Limited Run Games, in partnership with Feral Interactive and Crystal Dynamics, is excited to solidify Tomb Raider’s Nintendo Switch debut with a physical release of The Lara Croft Collection.

Pre-orders for standalone copies and Collector’s Editions will run from May 10th until June 9th, 2024, exclusively at limitedrungames.com.

Lara Croft makes her Nintendo Switch debut with two Tomb Raider adventures in one treasure-packed bundle, featuring non-stop arcade combat and 2-4 player co-op. Leap into the fast-paced arcade combat and puzzle-packed platforming of two outstanding adventures for tomb raiders of all abilities; enjoyably easy to pick up, rewardingly difficult to master.

Penetrate dense jungles and navigate elaborate Aztec ruins in Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light, and investigate the cursed tombs of ancient pharaohs in Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris. Blast through hordes of supernatural foes, overcome intricate Challenge Tombs, beat high scores, and equip yourself with a massive arsenal of unlockable weapons, equipment, and magical artifacts.

Limited Run’s premium Collector’s Edition of The Lara Croft Collection celebrates Lara’s 1990s roots and contains everything players want to commemorate their adventures in Guardian of Light and Temple of Osiris. Included are a journal-styled SteelBook, art prints, CD soundtrack and more. The entire collection comes in a trapezoid-shaped box that will fit perfectly with collectors’ late 90s Eidos PC releases.

This May, Limited Run Games will also open pre-orders for physical editions of Tomb Raider I–III Remastered — more details will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The post The Lara Croft Collection to Receive Limited Run Physical Editions appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

You may have enjoyed some of the best games that the last twelve months had to offer, but it’s worth being mindful that many of those games have even more post-launch content to enjoy.

Downloadable content, or DLC, has come a long way since Bethesda’s DLC horse armour mis-adventure with Oblivion. For some, DLC is content that developers should have included in the purchased game, and for short titles, that may, indeed, be the case. For three of the very best titles from last year, games that already featured hours and hours of adventure, the additional DLC is well worth the price of admission.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is my 2018 game of the year. Not content with giving players 100 hours-plus of fun roaming Ancient Greece, Ubisoft scheduled a whole season of additional adventures and challenges for your hero to experience.

Players can already enjoy free regular updates, like epic ships and contracts, but the meatiest of this free content is entitled the Lost Tales of Greece. These episodic questlines offer standalone stories with new characters. Even if you’ve not picked up the season pass, players that have already finished the game, by completing all the existing missions (and fair play to you), still have plenty to look forward to. Most of the thet seven free monthly expansions can already be found in the game, with the rest continuing to be released for the next few months.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Season pass owners are really being looked after. The pass includes a copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered which has just launched. For Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, right now, the first of two additional story arcs are available in the game.

Legacy of the First Blade introduces our hero to Darius, the assassin who allegedly killed the Persian king, Xerxes. All of the three episodes are currently available to play. These introduce some of the elements, that will be familiar to fans of the series (and not just the hidden blade).

The second arc, The Fate of Atlantis (a title that LucasArts fans may be familiar with), shares some more secrets from the famous sunken city. We’ll know more once the story starts sometime in the next month or so.

The Assassin’s Creed Odyssey DLC, both free and as part of the season pass has added some superb new content to the game. Future DLC should keep this already amazing game fresh and exciting for months to come.

Whilst I found Lara Croft’s latest adventure, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, to be a bit lacking in the story department, the game looks great, especially on PC. The game also features some of the best puzzles since the 2013 reboot. This time the tombs are more like the insidious locations of the original games.

The season pass entitles purchasers to download seven DLC expansions, three of which are out right now. Each of the expansions include a new tomb, a new costume, a new ability and a new weapon. Each tomb can be played as a challenge tomb accesses from the main menu of from within the game after players have reached a certain point in the story.

Playing from within the main story, each new tomb includes a new quest line and story element. These paths include extra gameplay and puzzles that lead players to the new tomb.

The first expansion, The Forge adds a new quest-giver in Kuwaq Yaku. The old lady has a map that sends Lara on a new side-quest called Echoes of the Past. Lara must first translate the map with the help of the map’s creator, Diego, then it’s off searching for the tomb entrance.

