Lara Croft GO

Good game I played over spring break

TLDR: 6.5/10

As puzzle games go this is a neat set up with a nice increase in difficulty. Each new mechanic is set up nicely to help you get used to it before being added into more complex puzzles. There are lots of auto save points as well so you don't loose progress when you inevitably mess up. Personally the final levels were too hard for me, as they involved a mirror mechanic, but fear not! There is a hint mechanic which draws out the correct path that has no negative impact on your gameplay or achievement collection. As a turn-based puzzle game there is also no time-pressure or need for fast reactions. Everything moves according to it's set logic rules after you have, so there's no pressure to think fast. You can take your time to work out solutions.

This game works really well with a mouse, I couldn't tell it was a mobile port, but it may not work as well for controllers. There is no dialogue or text at all, and as such pretty much no story or plot, this is just puzzles and vibes.

Buy if:
- You like a good puzzle game.
- You like to 100% games, as this is a pretty nice short game to do it with.
- It's in the big Lara croft franchise bundle.

Don't buy if:
- You're expecting a story or plot. This is not that type of game.
- You don't like puzzle games. What can I say it's a turn-based puzzle game, it does what it says on the tin.

Additional Details

---{Difficulty}---
☐ Easy/no brain required
☑ Average
☑ Above average (for some of the later puzzles and for finding secrets)
☐ Difficult

---{Story}---
☑ What Story?/Not worth it
☐ Ok
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It‘ll replace your life/I cried a bit

---{Game Time}---
☐ Very Short
☑ Short (4.6 hours to 100%, but I did use a guide to grab the last hidden collectibles, and I did use the hint a lot when I got stuck).
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ Never ending

---{Achievements}---
☐ None at all
☐ A small amount
☑ An expected/perfect amount
☐ Would have liked more
☐ Too many
-
☐ Replaying is a must
☐ Grinding needed
☐ DLC needed to 100%

---{Price}---
☐ Worth the price
☐ Wait for a discount (25% or more)
☑ Wait for a discount (50% or more)
☑ Wait for a discount (75% or more) (About £4 for £1 per hour of game play)
☑ Buy in a bundle
☐ Would have to be free

---{Bugs}---
☑ What is Bugs?!
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ The game itself is worse than mosquitoes on Summer

---{Replayability}---
☐ You'll struggle to get through it once
☑ One and done
☑ Would be happy to play again
☐ Multiple story lines so replay is a must
☐ Doesn't end

---{Graphics}---
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Bad
☐ Ok
☑ Good
☐ Beautiful
☐ You forget what reality is

---{Audio}---
☐ Bad/Muted
☐ Not good but not off putting
☑ Ok
☐ Good
☐ Very good
☐ Eargasm
☐ I'd buy the soundtrack

Good Game

good 2h to 100%

i really enjoy my time with this title and its good game for obtain all the achivments cus mostly easy to obtain

hitman go (one of my favorite puzzlers and puzzle types) but worse. still as lazy a mobile port as it gets, but instead of fun challenges, there are hidden objects to find for useless cosmetics, and not only are there essentially timed levels (killed enemies come back after a few turns, can't dilly-dally), a bunch of levels employ one of my least favorite puzzle mechanics, moving multiple mirrored characters at the same time.

Suprised by this one. Puzzles were very fun. A few had me stumped, but it was impressive what variety it offered for the minimalist gameplay style it had.

I'm sure 99% of people don't read the reviews. So you may not know that Naruto can be a bit harsh sometimes. You may not know this, but Naruto also grew up without a father. In fact, he never met either of his parents and never had any friends.

It is a good game.

Nostalgic

A well crafted game that provided lightweight, puzzly fun during my short breaks throughout the day. I finished it in 36 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

A simple puzzle game. Probably best played on mobile but enjoyable enough. The 2 added Levels after the main game I found better, more of a challenge but not too dificult.

Excellent game, brief but has excellent and engrossing puzzle designs, well worth playing but only when discounted given its length.

