I'm going to start by listing the positives here before I go on a really long rant about the plot because this game has some good things going for it and if you treat it like a marvel movie and don't really think about the story too much you will probably enjoy it quite a bit. First of all the environment in the Peruvian jungle is probably the most interesting in the trilogy, this is subjective I know, but just voicing my opinion. The game frequently lets the leash off for a while and drops you in open-ish world areas and allows you to explore to your hearts content. Exploration is the centerpiece of this game and most of the time is spent exploring or solving puzzles which is a welcome addition to me. Nothing against previous installments but I felt that Rise had way too many sections where you were just mowing down waves of goons over and over again. The combat mechanically is about the same as Rise, maybe a little more refined and used more sparingly. There is still plenty of combat but there seems to be nice balance of feral animals, supernatural creatures, and your typical Trinity henchman mixed in to keep the combat feeling more fresh and interesting than in previous installments. The sound design is sophisticated, immersive, and seriously impressive compared to previous installments. Gunshots are punchy and reverberate throughout the cave you are exploring. Set pieces in which destruction is occurring all around you are fully engrossing with the implementation of three dimensional audio. Really can't say enough about the sound design here, probably the most impressive facet of this game.
Rant Time:
The story however is the weakest of the trilogy due to a bloated meandering middle section of the plot that screams of the writers knowing where they wanted to start and where to finish but not knowing how to tie the two together. The middle section is full of nonsensical story beats, retcons, and events that test even the most generous persons suspension of disbelief. This is made even more egregious by the disclaimer at the beginning of the game telling you how much care and effort they put in to make the world seem realistic and authentic. They even let you know they hired historians and cultural consultants. What they should have done is talk to a person who has been rock climbing maybe once in their life. A little over half way through the game they have Lara climbing overhangs with crampons strapped to some flimsy sandals. I repeat, the woman is free climbing ridiculously difficult rock walls like Alex Honnold... IN SANDALS! I know this is being somewhat nit-picky but little stuff like this is littered all over this game and it adds up to a ridiculously unbelievable experience in a game that is bragging about how hard it's trying to be realistic and authentic but I digress. The sad part is the story has a strong open where you find the dagger triggering the apocalypse, then the flood, then the lost in jungle section. This part of the story was really well done. The end is also pretty strong, obligatory fight with the antagonist hopped up on god juice, leading to a final trial where you are tempted with the option to bring back your deceased family and have to resist in order to save the world then realize the ritual requires you to sacrifice yourself which Lara does bravely. They don't follow through with her actually dying which is fine with me, as the act of willing sacrifice is more important than the actual dying part here in my opinion.
The story really begins to fall apart once you get to Paititi. You quickly find out that the leader of Trinity was born in this tribal village in the middle of the Amazon and now lives a sort of double life of part time Trinity leader and part time Mayan tribal cult leader? How? Why? Why did the writers feel compelled to shoehorn in the Trinity plot when Dominguez would have been an interesting villain without the Trinity tie in. He could have even been like an arm of Trinity, but the leader? Nah, not buying it, his goals don't align with those of Trinity at all... It just doesn't make sense. That and how would you possibly be able to run a worldwide secret organization like Trinity while spending so much time in a tribal village with no electricity, no internet, no cell service, etc. Why would anyone at Trinity be okay with such an absent leader, maybe that's why they are so incompetent idk. Also weren't Trinity supposed to be a centuries old illuminati-like secret society tied to the crusades and heavily implied to be Christian fanatics not tied in any way to Mayan religion/culture? Why is some Mayan tribal villager running Trinity? They try to wallpaper over some of these plot contrivances with a bunch of notes hidden in the main temple in the village but it just seems like damage control added after playtesting to me. My guess as to why this decision was made is that the location was picked first then the story was made to fit and the trilogy is ending so they wanted to have the leader of the big bad secret organization be the main antagonist. But that doesn't mean you have to write this terrible story that makes no sense. It really is a shame because this location had so much potential and some parts of the game (usually the ones not tied to the main plot) were really interesting and fun.
After noticing how little sense the story made, I became maybe a little hyper aware of other shortcomings in the story. Like how lazy it is to have your magical world ending McGuffin be named simply "The Silver Box". This is really the best you could come up with? Really... The Box? Also, Lara kicked off the apocalypse after she took that dagger. This was shown with that engrossing flood scene in the beginning and then after that? Nothing until right at the end of the game, why was this not expanded upon during the middle sections of the game at all? did the writers forget or something? This could have been a serious source of conflict in the game, Lara feeling guilt for causing suffering to innocent people, or the natives blaming her for their lost loved ones, why do nothing with it at all until the last hour or so of the game? Or even the little things like the cliché stuff to isolate Lara. "Oh no the wooden spears blocked our way we will have to find another way around while you do all the hard stuff by yourself". you guys have axes and guns and you're going to let some wooden spears stop you? Or the Paititi chase scene through the village. Why doesn't Lara shoot any of the people chasing her? Why do the jaguar warriors simply block her path like a police blockade in a Need for Speed game making sure to leave one gaping hole open to dodge them instead of closing in on her? Why does everything break when you jump on it? Why 10 seconds after the chase can you run right up to the same jaguar warriors and them suddenly not pay any attention to you like nothing happened? In the section where Lara is sneaking into the main compound dressed as a serpent guard how don't the guards immediately see through her disguise as she is obviously a pasty white girl with a British accent and not of South American descent? why are all these lost ancient structures within a 5 minute jaunt from this village and no one has found them or unlocked their secrets when they are so easy to figure out? And why during the big forced stealth section where you only have a knife can I not pick up any of the guns of all the Trinity members I'm slaughtering who are armed to the teeth? There are countless more examples of this type of stuff and the answer to these questions is obliviously "duh, because it's a video game, quit overthinking it you asshole", and this is correct, but then don't put the stupid little disclaimer bragging about how much you tried to make it realistic and authentic. Ultimately I feel like the developers spent way too much time and effort trying to get the Mayan culture stuff right that they forgot to make sure the rest of the story made any type of sense whatsoever. So essentially in the noble pursuit of trying pay respect to and not offend one group of people, they instead offended the majority of the fanbase with a ridiculously unbelievable story and a pretty terrible swan song to a trilogy that honestly deserved better.
