Rise of the Tomb Raider was the best game of 2015 in my opinion and like most big games these days a Season Pass was also released at a cost of £19.99. With the promise of three additional DLC packs is this the Season Pass that finally makes a wise purchase?
Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch is the first story DLC to be released for last year's Rise of the Tomb Raider and it's the DLC you would have heard the most about. But straight off I'm going to tell you that the Endurance Mode is the stand out reason to buy the Season Pass so far. I hadn't even heard of Endurance Mode until now. You are challenged to survive day after day in extreme conditions. You need to hunt and scavenge so you can eat and anything you can find from berries, pigeons, squirrels and deer are fair game. But just as important is heat. Gathering wood is also of paramount importance so you can build camp fires to keep yourself warm in the harsh conditions. And let's not forget the Trinity soldiers that are also there and baying for your blood.
There are no Tombs to raid here but you can find artifacts the longer you survive. The challenge Endurance Mode throws at you is harsh and forces you to take chances that you probably wouldn't in the main game. When your food and heat meters start dropping and you have no food or campfire nearby the gloves truly come off. I want more of this mode in different environments, that's how good it is. Because there are hours of replay value here unlike Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch story DLC.
If you've played Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Scarecrow missions you'll be right at home here. What you getting is more of the same Tomb Raiding action and that's never a bad thing. You have more collectibles to find, a new challenge, quests and puzzles. Lara investigates a Russian folktale. Starting off at the Soviet Installation you must rescue a young villages called Nadia who is trying to find her Grandfather who is on his own mission to track down and avenge his wife's death at the hands of Baba Yaga.
It's advertised at weighing in at three hours long but I won't waste anytime in telling you that it's bullshit. I completed the main story in just over an hour and had nearly found all the new secrets and documents. The game holds your hand for the first quarter of the mission as your subjected to hallucinogenic pollen which transports Lara to a disturbing moment in her past which I won't spoil here. The imagery here is as impressive as it is foreboding and in one particular scene disturbing. As interesting as it is to see into the psyche of Lara it also leaves you frustrated at your lack of control. After that mind altering episode it's business as normal. One puzzle in particular confused me for a while but that's as challenging as it gets. The end of level boss fight against Baba Yaga is good fun but nothing we haven't seen before in a Tomb Raider game and you will have worked out the plot twist way before you finish this particular story.
On their own each new DLC is priced at £7.99 so when I beg you to wait for this to appear in an inevitable Xbox Store sale I mean it. Paying that much money for story content that at best will last you two hours is ludicrous. Endurance Mode will last you a great deal longer because there is huge replay value in this mode but I don't see why this or Baba Yaga couldn't have been included in the base game. The Season Pass epidemic shows no sign of slowing down and Tomb Raider is it's latest victim. If I had to sum up the DLC on offer in one word it would be mediocre.
You can read my review of the full game here.
You can buy the season pass priced at £19.99 from the Xbox Store here.
Season Pass supplied by XCN.