3 people found this review helpful
Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 29.1 hrs on record (21.1 hrs at review time)
Posted: 21 Jul, 2024 @ 7:48pm

I haven't written reviews for the first 5 entries in the core design Tomb Raider series, since I have been emulating them, but I could quickly sum up my thoughts.
The steady decline in quality of this saga is one of the biggest tragedies in gaming to me.
The foundation of classic TR level design and movement system promises something great, a puzzle platformer rooted in consistency and precision.
Two kinds of jumps that move an exact number of tiles at a time, at their high points they are designed with these simple mechanics in mind, using your knowledge of the grid based design and movement system to challenge you.
But as you play them these high points get scarcer and scarcer, focus gets diverted into new mechanics that are not fleshed out to you, poor conveyance on puzzle solutions, and emphasis on combat sections that are more frustrating than anything.
The annual release schedule and insane crunch snuffed the opportunity for these games to truly grow into something timeless and exceptional, culminating in the sixth and final entry, you get a product that barely even functions.

Angel of Darkness is a tomb raider game on auto pilot.
The solution to puzzles is often the only thing that is intractable or gradable, there are almost no secrets to reward players going off the beaten path, in fact you'll find the locked door to some cut content more often than not.
Mechanics are introduced only to be useless in an hour or so.
Ambitious ideas like the new combat and dialogue systems feel unfinished and scaled back.
Underdeveloped characters getting significant screen time.
All I could think of was, this all could have been avoided if Eidos hadn't tried to get blood from a stone.
For the sixth entry in the series I should be playing the most polished and focused puzzle platformer ever made.
Instead we have a barely finished mess with no identity that just feels sad to play.
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