Recent reviews by Priodom

I don't think this game is all that great. It is very fun, but at the same time, it is incredibly frustrating for all the wrong reasons. It tries to copy Balatro, which is fine, the problem is is that Blackjack is not fit for a deckbuilder. Instead of realizing that, the game doubles down on the randomness of the game it is built on, and in my opinion, that makes it a miserable experience overall.

D&DG’s Blackjack, contrasted to Balatro’s Poker mechanics, is much more played like the actual game it's based on, which is its biggest weakness. I mean, just how do you create a “deckbuilder” from a game where your only input is to draw or to stop? There aren't as many mechanics that can “interact” with each other as there are in Poker, so the cards themselves must make up for that lost complexity at the very core of Blackjack, for better or worse. Yes, it is fun to have so many options of different cards, it does make runs unique, and the cards do have synergy if the player builds the right decks. The problem is that Blackjack is just not a good game to build the core of a deckbuilder from. There is WAYYYY too much luck involved for it to be enjoyable.

First, getting cards in and of itself is random. Most of the time, cards are earned by playing a random selection of “minigames” that randomly gives the player cards. There isn’t any way to force cards the player would want most of the time. Balatro also has this issue, but the builds there are much more flexible due to the different interactions between different sets of hands, effects, etc. Plus, Balatro DOES allow the player to reroll, open packs, focus on getting higher score multipliers, which fixes almost all the frustration that comes with RNG. Almost every time I failed in Balatro beyond the first few minutes of a run, it was almost always because I messed up. Here, in this game, not so much. The builds by themselves are much less flexible, so it’s always a race against RNG, which is just not fun.

Having complexity added though cards is also a unique problem. It reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh! almost in how every card has 2 paragraphs of text and the player is expected to keep up with not only their own build but read the opponent’s card effects too. It is way too much to learn before it’s enjoyable.

My last issue is that the enemies often rely on awfully unfun “tactics” that are either just insanely annoying to deal with or are straight up just dumb. Again, compared to Balatro’s Boss Blinds, which are always clear and give the player time to prepare for it, this game has awful “decks” where the opponent relies on having 3-5 card decks that just rotate over, and over, and over, and over again, stalling time as a tactic. It’s extremely unfun and take away from the experience quite a bit. Losing is punishing since it immediately sends the player back to the beginning, and with it being this reliant on luck, that is unacceptable. Doesn’t help that often rounds take a crazy long time to beat since every card seems to give a billion HP/Shield back, and more often then not, each party can only deal what I’d consider chip damage each turn. Dealing 2-4 damage per turn is fine early, but when enemies start having high base HP, it becomes an absolute slog. The constant heals certainly don't help this issue.

I’ve compared this game a lot to Balatro, but I have to be clear that I’m not annoyed that this game isn’t Balatro, I’m annoyed that this game was clearly trying to copy it, with none of the fallbacks that stop that game from being frustrating. I do enjoy the game for what it’s worth, but it’s just not a cohesive experience in my opinion. If I could, I’d give it a neutral review, but I heavily lean towards a negative opinion from how much I’ve experienced. I'd love to like this game, but I just don't.

What I absolutely don’t understand is why it’s being sold for A HIGHER PRICE THAN BALATRO? That’s completely insane. In my opinion, this is nowhere near as replayable as any of the other deckbuilders that are currently out there, and for that, its price is way too high. It’s maybe worth picking up when it’s on sale, but at full price, it’s not a good deal at all.

I think Vampire Survivors is a solid game, and I can definitely recommend it, but it’s just not for me. I’ll still leave a positive review since I think it’s a great experience regardless.

For the positives, it’s super easy to pick up and play. It’s easy to waste hours just running around trying to survive, so the gameplay loop is addictive in a way for sure. There’s tons of content, and the DLCs all seem interesting and fun. Honestly, I’d say this is one of the more engaging bullet-hell/survivor-style games I’ve played as I never really felt bored while playing. If I had to sit down and grind this for hours, I wouldn’t get bored at all, which is more than I can say for some other games in the genre (even though I prefer those over this one for a couple reasons regardless).

