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SvennoJ on 03 February 2025
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Dante9 said:

It was always about the puzzles, not easy traversal. Each room or space is basically a puzzle to solve and the goal is to find a way forward, using what you know and being perceptive. The controls could get clunky or even frustrating at times, but it's okay if you just take things slow and appreciate the atmosphere and wonder of discovery.
The shooting is easy as pie, because Lara has auto-targeting. It's just about how to best clear the enemies without taking too much damage. Another puzzle, basically.
I can understand how the games may not be for everyone in the modern age. I used to enjoy the feeling of being deep in some place no-one had been for ages, feeling isolated but curious to see what was around the next corner.

Yeah that isolation was a big draw and provided a great sense of immersion. The game understood you don't need to have '30 seconds of fun' every minute to stay engaged. There was Duke Nukem 3D for that (Came out 6 months before TR1) and Doom of course.

TR let you wander around by yourself, interrupted by some bats or sometimes a bear. You could really imagine yourself there, exploring, finding a way forward. Getting stuck on a room, try something else, different room for a while and come back to it later. It all led to a great sense of achievement to get each collectible. Spotting them was only the beginning of the puzzle, then working backwards, figure out a path to get there.

The closest to the feeling of playing TR nowadays was playing Subside on PSVR2 in the underwater cave exploration part. No enemies, just you against the environment trying to find keys/coins/locked boxes/collectibles while navigating underwater caverns with the time you can hold your breath as limiting factor.

TR1 and TR2 did the exploration/discovery part really well, 3 was still good, then Angel of Darkness killed the series. That's when they first strayed off the formula. Some of the later ones were still good, Anniversary the best, then the reboot changed it all. Completely different genre.