After just 30 minutes of playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I am in disbelief on how bad the writing is

[Memento]

So there was a demo avaiable on PS Store (I think it was the whole intro section) and I thought to myself, why not? I really enjoyed TR2013 so lets see it.

First of all, it is an stunning looking game. The graphics are one of the best on PS4. It is supposedly a 100+ million budget game, and hell yeah it shows when it comes to visuals.

But now the bad... my first impression was that the game plays like absolute garbage. The animations are also REALLY bad which makes everything even worse. The climbing particulary is incredibly janky, especially compared to its contemporary, Uncharted TLL. It is like night and day how both of these games controls.

But the biggest turn off was everything related to the writing. It is true TR2013 was not a piece of art in that regard, but at least it was an enjoyable fun ride. This one.. it is outright terrible. The whole premise and the intro is so stupid I kept thinking to myself why would someone greenlight that.

Of course, I just played the intro. It could always get better, but yeah, if this demo was supposed to sell me on it... yeah, no.

 

[Deleted member 1635]

Yeah, I stopped playing about 40 minutes into it, too, despite really liking the previous two entries. Something about it just felt "off." I've still got it installed, so will probably try going back to it eventually. Luckily I got it very cheap.

 

[Mediking]

They don't how how to write Lara at all. They could be doing so many new and cool things with her. Its kinda bizarre that they don't. I'm open to a interesting interpretation of her.

 

[TheJackdog]

i actually thought the writing in the beginning was miles ahead of how it ends.

soooo. uhh...have fun!!!

 

[Bundy]

Yeah, it's not good. Clearly the worst one of the new TR games.

 

[Deleted member 1413]

I remember the writing/narrative in Rise of the Tomb Raider being notably bad as well.
Just part of the franchise at this point, I guess.

I did like the gameplay of RotTR, but it felt poorly paced and a bit unpolished

 

[Deleted member 1185]

Didnt they get a new writer for this one? How can it be even worse than Rise?

 

[BDS]

These games are written way too seriously. They need an Uncharted-style tone and characterization.

 

[OrdinaryPrime]

They were at least trying something in the beginning. The hubris and general guilt that Lara has is at least something new.

 

[Equanimity]

Yup, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. Mechanically it's the best modern Tomb Raider, but the story and every single character including Lara fall flat.

 

[RoboPlato]

The writing continues to get worse as the game goes on too. It's such a stupid narrative.

 

[Squall5042]

I definitely agree with you about it playing like garbage. Sometimes I wouldn't know which way to go only to find out you're expected to make an impossibly long jump, which Lara just effortlessly floats across.

 

[Firestorm]

I haven't played Shadow yet even though I thoroughly enjoyed the first two, but uh, after Rise my hopes for the writing are below sea level.

 

[Deleted member 4093]

It cant be that bad

 

[carlsojo]

I only got halfway through the game but I remember the story/writing actually being pretty good. To each his/her own.

 

[Angie]

I'm more surprised than you expected to be good lol

TR stories are just not good. But the games are fun.

 

[DailyCalmSpirit]

Yep, this is a big reason why I was baffled at the super positive response when it came to Game Pass. Game stinks. I really don't feel like they ever topped the initial reboot.

 

[HamCormier]

You basically didn't give us any examples, though... What do you mean?

 

[Alienhated]

Yeah, the entire Reboot series features extremely amateurish, terrible writing, from that point of view they're really, really, really bad.

 

[zma1013]

This new trilogy of Tomb Raider games starts off with Lara saying "I hate tombs!"

It's not surprising how bad it ends up.

 

[Memento]

Yup, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. Mechanically it's the best modern Tomb Raider, but the story and every single character including Lara fall flat.

Click to shrink...

I think it plays really bad, I don't remember TR2013 being so janky? Of course in 2013 the standarts were different, but I actively hate how SOTTR plays. I cant even make Lara walk a straight line because she moves like she is drunk. The camera makes a big impact on that as well. Seems like it is moving all the time... wtf.

 

[Raijinto]

It's on Game Pass if you want to give it another go without buying it outright OP. It gets better, quite quickly in fact, IMO so you might be surprised.

 

[Fantastical]

These games are written way too seriously. They need an Uncharted-style tone and characterization.

Click to shrink...