The fiery tomb itself features lots of explosive gases that Lara must manipulate to swing over red-hot lava pits. The centrepiece is a massive rotating structure that’s an engineering marvel in itself. As with other tombs in the game, successful completion imbues Lara with additional skills for use in the game.

The second DLC, The Pillar, adds a new challenge Tomb to the main menu and a new in-game side-quest called The Age Makers. This new quest is available in Paititi. The Pillar adds a huge chunk of new story and gameplay before Lara even gets to the new tomb area.

The tomb, itself, has Lara battling against the elements in a huge storm throwing rain high winds and lightning bolts her way.

The third DLC, The Nightmare takes Lara back home, to Croft Manor and has her battling supernatural enemies. The fourth instalment, The Price of Survival, pits Lara against elite Trinity soldiers as she makes her way through a tomb packed with deadly traps. The Serpent’s Heart pits Lara against the evil Kukulkan cultists as she seeks to save the lives of the rebels.

The recently released DLC, The Grand Cayman gives us another challenge tomb and a new mission to save the people of San Juan, as Lara does battle against a group of mercenaries and solves the puzzles of a new volcanic tomb.

These DLC packs each offer, at the very least, a solid hour’s worth of tomb raiding and extra questing. If you try each again as challenge tombs you can easily add on another half-hour per episode. You are likely going to get a good ten hours of extra game time from the full seven DLC packs.

Square Enix have really pulled out all the stops with the Shadow of the Tomb Raider post-launch content. The season pass affords players hours of new gameplay, repayable challenges, costumes and abilities.

For our third game that keeps on giving, we need look no further than the adventures of the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, exclusive to PlayStation 4.

Whilst Spider-Man is a huge game straight out of the box, packed with Marvel Easter Eggs, Season Pass owners get even more web-swinging action. The Spider-Man DLC The City That Never Sleeps is split into three self-contained episodes. As well as new story, you also get new suits and side activities to play through.

The first episode “The Heist” introduces Felicia Hardy AKA The Black Cat, who was mentioned, but never seen in the main Spider-Man campaign. The story plays on the unlikely former relationship between Spider-Man and the cat burglar. Black Cat is after some of Hammerheads hard drives and enlists Spider-Man’s help. We also get to play as Mary-Jane in another of her stealth missions. The episode games players some down-time in which to locate some of paintings hidden my Felicia’s father, the first Black Cat. Finishing The Heist unlocks the Spider-UK suit.

The City That Never Sleeps continues with “Turf War”. For this second DLC it’s all-out gang war in the Big Apple. Hammerhead is trying to take down the Maggia dons and Spider-Man is in the middle. Add some seasoned gangsters and a sprinkling of Sable tech and you’ve a recipe for disaster. This DLC whilst fun, is a bit weaker than its predecessor. The Spider-Man DLC concludes with “Silver Lining”. This finale features the return of Silver Sable, who is not happy that Hammerhead hands his hands on her technology.

As well as additional storylines The City that Never Sleeps provides players with new collectables and side missions, as well as additional spider-suits and abilities. There’s even a few more frames for your photo-mode shots. This is on top of some special suits that the developers, Insomniac, have added to the game, fee to all.

These three huge and very different games from the three very different publishers of Ubisoft, Square Enix and Sony Computer Entertainment, offer players some of the best gaming experiences you could want. DLC content, whilst not denying it would have been nice for it to have been in the base games, can hardly be seen as a cash grab. Rather it extends the gaming experience for players that want to extend their time immersed in these incredible game worlds. If only more publishers’ DLC provided such value for money.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is available now on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is available across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well. Spider-Man, however, is only available on PlayStation 4. All three games are some of my favourite titles from 2018 and come highly recommended.

The post The Games that keep on Giving! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

To celebrate International Woman’s Day, Xbox and STG have a round up of some of the more kick-ass female characters in video gaming.

International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. At Xbox, they are working to champion women on both sides of the screen – those that make and create games, together with the role models and characters that inhabit the stories young players play, enjoy and can learn from.

Whilst women make up nearly half of video game players, they are underrepresented in the virtual world as lead characters in video games. To celebrate this day, Xbox is celebrating its most fearless female characters in its titles on Xbox Game Pass, celebrating the best female characters who are not to be messed with!