Rant Time:
The story however is the weakest of the trilogy due to a bloated meandering middle section of the plot that screams of the writers knowing where they wanted to start and where to finish but not knowing how to tie the two together. The middle section is full of nonsensical story beats, retcons, and events that test even the most generous persons suspension of disbelief. This is made even more egregious by the disclaimer at the beginning of the game telling you how much care and effort they put in to make the world seem realistic and authentic. They even let you know they hired historians and cultural consultants. What they should have done is talk to a person who has been rock climbing maybe once in their life. A little over half way through the game they have Lara climbing overhangs with crampons strapped to some flimsy sandals. I repeat, the woman is free climbing ridiculously difficult rock walls like Alex Honnold... IN SANDALS! I know this is being somewhat nit-picky but little stuff like this is littered all over this game and it adds up to a ridiculously unbelievable experience in a game that is bragging about how hard it's trying to be realistic and authentic but I digress. The sad part is the story has a strong open where you find the dagger triggering the apocalypse, then the flood, then the lost in jungle section. This part of the story was really well done. The end is also pretty strong, obligatory fight with the antagonist hopped up on god juice, leading to a final trial where you are tempted with the option to bring back your deceased family and have to resist in order to save the world then realize the ritual requires you to sacrifice yourself which Lara does bravely. They don't follow through with her actually dying which is fine with me, as the act of willing sacrifice is more important than the actual dying part here in my opinion.
The story really begins to fall apart once you get to Paititi. You quickly find out that the leader of Trinity was born in this tribal village in the middle of the Amazon and now lives a sort of double life of part time Trinity leader and part time Mayan tribal cult leader? How? Why? Why did the writers feel compelled to shoehorn in the Trinity plot when Dominguez would have been an interesting villain without the Trinity tie in. He could have even been like an arm of Trinity, but the leader? Nah, not buying it, his goals don't align with those of Trinity at all... It just doesn't make sense. That and how would you possibly be able to run a worldwide secret organization like Trinity while spending so much time in a tribal village with no electricity, no internet, no cell service, etc. Why would anyone at Trinity be okay with such an absent leader, maybe that's why they are so incompetent idk. Also weren't Trinity supposed to be a centuries old illuminati-like secret society tied to the crusades and heavily implied to be Christian fanatics not tied in any way to Mayan religion/culture? Why is some Mayan tribal villager running Trinity? They try to wallpaper over some of these plot contrivances with a bunch of notes hidden in the main temple in the village but it just seems like damage control added after playtesting to me. My guess as to why this decision was made is that the location was picked first then the story was made to fit and the trilogy is ending so they wanted to have the leader of the big bad secret organization be the main antagonist. But that doesn't mean you have to write this terrible story that makes no sense. It really is a shame because this location had so much potential and some parts of the game (usually the ones not tied to the main plot) were really interesting and fun.
After noticing how little sense the story made, I became maybe a little hyper aware of other shortcomings in the story. Like how lazy it is to have your magical world ending McGuffin be named simply "The Silver Box". This is really the best you could come up with? Really... The Box? Also, Lara kicked off the apocalypse after she took that dagger. This was shown with that engrossing flood scene in the beginning and then after that? Nothing until right at the end of the game, why was this not expanded upon during the middle sections of the game at all? did the writers forget or something? This could have been a serious source of conflict in the game, Lara feeling guilt for causing suffering to innocent people, or the natives blaming her for their lost loved ones, why do nothing with it at all until the last hour or so of the game? Or even the little things like the cliché stuff to isolate Lara. "Oh no the wooden spears blocked our way we will have to find another way around while you do all the hard stuff by yourself". you guys have axes and guns and you're going to let some wooden spears stop you? Or the Paititi chase scene through the village. Why doesn't Lara shoot any of the people chasing her? Why do the jaguar warriors simply block her path like a police blockade in a Need for Speed game making sure to leave one gaping hole open to dodge them instead of closing in on her? Why does everything break when you jump on it? Why 10 seconds after the chase can you run right up to the same jaguar warriors and them suddenly not pay any attention to you like nothing happened? In the section where Lara is sneaking into the main compound dressed as a serpent guard how don't the guards immediately see through her disguise as she is obviously a pasty white girl with a British accent and not of South American descent? why are all these lost ancient structures within a 5 minute jaunt from this village and no one has found them or unlocked their secrets when they are so easy to figure out? And why during the big forced stealth section where you only have a knife can I not pick up any of the guns of all the Trinity members I'm slaughtering who are armed to the teeth? There are countless more examples of this type of stuff and the answer to these questions is obliviously "duh, because it's a video game, quit overthinking it you asshole", and this is correct, but then don't put the stupid little disclaimer bragging about how much you tried to make it realistic and authentic. Ultimately I feel like the developers spent way too much time and effort trying to get the Mayan culture stuff right that they forgot to make sure the rest of the story made any type of sense whatsoever. So essentially in the noble pursuit of trying pay respect to and not offend one group of people, they instead offended the majority of the fanbase with a ridiculously unbelievable story and a pretty terrible swan song to a trilogy that honestly deserved better.