Post Script

How Shadow Of The Tomb Raider spoils one of its best features

On the face of it, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider’s three-pronged approach to difficulty is an excellent idea: letting you choose different settings for combat, exploration and puzzling should, in theory, cater to all kinds of players. Take combat, for example. Those who (understandably) aren’t particularly interested in Lara Croft: Killing Machine can choose the Easy difficulty, benefitting from aim assist, enemies that take fewer shots before dying, and more generous ammo supplies. And if you are – well, you’re in for long stretches without stabbing someone in the neck or firing a bow in anger, but when you’re in a fight you’ll know about it: enemies are more alert, hit harder and Croft won’t be able to regenerate health. And clicking in the right stick won’t help. Her patented Survival Instincts won’t highlight enemies, as they do on the other two settings.