History YMMV / ShadowOfTheTombRaider

** It doesn't help the puzzle is based on the old order of the stations. So even if you ''are'' Catholic, the numbering is going to get you killed in a [[KaizoTrap deliberate trap.]] Lara mentions station 6 upon entering the chapel. In the order familiar to modern Catholic this would be "Veronica wipes the face of Jesus". But for whatever reason, 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. It's perfectly possible to get killed, or at least confused thanks to the existence of both answers. And not helped by the fact the old order got discontinued before the sanctuary was built, making it all the more confusing.

* BonusFeatureFailure: The "Survivor" outfit (Lara's design from the 2013 ''Tomb Raider'' game) is rendered very differently from the other outfits (giving her a different face with cloudy eyes and glossy skin). As a result it looks [[UncannyValley plain odd]] next to the other outfits, to the point of being off-putting. While her retro outfits from the original series have a nostalgic StylisticSuck to them, this outfit just looks lazy in comparison to the other modern era outfits.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The puzzle related to the "Stations of the Cross" is just plain weird. It uses an ancient, long abandoned order of the stations. So old, it got ''dropped before the chapel when it was built''. This set up a SchmuckBait trap, and said bait is a go-to answer for any Catholic person, fitting the hints given in the game. So what the game considers a murderous trap should be a solution to the puzzle. The entire thing turns into ThatOnePuzzle, as described below.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The puzzle about the Stations of the Cross underneath the library in San Juan late in the game. The game hands Lara a pamphlet with hints, but it's buried deep in her long list of artifacts. You get ''one'' hint to the solution outside of the pamphlet, in an off-hand comment by Lara upon entering the general area. So even before you realize it might be important, you're screwed. And unless you make a secondary save ahead of time just before the conversation, there is no other way to repeat the dialogue when you eventually need the information, so you're forced to either brute-force your way through the puzzle (which requires watching Lara get gruesomely killed every time you pick the wrong answer) or consult the internet.
** It doesn't help the puzzle is based on the old order of the stations. So even if you ''are'' Catholic, the numbering is going to get you killed in a [[KaizoTrap deliberate trap.]] Lara mentions station 6 upon entering the chapel. In the order familiar to modern Catholic this would be "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, not helped by the fact the old order got discontinued before the sanctuary was built, making it all the more confusing.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The puzzle related with Stations of the Cross is just plain weird. It uses ancient, long abandoned order of the stations. So old, it got ''dropped before the chapel with it was build''. This didn't prevent the dev team from not only following their surface-level research on the subject, but also set up what they clearly consider a SchmuckBait. And said bait is a go-to answer for Catholics, fitting the hints given in the game. So what the game considers a murderous trap should be a solution to the puzzle. And God forbids if you ain't Catholic, because the entire thing turns then into ThatOnePuzzle, as described below.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The "puzzle" about the Stations of the Cross underneath the library in San Juan late in the game. The game hands Lara a pamphlet with hints, but it's deep in her looong list of 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.
** It doesn't help the puzzle is based on the old order of the stations. So even if you ''are'' Catholic, the numbering 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 this would be "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. Oh, and the best part? The old order got discontinued before the sanctuary was built, making it all that more confusing.

* MostAnnoyingSound: There's a ruined bell tower near the San Juan mission that's home to a couple of wild turkeys. The birds don't do anything except run around when Lara gets close, but the noise they make is incredibly annoying even from some distance away. The ruin's central location also results in Lara having to pass by the tower disturbingly often. It's probably not a coincidence that you get an achievement for immolating a turkey with a flare - the whole thing seems to be deliberately designed to provoke players into killing the damn birds in the most cathartic way they can come up with.
** Lara's voice can become this if you have a low tolerance for mopeyness and check each artefact once it's been examined, because nearly every one of the artefacts Lara examines - even if they are incredibly valuable - are described in a voice straddling the line somewhere between 'bored' and 'depressed'. Any other AdventurerArchaeologist would be sounding excited or fascinated, but Lara just sounds like she really needs a Xanax.

** Lara's voice can become this if you have a low tolerance for mopeyness and check each artefact once it's been examined, because nearly every one of the artefacts Lara examines - even if they are incredibly valuable - are described in a voice straddling the line somewhere between 'bored' and 'depressed'. Any other AdventureArcheologist would be sounding excited or fascinated, but Lara just sounds like she really needs a Xanax.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Lara is having a severe PTSD after [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 Yamatai]], making her incapable of clear judgement. Rather than treating it in just about any fashion, she goes like a ball in pinball machine for next two games, only increasing her trauma and [[NeverMyFault always finding others to blame for her own mess-ups]]. It is not helping her [[SatelliteCharacter "friends"]] vanish in the {{Interquel}} comics and she's left alone to mounting paranoia and delusions of grandeur.

