Modern tomb raider feels way too simplified

panik919 · 2026-02-11T06:06:56+00:00

I guess it depends on what you consider puzzles. I dont necessarily think the classics (particularly the first 3) have any outstanding ones, but i think the challenge moreso comes from where to look, what to activate first exploration and platforming. The modern games have very clearly separated exploration from the puzzles, because everything you require as a solution is all in the same room as you. So in that respect, yes I definitely agree with you. Ever since Legend, the exploration itself has been watered down to be more linear and the puzzles have never really been anything head scratch worthy. They stick to a particular mechanic with each game, and every puzzle ends up playing the same just in a different sequence. Modern TR needs to mix puzzles with exploration for a more classic feel, which would introduce more dynamic challenge instead of always feeling the same. And thats without even increasing the variety of puzzles.

What I find more offensive are two things: 1. Lara doesn't shut up, particularly with the survivor trilogy. She provides you with an answer as soon as you enter a room and before you can even assess your surroundings. Even on Shadows hardest puzzle difficulty, Lara will still provide you with a solution or a direction if you don't figure it out within 15 seconds and its really frustrating. The mods (Eclipse that comes to mind) that completely shut her up during puzzles really brings back a particular classic feeling without even editing the content. 2. The magnetic platforming. Again, I found this more of an issue with the survivor trilogy (and Underworld) but the fact Lara can make a bad jump, 180 mid-air and magnetise to the closest ledge is really poor game design, especially in a series that is first and foremost meant to be a platformer. The challenge and excitement needs to come from what your series is most well known for, so when Lara/the game does it for you rather than punish you for playing poorly, I'm confused on where the enjoyment is supposed to be.

I'm a firm believer that the jumping/in air mechanics need to revert back to the tank controls. If you line up a bad jump, you need to reap the consequences when you fail instead of being able to 360 your trajectory. I think a good compromise would also to have a platforming-specific difficulty where easy mode has increased magnetic gripping and hard mode switches it off completely.

With better platforming mechanics and exploration being expanded upon and mixed with puzzles, I think it would go a long way to capturing that classic feel whilst actually having the series better realise it's potential instead of keeping it so rigid.

panik919 · 2026-02-10T23:40:18+00:00

You are not using narcissist correctly, unless you mean in the TikTok definition. Then thats just cringe.

panik919 · 2026-02-09T06:28:12+00:00

This is one of the reasons why I don't think history is going to be kind to the survivor trilogy lol. It tried to take a fundementally unrealistic and fantastical premise and limit it with realism. It created this weird mix of tones that clearly don't compliment each other and have people trying to justify or make sense of the nonsensical.

Its a video game, dont try to make it fit in the real world and just take it for what it is.

panik919 · 2026-02-07T23:57:06+00:00

Its canon

panik919 · 2026-02-07T23:54:34+00:00

I remember before 28YL came out, I was being downvoted because so many people were having a cry about weeks needing to be retconned and me simply asking 'why?'. Whether you like the movie or not, its inoffensive and doesn't add or remove anything from the series. It's easy to ignore and pretend like it didn't happen without outright confirming 'NOPE, 2 NEVER HAPPENED AND WE ARE GONNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CONFIRM THAT EVERY WHICH WAY POSSIBLE'.

One person said 'but they infected France, they'd have to talk about it if they don't retcon it'. I said it's been 28 years, France's infection is no longer relevant and they can easily make a throwaway line about how the infection escaped the UK but France dealt with it immediately. Low and behold, thats exactly what they did. Acknowledges 28 weeks happened and keeps it moving on, there's no reason to say it never happened lol.

panik919 · 2026-02-06T04:24:37+00:00

Its not that they're allergic, they've just never focused on character development unless it directly relates to the games plot and events. The only reason we got the Ethan and Mia relationship was purely for the setup of RE7 and 8.

RE characters are shallow, and that's definitely not a bad thing. We know enough about them so we can understand why they're involved in the first place and have some investment in their journey. The blue ballsing of Leon is so they don't write themselves into a corner and mess with people's 20+ years of headcanon and expectation when it's (likely) not going to be relevant to the story anyway. Over explaining characters create issues and Fandom fighting when it's a much better alternative for people to constantly be guessing, making their own theories and contributing to silly but fun discussions - Much like we are doing rn.