If you look at my steam profile it will either say 41 hours or 878 hours on this game... via a glitch I probably have the most hours in this game out of anyone 10/10

For what it is it could be a lot better

Lovely little sokoban-like game. Very glad for the built-in hint system.

Square Enix "Go" games are the best games that You can have on a phone.

That being said even on PC these are good games and specifically this one is truly a loveletter to all Tomb Raider fans.

Easy to control, music is chilling, puzzles get You thinking, And there are collectibles.

Garrr! 👍

https://thesatisfaction.weebly.com/shipsblog/lara-croft-go

Good cozy puzzle game.

Fun game, ruined by lazy Android/iOS port controls. Instead of an expected 'point and click' you have to 'drag' Lara with the mouse (like swiping on a phone). Or use a controller (which is overkill considering it's basically a point and click game). So instead of relaxing/casual game, which it is fun, they made it a tedious/cumbersome game via basic Android/iOS port dragging the mouse around, or use a 'two handed" controller, when a simple "single finger" mouse click would have done the job.

One of my favorite go-to puzzle games. Got it on the phone as well.

is nice

I first played this seven years ago, and I replayed it now to gather a couple of trophies after it came to my attention while scouring my library to give puzzle game recommendations to a friend.

I'm pleased to say that it was just as delightful as it was back then. The main campaign never gets too complicated, favoring pleasing solutions over complicated ones. The simple aesthetic is very satisfying, and the mechanics on display make good use of the grid- and turn-based system. Curiously enough, the game also manages to tell a (again, simple) story about one of Lara's many archaeological adventures.

While the base game is simple, there are some decently difficult puzzles in the extra campaigns, the kind that really stretch the mechanics to the extreme. Completing those gets really tricky really quickly!

There are only a couple of downsides that I can think of, all minor in my opinion that don't detract from the enjoyment. One, there's no rewind button, a staple of modern puzzle game design; this means that death or a wrong move will force you to restart the portion of the level (there are checkpoints at the beginning of every portion.) Two, the controls clearly come from touchscreen design, having to click and drag the screen to move Lara; this becomes second nature very quickly, but it's still not ideal. Third, unlike in Hitman Go, the extra/collectibles here aren't extra conditions or limitations with which to clear the levels, but vases hidden in the map to simply click on and break; not a real challenge while it could've been something more interesting, but then again, these are only needed for alternative costumes and achievements.

If you're looking for a fun and sometimes challenging puzzle game, look no further! Highly recommended.

ッ

TLDR Turn-based grid obstacle puzzle in a Tomb Raider setting, mechanics are simple but interesting enough, shame it’s a low-effort port from mobile. [15/20⭐, 8h🏅, 2/5💡]

Context Lara Croft GO is a simple puzzle game that takes place in the Tomb Raider universe, the second such entry by Square Enix (the first being Hitman GO, which I haven’t played.) The puzzles are decent enough, and there’s nothing of an “adventure” game here, but its greatest sin is a GUI directly ported from the mobile version.

Writing The game has no actual plot or dialogue. You play as Lara Croft through classical Tomb Raider environments — jungles, ruins, caves — in a quest to collect artefacts. Also, there’s a big bad snake that doesn’t want you to get the artefacts.

Aesthetics The visuals are simple and low-poly in a fixed-camera isometric perspective, the animations are smooth, and the soundtrack minimal and atmospheric. It’s nothing overwhelming, but it creates a decent atmosphere and tension in later stages (as much as a turn-based puzzle game allows).

Gameplay The game plays as a grid-based obstacle course, where you guide Lara to the puzzle’s exit. Solving the puzzles requires manipulating the environment (by moving obstacles or pushing levers), but also avoid/kill enemies (a rather limited roster: immovable critter, blindly moving critter, pursuing critter, and rolling stone). The game is purely turn-based, including the enemy movement.

It terms of difficulty, it’s mostly straight-forward, except perhaps on the extra chapters where you have to synchronise with the movement of the enemies, the kind of challenge that is more annoying than rewarding. There’s also a built-in hint system that guides you through a solution.

