Rise of the Tomb Raider

Crystal Dynamics' 2015 sequel is the entry where the rebooted series remembered it was about tombs. The 2013 game had been criticised for burying its archaeology under a survival shooter; this one puts nine substantial optional tombs back in, each a self-contained physics or traversal puzzle with a genuine reward, and builds its Siberian hub areas as semi-open spaces you return to with better equipment. Lara's kit grows into something properly flexible: rope arrows, a climbing axe, broadheads and craftable explosives assembled from field materials, so an enemy camp can be approached by stealth through undergrowth, by explosive escalation, or by starting a fire and shooting whatever runs out. Combat is stronger than its predecessor's and the stealth is real rather than decorative. The story about her father's research and a Byzantine city is serviceable rather than memorable. What lands is the environment art - the Soviet installation and the geothermal valley are among the best-looking spaces of that console generation - and the 20 Year Celebration edition bundles the DLC including a Blood Ties chapter set entirely in her house.