That said, I’d still rather play something else. The game just doesn’t click with me the way it seems to do for a lot of people. I can’t imagine putting hundreds of hours into it, and there are a few reasons why:

1. No manual aiming. I get that it’s part of the design, but after playing Halls of Torment, Brotato, or even Returnal, it just feels less engaging, limiting, sometimes downright frustrating. Even after multiple hours of playing, I found myself instinctively trying to aim with my cursor. It’s not a big issue, I just think it is generally more fun focusing on both movement AND attacking over JUST moving. Some weapons just straight-up don’t work in well with this type of design in certain situations, while others feel completely RNG-dependent. Speaking of which…

2. Too much RNG. I know randomness is a big part of roguelikes, but this game has too much of it for my personal taste.

3. A lot of weapons aren’t fun to use. Evolutions help, and there are some cool weapons unlocked later on, but the meta-progression is slower than what I’d prefer.

4. Runs get too easy way too fast. The game kind of goes from a “little-bit-too-hard” to “way too easy” WAY too quickly every run.

5. No built-in online co-op. I picked up the Steam version mostly because I figured it’d be the easiest way to play online with a friend, but it just didn’t work as smoothly as I’d hoped. Not really the game’s fault and I knew that this game didn’t have a dedicated method of online co-op, but it still left me wishing there was a simple way to connect through Steam and just jump into a run. Honestly, this alone made me lean toward playing it on other platforms I already own it on, even though I’d much rather stick to Steam lol. (That, and the fact that I’d rather play other games instead)

6. Visual clutter. Past the 20–30-minute mark, it’s just insane how many things are on-screen at all times. It gets to the point where it’s impossible to discern what’s even happening, and honestly, I ended up with a headache multiple times from all the flashing colors and effects. After a while, I’d just stop trying to actually play and let the game run on autopilot while I AFK'd. Sometimes I'd just totally zone out even early on into a run due to this, it's way too overwhelming and it interferes with the overall gameplay.

I know this review comes off as negative, but I do think the game is great. It’s fun, engaging, and honestly more entertaining than a lot of games in this genre. It was a nice refresher even though I’ve been so burnt out on gaming in general lately, so I can't really complain, not that I'd want to. I just don’t enjoy how inconsistent it feels, and the visual overload is a full dealbreaker for me. Maybe I’m just not the target audience. I feel like I should in theory love all ARPG/hack-and-slash/roguelikes based on my tastes, but for some reason, they rarely seem to stick for me. Double dipping on this game didn't work out, I don't necessarily think it plays that much better with keyboard and mouse. Either way, I can see why people love this game, I just don’t think I’ll be coming back to it, as I’d rather play some of the other titles from this genre (even if they’re less “fun” overall)… or just stick to something else entirely.

This is a short review to show how much I appreciate this amazing game and team. I haven't played much (I have few more hours on console), but I feel like I haven't even explored most of what the game has to offer. It's a bit confusing at first, but the game offers such extensive gameplay elements. It's a sandbox game first and foremost, but it's so fun every time you open it due to the way the combat is implemented. It's an absolute steal for this price. You can easily customize your experience through the use of mods. I have nothing else to say, it's just a game that's worth trying if it looks even a tiny bit interesting to you. Updates are still being released this long after the launch. It's amazing.

I don't have any problems regarding the game itself, Yu-Gi-Oh! is mostly as fun (and often frustrating) as ever, no difference here. I will also not say anything about the state of the game itself. I think Master Duel is a least a great introduction to the game since it seems to be somewhat Free-to-Play friendly, which is definitely a positive point for the game. On the other hand, if you're new and trying to play this game, well... just good luck honestly, as this game STILL doesn't really teach you anything valuable at all in regards to how the game is ACTUALLY played, even though this game of all things desperately would need an in-depth, long tutorial.

