Sadly I'm a little underwhelmed. This didn't do much to forward the gameplay or presentation, and once again the story is nothing to write home about. There are some minor improvements, like the automated and [for lack of a better word] "magnetized" platforming seems to have been eased off a little. There's definitely more room for error when making jumps. But the stealth is painfully easy and turns nearly every enemy encounter into a cake walk. Shadow also incorporates a lot more forced walking sections which really dragged the pace down at points.

While it was nice to see this game optimised for Series X, it unfortunately had a few visual shortcomings. Notably the shadows would constantly flicker against the foliage and this was a constant distraction throughout the game. Saw my fair share of bugs this time around too; nothing game breaking but this entry certainly felt the least polished of the trilogy. It's four years old at this point so you'd think they would have ironed out the kinks by now.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the Tomb Raider trilogy. It didn't blow me away but they are solid adventures that are worth at least one playthrough. Gun to my head I guess I would consider Rise to be my favourite of the three, but they're all of relatively the same quality.