Lara Croft

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition): Lara Croft is a legend in gaming adventure and bravery. She is a highly intelligent archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around the world. A bold and brave gaming hero, Lara’s mental toughness and drive stands out most, and her ability to drive an arrow with the utmost precision remains unmatched by her male video game counterparts. Take that Indy!

Elastigirl

Elastigirl (Rush: A DisneyPixar Adventure): Elastigirl can stretch any part of her body to great lengths and mould it into several shapes and sizes. Prior to marrying Mr. Incredible, she planned to break the glass ceiling as a female superhero, but when it became illegal to work as a ‘Super’, she then devoted her efforts to raising three super-children in a normal world. Her elastic, bullet-proof body has proven incredibly useful, both on and off the field, as she manages fighting crime and balance of life at home. We know women bend over backwards for their families, but this takes it to another level .

Joule Adams

Joule Adams (ReCore): Joule Adams is one of the last remaining humans on the planet “Far Eden,” a mysterious and dangerous world controlled by evil robotic enemies. With her trusty Corebot companion, Mack, Joule begins her adventure in Far Eden to save mankind from a terrible fate.

Xbox Game Pass is a monthly gaming membership that provides unlimited access to a catalogue of more than one hundred great games across a variety of genres on Xbox One, for a one low-monthly price.

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Lara Croft is back in in the third chapter of the reimagining of the classic series. For this game, things are apparently taking a dark turn for the novice tomb raider.

The story continues to follow Lara’s quest to disrupt the intentions of Trinity, the shadowy organisation responsible for her father’s death. This time out Lara starts of in Mexico, searching for a Mayan dagger. It’s her obsession for the artefact that sets in motion events that may just lead to the end of the world. It’s then off to Peru to find a silver box that may, or may not put things right again. Of course, Trinity are one step ahead wanting to use the powerful artefacts for a bit a mischief.

If you liked the gameplay of both the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and the 2015 sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider you are in for a treat. Whilst I found the combat in Shadow of the Tomb Raider almost identical to its predecessors, both the stealth and climbing mechanic have been overhauled, somewhat.

Whereas the original Tomb Raider games were all run, jump and gun when it came to bad guys, these new Tomb Raider games require Lara to tread a bit more carefully, picking the enemy off one-by-one. The bad guys often patrol in numbers and with vastly superior firepower. For this entry in the saga, Lara can cover herself in mud to not only hide from guards equipped with thermal cameras, but also against vegetation-covered walls. As well as just sneaking up behind them, enemies can also be dispatched by dragging them into the foliage whilst hiding against walls and in bushes. Lara can also string up enemies from trees and pull them into water.

Traversing the huge environments has never been more fun or as challenging. Armed with her pickaxe, Ms. Croft can not only scale rocky cliff-faces, she can also, when suitably equipped, now climb up and under rock outcrops, hanging like, well… a spider.

There’s little doubt that the developers, Crystal Dynamics have been looking at the work of their competitors for inspiration, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The stealth borrows a lot from Assassin’s Creed, and so do the new fear arrows (crafted from poisonous critters). One hit from a fear arrow and the enemy goes into a mad killing frenzy before dying. Sound familiar?

Even though the combat borrows a bit from other titles, when it comes to the puzzles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider has gone back to its roots. One of the criticisms that I had of the last two games were the relatively easy puzzles. I found that there was very little challenge in solving the puzzles of both the main quest line and the optional challenge tombs.

Whereas Rise of the Tomb Raider was a step in the right direction, the puzzles, this time, rival some of those brain- teasers for the original Tomb Raider series. Of course, better Level design means that you are unlikely to be spending hours trying solve a puzzle like you did in the OG Tomb Raider. For the most part, the puzzles in Shadow of the Tomb Raider are quite ingenious. Secrets are revealed and doors are unlocked using wind, fire and water using ancient and often perilously decaying mechanisms.

Both the main quest line and the optional challenge tombs (of which there are not nearly enough) all feature some of the best Level design, when it comes to puzzles and exploration, in the series so far.

Gameplay-wise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is generally superior to its predecessors. That’s not to say the game isn’t without its faults.

For the most part, the plot works well. Even Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara, seems to have better settled into the role – only occasionally overdoing the received pronunciation that masks the British-American actress’ Mid-Atlantic accent.

