Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Review

Two decades after the first Tomb Raider game, the franchise continues to grow, never forgetting the sense of adventure that made Lara Croft a star. Following the successful revamp in 2013, which made the show darker and more dramatic, Crystal Dynamics had to figure out how to make that formula work for something deeper and greater.

People had great aspirations, especially as more and more current action stories were blurring the lines between film and video games. The sequel, developed by Crystal Dynamics with assistance from Eidos Montréal and later remastered by Aspyr for newer platforms, sought to improve nearly every aspect of the original.

This resulted in the release of Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, which had more content and what many considered to be the definitive version of Lara's second adventure in the Survivor Trilogy. The planets were bigger, the gameplay was greater, and the emphasis on show was much bigger.

But desire often comes with weight. The game builds on practically every system added in the reboot, albeit not every feature is as good as others.

Some of the design decisions are really forward-thinking; some demonstrate the challenges with big-budget stories that emphasize size over nuance. The end result is a title that is still interesting years later, warts and all. Following the horrific events in Yamatai, Lara Croft embarks on a quest to validate her late father’s theories on ancient civilizations and immortality.

In her quest for the ancient city of Kitezh, she finds herself battling Trinity, a secretive organization with centuries-old might. This quest is presented as a personal quest and a race against terrible forces that aim to take over the globe in Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration.

The game is strongest when it emphasizes Lara's passion, grief, and desire to continue her father's work. Trinity is often portrayed as an all-powerful villain to blame for practically everything that goes wrong in Lara’s life, which weakens the plot overall. These large-picture stories detract from the grounded tone that the reboot was supposed to have and occasionally go too far with the idea of credibility.

Lara herself is still intriguing, but she doesn’t seem to have developed as much as she did in the past game. She has survived unfathomable tragedies and often seems like a new adventurer again; therefore, it feels like she isn't making progress. But the adventure is still very much alive, with emotional moments about family, heritage, and discovery.

The core of the experience is a tight loop of exploring, traversing, crafting, fighting, and solving puzzles. Big hubs inspire you to stray from the beaten route, find hidden tombs, collect relics and complete optional quests. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is more open than typical action games of the time, encouraging exploration.

Lara climbs cliffs, rappels chasms, scales ancient ruins, and swings across chasms.

The motion remains fluid and cinematic. You can move around easily in the surroundings because the movements are contextual, so they don’t seem too hard to use. Many of the aspects may be automated, but they nevertheless provide a great feeling of adventure and visual thrill.

Base camps are a vital part of progression because this is where you can upgrade your weapons and acquire new skills. The collection of resources in real time motivates you to hunt animals, gather materials and construct useful items. It’s a long campaign, but the constant stream of exploration and prep work provides a nice sense of momentum that keeps the game moving.

The Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration action mixes stealth, ranged combat, and straight-up fights, rewarding those of you who can adapt. Lara can stalk foes, kill them silently from behind trees, employ distractions, get high, or fight back with guns and explosives. The game constantly gives you more than one method to get out of trouble.

The bow is still Lara’s best weapon in the arsenal. It’s pleasant to be accurate, and it helps her feel like a survivor, rather than just another soldier. Encounters get more fascinating when you include environmental threats and hand-made tools. A lot of firearms typically matter less than homemade bombs and strong tactical positioning.

That said, the puzzle design is a better reflection of the heritage of the franchise than most action games nowadays. Optional tombs offer physics-based properties and awareness of surroundings instead of random challenges. These sections are a fantastic break from the fighting and really embody the spirit of archeological finding that makes Tomb Raider what it is. 

The best part about Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is how free you are as a player.

The combat portions are easy to experiment in, and the stealth elements feel more beefy than the last game. The hidden passageways, the verticality, and the connection with the surroundings make each encounter feel special and not like it repeats itself again and again.

But sometimes the action gives away its movie roots in a slightly too-violent way. The climbing portions feel fairly choreographed, which takes away from the sense of mastery that was emphasized in prior Tomb Raider games. Lara’s movements are magnetized to surfaces so traversing is simple, but not necessarily tough.

Combat also suffers from non-smart foes and a lack of technical depth. Stealthing is still entertaining, but running guns a-blazing doesn't change much from the usual cover-based patterns. The features are well-polished, fun to use, but not very good in stealth or action design.

You gain experience points and progress as you explore, fight, create, and find new items. There are skill trees with Brawler, Hunter, and Survivor branches that may be used to customize Lara's skills to suit the way you choose to play. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20th Anniversary Celebration ensures that every forward movement seems significant without being excessive.

Resource management is a good example of the experience method. Hunting animals, collecting rubbish, translating old manuscripts- all of these help you grow as a person in subtle but fulfilling ways. This tiered development increases the chance of gamers interacting with all systems instead of skipping along in the plot.

There are several issues with the balance, though.

Some tactics can speed up leveling to a degree that was not intended, making it less challenging and allowing you to obtain powerful skills earlier than intended. Accessibility is greater, but the sense of steadily getting better at something can sometimes get worse.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration looks fantastic despite being released years ago. Snow-covered landscapes, neglected ruins, deep forests, and abandoned buildings create mood-filled and detailed atmospheres. Every area seems designed to give you awe and tension at the same time.

The experience is a very crucial component of the lighting. Realistic materials, changeable weather effects, and outdoor storytelling can turn the most uninteresting of scenarios into something people remember. The people who make the images understand that a frame may be beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

The characters still animate really well, and those little emotions and movements add emotional weight to Lara's adventure. Some ports might not be as faithful as others, but the artistic idea is still there, and it’s still one of the best games in its genre.

The sound design of Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, with its textured soundscapes and compelling musical theme, lends support to the game's cinematic aims. Quiet winds across ice slopes can build tension as effectively as noisy action scenes. Each place has its own sonic signature.

Voice talents are particularly good at making emotional times feel real.

Lara's fragility, resolve and tiredness are believable even when the screenplay stumbles a little, and that makes the story better. While supporting figures aren’t as memorable, they enhance the whole experience.

The soundtrack has exactly the proper amount of orchestral grandiosity and moodiness to make discovery more fun without being overbearing. The music frequently works better with exploration and solitude than demanding attention all the time, and lets you drink in the disturbing beauty of the world.

Ultimately, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration makes for an interesting example of a reboot trying to be greater in all ways. It features more opportunities to explore, better stealth, better tomb design, and magnificent locations that still hold up to a lot of the new games coming out today. It still has the thrill in its bones.

But greatness is often found in moderation, and occasionally the story is lost in over-the-top storylines and implausible escape scenes. Sometimes the need for big-budget games might hide the more grounded personality that the reboot originated with. Still, the whole game is a lot of fun from start to finish.

The game’s long-lasting appeal is not just in fights or spectacles, but in the way it reanimates the excitement of discovery. The same feeling of wonder that made Lara Croft famous decades ago now emerges in hidden ruins, buried histories and perilous terrain. That sense of amazement remains the best thing about the series.

Even now, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration remains one of the best games in the current trilogy for action-adventure enthusiasts who want mood, exploration, and unforgettable set pieces. Apart from storytelling and factual issues, its sense of adventure glows through the cold wilderness.