I'm leaving a negative review because Konami's account system is genuinely HORRIBLE and I can't even to begin to understand the reason why. It seems that they still hate actually getting new players invested in this version of the game (just like their actual paper card game I guess). Basically, once you open the game, play just one match, or even just open the main menu, anything at all, you can NEVER again log in with a different account on that Steam account, which is the most confusing and yet stupidest system ever. I played the tutorial on Steam once when the game came out. I wanted to get back into Yu-Gi-Oh!, so I wanted to use my account which I have actual progress on (including all my Duel Links stuff), but I can't, because the game won't let you unlink Steam and Konami accounts for some reason. To be even more specific, you CANNOT DELETE/OVERWRITE EXISTING DATA EVEN IF IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME LINKING ACCOUNTS. So basically, since I played the tutorial which probably took like 5 minutes, if I want to link my Steam account to my Konami ID so I can do cross-play, I am not even given a choice in which save data I can keep, I can only keep my much worse Steam save data. WTF! Why can't I just delete my current Steam one, or actually better yet, just let me log in with any other account? Even if you wanted to keep this system, I don't get why I can't just choose which save I want to keep AT LEAST once or something? The fact that I can *NEVER* play my actual account on PC without starting a brand new Steam account is honestly just so absurd.

Basically they're telling me I have to restart from scratch OR keep a completely separate Steam account if I want to be able to *ever* play this game on one account on both Steam and mobile. I don't want to keep a separate account though, not for just ONE game, and I also hate the idea of my Duel Links and Master Duel data being on separate accounts. Even the idea of this was enough to kinda turn me away from Yu-Gi-Oh! as a whole if I'm being honest.

(The actual funniest part of this is that I already have my Steam account linked to my main Konami account apparently for Duel Links since I can use my mobile account, and it's very clearly counted as it being connected, yet the website says it's not. But then, on the same Steam account I already have been locked out of transferring to a different Steam account... Confusing already? Cause I'm confused beyond belief at this point. They can't even keep their own systems to be properly working, and you're supposed to be paying them for packs? How can I even trust them to keep my purchases intact at this point, when my Steam is kind of in a Schrödinger's Gambling Game scenario where my account is both connected yet not?).



So basically, logging in is a futuristic, difficult and extremely complicated process for Konami. If you've linked the wrong Konami account or something? The joke's on you, tough luck buddy. But even if you haven't linked it yet, you better have not played on a different account on mobile thinking, like you know, ANY OTHER COMPANY ON THE MARKET, would let you choose a save data, because NOPE, that's not how this works. The actual absurd part of this is that if you request your Steam player data to be deleted, your entire Steam account WILL FOREVER BE LOCKED OUT OF PLAYING THIS GAME *AT ALL*. Yes, the game LITERALLY becomes unplayable and it bricks this game for you. I can't even begin to fathom how ASININE this entire thing is, it's actually hilarious how stupid all of this is.

The thing I don't understand is, why? I can only guess one thing, it's to lock you out of making multiple accounts MAYBE, but that makes even less sense because you can just make infinite amounts of new accounts anyway on mobile, so what the heck is the point? Why can I transfer from Steam to mobile (well, one singular time), but not the other way around? I DON'T GET IT...

I don't recommend giving this franchise any of your money or effort, they time and time again show that they just don't care, with the actual real life cards NOR the games themselves. I wouldn't recommend getting into Yu-Gi-Oh! if you're new, just play any of the other TCGs which, while have their own annoying issues, are at least handled by (mostly) better companies and are much cheaper. Plus, you keep your sanity, so there's that too. I never thought I could write an essay about how LOGGING IN ruins an entire game that's otherwise pretty good. What the heck.

If there's one thing I appreciate about tennis video games, it's that the genre isn't dominated by a single company or title, unlike other sports games. There are a handful of options to choose from, and based on previews, I was hopeful that this game would be one of the better ones. Unfortunately, it fell short of expectations for me for quite a few reasons.

To start with the positives, the graphics and presentation are fantastic. The game looks great, no doubt about that part. But that’s also about where my praise ends.

Is it a bad game? Not exactly. But is it a good game? The answer is also no. Especially when compared to other tennis games on the market, it really doesn’t quite measure up.

One of the biggest issues is the ball physics. It's such a basic, fundamental part of these games; get it right or just don't even make a game about tennis is my actual opinion. This is the main issue of this game for me, because I just don't find it realistic nor fun. The ball's speed fluctuates in ways that feel completely unnatural, changing between it being too fast or too slow, and the way it bounces feels like you're playing tennis on the moon. This alone severely affected my enjoyment of the game.

