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Review (in progress): Rise of the Tomb Raider’s “Season Pass” content

As components of Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s “Season Pass” are released, we’ll review ’em. Simple, no?

“Endurance” and “Baba Yaga: Temple of the Witch”

When the review code for Rise of the Tomb Raider’s “Season Pass” content arrived in Stevivor’s inbox, it promised three hours of new, action-packed content led by “Baba Yaga: Temple of the Witch”. That’s a half-truth. After playing, we discovered that you’ll plow through the DLC’s story mode in about two hours, maximum… but you’ll end up playing far past three hours, however, with a content that’s barely be advertised: “Endurance”, featuring a mode with the same name.

We’ll get to Baba Yaga herself in a minute, but Endurance mode, so far, is the reason to pick up the “Season Pass” itself. Think of it, essentially, as Don’t Starve: Tomb Raider Edition. Lara’s challenged to make it through day after day surviving in the elements, warming her frozen fingers and toes by whatever fire she can muster up from scraps of bark around her. Dozens of Trinity soldiers are on the hunt for our famous archeologist, so to combat them, Lara will need to keep her energy stores up by feeding on berries, squirrels, deer or whatever else she can track and kill.

In short, it’s almost as primal as, well, Far Cry: Primal. And, while it doesn’t have much to do with raiding tombs – though you are asked to find artifacts as you endure – it feels decidedly like Tomb Raider. I want more of the mode, and soon.

riseendurance

As for Baba Yaga herself, Rise’s first bit of story-based content is merely alright. So-so. Predictable. And that’s some of the nicest stuff I could think of to say about it. It borrows liberally from Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Scarecrow missions, but really, without a lot of depth. You’ll be able to guess what’s going to happen from about forty-five minutes in.

Mediocrity aside, “Baba Yaga” gives us more core Tomb Raider, and that’s never a bad thing. In the handful of hours you’ll play, you’ll face a new set of collectibles, a challenge here and there, a bunch of gather quests and one medium difficulty puzzle.

At the end of the day, the entire package, so far, isn’t too bad for $40 AUD… providing you like the idea of Endurance mode.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is available on Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows PC. Read our review of the main game here and keep checking back for updates to this review as more content is made available.

Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s “Season Pass” content is being reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox One, as provided by the publisher.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.