* NightmareFuel:
** [[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 the disaster ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero she]]'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unleashed]] consume the town, because no matter what Jonah says, [[ItsAllMyFault she knows this is her fault.]]
** Crawling through the corpses of freshly dismembered sacrifices in Amaru's temple, with [[NauseaFuel audible squishing sounds]]. The entire temple and the human sacrifices contained within are either nausea-inducing, terrifying, or both.
** The jaguars in the beginning of the game, with their unnaturally bright eyes, excellent stealth, and tendency to show up right out of nowhere to maul Lara.
** In the Porvenir Oil Field, Lara's look of unbridled rage as she rises out of the water and begins to lay holy hell to Trinity, [[spoiler: believing they killed Jonah.]]
** The mudslide avalanche in San Juan, it's a reprise of the Tsunami, only this time it's on a place that's already been severely damaged by an earthquake.
** One of the crypts has a long hallway where one wall is lined with stone statues staring at the other wall. Considering the rest of the crypt is an unadorned cave, it's so unexpected and out-of-place that it becomes downright eerie, [[NothingIsScarier especially since it doesn't actually mean anything]].
** One of the early game challenge tombs is this, you are making your way through it, finding bodies strewn with arrows, and for some reason as you are passing though this nightmarish not-quite-human scream tears through the air, you keep expecting something to come at you, but apart from a few crumbling traps falling at you (although Lara's dialogue indicates there is possibly someone doing this on purpose the game never tells you) nothing actually happens, a good example of tension combined with NothingIsScarier.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Lara is having a severe PTSD after [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 Yamatai]], making her incapable of clear judgement. Rather than treating it in just about any fashion, she goes like a ball in pinball machine for next two games, only increasing her trauma and [[NeverMyFault always finding others to blame for her own mess-ups]]. It is not helping her [[SatelliteCharacter "friends"]] vanish in the {{Interquel}} comics and she's left alone to mounting paranoia and DelusionsOfGrandeur.

* 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 shortly 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.
** A lesser one hit when the game was added to Xbox Game Pass only about five months after its release. The vast majority of the game's console sales were on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 rather than UsefulNotes/XboxOne, meaning that those who only own the former system didn't much care, but some who own the latter system (or both of them) were a little annoyed.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Steam ratings kept dropping for every title that came out after the first. While ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' 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.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The "puzzle" about the Stations of the Cross 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 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.
** 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. Oh, and the best part? The old order got discontinued before the sanctuary was build, making it all that more confusing.

* ContestedSequel: While general consensus is that it's a fine game on its own, opinions are mixed as to how it compares to the previous games. Some think the story has genuinely improved, with Lara having more a character arc, and Jonah being RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. Others don't feel that it improves enough upon VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider, citing ItsTheSameSoItSucks and OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Series wide of the Original and first remake series, showing what would probably actually happen to a globe trotting adventurer who seems to have no real idea of what they are trying to obtain, most obvious example is at the start, Lara grabbing a dagger without knowing what it does/what defenses it has (despite knowing powerful and dangerous magic exists), simply to keep it out of Trinitys hands, inadvertantly starts the Incan Apocalypse, the main villain even calls her out on this, and Lara throughout the game has constant guilty pangs as her impulsiveness has got at least several hundred people killed, it comes to abit of a CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot, if this version of Lara done any research on her targets at least a little bit before running off to "Save the World".

** One of the early game challenge tombs is this, you are making your way through it, finding bodies strewn with arrows, and for some reason as you are passing though this nightmarish not-quite-human scream tears through the air, you keep expecting something to come at you, but apart from a few crumbling traps falling at you (although Lara's dialogue indicates there is possibly someone doing this on purpose the game never tells you) nothing actually happens, a good example of tension combined with NothingIs Scarier.

* 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 shortly 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.

** Wait what. [[spoiler:Dominguez comes off as a hypocritical lunatic who is practically Vatican from how he's been raised but uses his Perusian birth ethnicity as an excuse to play Grand Inquisitor and sacrifice anyone who doesn't conform to his police state and cult of personality. Lara starts showing signs of ItsAllMyFault after she causes a city-destroying flood, which Jonah snaps her out of, and she decides that it doesn't matter that she's becoming a mass-murdering fanatic comparable to Trinity because she is trying to save the world as a human instead of trying to 'fix' it by pretending to be a god. That includes trying diplomacy with Dominguez, multiple times.]]

*** What's worse is that there was no real way to prevent the disaster from happening; Even if Lara never touched the dagger, Dominguez would've taken it himself sooner or later and the same thing would've happened.
*** Dominguez knew exactly what would happen if he took the dagger without having the box at hand to complete the ritual, and the way he rips into Lara when he realizes she doesn't have the box heavily implies that he never intended to take the dagger just yet; he just wanted it found. Trinity probably would've secured the site until both artifacts were in their hands, which means yes, all these deaths Lara caused ''were'' preventable, and they're her responsibility alone.

* BonusFeatureFailure: The "Survivor" outfit (Lara's design from the 2013 ''Tomb Raider'' game) is rendered very differently from the other outfits (giving her a different face with cloudy eyes and glossy skin). As a result it looks [[UncannyValley plain odd]] next to the other outfits, to the point of being off-putting. It's almost as if her model from that game was just ported straight over without any work done to make it match the style of the other outfits.