Shadow of the Tomb Raider: The Grand Caiman (PlayStation 4) Review

It turns out Trinity is still in the area and a small group of them has set up camp inside an old crypt in the San Juan region. This DLC encourages Lara to explore the underground ruins, solving a simple puzzle and taking out a few soldiers to discover a special crab artefact has been removed from its rightful place in the volcano. The following task requires Lara to backtrack over the abandoned village that previously saw much of it destroyed when the volcano erupted in the main adventure with some careful hopping, swinging and climbing, and working her way to a temple where the object belongs.

For a change, the tomb inside the volcano does require a bit of thought now and then, as Lara works her way up and around the huge lava pit that plays host to the mechanical caiman itself, with plenty of switch hitting to temporarily turn off fire blasts to sprint and climb past, and some rope attaching to raise and spin platforms. The aim is to spin the caiman around and "feed" it with crab levers, unlocking the area to place the artefact, as Trinity forces attempt to stop Lara in this final room. Some tricky grappling and climbing sections can be the cause of a few deaths, so trial and error does come into play fairly often.

The Grand Caiman is a little shorter than previous DLCs, but its main tomb makes up for that a bit with the rather good setting and it requiring a tad more thinking to complete...though that isn't saying much. It's tough to find a lot to praise it for, since it's just another quick run around for Lara to unlock a new outfit, a suppressed shotgun, and the ability to craft incendiary ammo for the shotgun, which is a decent reward in itself. In tandem with this DLC release, all main tombs from the adventure gain Score and Time Attack modes.