Too many bugs. 10/10

In many ways Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an improvement over Rise, but it also feels as if it took several steps backwards. Of all the times Lara has been to Peru (which is surprisingly often), this is the most we've ever got to engage with local cultures, even if the story mainly concerns a displaced Maya civilisation. On the other hand the amount of hub areas with side quests slow down the game massively for what amounts to fetch quests that feel more at home in Deus Ex than it does Tomb Raider. I also don't think the developers realised Lara interacting with active civilisations means she's just stealing artefacts from people's houses. The platforming gameplay is strict to the point of feeling buggy at times. It all works but mistime a jump even slightly and it's over for Lara, which also takes the wind out of several cinematic scenes since on a first try you'll likely be going through it over and over again attempting to get that one jump right (particularly frustrating in Deadly Obsession where you can only save between campfires, easily wasting about 20 minutes at a time). Carrying over from previous Survivor titles, there is also something so horrifying in that every archaeological site Lara visits ends up being utterly destroyed by her merely passing through.

All in all it is still a very good game, but one with a bit of an identity crisis (mainly in the gameplay department, whereas Tomb Raider 2013 felt more embarrassed about being Tomb Raider). Second best in the trilogy, below Rise.

It's just like Arkham Asylum, except Batman is a random comic book nerd in a terrible cloak. Glorious 1990's cheesiness.

I was forced to consult the guide (which helpfully comes with the game) a few times but it's not overly esoteric and mostly makes sense.

Works fine on Steam Deck.