Lara Croft`s origins trilogy comes to a close with Shadow of the Tomb Raider where she`s now hunting down the villainous organization known as Trinity, instead of piecing together their motives and escaping their grasp. The new game doesn`t stray too far from what you`ve come to expect from this current era of Tomb Raider, though--beginning with the reboot in 2013 and the follow-up, Rise of the Tomb Raider. We spent about four hours with Shadow of the Tomb Raider at a preview event, and while we hoped some minor flaws would be addressed this time around, the best parts of the series` formula still shine through.You can count on an action-adventure game about seeking ancient relics to bring you on a tour of exotic locations. The lush vegetation of Central and South America provides some wonderful exploration through branching paths and optional side quests, and makes the tried-and-true process of discovery feel refreshing. The dense foliage affords some creative approaches in combat like covering yourself up in mud to blend in or using overgrown vegetation as cover.The tropical setting isn`t solely tourist eye-candy either. One of the game`s early hub areas, a Peruvian village called Kuwaq Yaku, showcases the rough nature of a small community holding itself together. We wish the expansive main hub Paititi was playable in the demo, because it`s promising to see Shadow of the Tomb Raider create a more vibrant world than past games, with culture and society now a large part storytelling.Lara`s going to have to work with the locals to raid tombs and hunt Trinity down.Puzzles have been a highlight of Tomb Raider, and the clever solutions that accompany them let you flex your mental prowess. Although the rewards don`t seem too gratifying early on in Shadow, the process of unraveling the sequence of steps is the fun part. The fluidity of movement and combat is still intact, too. Slipping into cover at the last second or lining up an arrow for a kill just before getting ...
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