The low point of the game it that it just feels like a low-effort port from mobile. There is absolutely no keyboard control, you have control the character through mouse swiping in the desired direction. Being turn-based on a grid, each level amounts to dozens of such swipes. To push/pull movable obstacles, you have to click on arrows that show up in the GUI. There’s not even a button to restart a puzzle after a deadlock, you have to go through the menu.

There are also some collectibles to find throughout the game. But these are just hidden objects that you have to click, and add nothing to the puzzle gameplay (they unlock skins for Lara).

You can die, and will just respawn in the nearest checkpoint (there’s usually a few checkpoints per level). You can easily reach deadends in a level, and you can restart a level but there is no undo. Progress is auto-saved per level, but not the state of each level.

Value It took me about 8h to beat the ~60 levels spread across 7 chapters (the last two chapters are extras released in later updates) and find all collectibles. There is a single progress slot, but you can always revisit previous levels. The game is completely linear. Except for those related with the collectibles, achievements are related to progressing the game or performing some actions that happen naturally during a playthrough. Collectibles may require you to revisit levels, but these are cumulative over attempts. That’s the only added challenge caused by the achievements. The game seems to be often on sale, so it’s worth giving it a shot.

PS: despite the Steam warning, the game runs in recent macOS versions.

[quote]For more puzzle-game reviews and curated lists check out the Puzzle Trove.[/quote]

Fun puzzles and if you get stuck you can use the hints to get through the difficult section.

one of the best game in Tomb Raider series. seriously

it's okay, I like the aesthetics but it gets repetitive quickly...I only recommend it since it's good to pass time with casually

Honestly, I had only bought this game to complete my Tomb Raider/Lara Croft game collection, it's a good game if you mainly like Puzzles.

The Graphics looks surprisingly great and runs smooth even on my really really old hardware, + It has a Linux Native which runs really well.

The Puzzles are honestly rather fun, I really wish the plot/story was more prominent (which I believe there is, or am I confused?).

Overall in the end, This is a Phone game ported to PC, it's a damn good port not gonna lie, but honestly unless you really like Puzzle games or Lara Croft, then It's not really a must play, but if you do like Puzzles then yeah, this is quite good, 7.5/10.

A fun puzzle game, the extra levels added later on had some really interesting puzzle mechanics. Runs perfectly on the Deck.

Fucking controller lock on , it need fucking 5 tries to lock on to a pillar

This is the perfect mix of challenging and engaging. None of the puzzles are too hard, in fact some of them are quite easy, but even the more difficult challenges or a mistake on my part never made me frustrated. I had some of the most fun I have had in a game in a while!

Note: Swipe with your mouse to move Lara. It took me a minute to figure out how to move, but once I figured it out the controls didn't bother me at all. While odd controls on a computer, it was quick and responsive therefore fine.

That said, it took me about 3 hours to complete the main portion of the game. There are two bonus levels which are supposed to be more challenging and will probably double my play time :). I would say this game is great for $5 or less. $10 is a lot for the play time, however I wouldn't be unhappy with the game even if I paid full price (but like all TR games, it goes on sale often so keep an eye out).

Highly recommend!

nice and a little challenging game. not too hard, not too easy.

This one, like the Hitman's one, is a very nice puzzle game. Expect if you dislike the genre, this is a must buy.

Just a well made mobile puzzle game, that was ported very well to PC. The music itself is also very very good.

The simplicity of this game combined with the logic is completely addictive.

A wonderful little puzzle game. Very interesting turn-based mechanics where not only objects like pillars but also enemies are incorporated into solutions as you manipulate their movement to make them step on floor switches or shield Lara from traps exactly when you need to.

The main story is casual and chill enough to beat without intense thinking, but the bonus chapters are pretty challenging, forcing you to plan at least 3-4 steps ahead and consider all the minor mechanics. At the same time, it is never overwhelming, since the number of possible permutations is quite limited. One screen from The Cave of Fire actually got me stuck for the whole evening, but then I solved it in my head later while brushing teeth; a classic puzzle game experience.

There are also optional collectibles in the form of vases hidden around the areas. They take some pixel hunting to discover, but generally unobtrusive and add a bit of variety to the primary activity of puzzle-solving.

