Shadow of the Tomb Raider

As Lara Croft races to stop a Maya apocalypse, she must become the Tomb Raider she was destined to be.

Two months after Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and her friend Jonah Maiava devote themselves to stopping the paramilitary organization Trinity. Their hunt leads them to Cozumel, Mexico, where a Trinity cell is led by Pedro Dominguez, head of Trinity’s High Council. Sneaking into nearby tombs Trinity is excavating, Lara discovers a temple holding the Dagger of Chak Chel and clues pointing to a hidden city. Wall murals reference the Silver Box of Ix Chel and warn of “the Cleansing,” a Mayan apocalypse that ends in a permanent solar eclipse. Lara takes the Dagger to keep it from Trinity, but Dominguez confronts her and reveals that removing it has triggered the Cleansing. He seizes the Dagger, planning to unite it with the Box to stop the catastrophe—and use the power to remake the world in his image. Lara and Jonah escape as a tsunami destroys Cozumel, signaling the coming apocalypse. Despite rising tension over Lara’s choices, the pair pursue Dominguez into the Amazon. Their plane crashes in the Peruvian jungle during the second cataclysm—a massive storm—and they eventually reach Paititi, the hidden city from the murals. Tombs reveal that piercing the Box with the Dagger grants the power of the god Kukulkan, which must be used to halt the Cleansing. Lara witnesses Trinity soldiers being killed by strange humanoid creatures later identified as the Yaaxil, guardians of the Box. After Lara saves a boy named Etzli, she and Jonah are brought into Paititi by his mother Unuratu, the city’s queen. Lara discovers Dominguez leads a cult devoted to Kukulkan, and Unuratu reveals he is her brother-in-law Amaru, taken by Trinity as a child and raised to complete the ritual and reshape the world in their image. Unuratu sends Lara to find the Box, but it is missing. Believing the cult has it, Lara and Unuratu attempt a theft, only for Unuratu to be captured. Lara also encounters the Yaaxil and their leader, Crimson Fire. Lara infiltrates the cult’s temple and overhears Amaru telling Unuratu that the Box was hidden by Andres Lopez, a missionary sent to Paititi by Trinity during the Spanish conquest of South America. Lara rescues Unuratu and realizes Amaru does not fully understand the ritual: instead of simply imbuing Kukulkan’s power, it sacrifices that power to stop the Cleansing. Unuratu is shot by Commander Rourke, Amaru’s second-in-command. Before dying, she urges Lara to complete the ritual, but warns her not to let the Box influence her. Rourke attacks, and Lara and Jonah are separated while leaving Paititi to decode the next clue. Believing Jonah dead, Lara goes on a rampage—destroying an oil refinery and killing everyone there except Rourke, who escapes. When Lara finds Jonah alive, she breaks down briefly, but he calms her and they determine the Box’s location. Driven mad by the Box, Lopez built a mission near Paititi and trained acolytes to complete the ritual. Lara and Jonah discover a hidden catacomb beneath the mission leading to Lopez’s tomb and the Box. Amaru arrives and forces Lara to surrender it. He admits he ordered Lara’s father’s death to prevent him from finding Paititi and revealing it to the world. Lara tries to convince Amaru to use the ritual for good, but he refuses, insisting the Cleansing will only affect Paititi—something he has manipulated Trinity to prevent using his position within the organization. He leaves Lara and Jonah to face the third cataclysm: a massive earthquake that triggers a landslide and destroys the mission. Back in Paititi, Lara and Jonah aid the newly crowned Etzli as he leads an assault on an underground temple complex at the city’s center. Their goal is to disrupt Amaru’s ceremony while racing against the fourth cataclysm, a volcanic eruption threatening Paititi. Trinity cuts off Etzli’s forces, forcing Lara to proceed alone. She meets Crimson Fire again and convinces the Yaaxil to help stop Amaru. Lara takes on the symbolic role of Ix Chel, while Crimson Fire becomes Chak Chel. As the Yaaxil kill Rourke and the Trinity High Council, Lara reaches the temple summit—but arrives too late to prevent Amaru from piercing the Box and absorbing Kukulkan’s power as an eclipse blocks the sun. After a long battle, Lara defeats Amaru. Accepting his loss, he transfers Kukulkan’s power to Lara as he dies. Tempted to use the Box to revive her parents, Lara instead follows Unuratu’s warning and allows Crimson Fire to symbolically stab her, sacrificing Kukulkan’s spirit and stopping the Cleansing. In the aftermath, Unuratu is laid to rest, Jonah decides to take a vacation, and Lara remains in Paititi to help Etzli restore the city. In a post-credits scene at Croft Manor, Lara plans her next adventure, recognizing that her role is not to solve the world’s mysteries—but to protect them.