I don’t really remember it that way. To me it was a uniquely gripping game because it evoked feelings by pushing buttons some would consider distasteful. And it never ended up doing so in a way that would have made the pre-launch controversy warranted, IMO.
By the second half of the game Lara’s deranged rage at the islanders was echoing my own.
Maybe some of the stuff in the game was supposed to please the sadists playing, but as someone who becomes the characters I play as, the unpleasant things that happen to Lara put me even more firmly in her shoes, and the sequels never managed the same.
My first playthrough of it was around when it came out and I didn’t really notice any issues and believed the controversy was blown out of proportion. In a recent playthrough, it became clear this game did not have well-written female characters in mind and it is hard to ignore that the execution of these topics was not in good taste.
Oh yeah no it’s hardly a thoughtful exploration of anything. The entire remake trilogy was a complete disappointment in that regard.
Games with some cool stuff but also glaring flaws that by the third I was quite fed up with. I wanted the new Tomb Raider games to be more better, and they just weren’t. Fun, but not “I’d wear that on a t-shirt”-good the way the Horizons or new GoW games are.
![[Official Art] Tomb Raider Box Art](https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/65c5a1fd-f7bc-496b-bcdb-52d05228d0ec.webp){kind=link}
I absolutely agree with you. The fetishization in this game was just particularly ick so wanted to point it out.
Was it really that bad?
I don’t really remember it that way. To me it was a uniquely gripping game because it evoked feelings by pushing buttons some would consider distasteful. And it never ended up doing so in a way that would have made the pre-launch controversy warranted, IMO.
By the second half of the game Lara’s deranged rage at the islanders was echoing my own.
Maybe some of the stuff in the game was supposed to please the sadists playing, but as someone who becomes the characters I play as, the unpleasant things that happen to Lara put me even more firmly in her shoes, and the sequels never managed the same.
My first playthrough of it was around when it came out and I didn’t really notice any issues and believed the controversy was blown out of proportion. In a recent playthrough, it became clear this game did not have well-written female characters in mind and it is hard to ignore that the execution of these topics was not in good taste.
Oh yeah no it’s hardly a thoughtful exploration of anything. The entire remake trilogy was a complete disappointment in that regard.
Games with some cool stuff but also glaring flaws that by the third I was quite fed up with. I wanted the new Tomb Raider games to be more better, and they just weren’t. Fun, but not “I’d wear that on a t-shirt”-good the way the Horizons or new GoW games are.
Exactly. It’s a fun romp but I don’t go out of my way to recommend it.