I think it could be as serious as they want but they have to actually be written competently which these are not.

 

[Shevek]

For Crystal Dynamics to go from the absolutely brilliant writing in the Legacy of Kain series to the god-awful writing and characterisation in the Tomb Raider reboots has been so disappointing to witness. I have no excitement whatsoever for games by CD anymore.

 

[NeroPaige]

It just wasn't a very good game overall, very pretty though.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

I finished the entire first section and have not revisited it since. It is a shame because I really enjoyed the prior 2 games in the series.

I'll likely get back to it eventually. I think. Maybe.

 

[JUNGLEGAMER]

Yeah the writing is TERRIBLE. The story and characters suck as well. The game is very pretty and I really enjoyed exploring tombs, but Lara and Johnna are pretty unremarkable.

 

[litebrite]

It's hard to take OP seriously with how hyperbolic their opinion is within the context of terribly written video games and terrible games in general.
LOL @ "game plays like absolute garbage".

 

[Memento]

You basically didn't give us any examples, though... What do you mean?

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The writers try to make everything VERY serious, which ends up biting them in the ass because the characterization is so bad I ended up rolling my eyes at everything. Actually, I laughed my ass off in the scene Jonah says something like "the world is not only about you" or something, while she is acting all sociopath "NO! I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN STOP HIM. WE, NEED, TO, GO, NOW, JONAH!". Girl you just killed half Mexico, chill out.

 

[Kissenkopf]

This new trilogy of Tomb Raider games starts off with Lara saying "I hate tombs!"

It's not surprising how bad it ends up.

Click to shrink...

Yes, that must be the reason for the bad writing...a sentence in the beginning. Sorry but that is such a "Gamer" logic. "Oh, the game pisses on the old games so everything is BAD!!!" Even if you didnten intend to mean it that way it just SOUNDS like that.

Uff...well...I wonder which games you guys think have good writing? Tomb Raider is okay, not bad, not really good either. But only a few games are well written and I think the last one I enjoyed in that regard was Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

 

[Elliott]

Not as bad as Rise though right? Right?!

 

[UnknownSoldier]

Yeah, stopped playing after the first hour or so, the writing is awful and Lara is a bland character.

 

[SirKai]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the only mainline Tomb Raider game I ever put down before seeing the ending. I think I made it like 30 or 40% of the way through the game. I expected the story to be disappointed since Rise was so lame in that regard, but I thought they'd finally be moving past the daddy-baggage stuff so things would HAVE to improve right?

Spoiler

NOPE!

Also yes, the gameplay design is horrible. I really do appreciate that there's a much bigger emphasis on puzzles compared to TR2013 and Rise, but there's so little going on in the game. Shadow is seriously "picking up garbage" the game. In 6-7 hours it really felt like I spent the vast majority of the game just picking up crafting things and opening stuff that arbitrarily gives me EXP, and it's all worthless because the TR games aren't properly designed to be compelling RPGs/immersive sims, and the upgrades don't even matter because there's practically no danger anyway since fights and enemies are so infrequent. They play up Lara as a "jungle predator" but in 7 hours I had probably less than 5 moments where I could actually stealth enemies. The "side quests" are the most trite, banal shit I've ever seen and it seriously feels like a fucking joke that Lara is even bothering with helping random townspeoples' dumbass problems. This is the advent of "modernizing" game design choices that Tomb Raider absolutely did not need.

Rise was already a kind of flat, underwhelming game, but I still managed to play through it twice, and while TR2013 has some problems and is way too linear/action focused, at least that game has a sense of fire, energy, and actual stuff happening. The pacing and direction is there for the first game, is seriously waning in Rise, and I don't even know what Shadow is supposed to be, except that the devs really liked the idea of the player constantly picking up garbage.

 

[litebrite]

Not as bad as Rise though right? Right?!

Click to shrink...

I thought the story was better than Rise.

 

[Mezati99]

dude, i played this right after completing Uncharted 4 and LMFAO i dropped it like two hours in

it's so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad

 

[SnatcherHunter]

The hate wagon..

Its not bad..

I seen worst..

Then again, I seen better.

It is serviceable.

 

[gogosox82]

The writing all of the TR reboots has been terrible. You can't seriously be this surprised that the writing is bad in this as well can you? Even in TR13 it was terrible with all of those terrible trope of characters it had and ROTR wasn't any better either.

