By Constantine
For those of you who are unaware, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a 2018 action-adventure video game published by Square Enix and is critically acclaimed in the gaming community. In the game, you play as the protagonist Lara Croft and you explore through tombs, uncover different secrets, and ultimately save the world. Recently, it has been revealed that Epic Games will be making this game free throughout September 1st to September 8th. Without a doubt, getting this game is of no question. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a triple A that is really high quality and incredibly polished. But the real question is, should you play it and spend around 14 to 30 hours trying to complete Shadow of the Tomb Raider? Well, to help you guys decide, we first have to take a look at the different aspects of the game.
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Starting off with the first aspect that we will be taking a look at, which is one of the most important elements in a triple A video game, it's Shadow of the Tomb Raider's narrative. Its story follows Lara Croft as she travels through the tropical areas of the Americas to the ancient city Paititi, battling the paramilitary group Trinity and attempting to halt a Mayan apocalypse she has set in motion. It is set about a year after the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and overall the story is very engaging. Within the first few hours of the game, the intro already hits you with such an interesting and action-packed sequence filled with quick time events, obstacle courses and many more.
So overall, the narrative of Shadow of the Tomb Raider is very intriguing and exciting. You already can tell by the first few hours of the game that the story is extremely fresh and rich.
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Of course, with such a good narrative in a game, it also has to be backed by good gameplay, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider has exactly that. In the game, as you explore tombs in different locations, you encounter a lot of puzzles that you have to solve. Puzzle solving in this game is really fun and if you manage to do them successfully without any guidance, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. Other than puzzle-solving, the game would occasionally throw some quick time events towards you that can be quite unexpected but makes the game much more thrilling than it already is. Shadow of the Tomb Raider also has a bit of an open-world section where you get to explore the map, complete side quests, explore hidden tombs to unlock their secrets, and absorb the atmosphere.
Now going back to puzzle-solving, despite how good it may sound, there are some flaws. In higher difficulties of the game, or even the normal difficulty, puzzles can end up being confusing, especially for players who have never played a Tomb Raider game before. Sometimes you end up watching YouTube walkthroughs of the game in order to figure out how to complete a puzzle in a certain section. Obstacle courses can also be confusing if you're inexperienced with playing Tomb Raider games. But there's a pretty simple solution if you want to avoid these problems, the easier difficulties in the game but actually have Lara giving hints to you if you're having trouble figuring out puzzles.
Anyways, moving on we now have stealth gameplay. Shadow of the Tomb Raider features stealth gameplay in certain sections that is quite unique as it involves you using creative ways to take down enemies. Now don't expect the stealth in this game to be on par with other titles like Metal Gear Solid, but it's still pretty good nonetheless. The game also has a crafting mechanic that lets you make all sorts of different items to aid you in combat, and the crafting mechanic also makes free-roaming and exploring the map worthwhile. You can craft different types of ammunition, herbs to increase your health and more.
Another aspect of Tomb Raider's gameplay is its linear and free play sections. The game has a mix of both and they are evenly balanced. For example, most of the linear sections in Tomb Raider are present in tombs, shootouts and missions. Whereas the FreePlay sections can be noticed during side quests and intermissions. If you're someone who isn't a fan of linear games, Tomb Raider's linear sections are still extremely entertaining and definitely worth experiencing, especially during shooting galleries
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Now other than gameplay and narrative, we still have to cover games' visual quality and aesthetics. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released back in 2018 and we are glad to say that the game still holds up in 2022. Almost every single Tech YouTuber uses this game to Benchmark computer performance and that itself shows how ahead Shadow of the Tomb Raider was in terms of graphical quality. Other than visual quality, the game has a very beautiful art style and most of the obstacle courses in tombs are amazingly designed, with so much detail and color.
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So to quickly put things together, you should definitely play Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it's a really well-made game, and you get to get it for free from epic games. In addition, you get the definitive edition which includes numerous DLCs and expansions that you can experience which makes the game more fun than it already is.
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