I think this is a worthy title regardless of whether you’re a fan of Tomb Raider or not, but if you are, then it’s even better due to all the nice little throwbacks to the mainline games: from jungles and boulders to the iconic secret sound and Lara’s signature ledge handstand, you should be feeling right at home, despite the top-down view or low-poly visuals.

The visuals are nicely designed and pretty good-looking in their own right as well, complemented by a minimalistic yet atmospheric ambient OST. In particular, the 2nd bonus chapter, The Mirror of Spirits, is a very rich and memorable location.

The controls are weird and betray the game’s mobile origins (to make a move, you have to drag the mouse in the desired direction while holding the left button, imitating a phone screen swipe), but a little getting used to is all it took me to feel comfortable. There’s even a certain rhythmic grace to it as Lara briskly steps from tile to tile with every mouse flick.

I also appreciated how fast any movement or action can be: even if you fail late into a puzzle, it’s possible to repeat everything before it in seconds, so 99% of your time can be safely spent on thinking. There does seem to be an artificial delay after each death, but that too only lasts a couple of seconds and actually works well as an invitation to relax before starting the next attempt.

very nice game!

twas slay

Decent puzzle game.

Unironically has more Tomb Raiding, Dual Pistols and handstand ledge grabs than the entire survivor trilogy.

I bought this on mobile and its even better on PC, I play through the game multiple times and the atmosphere is so much richer

It's a funny little game, but nothing special, and absolutely not something that you need to play if you are an avid fan of the Tomb Raider franchise. If you look for a game that you can complete in about 10 hours, this is the game for you.

Fun set of puzzles.

A fun little puzzle game, good for Steam Deck to kill a few minutes here and there.

I have decided to play it just to feel smart but now I feel more stupid than ever

Before Square Enix Montreal got acquired and later shut down by Embracer Group, they made the multiplatform turn-based puzzle game trilogy, GO. Using IPs that were published by Square Enix at the time – Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex – they re-interpreted these cross-genre action franchises into captivating puzzle games that retained the spirit of the source material.

The GO games are like chess, with the player and computer opponent taking turns in moving the protagonist and enemies respectively across an isometric grid-based level. In Lara Croft GO, the player guides Lara through a series of levels filled with traps, obstacles, and creatures to obtain an artifact.

There is a story, but it’s frankly insignificant. Despite that, the game remains engaging because the essence of exploration and navigating through treacherous environments still shines through. The developers even managed to include boss fights in this game format, and make them exciting and fun!

This game teaches players the rules of the game through level design rather than by text. Players learn how traps and contraptions work, and how enemies move through observation as well as trial and error. Every mistake made is a lesson learned. Because save points are generous, the game doesn’t feel punishing. That’s not to say the game is easy, for it gets notably challenging mid-game.

Thankfully, this version of Lara Croft GO offers unlimited hints, which can be quite helpful. Also included is the expansion level, The Mirror of Spirits, which was made in collaboration with KO_OP. In this level, players control Lara and her mirrored self across levels in the real world and the mirror world. It’s a shame there aren’t more levels of this type given how fun it is.

To add some replayability, there are hidden treasures to be found in the background of many of the levels. However, rewards of unlocking additional outfits are gimmicky. Because you need to exit a level to switch outfits, which are purely cosmetic, it’s a bit of a chore to play dress-up with Lara just for the fun of it.

Another minor annoyance of Lara Croft GO is the controls. The GO games were initially designed to be played on touch screens, so the click-and-mouse-drag control scheme that this game has isn’t exactly ideal. It’s not horrible, but making it playable on a keyboard – like Hitman GO on Windows – would have been preferable.

In spite of a couple of shortcomings, Lara Croft GO is a fun game that allows Tomb Raider fans and fans of puzzle games to experience Tomb Raider in a different way. It’s truly a shame that Square Enix Montreal is no longer around because I would have loved to see what they would done if they give other Square Enix franchises the GO treatment. I guess we’ll just have to enjoy what we have left.

Great puzzle game with easter eggs from the classic Lara

Brilliant game! Sadly no one will know due to lacking exposure.