For the gameplay itself? It's OKAY. It's acceptable. It's quite fun if the stars align, but I lost motivation to play super quick. While online matches are somewhat balanced and can be fun once you get the hang of things, they become predictable and easy way too early. On the other hand, the single-player mode feels broken. The AI seems to have an unfair advantage, with unpredictable aim that fluctuates between extreme precision and toddler throwing a ball.... It’s hard to explain, and I thought I was imagining it at first but it DOES almost feel like they’re playing by a different set of rules, and that frustration takes away from the enjoyment.

In the end, is the game fun? Sure, especially online. But it doesn’t offer anything particularly unique, and with a broken single-player experience, you’re better off trying one of the other tennis titles that do more things right.

Again, I don't want to say it's a bad game, because it absolutely is NOT. None of the tennis games are without fault. I also really appreciate the presentation, it's probably the best one of the bunch in that regard in my opinion. I just don't think it's a good choice when you have other games with MUCH better ball physics and at least marginally better single-player content... and without the weird, cheating AI.

In all honesty, maybe I would have ended up liking it more in time, but I hated it after the first 20 minutes mostly because of the ball physics, so I gave up. I had more fun with the other available games.

The best way to summarize this game is that it wants you DEAD. It's an awesome sequel, but its constant attempts at killing the player can be incredibly annoying, but that does not take away from the overall experience, resulting in a game that is really fun to play if you have the patience.

Tomb Raider 3 takes what made the previous two so good, adds some nice extra moves (for better or for worse), and expands on the established ideas a great deal. That is not to say the gameplay itself is radically different from the previous entries, which is a good thing, but the presentation is greatly improved. One of the best parts of the classic Tomb Raider games is their atmospheres, and I find that this game in particular nails it perfectly. It has both ancient temples and urban environments, yet they feel foreboding and isolating in almost every case, which is a huge upgrade from the previous installment, which was INFESTED with human enemies, something that completely ruined the feel of the game with the exception of a few of the later levels.

Tomb Raider 3 has some of the best level design of the classic series. Not only are the graphics and level geometry much better and more complex, but they tend to feature multiple pathways and relatively big, open areas, which are a joy to explore and traverse. While I think the puzzles are a tiny bit worse than the first two games, the platforming sections are probably the best the series has seen, which is great! Similarly to TR2, the levels and platforming sections were clearly designed to be played by people who have completed at least one of the previous games, which means the difficulty is quite high right off the bat, which means repeat playthroughs are much more fun all around, while being unfit for anyone new to the series. As such, TR1 still remains the best entry point to the classic games.

The locales are all great. While some people dislike areas such as London, I think most levels are amazing, and London is particular is a great change of pace for the game and are a much better urban area than Venice was in the second game, so I don't agree with the criticisms aimed at that set of levels specifically. In fact, some of the best platforming sections of the entire classic trilogy takes place in London and Nevada in my opinion.

This game has a few issues, which range from minor nitpick to major annoyance. First, I do think some gameplay elements were not thought through properly. They aren't gamebreaking, but they definitely impacted my enjoyment of the games. First, poison is a little bit way too frequent in some levels, and given that you are forced to use a Medkit to get rid of the effect, which are not that frequent in this game, it can become a nuisance quickly in any segment that includes poisonous enemies.

Lara's new moves are also not very interesting. While I appreciate having a sprint button to shave off a second or two where possible, clinging to monkeybars and crawling are way too slow and add little to nothing to the game besides extending playtime artificially for no reason. This is something that I don't think was implemented particularly well, and some segments can be quite annoying to play through because of it. The vehicle sections are also a major downgrade compared to TR2, which already did not do too good of a job implementing them, so the downgrade here is unprecedented and hurt the game's pacing quite a bit.

The level design is also not too consistent. While they are fun for the most part, some puzzles are really not obvious and some segments can be really frustrating. The parts that are subpar are undoubtedly the worst the series had seen up until this point, which can make some areas really frustrating to progress through.

Additionally, there are a few too many deadly traps in this game that are unpredictable the first time around. This is probably the absolute worst part of the game, and they seem to be littered around every corner on some levels. Since this version allows for unlimited saving, dying isn't too big of a punishment, but regardless, losing any progress to unfair game mechanics is frustrating to say the least.

As a whole, this game is still more than worthwhile. While it is probably the most frustrating of the classic games, the level design and presentation make it more than worthwhile to play, and under the right circumstances, have some of the best and most memorable sections the classic Tomb Raider games have to offer.