It’s when Lara gets to the Peruvian city of Paititi that the game, for me anyway, hit a narrative roadblock.

Whereas Rise of the Tomb Raider had a hidden tribe of people living in Siberia speaking perfect English with an American accent, this time we have the occupants of a Peruvian lost city, again, speaking English, although to its credit, with a “foreign” accent. You can change the language to Peruvian(?) with the “voice-over immersion” option, but that’s also weird as Lara still speaks to the indigenous people in English. During this segment Lara also dons an outlandish (i.e. awful) costume, which with the addition of an (equally awful) mask, she uses as a disguise – fooling the locals, even with her clipped English Home Counties accent.

The developers seem to strive to give Lara a deeper meaning than just being an archaeologist that likes raiding tombs. It really doesn’t work. Rationalising a videogame character in this manner is virtually impossible. In real world terms Lara Croft is a psychotic murderess, which of course she is not, she’s a character in a video game.

Thankfully, with Paititi behind her, the story picks up, once more.

As with the previous games, Lara is accompanied by her Kiwi-born friend, Jonah. unfortunately, he only really serves as Lara’s moral compass (when the plot suits – the rest of the time he is all about the murdering, as well) and as the muscle. Jonah is always there to lift obstacles and open up the next area when the game wants you to move on.

As is now becoming the norm, Shadow of the Tomb Raider includes a photo-mode. I’m not sure if I’m just being spoilt by the graphical advances of the last year or so, but the photo-mode seem to emphasise the nagging feeling that the visuals of the game on the PlayStation 4 Pro, whilst nice to look at, were perhaps up to the standard of many of the game’s contemporaries. Freezing the game for a photo-op, nine times out of ten, revealed a Lara Croft posed awkwardly with a shockingly vacant expression on her face.

Lara’s trip down uncanny valley aside, the game’s environments and the detail in the various tomb and underground chambers are superb. The visuals in the set pieces, which I’m not going to talk about at all, rival those of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Thankfully, the PC version of the game offers a vast visual improvement over the PS4. Better lighting, higher resolution textures and I’d even say better facial animations make the PC a more definitive version of the game. That being said, running the game on a pair of GeForce GTX1080ti GPUs the visuals are not hugely different from three-year-old Rise of the Tomb Raider. This will change for owners of the upcoming Turing-based GeForce RTX GPUs, as Shadow of the Tomb Raider supports the cards’ ground-breaking real-time raytracing capabilities

New for Shadow of the Tomb Raider are a set of customisable Difficulty settings. Players that are tired of the less than subtle points that designers commonly put into their games to help guide players will be very pleased. Visual cues such as the white paint to highlight climbable items can be adjusted in intensity or removed altogether. The beacons and glowing items using Lara’s survival instincts can also be switched off. Puzzle hints can be reduced and Lara’s health abilities adjusted. There are six variable that can be adjusted to customise the game Difficulty according to taste and ability.

As Lara progresses she earns experience points which unlock skill points. As before, the camp fires dotted about the game can be used to spend skill points to improve Lara’s abilities. At these locations players can also upgrade Lara’s weapons using scrape picked up during the game.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a great game, but suffers a bit in execution. It’s a bit uneven.

The puzzles are better, but it lacks the polish of the last two games. The plot is bearable, at least compared to Rise of the Tomb Raider, but the developers really need to do up their narrative game to be in the same ball park as Naughty Dog and their Uncharted games.

That being said, I enjoyed the game immensely. It could, however, be a lot better. I hope that Square Enix take a step back before embarking on the inevitable fourth chapter.

The post Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4 / PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Warner Bros. has just released info to us at StG on their up coming Tomb Raider film, set to release next year (2018).

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.

Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tomb Raider is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina,” “The Danish Girl”) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (“The Wave”), with Oscar-winner Graham King (“The Departed”) producing under his GK Films banner. The film’s production began on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the wildly popular videogame franchise from Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.

