History YMMV / ShadowOfTheTombRaider

* EightPointEight: Fans did not take well to Gamespot's 6/10 review, which was critical toward Lara's DarkerAndEdgier characterization and the lack of perceived [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks upgrades to the gameplay over prior entries]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The first two games were criticised for their heavy use of NoticeThis [[ItsEasySoItSucks a bit too much]], with grabbable ledges being clearly marked or interactable puzzle objects blatantly marked in Survival Instincts. Puzzle and exploration difficulty can now be set separately from combat difficulty (and each other), toning down this assistance or even removing it altogether.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Steam ratings kept dropping for every title that came out after the first. While ''TR 2013'' still ranked a very impressive 95% more than five years after its release, ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider'' sat at ~85% and ''Shadow'' at ~60%. Granted, ''Shadow'' was the subject of a massive InternetBacklash due to the publisher's ill-advised pricing strategy, but it already was the lowest-rated entry in the trilogy even before that hit struck.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: When playing with either the ''Tomb Raider 2'' or ''Angel of Darkness'' skins, Lara's mouth doesn't move during the cutscenes. For ''2'', this is understandable, since her mouth was static in that game as well, but for ''AOD'' it doesn't make sense because it ''did'' move in that game.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The "puzzle" underneath the library in San Juan late in the game. The game handles Lara a pamphlet with hints, but it's deep in her looong list of the artifacts, while not exactly helping much with the puzzle itself. Other than that, you get ''one'' hint to the solution, in an off-hand comment by Lara upon entering the general area long before you realize it might be important, and there's no way to repeat it when you eventually need the info, so you're forced to either brute-force your way through (watching Lara get gruesomely killed every time you pick the wrong answer) or consult outside help, which should be an absolute no-go.

* {{Squick}}: Lara operates a parasitic worm out of Jonah's arm shortly after landing in Peru. The thing is about a foot long and as thick as a pencil, and apparently it wormed its way into Jonah's arm just because [[ParanoiaFuel he washed his lightly injured arm in a pond]]. He names it Eli after his brother, [[CrossesTheLineTwice because Eli also always managed to get under his skin]], right before Lara stomps it flat.

* {{Narm}}: For some, activating immersion mode (lets natives talk in their local language instead of whatever language the game is set to) makes most of Lara's NPC conversations sound either unintentionally funny or unintentionally stupid, simply because Lara never switches to the other language herself. Especially the constant contrast between her original upper class English and Paititi's Incan is so crass that it actually breaks immersion instead of building it.

* InternetBackdraft: For about a month following its release, ''Shadow'' sat at an unspectacular yet solid mid-70% rating on Steam. Then someone among the publishers got the bright idea to put the game on sale, with the base game price reduced by ~25% and the deluxe Croft Edition by almost 40%. Understandably, gamers who pre-ordered either version were pissed to have shelled out the full price, only for such massive discounts to be given so closely after the game had just hit the market. Tons of negative Steam reviews piled up within days, tanking the rating in the lower 60% range. As of the time of writing it still hasn't recovered from that blow.

*** What's worse is that there was no real way to prevent the disaster from happening; Even if Lara never took the dagger, Dominguez would've taken it himself sooner or later and the same thing would've happened.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Continuing the tradition set by the 2013 game of having breathtaking graphics, the scenery is just ''stunning'' to see. Players on the PC platform also get the extra benefit of ''Shadow'' being one of the first games to take advantage of Nvidia's ray-traced lighting technology, provide they have the hardware to do so.

** [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom The tsunami that destroys Cozumel]]. Lara is swept along helplessly by the currents, at one point getting sucked underwater by collapsing rubble before she has to swim through a flooded store, filled with the drowned corpses of people who couldn't get to safety in time. Lara nearly drowns herself while trying to bust open a truck's window getting back to the surface, and when she's trying to get to higher ground, [[AdultFear she sees a boy dangling from a window, crying out for his mother...]] [[PlayerPunch And no matter how fast you are, you can't save him.]] The sequence is capped off by Lara just falling to her knees and watching ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero she]]'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unleashed]] consume the town, because no matter what Jonah says, [[ItsAllMyFault she knows this is her fault.]]

** [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom The tsunami that destroys Cozumel]]. Lara is swept along helplessly by the currents, at one point getting sucked underwater by collapsing rubble before she has to swim through a flooded store, filled with the drowned corpses of people who couldn't get to safety in time. Lara nearly drowns herself while trying to bust open a truck's window getting back to the surface, and when she's trying to get to higher ground, [[AdultFear she sees a boy dangling from a window, crying out for his mother...]] [[PlayerPunch And no matter how fast you are, you can't save him.]] The sequence is capped off by Lara just falling to her knees and watching [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the disaster she unleashed]] consume the town, because no matter what Jonah says, [[ItsAllMyFault she knows this is her fault.]]

