In the list of quintessential treasure-hunting action adventure games, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration definitely finds a spot. It stays true to its notion of introducing many puzzles for gamers to solve, rather than action-heavy alone like in the Uncharted series.
You are given a character whom you could build through area exploration, survival skills development & knowledge base building. Relics, inventories, weapons, documents, resources and salvages are all over the map to advance Lara Croft. Honing foreign language skills & examining relics closely to capture details provides wholesome information on the proceedings. Fast Travel by transporting ourselves from one Base Camp to another is an amazing functionality! It allows players to enjoy the game & story first without having to worry too much about collectible items. Once done with the main gameplay, players are provided with the ability to return to spots left with discoveries to ponder.
With these being said, beyond the Soviet Installation portion, Base Camps grow like mushrooms. Collectible items blend with the background so seamlessly, that it is unclear for us as to which can be picked & which can be not. Side missions do have the potential to dilute the primary one.
Overall, the storytelling is decent, but it is definitely clunky at many places. Logic is out of the window. The screenplay doesn't flow as smooth as its contemporaries. At certain parts, the graphics isn't the best there is for its time. Climax is really underwhelming, since the execution is average concerning supernatural elements.