This is an amazing followup to the original game. While I think it falls short(er) compared to the original in some areas, playing this game is super worth it IF you have already beaten the first one. This game assumes that the player has beaten the first installment, and that becomes clear as soon as a new game is started, as the very first level is basically as hard as the middle parts of the previous entry, and is FULL of traps. So the new player experience certainly isn't great, but as a returning player? It is SO GREAT to have challenging levels right off the bat.

Why is this an amazing followup to Tomb Raider 1? Well, besides the difficulty being much higher, it also expands a lot on the level design by giving Lara additional moves. Also, it is clear that the developers were way more experienced in level design this time, allowing for much more complex levels. Secrets were handled in a better way, as every level now has 3 secrets exactly, which makes finding all secrets much more simple even the first time around.

The game features a variety of levels and locales, which is one of my favorite parts from this installment. While having 4 distinct locations in the previous game was already great, I do appreciate the change of scenery much more here for some reason, even though certain sections do get stale after a while, which is not something I've experienced in TR1, but I don't think this is a major issue.

I also appreciate the fact that Lara as a character was much more involved through cutscenes and dialogue, I think it adds something extra to a game that otherwise does not have a stellar story-- not that it needs one, to be honest. The gameplay is more than enough to carry this game to amazing levels, and it's no wonder this game was the one with the most copies sold from the classic Core Design games.

There are certain things I dislike, which ultimately makes this game a worse overall experience than Tomb Raider 1 in my opinion. First, while the level design is amazing and sometimes an improvement over the first game, secrets can be very hit or miss and GREATLY differ in difficulty based on level. Sometimes they are really well hidden, other times, even in the final levels, they are in plain sight, which kinda throws the whole system off completely. This is especially strange that you only get bonus loot if all three secrets are collected, which is strange.

Also, I personally would have preferred each location to be more isolated and desolate like in the first game. As much as I love the locales here, places like VENICE don't exactly scream "Tomb Raiding" to me. Combined this with fact that each level is filled with human enemies, it completely kills the atmosphere. This is especially sad, because the few levels at the end of the game, which lack human enemies for the most part are SO ATMOSPHERIC, they can outshadow even the tombs from TR1, so it feels like a missed opportunity.

My last complaint is the biggest one. As much as I love this game and think it's a great sequel, this ONE factor ruins the entire package almost completely for me in a way that makes me want to avoid replaying this game. That factor is: the combat.
Previously, combat was a minor part of the game, taking a backseat to the platforming and puzzle-solving, and for good reason: it simply isn't developed enough for it to be a major focus. The first game was built this in mind, and it gave you plenty of opportunities to cheese the encounters. Sure, it was still annoying in SOME places, but you usually only had to climb up a ledge and you were safe to kill the enemies from afar.

Here, each level has two or three times the amount of enemies and half of them are using hitscan guns, meaning there is little you can so to avoid getting damaged. This makes the game super frustrating in a way it was never intended to be, and it slows the pace of the game down to a CRAWL. Not only will this cause unnecessary and frustrating deaths quite a few times, but also makes the game a chore to play by making it a check of how many Medkits you have, which is not very fun at all. Each enemy also tends to drop an item to compensate for the difficulty caused by the combat, but this means that each and every body has to be checked and looted which is just SO SLOW.

I know that this was forced on the developers by the publisher itself and that they gave the devs no time to design a new combat system fit for this game, but since it affects the game to such a huge degree and makes the worst part of the first game SO MUCH WORSE, it has to be taken into account when reviewing the game, especially one this old. If this game had half the amount of enemies it does in the final product, I'd say it would easily rival the original even with its flaws. But while the original game aged like a fine wine (with a few initial issues regarding the controls), the combat made Tomb Raider 2 age like a fine wine... that was also mixed with milk. Which is to say, it is THE biggest issue and makes the game feel bad to play in a few too many sections for all the wrong reasons.

Regardless of its issues, I still find this game to be an amazing experience, especially the first time around. Moreover, the little changes from the first game makes this stand out, and it's safe to say the game still is worth playing regardless, as it stood the test of time well overall, just like TR1! :]

I am a huge fan of the Tomb Raider franchise. The classic games made by Core Design are in particular probably my absolute favorites. I LOVE the first three games especially. So when I jumped into this game and saw all the the improvements, I was super excited! I've heard so many people claim this is their absolute favorite of the classic games. I thought I was surely going to enjoy this game and that it would be the greatest of them all!

