TOMB RAIDER
The story of how the Lara Croft franchise fell from grace was a sad one indeed. Once one of the premier franchises of the gaming industry, permeating mass media even outside of video games, its quality started to deteriorate as time went on, until finally, it became a stale franchise that was a meager shadow of what it had been when it was at its zenith. But everyone had massive expectations from Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 reboot of the coveted franchise. And boy, oh boy did the game deliver on its promises. Not only did the game tell a riveting tale of how Lara Croft became who she was- going from a frightened victim of unfortunate circumstances to a gritty and skilled survivor- the game was also a blast to play through and gorgeous to look at. While it was heavily inspired by the Uncharted series- the franchise which, ironically, itself borrowed a great deal from old Tomb Raider games- it offered excitement and thrill in droves.