 

[ghibli99]

I loved the first two games, so I just hope I end up enjoying Shadow too and that everything I see is just hyperbole. LOL

 

[Wamb0wneD]

Yep, this is a big reason why I was baffled at the super positive response when it came to Game Pass. Game stinks. I really don't feel like they ever topped the initial reboot.

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Everything on Gamepass gets a positive response because it's basically for free.

 

[Cheesy]

I legit never got why people think the TR reboots were good. I played 1 and 2 and had to kinda push myself to beat them. It feels like they're trying to be Uncharted, but with like none of the charm or fun characters of the Uncharted games, or fun gameplay for that matter. The gameplay feels too system heavy for the kind of game it is and the semi-open world is a slog to run around and backtrack through, and the guns all feel like wimpy pea shooters. The stories of Tomb Raider just feels edgy, like they constantly revel in showing Lara get beat up and hurt, lots of grimdark BS, then Story Lara and Game Lara are two different characters. At the beginning of Rise of the Tomb Raider Lara expresses regret for ever learning how to shoot a gun, then Game Lara shortly after will strangle people with bow string and drive a climbing pick in their head, all the while carrying like five different weapons likes shes Doomguy.

 

[SirKai]

The writing all of the TR reboots has been terrible. You can't seriously be this surprised that the writing is bad in this as well can you? Even in TR13 it was terrible with all of those terrible trope of characters it had and ROTR wasn't any better either.

Click to shrink...

Tomb Raider 2013 didn't have a great story but it was definitely better than the following games. There's a relatable zeal and satisfaction you get from Lara as she rips and tears through the cultists across the island. They're preachy, holier-than-thou assholes who are killing your friends and constantly trying to screw you over, so Lara's nearly Spec-Ops-The-Line-level of murderous retribution is at least fun to go along with. Rise and Shadow don't even have that.

Also, Crystal's prior new TR games, Legend and Underworld, actually did have great stories. They injected Lara with emotional heft, baggage, and development, and it worked. Underworld, though its gameplay and pacing are very flawed, is a VERY satisfying story with an excellent rendition of Lara voiced amazingly by Keely Hawes (please come back!), and the ending is a wonderful conclusion that tops off the entire Legend/Anniversary/Underworld trilogy perfectly.

 

[Maturin]

Someone shocked writing in a videogame is bad. Good lord.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

The platforming in Tomb Raider is waayyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than Uncharted.

It's janky on purpose because you actually have timing windows and stuff unlike Uncharted's completely automated system.

It's still nowhere close to as good as a real platformer though.

 

[Ralemont]

You played TR2013 and are still in disbelief at Shadow's writing?

Disagree on the climbing as I find it way more enjoyable than Uncharted's.

 

[SirKai]

Someone shocked writing in a videogame is bad. Good lord.

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I think this is a take that has to slow down. AAA video game writing, and video game writing in general, is not THAT bad nowadays. Video game stories and characters are still highly flawed, but if you compare Shadow of the Tomb Raider to the major AAA releases in recent years, like Horizon Zero Dawn, Nier Automata, God of War, Spider-Man, Resident Evil 7/RE2 Remake, Divinity Original Sin 2, Watch Dogs 2, Yakuza 0/Yakuza 6, all have some strong parts of their narrative that are easy to attach to and appreciate even if they have obvious problems and are not amazing top-to-bottom. There are of course some duds that on the level of games like Rise/Shadow of the Tomb Raider, like Far Cry 5, but I truly believe game stories that are that dull and awful are truly an outlier now.

 

[ShyMel]

I really did not care for the stories in the latest Tomb Raider trilogies. Especially since I felt like

Spoiler

Dominguez being the Trinity leader felt like the writers rushing to end the trilogy.

 

[BoJack]

It could always get better

Click to shrink...

Yeah, nope! It just gets worse.

 

[Deleted member 43077]

Shadow is the best one of the trilogy.

 

[Edgar]

Someone shocked writing in a videogame is bad. Good lord.

Click to shrink...

are we in 2000s again?

 

[Azurik]

It gets much worse OP, don't worry. That is if you can stomach it that long. The best bit about this game is the tomb challenges, but that is about it