Lara Croft Go is surprisingly thematic; Solving the various tombs feels reminiscent of the classic Tomb Raider adventures, if - necessarily - more limited in scope and gameplay than the classics.

While not boasting many enemy types, for example (and I would certainly have liked seeing a bear in here!), they are made to be intuitive to navigate around while solving puzzles. Only the DLC let me down a tad here, as the missions present different environments that may easily have swapped more than an enemy's paintjob. However, none of this took away from the fun of the game; it just made me wonder what could have been improved or expanded on, had it been a PC title initially, rather than developed for touch devices.

Speaking of touch, the controls take a bit of getting used to. Most of the time I was dragging my mouse in the movement directions, which was totally fine for me (though a gamepad may have been smoother), but moving pillars would still require clicking little arrows next to them (which, in at least two instances early on, I almost didn't notice), and in stressful puzzles, you may end up accidentally swiping the mouse to move Lara accordingly, just to realize you didn't take the pillar with you and will have to start over from the last checkpoint. It's a relic of the launch platform that may have been made more intuitive for PC use. For reference, the gamepad controls would have you hold Y / Triangle while moving in the desired direction.
Generally, I was surprised by the lack of use for the right mouse button. Interacting with the environment may have made more sense using that, especially if it is just flipping a lever on your current space.

However, as negative as it may sound, these were only small hurdles to adjust to initially, and thoughts on how a good game could have been made to feel more natural on the PC platform. I don't intend them to turn you off from giving the game a try, but to prepare you for the first few levels before you're used to them. Things work out relatively quickly.

The puzzles themselves range from easy to rather challenging, with only a few real trial and error ones in here, which is cool to see. Moving a bunch of pillars in a confined space to shuffle them into the right order certainly took the longest for me, though I was able to do so without enemies in said puzzle room. Generally, your options are well-limited to not confuse you too much, with decoys being easily discernible if you stop to think - which the game allows you to do even with a boulder rolling towards you. To my surprise, I didn't feel less threatened by those boulders, lizards or the giant boss of the main game, just because I could stop and hold, as enemies and traps only react when Lara does. They still add a good deal of pressure to not screw up your next steps and think on your feet. The tools at your disposal are always clearly visible on the current screen, too.

Honestly, I don't think there was a puzzle room in here that I was really frustrated by, even though some had me stuck a bit longer than others. The developers managed to put together an intuitive puzzler here, which I applaud.

As a bonus, you can also collect various doodads throughout the levels, with each act granting a costume from the Tomb Raider series; whether you want the Angel of Darkness design or Wetsuit Lara, the game's got a wide range of low poly style player character models to unlock. It's a nice touch for fans of the wider franchise, if a bit finicky to find all those gempots sometimes. Thankfully, you can easily see and select missions you missed something at.

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by Lara Croft Go, and can appreciate the wealth of positive coverage it has gotten since release. Yeah, I'd agree that this was one of the actually good mobile games at the time, and am happy to see it on PC as well. If you're into puzzle games, you should consider picking this one up.

Lara Croft Go is surprisingly thematic; Solving the various tombs feels reminiscent of the classic Tomb Raider adventures, if - necessarily - more limited in scope and gameplay than the classics. While not boasting many enemy types, for example (and I would certainly have liked seeing a bear in here!), they are made to be intuitive to navigate around while solving puzzles. Only the DLC let me down a tad here, as the missions present different environments that may easily have swapped more than an enemy's paintjob. However, none of this took away from the fun of the game; it just made me wonder what could have been improved or expanded on, had it been a PC title initially, rather than developed for touch devices. Speaking of touch, the controls take a bit of getting used to. Most of the time I was dragging my mouse in the movement directions, which was totally fine for me (though a gamepad may have been smoother), but moving pillars would still require clicking little arrows next to them (which, in at least two instances early on, I almost didn't notice), and in stressful puzzles, you may end up accidentally swiping the mouse to move Lara accordingly, just to realize you didn't take the pillar with you and will have to start over from the last checkpoint. It's a relic of the launch platform that may have been made more intuitive for PC use. For reference, the gamepad controls would have you hold Y / Triangle while moving in the desired direction. Generally, I was surprised by the lack of use for the right mouse button. Interacting with the environment may have made more sense using that, especially if it is just flipping a lever on your current space. However, as negative as it may sound, these were only small hurdles to adjust to initially, and thoughts on how a good game could have been made to feel more natural on the PC platform. I don't intend them to turn you off from giving the game a try, but to prepare you for the first few levels before you're used to them. Things work out relatively quickly. The puzzles themselves range from easy to rather challenging, with only a few real trial and error ones in here, which is cool to see. Moving a bunch of pillars in a confined space to shuffle them into the right order certainly took the longest for me, though I was able to do so without enemies in said puzzle room. Generally, your options are well-limited to not confuse you too much, with decoys being easily discernible if you stop to think - which the game allows you to do even with a boulder rolling towards you. To my surprise, I didn't feel less threatened by those boulders, lizards or the giant boss of the main game, just because I could stop and hold, as enemies and traps only react when Lara does. They still add a good deal of pressure to not screw up your next steps and think on your feet. The tools at your disposal are always clearly visible on the current screen, too. Honestly, I don't think there was a puzzle room in here that I was really frustrated by, even though some had me stuck a bit longer than others. The developers managed to put together an intuitive puzzler here, which I applaud. As a bonus, you can also collect various doodads throughout the levels, with each act granting a costume from the Tomb Raider series; whether you want the Angel of Darkness design or Wetsuit Lara, the game's got a wide range of low poly style player character models to unlock. It's a nice touch for fans of the wider franchise, if a bit finicky to find all those gempots sometimes. Thankfully, you can easily see and select missions you missed something at. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by Lara Croft Go, and can appreciate the wealth of positive coverage it has gotten since release. Yeah, I'd agree that this was one of the actually good mobile games at the time, and am happy to see it on PC as well. If you're into puzzle games, you should consider picking this one up.