ISSUE #2
Tomb Raider Infographic: Evolution of Boss Difficulty According to their Playerbase
*Zoom in your browser for a closer view.
I absolutely love each of the (reboot) Tomb Raider games, though I would be lying if I said the boss fights were perfect. The boss fights just don't click right, and so I set forth on an adventure to discover why this was. To begin, I gathered hard evidence by grabbing my closest notepad and replaying the entire trilogy just to research the boss fights.
I individually counted the total resources available in the arena, how many units of ammunition were required to defeat each boss, and how much damage Lara could take before dying [on Hard mode; since ROTTR and SOTTR had 'extra' hard modes (i.e., 'Seasoned Raider' and 'Deadly Obsession') when TR2013 only had hard mode. Which is why I chose to compare them all in 'hard.' mode].
Lastly, I visited the magical wide world web for strangers' opinions (Reddit and Steam reviews)! Unfortunately, I found that other players shared my dissatisfaction with the way the final bosses were handled. Now, each installment is years apart, so naturally, there are higher expectations for the quality of the game to be better; however, it seems that Square Enix has missed the mark on all three... of course, according to these three strangers. Personally, I had a blast with each fight, but I'd also say their points have some merit. Both TR2013 and ROTTR's boss fights were plagued by Quick Time Events (QTEs), which felt like a big 'screw you' after you spent hours honing in on weapon upgrades and combat finesse. However, I was quite surprised to find that SOTTR's boss fight had the opposite issue... the boss fight has four repetitive phases, and without decent resource management of health and ammunition, you'll be pressing the replay button more times than not.
However, I believe the issue arises because players don’t expect the boss fight to be so unforgiving, which is a stark contrast from the usual approach to boss battles in the series. Once Lara enters the boss arena, she’s locked in—whether she’s low on ammunition or health, that’s what she has to rely on from start to finish. Honestly, most players will likely have gained enough XP and completed side quests to equip better armor and weapons. However, for those unlucky souls who didn’t focus on exploration or happened to reach the arena with minimal resources, this can be very, very unfortunate. These players may find themselves trapped in a ''death loop'', a situation where they lack the resources needed to win, yet can’t collect additional supplies (aside from minimal health and a moderate amount of arrows) or revert to an earlier save outside the boss area. This creates an unwinnable scenario, trapping players and leading to immense frustration. I believe this is where much of the criticism originates.
Now, let's talk about solutions to this real-world problem that will benefit the race of humankind. *drumroll* *drumroll* *drumroll* The solution is... "In-Game-Purchases"! (1950s salesman voice) "Low on ammo, sonny-Jim, and you can't search for more because you're already locked in the arena? Well now, for the low-low price of $6.99, you can have 240 rounds of Assault Rifle ammunition! It's either that or restart the game. Now, what'll it be? Hurry up, clocks 'a tickin'! I see you seem a little on the fence, so I'll just take your credit card from you."
Okay, jokes aside, what's an actual solution? I really don't know, but I have an idea. When I think of Tomb Raider, I think of a semi-open world action/adventure game, not a survival game; so why on Earth should I manage my inventory carefully (well, IDK, maybe because I picked 'hard mode' where its description states "Ammunition boxes are rare.")? It really comes down to an issue of expectations. You see, if this were Silent Hill, you'd be right to believe most players on harder difficulties would preserve their ammo caches and health packs as if they were a limited-edition Ice Spice Fortnite skin (sorry, bad analogy).
In SOTTR, despite their whole reboot trilogy being about 'survival,' this is really the first game where resource management is actually impactful to progression. In comparison to earlier titles where, even in the highest difficulties, there would still be plentiful resources with only damage being adjusted. Because of this, I completely understand how a player would be frustrated after being confronted with the reality that inventory management is quite impactful in the boss fight, after there really hadn't been consequences in the past for unmanaged resource allocation. With that being said, SOTTR's boss fight was both creative and challenging, dare I say refreshing to see Square Enix do something new with their boss fights instead of QTEs. I think it would be awesome to see Square Enix implement more survival mechanics in future games to really exemplify the theme of 'survival' in the Tomb Raider series.
As I mentioned earlier, I had a blast with all three installments! Give me QTEs? If it means I get a close-up of Lara jamming her pickaxe into the skull of the Oni Stalker, I’m all in! Or throw me an anxiety-inducing boss fight that pushes me to carefully conserve ammo with each phase, and I’ll feel incredible when I finally take down the boss. Each game offered its own unique thrill, whether I felt like a battle-hardened psychopath or a tiny ant scrambling away from a sun-god. And I enjoyed them all, which is what really matters, right?
It's my hope that Square Enix continues to perfect their boss fights in a way that is visually satisfying (gore! gore! GORE!), creative (rich abilities and backstory), and mechanically balanced, without having to partake in the dubious act of... QTEs!
Thanks for reading y'all, have a great day! :D