The thing that really marks the game and kind of killed it was when Lara says "I hate Tombs". As soon as you step in and start playing around in it she starts shitting her pants. She freaks out over every discovery, its like one of the few times in the game she shows some genuine happiness. Was this to serve a purpose in the story? was it an inside joke?
Nothing that she says, or that anyone says makes sense in the context of gameplay. One that people noticed, but don't realize is important is that she's a fucking killing machine. Seriously, thats a major problem in this supposedly "bulletproof and emotional" story. and no "videogames" isn't an excuse. If the game is meant to be serious then shit like this shouldn't exist.
Another major problem is the camera, its in the game world. This is almost like voyeurism, you're not Lara (a theme that gets shoved down your throat since the developers want you to "feel lara's pain" and "care for her" but the fact that the camera can get wet when not acting as lara's point of view means theres a camera in the game world.
this one is more technical because it has to do directly with gameplay, but I was doing the normal platforming when a voice called out and said "no lara they'll see you". So I'm already in mid jump when this is being said, and the game freezes, this enemy above me walks over, looks away from where i am, turns 90 degrees, then turns 90 degrees again looks up with his gun, then lowers his gun in my general direction (he couldn't lower it enough to actually hit me, then fires and I die.
That was the point where is just kind of hit me how stupid this was. nothing between the narrative (which is supposed to be realistic survival but features lara pulling herself on a rope after getting a real bad slice on her side) and the gameplay that was actually cohesive. if they wanted to remove "Sex" why didn't they burn her face? or make her cut her hair? everything about the game seems like it appeals to a focus group, we need to make her strong, but you need to care but she's also strong. and the game has to hate violence, but you can totally slit a guys throat with an arrow then chop his head off, but in this one scene she'll cry about it.
This is one (of the many these days) games that totally falls into that stereotype of "game". Its not supposed to make sense or be serious, but everyone treats it like it is. This isn't helping games in the way people say it is.