Underworld is the finale to the first reboot trilogy, and it’s unfortunately a little disappointing after what came before it. Anyone who liked Legend and Anniversary will probably have a decent time with this and find it to be a somewhat satisfying end. However it’s really difficult to ignore the rushed nature and huge lack of polish flowing throughout.

Clunkiness is the key word, and not in a “i cant handle old games cos im a fuckin baby” kinda way. When you had two perfectly working predecessors that felt really fluid, it doesn’t feel good to suddenly have Lara be clipping all over her Croft like that, and it will mess you up. Along with the cameraman being too nervous, I think he found Lara too attractive (cos damn she is fine in this one, Stellar Blade fans should peep).

Even if Underworld was better made, I don’t think it reaches the height of the others. The story is just as involved as Legend, which is nice! But it feels a little disjointed and short I guess. I think this could be attributed to the level structure, with what feels like 4 “real” levels and a couple shorter ones that might have been added later to make sure the adventure felt complete. The level design itself doesn’t touch Anniversary, but it does have some nice environments and actually good ideas that evolve the formula, they are just unfortunately quite scarce and sometimes don’t feel great in execution. The final level in particular is by far the lowest point in the trilogy both story and gameplay wise, and I just learned that there are apparently two DLCs that expand it, I don’t feel compelled to check it out though.

I do enjoy the atmosphere presented here, it’s a lot darker and some of that is reflected in Lara herself. Might just be a personal preference but her voice acting / direction being completely unchanged doesn’t match it very well, she feels a little too prim and proper for the shit that she goes through.

It’s good enough for the fans but that’s it.