Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Gloom Raider

Apologies for being so late to the party ... but I just played through the rebooted 2013 Tomb Raider and I'm not impressed. Perhaps I'm a little impressed but, overall, I'm not. Let me explain:

Back in 1996 a game company by the name of Core released the titular (puntastic) Tomb Raider which was known more for the ice-cream coned protagonist as it was known for pretty good hand-animated motions for Lara Croft, gameplay and ... wait for it ... raiding of tombs. Most of the actual gameplay focussed around traversing precarious environments, solving puzzles, shooting animals and retrieving treasure and this basic formula held strong for 13 (!) releases/re-releases. Naturally, by the later releases, this formula began to feel a little stale. Personally, I was kind of sick of the game after Tomb Raider 2 but, apparently, this was not the case for many, as could be evidenced by the sheer number of releases.

It was clear that Lara would need to be redesigned for the current market, and so, the reboot was kicked off because, over the course of 17 years of stagnancy, many contenders had proved how climbing, level design and combat could be done better. But first, I will go over what I think were the main guiding principles used when designing this new game:

  • Revamp climbing model - like Uncharted
  • Revise combat model - like Uncharted
  • Focus on movie set pieces - like Uncharted
  • Focus on horror elements and gore - because?
  • Make tomb raiding just side quests - because?
  • Add obligatory collectathons / busy work - like Assassins Creed
  • Hunter sense - like Arkham Batman series
  • Implement a number of characters and MacGuffins - this was a good addition
  • Multi-use bow mechanic - actually pretty original and well thought out 
  • Zelda mechanics i.e. unlock new areas through new mechanics - I enjoyed this
Perhaps I'm a little nostalgic but it gets tiresome when every rickety railing/roof top gives way every time you climb on it. When Uncharted 1 did it for the first time it was fresh - but not by the time they reheated this same mechanic 8 years later. But perhaps that's not necessarily a bad thing - set pieces can be fun if performed well but where I draw the line is when they relegate tomb raiding to merely side quests. The main gameplay loop should always be centered around raiding tombs and avoiding booby traps. It seems quite insulting that you could complete the game without even raiding one tomb. This seems like a major sleight to anyone who enjoyed the original series. If, I had to assign a name which accurately describes this reboot, I'd assign it - you guessed it - Gloom Raider. Throughout most of the game it's windy/raining and then the first thing we're introduced to is a set piece around getting away from a cannibal who has an incredibly impressive collection of skulls and body parts (which is a running theme throughout this game.)
 
 


The main story revolves around an aggressive weather-protected island which also, seemingly has an unlimited supply of human bodies to sacrifice. Based upon the 'freshness' of the body parts and bloody swamps, I would hazard a guess that perhaps a thousand people are sacrificed across the island each day for these environments to be viable - or that the game director doesn't understand the concept of self-control. Almost every space you crawl through has perhaps a collection of at least ten human remains every few feet. Perhaps it's just my brain getting in the way of things but it just confused me why/how these bodies would be in places where very few humans would ever want to traverse. It's like some kind of demented Martha Stewart was brought in to zhuzh every cavern. Also, the hunter sense really detracted from the game, in my opinion. Its main benefit was for finding hidden trinkets/actionable items which meant (at least for me) pressing it every few seconds - just to avoid missing something - and destroying any immersion in the process.

But back to the side-quested tombs - perhaps the most underwhelming part of the game. Each tomb has been broken down into basically just a physics/navigation puzzle - and we never see the prize (a la Pulp Fiction) - nor does this tomb have any impact on the overall game. It's as if the game director said 'Fine! Here's your goddamn tombs, you ingrate. You happy now? Now, can I get back to adding an inordinately-large number of mutilated torsos on this island?' And I may be right. Because more care and thought was put into merely finding a chest out in the open than was ever shown to any of the prizes in the puzzle tombs.
 
 


But, having said all that, it's not a bad game - far from it; it's just not a Tomb Raider game. I played over 15 hours and got through ~95% of everything which could be got - but also enjoyed most of my time while doing so. I did initially find the combat quite limiting (until you get the necessary brawler perks) but it was satisfying to work my way through contributing my thousand to their daily sacrifices. Despite all the combat, the best parts of the games were spent when working through the puzzles and not sitting through unnecessary murder porn. Overall, I can't fault their change of tack - I'm just disappointed they weren't able to retain more of what originally made their games so popular

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