But... I didn't.

Now, I do understand why this game is so different from the previous games. I know the story behind the game, of the company literally burning out after being forced to make a Tomb Raider game annually for the fourth year in a row. I understand that many of the people working on it were total beginners. Having said that, when reviewing a game this old, while I can understand WHY this game turned out the way it did AND I can sympathize with the developers, with so many games having come out since then, I don't think it's FAIR to review the game according to its development over its actual gameplay.

As such, I cannot in good faith say that this game is good. In my opinion, this is by far the worst game up to this point in the franchise. I never like to replay games I've already beaten, yet Tomb Raider 1 remains as one of my most replayed games ever. Yet, I cannot bring myself to beat this game, and this is the second time I gave up a quarter of the way in.

While there are some things I like, namely the graphics, the presentation, the story, the FMVs, the overall improvements in the engine, as for everything else, I think this game was a huge disappointment. I hate to admit this because I want to like this game, and reading the reviews on Steam I feel almost a sense of guilt for not connecting with the game, but I just cannot bring myself to continue.

To put things simply (and relatively shortly), my biggest gripe with the game is that it really does not feel like Tomb Raider. I think part of the appeal of the earlier games is that once you get accustomed to the controls, Lara controls extremely smoothly. This results in amazing platforming sections that are fun, challenging and unique. This game, however, basically lacks platforming sections. Now, I'm not sure if the later levels have more of these, but the fact that even in the Karnak sections HOURS into the game I have yet to experience anything remotely challenging is honestly affecting my energy to continue playing this game.

So the formula was changed, but not enough for it to feel different enough, yet just enough for it to lose its identity. Often I found myself running around like a lunatic trying to progress SOMEHOW, and often, instead of an "Ahh! So THAT is what I needed!" moment, I just found myself thinking "Oh you cannot be serious, THIS was the solution?". This happened over and over. This is not something I have ever felt playing the previous games (excluding a few cases), so needless to say, I was quite disappointed.

Now, I'm not sure if this is intentional, but it seems to me as the platforming was attempted to be replaced with EXPLORATION. This sounds good in theory, but I think it single-handedly ruins the entire game. First of all, most levels have a dozen of directions to go in right off the bat. This could be used as a way to encourage the player to learn the environments, but it rarely does so. Instead, it's there to pad the game out in a very unnatural way.

For instance, compare this to a Zelda dungeon such as the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time or, heck, even some of the levels from the previous Tomb Raider games such as Ancient Cistern or Palace Midas from the first game. They all share the same idea, which is that entering the level feels overwhelming, with so many different paths being open at the same time, or sometimes even mechanics being unveiled that are unfamiliar (such as the changing of the water level in the Cistern or the Water Temple from Zelda). There always is just ONE way forward, yet it is not obvious immediately WHAT that path is. The fun part of completing a level is finding out how to progress on that one given path by learning your surroundings, and knowing where to return to when you find a key item later on.

In this game, however, half the time the paths are either useless and serve little to no purpose and have nothing in them, but still being detailed enough to make you THINK it's important, or they are just a huge detour in general. This happens over and over and over again, and it brings the pace of the game down to a crawl. Take for instance level 8, the Hypostyle Hall or whatever it is called. You enter, see like 3 different paths. You choose one, enter a giant room, and oops, that room has 2 floor, and leads to another room full of decorations which are not clear if they even serve a purpose at all. It's so overwhelming to your senses and mind that I usually resorted to just running around randomly, because keeping in mind ALL the possible paths just ended up being too tiresome. And it really doesn't help that for instance, the second floor of the room has NOTHING there, its ONLY purpose is to just waste your time. If I dare close the game and not return for a few days, I basically end up feeling so lost that I find myself wanting to look at a guide just to continue playing. This has happened MULTIPLE times in my multiple attempted playthroughs...