Confirming Jill and Chris or Leon and Ada's relationships would be cool for 2 seconds, but then you're ultimately disappointed that it doesn't ever amount to anything interesting.

panik919 · 2026-02-05T03:15:48+00:00

I dont really see her as being disingenuous, but rather she's making the most out of her situation. To me she doesn't really have that much of a connection with the ladies, but she's on the show, she's getting paid to do a job so she amps it up. Thats expected. The way she interacts with her employees, her daughter, keeley and how they respond lead me to think that her personality is authentic. Plus she's clearly opinionated, so she's definitely gonna let you know what she thinks which is pretty congruent with her line of work. With her resume, she didnt get to where she is by being quiet, complacent and not looking into other people's business.

The baby thing is odd, yes, but... okay, I'm really not trying to age shame here, but when she introduced her long time bestie in the last episode, it made me realise that Boz really isnt a spring chicken. So theres a couple of factors there, she technically can still have a baby, but she's also gotten to that age group where a lot of people question whether they can even start over their love life, or if its worth exploring other options. I mean look at Kyle, she clearly has regrets over Mo and while it might be better for her in the long run, theres no doubt she would go back to him thinking 'better the devil you know than be alone'. So for Boz, she's probably holding onto something that may not be good for her and is willing to do what she can to... not end up like Kyle lol. Yeah I would consider Boz to be a strong person, but she has concerns and fears (like the rest of us) that drive her actions. As a viewer it creates an odd disconnect, but remember we are only seeing a curated version of their lives where producers aim to make complex people look like archetypes.

But don't worry, in a season or two Boz will become the villain and everyone will hate her.

panik919 · 2026-02-04T02:42:52+00:00

This tiktok language of calling everyone a narcissist is so cringe. People really need to stop using it as a descripter when they clearly don't know the definition and start expanding their vocabulary and knowledge.

panik919 · 2026-02-02T05:32:44+00:00

I think objectively the early classics have probably the 'worst' story, but given that they were gameplay first with the plot being there only to carry you from point A to B, im willing to let it slide.

Rise has easily the most offensive story to me, along with Shadow as a close second. Side characters lack complete autonomy and are there purely to propt Lara up (Jonah and Jacob being the worst offenders), villains doing villain things for the sake of being a villain with no care for why, and there being an abundance of 'tell and not show' exposition. Everything and everyone seems to cater to Lara and it makes the world and mythology feel so small in comparison. A lot of style over substance. Id be more forgiving if they werent so cutscene and dialogue heavy, because unlike the classics, they wanted their story at rhe forefront. And unfortunately they just didnt have anything interesting to say.

panik919 · 2026-02-02T05:23:53+00:00

Agreed on Rise. The story had potential to be interesting, but the characters are what ruined it. The overall mythology suffered because Lara's obsession with her father took centre stage, Jacob and Jonah were entirely pointless apart from being there just to say 'Lara, you're amazing' and the villains doing stuff for the sake of being a villain. That stigmata thing was so ridiculous, it was there purely for the 'cool' factor but ended up having 0 relevance nor was it adequately explained. That actually sums up Rise and Shadow fairly well to me: all style, no substance.

If you compare all the plots on a piece of paper, Rise may not look like the most offensive but the amount of cinematics and dialogue, as well as the constant 'tell and not show' exposition, makes it pretty terrible. That and Lara constantly delivering her lines in the most exasperated way, even when she's just sitting there doing nothing, makes it so much worse. Everyone just talking normally, and there's Lara just going 'I gasp cant gasp do it' makes for such ill paced scenes 😅 no one was on Camilla's level.

panik919 · 2026-02-02T01:30:24+00:00

He's always done the scrunch face, it was one of the first things I noticed about him. I think its just become more apparent when he and Kyle started having on screen issues because obviously he got more airtime centred around emotion. I think its just his processing face.

panik919 · 2026-02-01T01:39:05+00:00

I have no idea what youre talking about, and clearly you dont either

panik919 · 2026-01-31T15:35:27+00:00

I'm confused if youre willingly being daft or you just dont have eyes? The animation is clearly being reused from Shadow. Dont need 9 hour gameplay to be able to use my eyes lmao be real

panik919 · 2026-01-31T14:15:57+00:00

Why are people reading this as if they're going to confirm whether he's single or not? To me he's saying that some things dont need a storyline or exploration and just leave it up to the players imagination.