*** What's worse is that there was no real way to prevent the disaster from happening, as even if Lara never took the item, Dominguez would've taken it himself sooner or later and the same thing would've happened.

* DemonicSpiders: You'll quickly come to hate the Yaaxil. These underground-dwelling creatures come in huge numbers, pack one hell of a punch at range and an even worse one in melee, sneak up on you from insane directions, are quite resilient, and they don't drop any ammo except arrows. Bows are mostly useless against their melee fighters (these guys can take a shotgun blast to the face and still ask for more), so you're essentially forced to resort to firearms, and woe betide you if you didn't fully upgrade your shotgun the moment you got it. Thankfully, enemies don't respawn in this game, so you're safe once you've cleared out a level once.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Third game in a row Lara is absolutely unable of grasping world [[ItsAllAboutMe doesn't revolve around her]]. Trinity at this point exists solely to fulfill the role of [[NeverMyFault someone to blame for her own failings]] and she goes on psychotic hunt against people who aren't shown doing anything particularly evil or even wrong, based on extremely sketchy "proofs" (unlike [[VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider Rise]], where they were cartoonishly evil). Their biggest woe is being a competition toward the artifacts Lara wants for herself, in some ill-conceived "saving the world" plan, while causing all of the damage herself. This even contrasts with Core-era Lara, who always considered most of people as nothing more than competition, but was perfectly capable of taking the blame when she did something wrong, rather than pushing it on others.
** The other options being Lara having a severe PTSD after Yamatai, making her incapable of clear judgement, but rather than treating it in just about any fashion, she goes like a ball in pinball machine, only increasing her trauma. Not helping her [[SatelliteCharacter "friends"]] vanish in the {{Interquel}} comics and she's left alone to her paranoia and DelusionsOfGrandeur.

** It doesn't help the puzzle is based on the old order of the stations. So even if you ''are'' Catholic, the numering is going to get you killed in a deliberate trap. Lara mentions station 6 upon entering the chapel. In the order familiar to modern Catholic that's "Veronica wipes the face of Jesus". But since the chapel is much older than that, it asks for order out of seven, not fourteen stations, thus asking you for ''old'' No. 6 - "Jesus is nailed to the cross". Thing is - ''both'' modern and old meaning of "station 6" is present and it's perfectly possible to get killed or at least confused thanks to the existence of both answers.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The "puzzle" underneath the library in San Juan late in the game was apparently built on the fallacy that everyone in the world is intimately familiar with the life and death of Jesus Christ. Not only is this monumentally arrogant and deeply offensive to about 90% of the world's population, it also results in a puzzle that no amount of skill in playing the game will get you through if you don't belong to the other 10%. You do get ''one'' hint to the solution, in an off-hand comment by Lara upon entering the general area long before you realize it might be important, and there's no way to repeat it when you eventually need the info, so you're forced to either brute-force your way through (watching Lara get gruesomely killed every time you pick the wrong answer) or consult outside help, which should be an absolute no-go in a game like ''Tomb Raider''. Yes, this is a puzzle that actively punishes you for not being a devout Christian.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In Porvenir Oil Fields [[spoiler: Rourke taunts Lara that Jonah is dead, causing her to go into TranquilFury mode, she brutally kills a Trinity guy who looks scared shitless and steals his LMG and then you go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge through the oil fields blowing shit up and mowing down dozens of Trinity goons who scream in terror at the mere sight of you, hands down the most badass moment in the trilogy, hell possibly the entire goddamn franchise]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A common criticism of the first two games was that they used NoticeThis [[ItsEasySoItSucks a bit too much]], with grabbable ledges being clearly marked or interactable puzzle objects blatantly marked in Survival Instincts. Puzzle and exploration difficulty can now be set separately from combat difficulty (and each other), toning down this assistance or even removing it altogether.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Third game in a row Lara is absolutely unable of grasping world [[ItsAllAboutMe doesn't revolve around her]]. Tritinity at this point exists solely to fulfill the role of [[NeverMyFault someone to blame for her own failings]] and she goes on psychotic hunt against people who aren't shown doing anything particularly evil or even wrong, based on extremely sketchy "proofs" (unlike [[VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider Rise]], where they were cartoonishly evil). Their biggest woe is being a competition toward the artifacts Lara wants for herself, in some ill-conceived "saving the world" plan, while causing all of the damage herself. This even contrasts with Core-era Lara, who always considered most of people as nothing more than competition, but was perfectly capable of taking the blame when she did something wrong, rather than pushing it on others.