Palms are sweaty, heart racing, jaw dropped, and mind was blown. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a third-person exploration game that continues the story of our brave adventurer Laura Croft. In this installment that released in 2018 Laura is stopping the apocalypse. Seriously though, there is an earthquake, an erupting volcano, and a few demons standing in our way. I mean, in all fairness we wouldn’t have had this issue if we didn’t take the dagger, but im getting ahead of myself.
The Laura croft series is a lengthy one that started in 1996, with nineteen games in the franchise spanning to movies, merchandise, etc. Laura croft is one of the most iconic video game heroine’s of our time showing us and younger girls that you can do anything the boys can do. Having brains brawns a sense of humor that at times is dry and not so well placed Laura is the quintessential human. I mean that in the sense that she is awkward, she loves what she does and she has a sense of humility to her makes her strong mentally. Yes, she is freakishly strong in her arms too but im not talking about that right now. Her humility and mental fortitude are what make her one of the most iconic female game characters of all time. Going through her father and mother’s death, avenging her father and his legacy, finding hidden secrets that her father left behind, and doing this all while having a thirst to learn and be more.
In some ways, I would compare Laura Croft to batman. She lost both her parents, Jonah serves as an “Alfred Esque figure”, and she avenges her father's/families death, and in this game is always saving others in some shape or form. She is the human turned hero that we all want to be. Her emotion carries her to do the things that we can only imagine. Her willpower to do greater, and become the person that she wills into existence is a powerful thing that shows people playing this, and younger girls especially who have grown up with this game that you can be a strong thinker who can change the way the world thinks.
With Laura croft's message being one of mental power and physical strength, let's dive into the mechanics and how it ties into the game with the story. The mechanics are beautiful. I know this is a bias because I love the game but listen, the mechanics are EFFORTLESS and flow well with each designed and premeditated movement. The jumps, the crouches, the snow pick, and the way it gabs onto the mountain when you hit the button at the right moment, beautiful. There were minor bugs during gameplay, but not that big of an issue where and one point while people were shooting at Laura and I couldn’t get her to grab onto a ledge, but I think that was more of me thing than a game thing considering the fact that those people in the game really wanted Laura dead, so maybe I was really trying too hard to save her, and the universe was like “you have escaped death, you jumped bounds and leaps over caverns you were supposed to go a while ago”. Am I really holier than thou to stop her death when it's supposed to happen? Yes, that’s exactly what im supposed to do because it’s a game and the good guys always win but in reality with how many times I died in-game, and how many mountains Laura fell off of due to my stupidity, sweaty palms, or bad luck the universe wanted her to get some rest if you know what I mean.
Now that I have made you all sufficiently uncomfortable, and this took on a darker turn than I had intended let's go over my final thoughts. Shadow of tomb raider dives into the history of Paititi, Peru, and different parts of Mexico that give balance to an already rich story of the tomb raider. I found myself giggling with excitement as I progressed throughout the game, and loved sharing my knowledge with you all not just on the history that the game discusses but the game mechanics and my history with it as a kid as well. This was a wonderful game and I would recommend it to anyone that Loves Tomb Raider.
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