I'm disappointed. I'll break this review down into pros and cons.
Pros: This game has the best Lara design. A sprint button has finally been added. Specific weapon-focused executions are a thing and they are AWESOME. Side missions are a cool inclusion and help flesh out the map more. The map is also great and the environments make it my favorite one in the trilogy. And that's saying a lot, as I absolutely LOVED the setting of TR2013. There is overall just so much more to do besides the story, tombs, and side objectives. The graphics are incredible. This is the best looking Tomb Raider game in the trilogy. Mostly everything from the gameplay side of things from TR2013 are great here (except the combat). The cosmetics are great. They basically expanded the traversal from TR2013 and it's awesome. Lara's arc in this game (and the next) is great too, despite the narrative not being great.
Cons: The combat. It's WAY TOO EASY, even after turning up the difficulty and only challenging in a couple firefights here and there. The supernatural enemies were also fun to fight this time around but they're barely in the game. I think the issue is that the AI is just not very good in this game. I don't know if this is fixed in the Survivor difficulty but I was really not enjoying the combat, and this game has A LOT of combat. Maybe it's because they added both manual healing AND regenerative health in this game? Like it literally feels like it's impossible to die and the enemies only ever pose a threat in firefights where they are in high numbers, which is only like 15% of the time. I enjoyed the firefights much more towards the end for that reason, but by the time the combat got good, the game was almost over. It was a super frustrating experience. I went back to TR2013 to see if I was right and yeah, the combat in that game feels much more challenging and fun because you only have regenerative health, better enemy placement, and the fact that you actually have to move around for some of these firefights. IN THIS GAME, I BARELY HAD TO MOVE FOR LIKE 85% OF THE FIREFIGHTS. I don't know if it's the AI, Lara being way more overpowered, or the arenas not being well designed most of the time, but the game barely had any combat sections with weight to it. Plus why in the world does Lara need THIS MANY SKILLS? She's already OP enough as it is, I only need like 10 of these. This is the only game I've ever played where the better you make your character, the worse the game gets. My other gripe is the narrative. It starts out really strong but the game never made me care about anything? They make Lara go after an artifact that her dad was after before he killed himself because in his pursuit for it, everyone called him crazy and ruined his reputation. However, this never really sat right with me because they never actually give an explanation for why he was so obsessed with it in the first place. If anything, it made him look like the bad guy, and although that is the route the next game kinda takes, it's never even implied that he was in the wrong. Trinity's motivations for why they want the artifact is also never explained. They kinda just want it? I know there was the whole subplot with Ana and Konstantin but even that is never explained? Like yeah, Ana needs the Divine Source to cure her sickness, but that's an excuse to join a cultist terrorist organization/pillage an entire village? Either there's a lot of context missing here or this story was made by an 8-year-old. A lot of these ideas are good on paper but it just kinda stays that way because for some reason this game doesn't want to explain the story to you? Like at all? So it just makes the whole adventure feel hollow. And despite there being some good scenes and moments, not enough really goes on in order to make this story worthwhile. It's written poorly, it's structured badly, and the story just kinda gets as lost as Lara does. The supernatural enemies, as I mentioned before, are just shoehorned in. The only other character here worth a damn is Jonah, and he's given absolutely nothing to do. Seriously, he does nothing in this game, he's just kinda there. Lara's arc, as I mentioned, is only good because if you see things in her perspective, it makes sense why she'd go to the lengths she'd go to find the Divine Source. However, it's still pretty rushed initially and most of the context of how she ended up in the spot we see her in when the game starts IS EXPLAINED IN SEPARATE YOUTUBE VIDEOS. STUFF ABOUT SAM AND THE OTHERS, HER TRAUMA FROM THE EVENTS OF THE FIRST GAME? YOU KNOW, THE SHIT THAT MAKES SOME OF THIS STUFF MORE FLESHED OUT? YEAH, THEY'RE NOT IN THE FUCKING GAME, THEY'RE EXPLAINED IN OUTSIDE MATERIAL. WHAT THE FUCK CRYSTAL DYNAMICS??? Oh, and don't get me started about the ending. It's awful. Sure, I think explaining what really happened to her dad at the very end helps recontextualize a bit about the backstory, but it still doesn't answer why he was after the Divine Source in the first place. THE FINAL MINUTES OF THIS GAME IS SO UNBELIEVABLY RUSHED I GENUINELY HAD A VICSERAL REACTION TO IT. THIS WAS SOME FARCRY 4 WRITING HOLY FUCK. Only other compliment I'll give the story was that Jacob was a cool character. I thought he was the only good part after a certain point. All in all, I was not happy when the credits rolled. Fuck this story.
Again, I feel like despite not being perfect, TR2013 was a much better game overall. This game has enough strengths to be 3 1/2 stars like its predecessor, but there is just too much wrong here, and it's a damn shame. I actually enjoyed the side content and improvements here much more than the first. But the overall combat and story ruined it for me.
