The first reveal of the Tomb Raider reboot was a curious one. Gone was the self-assured Lara Croft of old, roaming round long forgotten tombs with dual pistols, and in her place was a young, unprepared woman, screaming and screeching her way through flame-lit caverns. It seems she couldn’t move more than a few feet without falling down a ravine or having men of uncertain principles reach out for her. Either way, she’d shriek.

Though this is a fair reflection of how our time with Lara begins, it soon becomes clear that we’re witnessing the birth of the legend. The period when she learns that it’ll take more than knowing how to excavate pots to survive her own extreme branch of archaeology. It’s been a much touted strand of this release, and with the inclusion of Rhianna Pratchett on the writing staff it’s clear that Crystal Dynamics want to flesh out the character and for her to be taken seriously. Away from the gunplay and puzzles, though a strong personality, she’s rarely been explored to any depth.

And so, after her and her fellow crew are shipwrecked on a remote, mountainous island, what we see is her taking her first fledgling steps as an adventurer. Despite calling on her survival training, initial forays into dank forests and foraging for food by hunting deer are obviously traumatic for the youngster. With the mantra of “I can do this” she scales great heights – metaphorically and literally – and sees off her fears to get her through her first night alone. Though this is nothing to the dangers that present themselves when the stranded crew meet the natives.

Separated from civilisation for what can easily be classed as “too long” the locals are a group of religious zealots intent on including the crew in their bloody rituals. They round up the new arrivals and by the light of a burning village the first big chapter in the Lara tale is told. Panicked, pushed to the edge, and in fear of her life, she kills her aggressor.

The impact is immediate. Covered in blood and staring at the smoking gun in her hands, her body shakes as she sobs at her actions. Despite the circumstances, knowing it was the only way to save herself, you can see the obvious regret. At this point you really feel for her. As with any film where they’ve drawn you in to the characters and has shown them beginning to grow, there’s empathy.

What this also provides, however, is a disconnect.

This tearful young woman quickly learns to deal with the horrific event and swiftly repeats the action time and time again. Over the course of the next dozen hours, tears may be shed over friends as they come and go, but with barely a second thought she’ll kill hundreds of others with some of the most brutal animations this side of Assassin’s Creed. This once shrinking violet soon can do things with an arrowhead that will make your eyes water and demonstrates another case of cutscenes and their sentiment being completely disingenuous and at odds with the gameplay.

Although disappointing, it doesn’t ruin proceedings. Away from what you make Lara physically do, the story is a confident one and helps motivate you through the strong mix of combat and adventuring that follow.

The former is a definite departure from earlier games in the series. Though still third-person, the auto-lock has gone and controls are much closer to Uncharted, with completely free aim as you wave rifles and pistols about. This allows a lot more freedom than before and offers a fluidity that initially felt quite strange as my reticule danced about the screen. It’s not as easy as just selecting the pouncing wolf that’s going for your jugular and as such Tomb Raider feels far more at home in the modern world.

Of course guns have always played a part in the Tomb Raider series but here new ground is trodden in a number of areas. For one, it’s not just firearms she’s pointing at the resident nutters; she’s a dab hand with a bow and arrow too. This is the first weapon you’ll have access to and it suits the survival nature of the opening act. Silent and deadly, Ms Croft uses it both to take out potential food and protect herself.

Soon pistols, rifles, and then eventually shotguns and grenade launchers, become available, forcing you to fit a surprising amount of ammunition is such tiny shorts. And whilst each makes you a formidable fighter, there’s something about turning Lara into a one-woman army that doesn’t sit well with me. True, it’s effective, but between this and a series of overly dramatic set pieces there are points you feel that the developers are trying to ape Uncharted a little too much. I kept wanting to fall back to just using the bow or at worst the pistol to try and fit with my own portrayal of the character.

Thankfully this is a perfectly viable option if you’ve sure enough aim, but more so the bow is crucial in managing enemies. In each encounter, as long as you can stay hidden away and pick off the outlying soliders, you’ll be able to silently dispatch large numbers without retaliation. A hushed arrow between the eyes will take them out in one shot and prove incredibly satisfying given an ounce of patience and the will to act like a hunter.

However, should you be spotted then all hell breaks loose as all barrels train on you. Even in the pitch dark of a midnight forest, half way up a tree, all enemies will somehow psychically pick you out against the branches from hundreds of yards away. It’s a little jarring going from a cloak of secrecy to running around as though you’ve a glowing target painted on your head, but if you want to put a positive spin on it then at least it encourages a stealth approach.

With combat a mixed bag it’s a relief that the adventuring is wonderfully strong. Large sections of the island are given over solely to your exploration, with cliff faces, ledges and old villages all calling at you to explore. This is where Tomb Raider feels at its strongest, as you face off against the environment and attempt to come out on top. It may have borrowed heavily from Drake in many areas but here it feels assured and safe in itself as traversing long forgotten tombs all hold unique physical puzzles that yield golden treasures. At times it’s the reward for clearing areas of their crazed residents.

For a mostly linear game it has a delightful knack of skirting back round on itself and interweaving its tracks. Very early on you start out on a mountain path, the cliff face stretching high above you and impassable. Yet a few chapters later you’ll return further up the cliff and in possession of a tool that will now link the two. This progression suddenly opens up the island and turns an otherwise corridor adventure into a playground that see trinkets and collectibles hidden liberally about.

It replaces the traditional Croft Manor, the training ground that provided an athletic diversion from the main campaign. Here these trials are worked into the environment itself and through use of a very liberal fast-travel system provide said diversion without breaking the illusion that you’re trapped miles from home. It’s easy enough to ignore the main plot for a short while and head off into an ancient village to plunder it for all the riches it hides away and yet just be feet away from continuing onwards.

This exploration is highly worthwhile too as hidden caches of salvage can be used to upgrade weapons or provide XP to unlock extra skills. Bows can be made stronger, guns more accurate and Lara more lethal. It’s a simple addition that means your wandering round darkened corners looking for hidden trinkets is rewarded with more than just a completion stat. Come the end you’ll have not only grown a more accomplished treasure hunter but all this foraging will have turned Lara into a seasoned survivalist.

And come the end, if you’re like me, you’ll want to go back and hoover up anything you’ve missed. Not just because of any sense of kleptomania but because it’s a world that you’ll want to experience again. To scale and unlock missing tombs, see the subtle tells placed in Lara’s animations to feedback on her surroundings and feelings, and to prove yourself against the elements once more.

Despite niggles about the lowest-common-denominator combat and the tear-jerking cutscenes giving way to scenes of mass genocide, Tomb Raider is a triumphant return for one of our most well-known faces. There are enough little touches to keep traditional fans of the series happy and yet these are balanced with aspects of levelling, sandbox play, and dramatic Naughty Dog-esque cinematics that bring the franchise screaming – quite literally at times – into the modern era.

Though it may be a world best known for its block puzzles and mythic lore we now have a new facet to place alongside that. She may have once been famed for her dual pistols but silently stalking her prey through the forest, bow in hand and drawn in anticipation, has opened up a whole new exciting side of Lara Croft that should not be ignored.