Review
As I put my controller down at the end of Rise of the Tomb Raider I had completed 62% of the game, I had plenty of tombs to explore and collectables to find, but I never got the chance to go back to finish my exploration. Now, with the release of the games first story DLC I have the perfect chance.
Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, starts with Lara taking on some trinity soldiers before rescuing a woman hiding in a locker.She was trying to find her Grandfather but got ambushed on the way. She explains to Lara that he is trying to find Baba Yaga, a witch who is based on the Russian myth.The story itself goes in some pretty surreal directions, all thanks to a flower pollen that causes some great hallucination scenes.
It’s not long before you find yourself back in the original world to help you progress the story which feels a bit frustrating at first but the story gives you a good enough reason to go back. The DLC has some excellent puzzles for you to solve, you’ll make use of rope arrows a fair bit to control barriers or help you reach higher ground. It all feels very familiar and breaks the story up nicely.
There are plenty of collectables to find and read up on, there are books, recording that all give you fill you in about the Baba Yaga folklore, as you get closer to the end of the story it’s fairly easy to work out what is going to happen but what you do get is an excellent boss battle. It involves a great mix of combat and puzzles solving and I found it much more entertaining than the final battle in the main game.
At the end of the DLC you’ll be rewarded with some pretty sweet items and if you just focussed on the story you’ll have plenty to discover.