>>719714682
TR 2013 was a good start, the problem is that they never did anything with it after the fact.
>Lara is supposed to have come out of this traumatic experience stronger and will become the iconic Lara Croft we all know and love except she didn't and the next two games stagnated any semblance of character development
>gameplay is the exact same shit each time, instead of globetrotting adventures you just bum around fucking backwoods Russia like a grindy metroidvania while OG and LAU Lara were jumping all over the place, being actual globetrotting adventurers

It's like something out of a gacha game where they think "moe" will compensate for all its weaknesses.
>look at how much Lara is physically suffering and mentally anguished aren't we such a good prestige developer
Tomb Raider is probably one of the biggest victims of the mid 7th gen's obsession with video games being validated as an art form and a serious storytelling format, like the opposite but equally damaging side of the spectrum as the slightly earlier wave of "we want the COD audience."
So you end up with
>story obsession but the story isn't good and there is little interesting about this incarnation of Lara Croft
>survival game but the survival elements are superficial
>adventure game but the setpieces are sparse and dull
>cinematic platformer(in the classical sense of the term) but the platforming is mostly weak Uncharted-style linear linear grippy ledge stuff compared to the more complex platforming of older TRs
I think they were also probably kinda "gameplay hour conscious" so while the older games could be beaten in a modest amount of time they really wanted to pad these bitches out.