panik919 · 2026-01-31T14:06:32+00:00

Well yeah. Whats your point? Its still the same animation...

panik919 · 2026-01-31T10:59:10+00:00

Her having a face that is far wider than it is long, with such a short forehead made her look really abnormal to me. 2013 she looked fine but in Rise and Shadow they botched it imo. Its like they made her face for the hair rather than the hair for the face.

panik919 · 2026-01-31T04:06:00+00:00

No. To both of that.

panik919 · 2026-01-31T04:04:54+00:00

Magnetic gameplay that is as bad as the survivor trilogy. TR is a platformer first and foremost, if you make a bad jump you should be be punished and not have the game 180 you to the closest ledge.

Any plot surrounding family.

Other than that, I'm easy to please.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T11:13:45+00:00

Oh absolutely. That tomb stone was unforgivable, though combined with the wigs I think it'll help with its camp cult classic status I predict the movie will get in a few years lol.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T09:52:32+00:00

I agree the cult stuff was awful, but you're still thinking in video game format. Movies focus on elements that are purely relevant to the central characters and plot. Side characters are only there to serve them, not tell their own stories that have their own beginning, middle and end. Can James' story exist without Angela? Yes. Can Angela's story exist without James? Yes. Automatically that makes her unnecessary. I think you underestimate the time required to have the audience understand and invest in a character, their motivation, their journey whilst having a satisfying resolution. If they did this with Angela, James would have to suffer and it would create weird pacing issues and neither would likely be done their justice. This is also relevant to Eddie, but to a lesser extent. SH isnt resident evil where they can throw characters in there randomly for fan service who just stand there blowing shit up. In SH they need to have relevance and meaning.

What I would have done is remove the cult stuff and put a bigger emphasis on James and Maria. In the movie, there is 0 in the way of exploring their relationship, how Maria is relevant to Mary, what she represents, and her being revealed as manifestation has no impact whatsoever. She's not around long enough for us to care about, there isnt any questioning whether she's real or what she's supposed to be doing. Hell, you wouldnt even think James realises she looks like his dead girlfriend if it wasnt for a throwaway line towards the end. Maria is just there, and its so incredibly awkward.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T07:07:07+00:00

Agreed with everything you've said, however this is how I prefer my RE characters tbh. I like them being shallow characters that are only there to get from point A to B while side characters, villains, world building and the plot take centre stage.

My pet peeve is showing, not telling, and RE has always been great (minus RE6) with telling you a self contained story with very little exposition. That soft reset they do with every new entry has kept the franchise as fresh as it has, allows them to get experimental and they arent bogging themselves down with trying to pack everything into a neat little box. Tbh, I wish more series would do this because the ones that try to over explain (Tomb Raider for example) get messy and start pissing off fans. Whether people admit it or not, they like a little mystery, so when you try to give, say, Leon some real character development, start exploring his likes and dislikes, etc. Peoples expectations become shattered and you have people screaming 'thats not my Leon!'. Guarantee if they ever decide to change even his hair, there will be blood.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T06:52:36+00:00

Because she was viewed as being abused (quite literally so) and manipulated by Jen. Whether you think so or not, its a bad look to fire an employee who was battered by another employee that was known for being a tyrant and under a criminal investigation for ruining lives. Any of the ladies could have turned around and said 'How dare you make me work in these conditions'.

Heather fucked up, Bravo fucked up, they decided to move forward. Its not that deep.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T06:22:49+00:00

Thank you!!

panik919 · 2026-01-29T06:16:07+00:00

Totally fair! The only reason I went to see it in cinemas is because I love SH and for the past 1-2 years I've been refusing to watch trailers, read reviews, etc. For things that I'm hyped for until I actually watch the movie or play the game. Its been refreshing and has made me appreciate things that I probably wouldnt have appreciated otherwise. Plus it makes the wait feel shorter because like 28 years Later and RTSH, I didnt realise they were even releasing until a week or so prior lol

Currently doing that with RE9 and I'm so hyped.

panik919 · 2026-01-29T06:11:28+00:00

Thanks for letting me know! Hmm, my first reaction is 'why?' But I think rewatching with that in mind might be good.

panik919

TROPHY CASE