Combine this with backtracking, and the exploration becomes the absolute WORST part of this game. Backtracking in previous games is relatively straight forward. Everything you need is available in the level itself, you just need to figure out what goes where exactly. Here, not so much. If you miss a single item and you proceed forward, you might end up running around like a headless chicken trying to find ANYTHING to let you progress, when in reality the object you need is in a completely different level altogether. Combine this with the insanely overwhelming amount of options in just one level, and you are left with confusion on how to even get back the the level you need to backtrack to to get the key item you need!

It is just so frustrating and it feels like the game is just deliberately trying to waste your time, and that's just no fun. Sure, it's impressive in theory for the game to have interconnected levels and it sure *is* impressive in scope, but when half of the game just feels as if it's there for padding in the worst way imaginable, I struggle to find the energy to continue playing this by the time I reach Alexandrja levels, and seeing that this is less than half of the way through the game, I am ready to give up on this game AGAIN.

The thing is, I can certainly appreciate what they were aiming to do, and exploration CAN be fun, but that isn't the case here. I think that the original trilogy of games are unique in the sense that no other game has the same style, as in sure, there are games that have great platforming or puzzles, none of them combine these other than Tomb Raider to create a fun experience in quite the same way. On the other hand, other games have DEFINITELY done the same thing as this game, being a mixture of puzzles and explorations, but they do a better job. For instance, games like Jedi: Fallen Order are pretty similar to this entry of Tomb Raider due to the previously mentioned factors, but they do exploration part in particular MUCH better. As a result, I don't see why I'd ever play this game over those, even if they don't have quite the same energy as this game.

I am so sad to admit all of this, because I absolutely adore this franchise, I think the first one in particular is fantastic and I actually tried to enjoy my time with this one as well, but I just couldn't. As such, I cannot recommend this game to be honest, and that means I probably will never complete this game, which is sad given that some parts (such as the story or presentation) are such an improvement over the previous installments.

TLDR: The original Tomb Raider trilogy is one of the most amazing gaming experiences out there and the games hold up surprisingly well for both old and new players alike, and the Remaster is really good at improving accessibility and providing an even better experience overall. If you are on the fence about getting it, I hope I can change your mind with my review and convince you to buy it. :]


If you are on the fence about getting this game (especially if you have not played these games before and are worried about the controls), please consider reading this review, and hopefully I can convince you that these games are masterpieces worth playing even now. If you are a returning player, I urge you to get this game, it really is worth it, there is a lot to love here for you especially. I wrote the entire first half of this review (turned essay) to address any concerns regarding the controls, and hopefully I can help you get off the fence and just convince you to give these games a try, as I am aware it may seem daunting as someone new to these games.

First, I want to address the aforementioned biggest factor that might have you on the fence as a new player, and that factor is: the controls.
If you are new and are scared of the controls, especially if you have read some of the other negative reviews, I promise you that it is not as hard as it seems and that once it finally clicks for you, you will love it. As someone who hadn't played a single Tomb Raider game prior to 2020 and had never played any game with tank controls and picked the first game as my introduction to the franchise, I can tell you that these games became (probably) my favorite single player games ever and they are worthwhile for newcomes like I was. Originally, I just thought, "Hey, these games are popular, I wanna try one, so I might as well start with the first one." So yes, I had ZERO experience beforehand, and I can safely say I still ended up loving it, so don't think it's about nostalgia. It definitely WILL take you a few hours to get used to it since the controls are foreign nowadays, but if you give it a chance and stick with it, it will become second nature and one of the best part of the games that will make you want to come back for more.

If your situation is anything like mine and you are new to the original games, you will get super frustrated with the controls for sure, I sure remember almost rage-quitting on the second level of Peru where you have to climb that ONE room with the water on the bottom. Even grabbing items was hard and frustrating for quite a while. If you try this game, you will probably have a similar experience, but if you get through that first section, you will come to find that the controls will start feeling super comfortable after a few hours. I specifically remember needing up until mid-Greece levels to get to a point where I started enjoying the platforming sections, and that was the point where I fell in love with this franchise. So I implore you to give this a try, because behind the first initial few hours of frustration lies probably one of the best games ever, and that is NOT an exaggeration! If you do end up buying it, definitely play the first game first or you are NOT going to have a good time, I can tell you that much.