Pros: This game has the best Lara design. A sprint button has finally been added. Specific weapon-focused executions are a thing and they are AWESOME. Side missions are a cool inclusion and help flesh out the map more. The map is also great and the environments make it my favorite one in the trilogy. And that's saying a lot, as I absolutely LOVED the setting of TR2013. There is overall just so much more to do besides the story, tombs, and side objectives. The graphics are incredible. This is the best looking Tomb Raider game in the trilogy. Mostly everything from the gameplay side of things from TR2013 are great here (except the combat). The cosmetics are great. They basically expanded the traversal from TR2013 and it's awesome. Lara's arc in this game (and the next) is great too, despite the narrative not being great.
Cons: The combat. It's WAY TOO EASY, even after turning up the difficulty and only challenging in a couple firefights here and there. The supernatural enemies were also fun to fight this time around but they're barely in the game. I think the issue is that the AI is just not very good in this game. I don't know if this is fixed in the Survivor difficulty but I was really not enjoying the combat, and this game has A LOT of combat. Maybe it's because they added both manual healing AND regenerative health in this game? Like it literally feels like it's impossible to die and the enemies only ever pose a threat in firefights where they are in high numbers, which is only like 15% of the time. I enjoyed the firefights much more towards the end for that reason, but by the time the combat got good, the game was almost over. It was a super frustrating experience. I went back to TR2013 to see if I was right and yeah, the combat in that game feels much more challenging and fun because you only have regenerative health, better enemy placement, and the fact that you actually have to move around for some of these firefights. IN THIS GAME, I BARELY HAD TO MOVE FOR LIKE 85% OF THE FIREFIGHTS. I don't know if it's the AI, Lara being way more overpowered, or the arenas not being well designed most of the time, but the game barely had any combat sections with weight to it. Plus why in the world does Lara need THIS MANY SKILLS? She's already OP enough as it is, I only need like 10 of these. This is the only game I've ever played where the better you make your character, the worse the game gets. My other gripe is the narrative. It starts out really strong but the game never made me care about anything? They make Lara go after an artifact that her dad was after before he killed himself because in his pursuit for it, everyone called him crazy and ruined his reputation. However, this never really sat right with me because they never actually give an explanation for why he was so obsessed with it in the first place. If anything, it made him look like the bad guy, and although that is the route the next game kinda takes, it's never even implied that he was in the wrong. Trinity's motivations for why they want the artifact is also never explained. They kinda just want it? I know there was the whole subplot with Ana and Konstantin but even that is never explained? Like yeah, Ana needs the Divine Source to cure her sickness, but that's an excuse to join a cultist terrorist organization/pillage an entire village? Either there's a lot of context missing here or this story was made by an 8-year-old. A lot of these ideas are good on paper but it just kinda stays that way because for some reason this game doesn't want to explain the story to you? Like at all? So it just makes the whole adventure feel hollow. And despite there being some good scenes and moments, not enough really goes on in order to make this story worthwhile. It's written poorly, it's structured badly, and the story just kinda gets as lost as Lara does. The supernatural enemies, as I mentioned before, are just shoehorned in. The only other character here worth a damn is Jonah, and he's given absolutely nothing to do. Seriously, he does nothing in this game, he's just kinda there. Lara's arc, as I mentioned, is only good because if you see things in her perspective, it makes sense why she'd go to the lengths she'd go to find the Divine Source. However, it's still pretty rushed initially and most of the context of how she ended up in the spot we see her in when the game starts IS EXPLAINED IN SEPARATE YOUTUBE VIDEOS. STUFF ABOUT SAM AND THE OTHERS, HER TRAUMA FROM THE EVENTS OF THE FIRST GAME? YOU KNOW, THE SHIT THAT MAKES SOME OF THIS STUFF MORE FLESHED OUT? YEAH, THEY'RE NOT IN THE FUCKING GAME, THEY'RE EXPLAINED IN OUTSIDE MATERIAL. WHAT THE FUCK CRYSTAL DYNAMICS??? Oh, and don't get me started about the ending. It's awful. Sure, I think explaining what really happened to her dad at the very end helps recontextualize a bit about the backstory, but it still doesn't answer why he was after the Divine Source in the first place. THE FINAL MINUTES OF THIS GAME IS SO UNBELIEVABLY RUSHED I GENUINELY HAD A VICSERAL REACTION TO IT. THIS WAS SOME FARCRY 4 WRITING HOLY FUCK. Only other compliment I'll give the story was that Jacob was a cool character. I thought he was the only good part after a certain point. All in all, I was not happy when the credits rolled. Fuck this story.
Again, I feel like despite not being perfect, TR2013 was a much better game overall. This game has enough strengths to be 3 1/2 stars like its predecessor, but there is just too much wrong here, and it's a damn shame. I actually enjoyed the side content and improvements here much more than the first. But the overall combat and story ruined it for me.