Survive in a dangerous jungle. Adapt and become one with the land. Guide Lara Croft to become the Tomb Raider she was destined to be. These are the promises we were given for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Images of a gruelling struggle to survive were conjured up. The suffocating jungle of South America was presented as this living entity, out to harm Lara at every turn, something to be conquered.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider offers none of these things, not really. It’s true that for the first part of the game, you’re scrambling to collect equipment in a jungle. But there’s no element of survival. There are two boss fights against jaguars, if they count, and then you are out of the jungle and into the first of the game’s three ‘social spaces’ - locations filled with non-player-characters that take up most of the playing time.

And once you reach these locations, when the plot starts becoming the focus, that’s when Shadow of the Tomb Raider starts to get into trouble. Lara’s in South America on the trail of a destructive MacGuffin that will halt the destruction she set in motion from another destructive MacGuffin. On the surface, it is typical Tomb Raider territory. Unfortunately, the whole thing falls apart when you think about it for more than two minutes. And the game forces you to think about it. A lot.