I can definitely understand where the negative reviews are coming from, considering I myself was SUPER CLOSE to writing this game off as a product of its time and writing a negative review myself back when I played it in 2020, and I understand not wanting to put in those few hours when there are so many other games to play. I have no clue what motivated me to continue on, but I am SO glad I did, and I assure you that you will love this game, especially if you are a fan of Zelda or other similar types of games. I am also almost 100% sure the negative reviews would have ended up liking the game is they had just endured on a bit longer, but I understand why they wouldn't, of course.

To this day, these games alongside a few Zelda games remain the only ones I end up playing through multiple times, as not only are they quite similar, but they really are that good. I would recommend using tank controls, as both schemes have a learning curve, so you might as well put in a tiny bit of extra effort and get accustomed to it so that the platforming sections don't get trivialized by the modern controls. Of course, they can be a good alternative, but I HIGHLY encourage anyone playing this for the first time to just endure the first few agonizing hours/levels of tank controls so that you can get the intended experience with both puzzle-solving and platforming challenges, of which there are plenty.



For anyone returning, I think the Remasters do a good job of modernizing the game. First, I think the actual textures look really good. They are never distracting yet and fix some of the issues of the originals where making out certain textures or objects was basically impossible. Of course, the game still works on a grid system, meaning that the developers were definitely not able to change much of the actual level geometry, but I think they did a fantastic job for what they could do, and the classic graphics are always available with the push of one button, so you don't even need to pause the game.

The other part of this remaster I like is how it accessible these games are now. The Steam versions of these games all required patches to make them playable, sure, it was only a few minutes of work, but you still had to go out of your way to download the patches. Well, the remastered games just work right out of the box, which is a HUGE advantage in my opinion.

Possibly most important of all, the reason I cannot recommend this game enough, especially compared to the originals is that besides the improved textures and accessibility, having UNLIMITED FRAMERATE is just SO good. It makes me never want to go back to the originals, as the 30 FPS they run at now feel sluggish beyond belief. I cannot stress it enough how good playing these classics with smooth framerates feel.

Last, the other additions in the package are definitely a great value as well. Having the DLCs available straight from the getgo is HUGE, as playing them required tinkering around with files previously. Other additions such as achievements and certain tweaks to gameplay all add to the value of this remaster. In my opinion, the price for which this game is being sold at is a bargain, I would have gladly paid this much just for the first game, and having all 3 PLUS all 3 DLCs available for this price is a steal. In fact, it's basically the same price as if you wanted to grab the original 3 games on Steam, so this package is more than worth its price.

There are some negatives, and I do wish there were a few more changes here and there where they felt needed, but I think they do not bring down the experience overall. There were a few visual and audio bugs through my playthrough, but nothing major that would hinder my progress or my enjoyment of the game. It is a bit weird that a game this old can release with bugs, but the developers are working on the issues and there is nothing major to hurt the product overall.

Overall, I have to say that this Remaster did everything I wanted it to and then some. I HIGHLY recommend anyone to check this game out whether they are new or returning players, especially if you are already on the fence about buying it. It's relly great value in terms of what you get, and the games themselves are all amazing in their own rights, ESPECIALLY the first one. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this experience was. The first game still remains as one of my favorite single-player game besides a few others (such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and these three Tomb Raider games remain as some of the only games I can tolerate replaying multiple times, and having played the remastered version has done nothing but cement this stance even further. :)

Capcom really went ahead and added DRM to a game that has been out for 2 years on PC and 3 years on other systems. Besides how little sense that makes, how it basically stops anyone from playing the game on a Steam Deck even though they have already purchased it, I also think the implications are dire. I mean who really wants Russian spyware on their PC? I sure don't!

Regardless of the DRM itself, Capcom's stance against MODDING, which they said was AS BAD AS CHEATING(???), is also "interesting" to say the least. I personally enjoy playing Monster Hunter with at least a few mods so I can have a better experience. It's not even anything that could impact other people's experience/hunts, so I'm really curious on how they got to the conclusion that modding a PvE game is as bad as literally cheating, where YOU CAN LITERALLY RUIN THE ENJOYMENT OF OTHER PEOPLE? That's why cheating is bad... It isn't bad cause this isn't a PvP game...

I'm leaving this review as negative and will not be buying any games from Capcom in the future from ANY of their franchises as long as they don't change their mentality about these topics. I guess I'm also not giving this game a go since I am not downloading potential malware. Shame.