Tomb Raider also stars Dominic West (“Money Monster,” “300”), Walton Goggins (“The Hateful Eight,” “Django Unchained”) and Daniel Wu (AMC’s “Into the Badlands”).
Shooting on location in South Africa and the UK, Uthaug directs from a script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography George Richmond (“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”); production designer Gary Freeman (“Maleficent”); Oscar-nominated editor Stuart Baird (“Skyfall,” “Gorillas in the Mist”); and costume designer Tim Wonsik (key costumer, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”).

From the film’s Director, Roar Uthaug; “Being a longtime fan of the game, it’s important to me to honor the Lara Croft legacy and capture that spirit. It’s great to know that there’s such a passionate global fan base for Lara and her world, and our commitment to that will be evident in our movie. What’s different about this “Tomb Raider” movie is that it’s an origin story for the big screen, focusing not only on Lara’s strength and physical accomplishments but her humanity. We see Lara as a young woman, smart and capable but largely unfocused, and follow her on a dangerous journey that will push her to her limits in every sense, and allow her to hone the skills she needs to ultimately become who she was meant to be. As Lara Croft, Alicia Vikander is brilliant. She brings great depth to a complex role that is both physically and emotionally demanding. We hope this film will delight fans around the world and add another intriguing chapter to the Tomb Raider story.”

Producer of the 2018 Tomb Raider Graham King states, “I’m excited to be a part of this new Tomb Raider story, which introduces the origins of Lara Croft and delves into the humanity of this character. Alicia Vikander is a gifted actress that brings so much to this role. Our director, Roar Uthaug is extremely passionate and has an eye for scale as well as gritty realism. It’s been a wonderful experience shooting in various locations around South Africa and we hope that using these actual locations will give a grounded sense of reality. It’s our goal to make a film that will not only delight fans but enthrall a world-wide audience.”

Tomb Raider releases in New Zealand and Australian cinemas in 2018.

The post First Look at Tomb Raider 2018 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Recently at PlayStation Experience 2016, Square Enix Montréal announced Lara Croft GO, the Lara Croft adventure, is now available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita and is fully compatible with PlayStation 4 Pro. Developed in collaboration with Montréal indie studio, KO_OP, Lara Croft GO will feature a new story chapter, “Mirror of Spirits,” which includes new puzzles, mechanics, achievements, trophies and more—available first for PlayStation.  

“We’ve partnered with the talented artists at KO_OP to deliver a new Lara Croft GO chapter all while retaining the spirit of the Lara Croft franchise,” said Antoine Routon, lead engineer and co-creative at Square Enix Montréal. “Extending Lara Croft GO beyond the mobile platforms is a testament to the game’s success and our team is incredibly proud.”

In Lara Croft GO, Lara uses her wits and weapons to delve into dangerous chasms filled with mystery, artifacts and peril. Featuring an ambient, mesmerizing soundtrack, stunning art style, and didactic turn-based puzzle solving that made the game a critical and commercial success on mobile platforms last year, the new console version features finely tuned controls, trophies (including a platinum), as well as cross-buy and cross-save functionalities so you can purchase and play it on both platforms without losing progress.

“This has been a momentous time for Lara Croft, as the industry and gamers worldwide have joined us in celebrating The Year of Tomb Raider,” said Rich Briggs, Global Brand Director at Crystal Dynamics. “Lara Croft first appeared on PlayStation in 1996, and 20 years later it’s exciting to pay homage to this legacy by bringing Lara Croft GO to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita first.”

Lara Croft GO is available with an added 20 percent discount for PS Plus Members. The game is also available on Steam as of Sunday, December 4th, 2016, featuring all of the original content with the ‘Mirror of Spirits’ story chapter following three months later. Additional platforms will be discussed at a later date.

The turn-based puzzle adventure game casts players as the iconic Lara Croft as she explores the ancient ruins of a long forgotten civilization. Over the span of seven chapters and 115 puzzles, players must help Lara fight menacing enemies, overcome dangerous obstacles and traps, and ultimately, uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom. Along the way, players can collect ancient relics hidden throughout the game world to unlock additional outfits for the most nostalgic fans.

The post Lara Croft is GO on PlayStation 4 & PS Vita appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Tomb Raider has been around in one form or another, through both highs and lows for twenty years now. And what better way to celebrate the game than with a new version of the most recent game in the series, packed to the brim with new content?

Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration (a mouthful to be sure) is not only the best version of last year’s game on consoles, but in a strong sense a homage to the series as a whole, lest we forget it as the inspiration for a whole range of action-adventure games. While it doesn’t spend too much time being nostalgic, the litany of modes, missions and extras is a welcome, (if slightly confusing), addition to last year’s release. The package includes the main game, all the DLC that has been released for the Xbox One and PC version, some new DLC (also being released alongside the 20 Year Celebration for existing owners on those platforms) and exclusive VR content for the PlayStation VR.

In the main story, Rise of the Tomb Raider, we see Lara Croft emerge as her own. This review won’t cover the main game in detail, as we have already covered it excellently last year with Darren’s review. Suffice it to say that having played it myself as well, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a worthy and successful entry into the rebooted series, and shows that Crystal Dynamics was no one trick pony with 2013’s fresh take on Tomb Raider. While not as emotionally resonant as it perhaps desires to be, strong shooting, crafting and exploring mechanics come together as a worthy challenger to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series.

And the presentation on the PS4 is very similar to that on its Xbox One counterpart with some extra additions in some area. My only real complaint is that the game still does not run at 60FPS, but the upcoming PS4 Pro (or the further out Project Scorpio) may be my solution for true 1080p/60FPS performance on a console here.

Yet this version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is less important for its main story as everything else included in the package.

The 20 Year Celebration introduces a walking-simulator like experience called “Blood Ties.” Set between the first and second chapters of the game, Lara is tasked with exploring her father Lord Richard Croft’s manor to find documents that cement her claim to the building. It’s a short but touching experience that mainly involves discovering voice recording, relics from Lara’s childhood and her father’s research notes. Its quiet tone stands in stark contrast to the highly kinetic main story. The short time in the house gives you much more backstory into her parent’s history, and it is for the most part well written.

Blood Ties doesn’t outstay its welcome nor take itself too seriously. My sole issue is with Camilla Luddington’s voice acting, though I feel it may be more of the direction she was given rather than her skills themselves. Every item you discover is described in the exact same breathless tone of voice, which can grate after the fiftieth time you hear it.

I explored Croft Manor in Playstation VR, which was interesting, but clearly a bit of a gimmick, yet I can see that it would be a great introduction to virtual reality experiences to players new to the medium.

Also set on the same map in Croft Manor is “Lara’s Nightmare” zombie survival mode – sort of a horror wave-based mode. If Blood Ties is what happens during the day, Lara’s Nightmare is what happens at night when you’re home alone in a decrepit mansion. The zombies (sorry, infected) are genuinely terrifying and there is a real sense of dread throughout, although some of the horror is counteracted by the option to use character skins from the PlayStation 1 and 2 era, which looks hilarious and of which I took advantage of immediately.

Together, these two modes feel like little experiments by the developers that they created in extra time, as something completely different to the main story entries. They’re nice distractions and welcome additions to the game’s package, though ultimately both are forgettable as you can get better narrative walking simulator and wave-based zombie gameplay elsewhere.

Together with the addition of co-op to the DLC Endurance mode and a new Extreme Survivor difficulty the game is now brimming with content to justify its full-price for a year-old game. In addition, Square Enix has attempted to turn Tomb Raider into an endlessly-replayable experience, where the main story mission is meant to be just the beginning of your time with the game with mission modifiers, the new difficulty mode and time trial. Actually getting to those modes can be a little difficult, with a relatively complex and muddled UI that seems to have been designed for the main story only. They seem to be options to keep you coming back to the game – that shibboleth of modern game design: retention.

But I can’t really see that happening. Like Uncharted, Tomb Raider is a game that is at its best in the main story. And that’s okay. Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration is the very best (console) version of a very good game. If you haven’t already played it on either PC or Xbox, then this version is the one to pick up. For PS4 users who haven’t had the chance to try out the game, the 20 Year Celebration represents a great deal that will keep you entertained for many hours.

I’m looking forward to examining the improvements the PS4 Pro bring to the game as demonstrated at the updated console’s launch event, but that will have to wait for now.

If you already have the game on other platforms all of the content released as part of the 20 Year Celebration, with the exception of VR support for Blood Ties, will be made available to existing Xbox One and PC users as part of the game’s season pass. So really, you can’t go wrong with this exciting, highly enjoyable game.