Tomb Raider - 9 Years Later

Purchase Tomb Raider 2013 DRM free here: https://af.gog.com/game/tomb_raider_g...

Edited by Playstayshaun
Shauns Twitter:   / playstayshaun_  
Shauns YouTube Channel:    / playstayshaun  

If there was any character that was at the forefront of the fifth generation, I wouldn’t doubt that some would say, Laura Croft. A character that encompassed the badass adventuress fantasy and delivered games that were received and sold well. It was unfortunate then that due to being overworked through releasing a game every year from 1996 to 1999 that we received one of our final major Tomb Raider releases, Angel of Darkness, which was received so poorly that the entire series was put on hold. Laura's initial run was headed by Core Design who showed a sentiment of wanting to move on from the character and so Eidos Entertainment shifted Crystal Dynamics in place to pick up the pieces, which they successfully did, releasing a few new titles and remakes along the way. In 2009, Eidos was acquired by Square Enix and had a team working on yet another reboot of the series, this time focusing on a more grounded and gritty Laura Croft, and how she became a Tomb Raider. This new trilogy titled the “survivor trilogy” was met with critical acclaim, at least, for the first entry.

Support the channel:   / thatboyaqua  
Follow my Twitter:   / thatboyaqua  
Join the Discord:   / discord  
Other Essays:    • Video Essays  

Something interesting to note about Laura Croft's time out of the spotlight during the 7th generation is how a seemingly spiritual successor took its place, and gamers noted this as this particular title would be given the fan title of “dude raider”. Now let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here. I’m not saying Uncharted is some Tomb Raider rip off and I highly doubt anyone would suggest that but I think it’s important to note how significantly Uncharted and Nathan Drake not only influenced games in the 7th generation but became the new face of the action-adventure genre. So even though Uncharted didn’t borrow too heavily from the original tomb raider games, Tomb Raider 2013, certainly borrowed from Uncharted. If Laura Croft was going to reclaim her throne atop the adventure genre, then she’d have to reinvent herself, and she had one key advantage over Nathan Drake. Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 were all released to critical acclaim and the flaws with the series were clear. Tomb Raider had a perfect opportunity to learn from Uncharted's mistakes, while also reimagining its successes. This is what makes Tomb Raider so interesting to me and that’s why throughout this video I’ll be looking at the game through this lens. Tomb Raider was dethroned by Uncharted and was now back with something to prove, and its confidence was part of how successful it was at surpassing Uncharted in some ways. There were many points where it felt that Tomb Raider was painfully and humorously aware of its competition and inspirations, which is why I felt it necessary to look back on the trilogy, starting with this entry.

No series in the adventure genre is as iconic as Tomb Raider. Within this Tomb Raider Critique and Tomb Raider Analysis, I analyze the reboot that followed a long run of Tomb Raider games, in this adequately titled, Tomb Raider 9 Years Later. This Tomb Raider Review while mentioning the previous games, will focus solely on the Tomb Raider Reboot. With a New Tomb Raider around the corner, there is no better time to do a Tomb Raider 2013 critique, and needless to say Tomb Raider 2013 holds up 9 years later. This Tomb Raider 2013 Analysis, the first part of my Tomb Raider Retrospective, will consist of all 3 games in the Tomb Raider Reboot Retrospective. This is A Critique of Tomb Raider and the Tomb Raider DLC but this isn't a Tomb Raider Walkthrough or a comprehensive History of Tomb Raider. This video will be a pseudo Tomb Raider vs Uncharted video with accompanying tomb raider gameplay, that discusses both Uncharted and Tomb Raider Years Later. Created by That Boy Aqua