Feral Interactive | $10/£10
- Streamlined action adventure
- Mixture of light puzzling and twin stick combat
- Playable even without a controller
Feral Interactive’s latest console port is something of a curiosity, but one that makes more sense the more you play it. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light initially launched way back in 2010 as a curiously low-key diversion for the famous Tomb Raider franchise.
Here in 2025 on a tiny iPhone screen, however, its more modest ambitions and simplified gameplay almost feel like they’ve been made with mobile in mind. It’s even perfectly playable without touchscreen controls, though we’d still recommend a controller if you have one.
The game beautifully evokes the spirit of the original games
Rather than the third party perspective that helped make Ms. Croft’s name back in the ’90s, The Guardian of Light offers a zoomed out isometric view. It’s still 3D, but from a vaguely top-down perspective.
The gameplay, too, is significantly streamlined. No pixel-perfect platforming is required here, but rather a mixture of simple exploration, twin-stick blasting, and light puzzling.
Some items require added athleticism
The latter is more extensive than you might initially expect, though it never interferes with the action-oriented slant of the game. The first of several gadgets you’ll receive is a spear that can be embedded in walls to help you clamber up to higher points.
There’s also a grappling hook that can facilitate your climbing or swinging of selected connection points.
Lara has access to plenty of toys
Occasionally this is required for progression, but more pleasing is the number of optional power-ups littered around in hard to reach places. It really feels like your curiosity is rewarded here.
In the same vein, you’ll encounter optional tombs containing switch-flipping puzzles that are just a little tougher than the type found in the game proper. These are particularly rewarding to solve.
Optional tombs provide bigger puzzles
Action is of the simple ‘aim with the right stick until the baddies fall over’ variety, but some enemies will also require you to dodge out of the way of attacks. There’s also a nice variety of weapons to encounter, from your initial twin pistols to shotguns and rifles.
Artefacts let you customize Lara’s stats, granting various weightings to her attack power, speed, and the range of her radio-triggered. It feels nicely balanced.
There’s a broad arsenal at your disposal
Performance is impeccable on my iPhone 15 Pro, but you’d hope so to from a 15-year-old game. It’s good to see that compatibility goes right back to the iPhone XR / iPhone SE 2 generation.
Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light isn’t the most ambitious or interesting console conversion we’ve ever seen, but it feels like it’s found a welcome new home on Apple’s portable devices. A hearty recommendation for Tomb Raider fans, but anyone with a taste for Indiana Jones-esque action-adventure fun will find something to enjoy here.