For me this is the weakest entry in the Crystal Dynamics trilogy. Everything about it reeks of bad deadline crunch. Lara has more moves, but the animations no longer flow together as neatly as they did, and movement feels ponderous. The maps all have some finishing issues, especially the back half of the game, and you'll want to manually save now and then because autosave can lock you into unwinnable states. Also artifact pickups are excessive. On the order of 20~30 per map in random places, as opposed to <10 carefully placed in challenging spots, and most of them are in jars, which must be shot open with no target assist or kicked open with an incredibly clunky 'jar kicking' animation. Artifacts don't stay picked up if you restart the level because autosave broke your game either. On the bright side, visual design is at series peak. Maps are gorgeous. Lara's outfits are great. New motorcycle is great. In-game hints finally show XBox buttons when you play with a controller. The combat overhaul is mostly good, but blatantly unfinished. Overall the game is still decent enough to maintain interest and bring the story home, but its rough edges are trying.
Like a lot of old time pen & paper players, I have a ton of respect for a decent Losombra, and Julia is the first to appear in any of the games. She can't stop being who she is for a second, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Gold star for Julia. The game itself is kinda mediocre. It's an improvement over Coteries of New York, but still not a super sophisticated VN and suffers from inconsistent quality writing. Worth picking up on sale if you're a VtM fan. Otherwise pass.
Direct to Netflix quality visual novel with a couple of decent supporting characters and interesting plot points, but hamstrung by incomplete branching paths, occasionally hamfisted writing, and hilariously feminized male characters. Buy on sale, play with a couple drinks after dinner, and it's alright. Hot take: If you don't like the ending, it's because you're genre illiterate.
