So, I actually suspect that this was intentional, and kind of clever.

When games don't have a penalty for dying, players will sometimes fall back on a trial-and-error approach, where each individual attempt stops being meaningful. Some experiences, like Celeste, are designed around this type of gameplay loop, but it usually doesn't work well in a cinematic experience.

The most common penalty for dying is lost progress, but this also doesn't work well for cinematic games, because the experience looses its magic once you know what is going to happen.

So Tomb Raider takes a different approach. Checkpoints are frequent, but the death animations make you really, really not want to die!

I'm very squeamish, so I always had to close my eyes when I died. But even the chance that I might see something was a good incentive!

So much so that it felt like someone involved's... uh, particular interests were coming through in the game, in a way that was kinda off-putting.