Level reviews

"I find this release a bit tricky to review. On the one hand, the whole setup and the technical achievements that went into it are nothing short of amazing. You get 10 missions to collect a series of items, and then another 10 missions, which are similar but based on timed sequences. They also get progressively a little harder and make impressive use of added moves in Lara's repertoire. I also liked the VR-style setting with the grids and the strong colors, which supported the atmosphere of challenge here very nicely. However, I will admit that I found it a bit overwhelming, and despite the good sense of progression, the feeling of repetition kicked in quickly and made it more of an ordeal than a really fun raid for me in the end. If you meet the necessary conditions, you also get glimpses into two demo levels, which is a nice idea on one hand, but as I generally do not like playing demos when I would rather wait for the full release, this also did not help my experience here much. In short, this is mindblowing in its technical achievement, but it needs a special type of player to be truly enjoyable to play through without any reservations." - MichaelP

"Interesting and fresh use of the Tomb Raider engine. It's visually abstract and pure gameplay. It's a simple yet creative idea. Each sub-level is slightly larger and harder than the one before. This may make it suitable for beginners. There's a tutorial level too just in case you don't know the moves. When you're done with collectathon mode you can play the time trial mode to make it even more of a challenge. The whole structure leaves you wanting for more. The 10 or so sub-levels are not enough. One weird thing for me was that I couldn't finish a time run until I learned a move that I didn't know before, but which is standard in TRLE (the spring slide - it's the first move taught in the training level, which I skipped, because it seemed too boring)." - tuxraider

"A very unique game that really tests your agility and skills with a lot of items to collect in 10 mini worlds that gradually increase in complexity. While some of the tasks take a few tries (especially those trapdoors that open and close again and again), perhaps even more creativity in some of the challenges is possible. I was not a fan of the background audio and the visuals are indeed a bit on the simple side but they were nevertheless very well used. Object usage is great and the bonus level(s) spice the whole thing up some more so that you have to aim for all of the files. The only thing that I found really annoying were some of the delayed or modified animations. Nevertheless a fantastic game and a very nice addition to the advent calendar! Spent 30 net minutes in the main game and 40/25 in the bonus levels." - manarch2

"If you're into platforming, then this is the one for you. This is not your traditional tomb raiding experience (Advent or otherwise), but it offers an exhilarating and challenging raid that kept me occupied for the best part of two days. Although the looped music was a bit of an irritation (maybe unavoidable in a scenario like this), the environments are striking from start to finish and extremely pleasing to the eyes, despite being quite minimalist. Each stage has more than its fair share of challenges, even if it's trying to figure out the most reliable route to collect all the pickups, and it gets progressively more challenging as you progress. I must have missed a VR file somewhere as I only got to experience the first bonus level (quite a treat in itself), but I still got to see the rest of the game. Even the Time Trial mode, surprisingly. Worth a go for something totally different." - Ryan

"Notes

• This release has two independent play modes: a collectathon mode and a time trial mode. The former is free roaming through each mission, while the latter requires constant collection of clocks to keep adding to the countdown timer in each mission.

Neutral

• Aside from the bonus levels, the visuals are on the simple side in this adventure, with all of the geometry using one of two textures. Granted it is a virtual reality setting, so it is what it is.

Liked

• There are some challenging and engaging platforming moments in these missions, particularly in the time trial mode. Each mission feels like a puzzle requiring the player to map out the most optimal route.
• The bonus levels have quite a few large areas to explore, it is worth the effort of unlocking them. There are some interesting puzzles on top of it.

Collectathon Time w/ Bonus Level: 2 hours 36 minutes | Collectathon Difficulty: Easy
Time Trial Time w/ Bonus Level: 53 minutes | Time Trial Difficulty: Hard
Rating: 8/10" - JesseG

"Like DJ mentioned, this is like a barbie DLC expect it does what it intended to do near- perfectly: the missions that are present are flawless and are extremely fun to play through, you never feel like something is unfairly played, the replayability factor is one of the greatest in any TRLE, up with the arena TRLE a while back, and nothing has cut corners on it. A must play, even if it's not a traditional TRLE in a sense." - OblivionJaw

"A Barbie level DLC. Audiovisually perfect, aiming at platforming. The missions vary yet after two of them I could imagine the whole vibe and I got tired. Which was rewarded later even before I saw the all secret bonus (which I highly advise you go for). I guess you will respond to the core of this game highly depending on who you are and when you play it, so I recommend you to download, begin and check if it's your thing." - DJ Full