L or 3.2GHz AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 40GB of storage, and an AMD Radeon RX 480 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.
Still, Shadow of the Tomb Raider occasionally froze or outright crashed.
The game's frame rate consistently hovered around the expected 30 FPS, but the frame rate would sometimes dip into the single digits! Those were the moments when I had to take a break and wait for my PC to catch up to the action.
As a Steam game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider supports Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, and Steam Trading Cards.
Publisher Square Enix wraps the game in the controversial Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM that many PC gamers abhor.
A Satisfying Conclusion
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a memorable journey that humanizes Lara Croft in a way never done before, by exploring the ideas of loss and responsibility for the greater good.
While it's an extremely fun play, Shadow of the Tomb Raider fell short on several expectations.
The most notable being the lack of significant gameplay at Croft Manor, and the almost-unplayable performance I occasionally encountered on my gaming laptop.
Still, Lara Croft's defining moment is pictured in breathtaking cinematic detail that explores her transformation into the Tomb Raider, finishing the origin trilogy.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (for PC)
Cons
Occasionally experienced extremely low frame rates during testing.
Not much to explore in Croft Manor.
Lara has an inexpressive in-game model.
The Bottom Line
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a poignant action-adventure game that dives deep into the final chapter of Lara Croft's origin story.
Unfortunately, it drops the ball in terms of frame rate and Lara's emotionless in-game character model.
Shadow of the Tomb Raideris a haunting, cinematic look at Lara Croft as she transverses the steppes and underworlds of the modern home of ancient Mesoamerican culture.
Developers Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics redefine Croft in the final installment of her origin series by tossing away her iconic dual-pistols, and transforming her from a hapless orphan into a hardened tomb-dwelling adventuress that who must stop the coming Mayan Apocalypse.
This transformation takes you on a journey that offers exciting platforming action in a story that will leave you wanting more.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider wraps up Lara's early days in somewhat satisfying fashion, but narrative and performance issues prevent the action-adventure game from reaching the same heights as the previous series installments.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Discover the Secrets of Mesoamerica
After a massive storm crashes her plane, Lara enters Cozumel, Mexico.
As Lara worms her way through a Day of the Dead celebration, she pushes aside grieving mothers and husbands, following the trail of Trinity, the organization that murdered Lara's father.
In the process of navigating an ancient world teeming with secrets, she accidentally initiates doomsday and witnesses the devastating consequences as floods and fires ravage the landscape.
You can freely explore Shadow of the Tomb Raider's semi-open world using base camps that let you fast travel across the map.
The hubs are settlements that are populated by NPCs that tell heartbreaking stories of homes ruined by disasters.
As you explore different hubs, you can undertake side missions to aid the despairing citizens.
The most impressive hub is Patiti, a hidden city that reimagines the gilded city of El Dorado in a realistic, not golden, Mesoamerican manner.
As you work to stop the Mayan Apocalypse, the story begins to unfurl.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider's single-player campaign is a captivating journey that you can complete in roughly 20 hours.
There are around six or seven hours' worth of post-game content, though this mostly revolves around discovering challenge tombs and completing side missions sprinkled throughout the world.
Ultimately, Shadow of the Tomb Raider doesn't have a huge amount of replayability, so you can probably be done with it around the 30-hour mark.
Become the Jaguar
In typical series fashion, the $59.99 Shadow of the Tomb Raider features platforming action interwoven with firefights.
In this latest adventure, however, our gunslinging hero fully embraces her dark side as she slithers through muddy jungles.
In fact, she relies on stealth mechanics more than ever before.
Almost every combat section can be tackled without firing a single bullet.
As a massive fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, I am more than partial to that play style.
You move naturally and easily through the environment, much like the jaguar that you defeat and skin early in the game (you repurpose its hide for armor).
You can rappel down cliff edges, swing from branches, and grapple swing through the harsh world.
While only certain ledges can be climbed, and a path is more or less set for you, the platforming still feels exploratory.
More than anything, the action highlights that Lara Croft is more courageous and dangerous than ever before.
Your main weapons are a bow and knife, though submachine guns, shotguns, and hip pistols are available when it's time to partake in firefights.
When you pull back the bow, the taut line trembles in Lara's fingers, patiently waiting to unleash an arrow flurry upon your foe.
Firearms have an accurate feel, too.
