Having finished the first two and their DLC / Bonus content, returning Shadow tomorrow.

I played the first two reboot games to completion when new and got all their extras and everything, really enjoyed them.

I'm just bored playing Shadow. Currently sneaking through a camp of soldiers in Mexico (super early in the game) and there's a cascade of little things that are pulling me out of the game and draining any fun from it.

This stealthing is so dull now, and again I've not played the first two since new. How am I burned out on the first sequence? Small annoyances like not a single guard has made a sound after taking a pickaxe to the chest? Is it because they're trying to make it "realistic" when the kick the shit out of Lara with the environment, and then she just deletes soldiers like the Predator? Even still Lara herself is such a bore, her miserable line reads are flat as a fart. Maybe it's because I'm English myself I can hear how weirdly stage school (kids in early Potter movies) she is, but it's the same actress from the previous two right?

I have been playing the older ones knowing very well they're a totally different style of game, so in Legend she's quipping and talking to her support guys back in the mansion and in Anniversary she's on her own and happily platforms in silence - fighting the occasional dinosaur. The most glaring difference really is how you can actually see what you're doing - the stages are in daylight (so you don't rely on Survivor vision to ping everything as it's all blotted out in shadow) and while Legend is very linear, I was surprised at how open and prone to back tracking Anniversary was! It does really annoy me in Shadow when in the first stage you see "Requires Re-enforced Knife" when Lara is carrying two pickaxes a shotgun and an assault rifle and can't get through some boards without a special knife.

It's just now I've lost "immersion" I can't get back in. Everything has something that's a totally petty nitpick but they're constant and immediate.

I finished it today, but you've just summed up my entire experience there - I basically hate-played it to completion. I loved the reboot, highly enjoyed Rise, and pretty much detested this by the end. Dull, actively dislikeable characters, a ridiculous story and instakill climbing sections that Lara seems to have a mind of her own on. I was hoping for a game that brought us full circle to the first Tomb Raider game and concluded with an upbeat and exciting Lara - but this couldn't be further from that.

Gallingly, the current build of the game is also carrying a bug that glitches out the completion percentages. Having spent hours finding every last Survival Cache, Document and Relic, I'm now stuck at 98% completion in perpetuity - despite having picked up everything the game has to offer.

After this and Thief, I'm wondering if Eidos Montreal have a grudge against my sense of nostalgia. What a shame.

Edit: I'm also having a lot of trouble with the white saviour complex going on in this game. If Far Cry 3 copped it for that, this absolutely should as well. It's slightly counterbalanced by Lara wanting to fix her mistakes, but that doesn't really excuse it.

The main plot device at the start of the game makes me wish for Laras death. Not a good start os it if you make the protagonist the most unlikable character in the game only to then have her a hero the rest of it

I'm also stuck at 99.x%. I spent a bunch of time using YouTube videos to compare against my in game map. It's really a shame and I hope it gets fix. I completed all the collectibles in TR2013, but stopped around 85% in RotTR. It felt too overwhelming. I don't get that feeling with SotTR.

As for the game itself, I enjoyed it. Assuming the completion bug gets fixed, I'd like to start a New Game+ on Deadly Obsession difficulty. After all the Uncharted and Tomb Raider games, I'd be interested to see what traversal is like without the guiding paint. The Base Camp only checkpoint system seems like a doable challenge, especially if you're just mainlining the story.

I don't mind enemies not respawning in the world the way that some people do. That said, I wish the extra combat modes from RotTR were here to to engage in combat when I want to. I do like the economy and the way weapon acquisition works here. I didn't like assembling weapons from parts in RotTR. In SotTR, I dislike that I can't buy every upgrade for Lara unless I grind a lot of animals. I finished all the weapon upgrades, so I don't need hides for anything.

Fingers crossed that the DLC update brings bug fixes in addition to the new tomb.

When it came to immersion getting rid of the "survival instinct" stuff really helped for me. Also not obsessing over getting every collectable. It's a hard thing to do these days since games have kind of trained people to care about crap that really isnt worth the effort. (trophies, achievements, percentages etc.) I'm not going to pretend that I dont like the jingle that plays when I get a rare achievement but i'm not going to ruin the game in an attempt to get it.

I do agree that the story in Shadow is crap, and I do miss old Lara. I actually played Tomb Raider Underworld prior to this and it was refreshing seeing a woman in her element who enjoys what she does and is good at. This new Lara stumbles around, cries and keeps having to tell herself "I can do this" "you can do this" I get that they're trying to humanise her but it sucks all the fun of it. That being said I enjoyed Shadow more than Underworld, if only because the other elements besides raiding tombs are much better.

I've enjoyed it a lot. I'm only a few hours in, but I will admit I'm not as pulled in or immersed as the previous 2. I LOVED the reboot, I really liked Rise. This is more like Rise for me. The story is no more silly than the previous 2 imo. It plays great. I will admit the VO seems different/off this time around even though its still Camilla Luddington, but overall I've had a good time with it.

The story is kind of bad but there's a certain perspective you can look at it that makes Lara look like an insane person, hanging by a thread and the only thing that keeps her grounded is raiding them tombs! It's a dumb thing but when the game gives you a shit sandwich it helps if you pretend it's filet mignon.

The gameplay is not as easy to do that with. I still like the puzzles and exploring but I think I would like this game more if it had no combat with humans. It just feels hollow and weightless and the level design of the combat arenas feels a little half baked. They slap new mechanics (like the vine covered walls or mud baths) onto the gameplay loop that instead of feeling new and different just feel like they ran out of ideas and had to shoehorn something new in there at the last minute.

With that said the game is gorgeous though I'm really not a fan of Lara's new character design, she just looks strange to me in a way I can't put my finger on. Overall I'm liking the game but too many things are keeping it from being great for me. I hope to finish it eventually but it's been slow going so far.

If this game was about 30 challenge tombs and nothing else, it would be my GOTY. The story is forgettable and really not that interesting, but the world traversal and exploring feels great.

Well, I really enjoyed it. Story is not that great but I enjoyed it more than Rise. The 2013 game is still my favorite.

I agree. In terms of the plot, among all the nonsense there was a hot second there in the third quarter when I thought they would finally do something cool with the character (when someone finally reminded Lara of her body count) but there was no follow-up to that whatsoever. Why even bring it up if it is literally ignored by both the character and the narrative? Very odd.

I played the story to completion mainly because the game is technically impressive, which is as good a reason as any, I suppose.