Took all the lessons learned from the Uncharted series and finally created an Indiana Jones-esque game that gets it right. There are way less shooting galleries with way less bullet sponge enemies to mow down at a time--and unlike the Uncharted franchise the combat is actually fun and allows you to be creative. There is a bigger emphasis on exploring and solving puzzles which was much appreciated. There are also plenty of big cinematic set pieces as you would expect from a game like this. What I think really puts the game on another level compared to Uncharted is a progression system which allows you to tailor Lara's abilities to match your playstyle. This one element adds a depth to the combat that you just don't find in any of the Uncharted games. Lastly Tomb Raiders story puts Uncharted to shame-- Actual character development... WHAT!?!?

PS. At first it may seem unfair to compare this game to the Uncharted series but honestly uncharted 3 came out only 2 years before this game so it's really not as big of a disparity as you'd initially think.

One of those games that I had to save and quit at almost every lull in the action because it just stresses me out too much. I essentially played through the game in small 15-30 minute segments. It's not really the big scares that get to me honestly, it's the oppressive weight of the environment and the sheer hopelessness it radiates. It's dark as hell most of the time, you are running low on batteries, everything wants to kill you, and hopefully you remember where the closest closet is because that fat ugly guy that keeps calling you "little pig" just spotted you! It accomplishes it's goal of being incredibly tense and scary... If anything, maybe a little too well. The thought of replaying this game makes me anxious. I made my wife play a little bit and she actually cried, it was pretty funny.

Widely regarded as a masterpiece this is sadly one game I just didn't find very interesting. The world is beautiful but largely lifeless with not much to keep me hooked even with the staggering attention to even the smallest details. bodies decay, arteries bleed realistically, vultures flock to decaying animals, hell even your horses testicles shrink in cold weather. The quests are the typical Rockstar fare that consist mostly of: ride on horseback with a sidekick to location while exchanging uninspired dialogue, get to location, shoot bad guys, mission complete, repeat.

With all the attention to seemingly unimportant details I just can't help but feel like they should have spent more time on ensuring that the gameplay loop was fun/interesting and the world felt more lived in--and not just by NPCs on their pre-programmed daily loop or robotic "random events" that never seem to actually lead to anything of import. The game is in a weird grey area genre-wise, it's an RPG but has essentially no progression, yet there is a big open world to explore, but not many reasons to actually explore it. When you complete quests you get money as a reward instead of new improved gear, but you quickly run out of things worth the time to even spend the money on unless you want every color of button down shirt or something. But hey, at least the horses nuts shrivel up in the cold right?

Maybe I'm missing something, I will try to pick it up again at some point.

I love the world and the freedom that you are given to decide your own journey. I would just pick a direction and go explore and usually found something interesting to do. I enjoyed the cooking system that promotes experimentation. The story was entertaining, if a tad predictable. However, to me this game is not the masterpiece that everyone claims it is. If the game was graded purely on its world and exploration then sure but that would be ignoring the fact that the combat is pretty simplistic, the weapons break way too quickly, 90% of the enemies you run into are either pigs or lizards, and the puzzles just aren't challenging. Is this a bad game, no obviously not... Is it a masterpiece that redefines what a game can be, also no.

Honestly though my biggest issue while playing the game is that the joy-con controllers are clunky, unintuitive, and uncomfortable to use in my opinion. I really wish I knew Nintendo made pro controllers that were designed more like Xbox or PlayStation controllers before I played this game because it really dampened my experience.

I'll start by saying the art direction in this game is simply stunning and is accompanied by a beautiful musical score that comes in and out at the perfect time. The video game-ification of the 5 stages of grief was pretty interesting and I applaud the creativity.

However mechanically this game doesn't really do anything new and uses a lot of the well established design tropes that have been used for years to create emotional feelings through level design and gameplay, specifically present in this game is the steep ascents and sharp descents to create feelings of overcoming obstacles and hope, or despair and sadness respectively.

The gameplay is minimalist and somewhat uninspired which ends up hurting the final product significantly. While playing I kept hoping in the back of my mind that it would end soon because I just knew that the gorgeous style could only hide the lacking substance for so long and I didn't want to start disliking it. Thankfully the game is only 2-3 hours long so it doesn't overstay its welcome and the finale is rather powerful and ends on an optimistic note which I appreciated.