Shotguns spray bullets with a weighty kickback, and the submachine gun mows down enemies with an authentic feel.
With Skill upgrades, you can improve Lara's weapon handling.
You can upgrade Lara's weapons using materials and salvage collected from the jungle, and unlock new abilities using Skill Points earned from XP accrued during your adventures.
Stealth kills, collecting salvage, killing wild animals, discovering artifacts, and learning languages net XP.
Skills have three branches: Scavenger, Warrior, and Seeker.
Scavenger grants several survival abilities, including Caiman's Breath, a skill that increases Lara's lung capacity when she swims underwater.
Raposa's Threat is a Warrior skill that provides headshot assistance.
And Eagle's Talon is a Seeker skill that lets Lara string up enemies in trees for stealth kills.
Your skill selection genuinely affects the gameplay, transforming Lara into a gun blazer or stealth jungle assassin.
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle
Simply put, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a gorgeous game.
The ancient Mesoamerican ruins that rule the lush jungle are rendered in startling, life-like fashion, and the cinematic chase segments that see you outrunning mudslides or a Gatling gun-equipped helicopter are breathtaking, film-like moments.
Unfortunately, Shadow of the Tomb Raider continues the long-running Tomb Raider trend of presenting a huge discrepancy between cut-scene Lara and her in-game model.
Cut-scene Lara is expressive, emotional, and shockingly human.
However, her in-game model has a stone face.
That's especially bewildering, as the NPCs' in-game models tell their stories with emotive tenderness.
On the upside, the sound design is impressive.
Authentic rhythms pulsate throughout the game, lingering behind the superb graphics with an anxious caution that the deadly jungle demands.
For example, the Eye of the Serpent level features tension-filled music that sounds as if it was ripped from a horror movie.
Beyond the score, the soundtrack includes hisses from the serpent-tongued undead that are pure nightmare fuel.
The Croft Legacy
As in other Tomb Raider titles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider lets you visit Croft Manor, Lara's childhood home.
This time, however, you only experience it through the eyes of young Lara, as details about her past are revealed.
If you anticipated a return to the classic Croft Manor training level, you will be sorely disappointed.
However, the Croft Family's legacy of brilliant puzzle solvers is present throughout the game.
Each puzzle is intricately made, being thoughtful toward story and level design.
For instance, in Eye of the Serpent stage, you must figure how to manipulate the water level inside the crypt in order to turn the wheels that open the chamber door—while avoiding the undeaded enemies.
The puzzles aren't easy, but finding the long overlooked missing piece, or final step, is one of the best, and most satisfying feeling in all of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
PC Power
To run Shadow of the Tomb Raider at minimum specs, your gaming PC needs at least the Windows 7 operating system, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 40GB of storage.
My gaming laptop that houses a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and the Windows 10 operating system lives between Shadow of the Tomb Raider's minimum and recommended specs.
The game's Steam page lists the recommended specs, too.
They include a 3.4-GHz Intel Core i7 4770L or 3.2GHz AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 40GB of storage, and an AMD Radeon RX 480 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.
Still, Shadow of the Tomb Raider occasionally froze or outright crashed.
The game's frame rate consistently hovered around the expected 30 FPS, but the frame rate would sometimes dip into the single digits! Those were the moments when I had to take a break and wait for my PC to catch up to the action.
As a Steam game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider supports Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, and Steam Trading Cards.
Publisher Square Enix wraps the game in the controversial Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM that many PC gamers abhor.
A Satisfying Conclusion
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a memorable journey that humanizes Lara Croft in a way never done before, by exploring the ideas of loss and responsibility for the greater good.
While it's an extremely fun play, Shadow of the Tomb Raider fell short on several expectations.
The most notable being the lack of significant gameplay at Croft Manor, and the almost-unplayable performance I occasionally encountered on my gaming laptop.
Still, Lara Croft's defining moment is pictured in breathtaking cinematic detail that explores her transformation into the Tomb Raider, finishing the origin trilogy.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (for PC)
Cons
Occasionally experienced extremely low frame rates during testing.
Not much to explore in Croft Manor.
Lara has an inexpressive in-game model.
The Bottom Line
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a poignant action-adventure game that dives deep into the final chapter of Lara Croft's origin story.
Unfortunately, it drops the ball in terms of frame rate and Lara's emotionless in-game character model.
