Some of the problems I had with TR 2013 have been dealt with, but only partially... Tombs are better, a little larger and more intricate, and give you more interesting rewards (special abilities). But they're still just physics puzzles that you do on the side, and I would prefer if they played a larger role in the story and gameplay. The writing is improved, and Lara is portrayed as more capable, so there's no longer a disconnect between the gameplay and the narrative. It could be a lot better though, and at times feels like a retreading of the same story we've already seen. The game encourages stealth more often, giving you more ways to approach situations and rewarding you with more XP for stealthy kills, which I liked. But with the game having a larger focus on stealth, the AI is easier to exploit, and it's considerably easier than TR 2013 on the normal difficulty. I recommend playing on "Seasoned Raider" difficulty for more of a balance. The mechanics of the platforming and the combat aren't much different otherwise, but you have a few new abilities, and everything is a bit more polished and tightened up, so that's all fine. There are no cutscene QTEs anymore, but simple ones still exist in gameplay.
The world feels larger (and is prettier) than the one in the last game, it requires more exploration, and you do more backtracking. There's a lot more stuff on the map, a lot of shit to collect, and more of an emphasis on crafting than before. It suffers from bloat, and that buzzword: "content". Every time I enter a new room, I'm not really taking in my surroundings properly or being immersed in the atmosphere. Instead, I'm activating my "survival instinct" and running towards anything that glows gold. That way I can collect more crafting supplies to upgrade things, more coins to buy things, and read more exposition (which I always skip immediately) to gain XP. What is the reason I'm doing this? Well, I suppose, it's to enhance my abilities and my weapons so I can have more fun...? But I really want to know why the game is making me work to have more fun. I have to continuously engage in this busywork in order to progress through the game properly, instead of the progression just happening naturally, like it used to in every non-RPG game a decade ago. Rise isn't any worse than most "AAA" games in this regard, but I'm getting a bit sick of this stuff.
For what the game tries to be, it does a good job of it, but it all feels quite shallow. Just like the last one, it's a solid game that is above average, but I can't think of anything it does that really makes it stand out. It's worth a playthrough, but maybe wait for a sale.