10 Recent Video Games That Were Sent Out To Die

8. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider

Shadow Of The Tomb Raider Lara Croft
Square Enix

You've gotta feel bad for the Tomb Raider reboot series. Each new entry has been stellar, expanding what fans can expect from a Lara Croft adventure, but through a combination of bad business decisions and poor marketing, none of them have had a real time to shine. The first came at the tail-end of a generation, while the second was hampered by being an Xbox exclusive and releasing on the same day as Fallout 4. That's a one-two punch you just can't recover from.

The follow-up, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, initially made all the right moves to save the sinking ship but, as its inclusion on this list suggests, it too was eventually sent out to die. New developers Eidos Montreal expanded the scope of the franchise, adding in RPG elements and doubling down on the characters and world building, but sadly it would all be for naught.

The marketing was the main issue, failing to highlight the game's strengths. Likewise, it being pitched as the finale to Lara's origin story, which had been dragged out for three games by this point, didn't exactly get people gagging to jump on board.

Throw in middling reviews and a release date which put it only a week removed from Spider-Man, and the trilogy-capper was essentially buried as soon as it was born.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.