Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris review - "Fun to explore, frustrating to master"

I have been a Lara Croft (and Tomb Raider) fan since I got my hands on the very first game. I still remember trying to figure out how to make Lara jump across gaps without falling to her doom, and I will never forget that early mix of exploration, danger, and puzzle-solving. I believe that's what really made me appreciate the genre to this day.

Seeing Temple of Osiris arrive on mobile instantly brought back those memories, and the moment I started playing, it put a smile on my face. Little did I know, even years later, I'd still end up getting stuck in some of the most unexpected ways. 

Simplified visuals - maybe not everyone's cup of tea

In the current world, games tend to get more and more over-the-top with visuals. Some want to make their games hyper-realistic, while others either follow the "anime" route or the "2D pixelated" one. Then, there's this title, which simply takes the experience and runs with it. I believe it's not something that many will fall in love with, but the true fans will understand where it's coming from. 

The entire premise of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is about exploration, puzzles, and a little bit of narrative. I personally didn't mind the visuals, as long as the gameplay gave me the same feeling the old Tomb Raider titles did.

A slight ARPG parallel

The first thing that caught my eye was the visual style. The menus are clean, readable, and they reminded me of something. I spend a lot of time in ARPGs like Path of Exile, so I have a soft spot for games that understand how important visual clarity is. Here, projectiles are easy to track. Lara’s movement feels okay, and if you have ever kited monsters in an ARPG, you'll get that same feeling of mobs running you down unless you kite them. It is not the same genre, of course, but the visuals overlap in a way that feels natural, and I genuinely like that.

Gameplay-wise, this mobile adaptation stays surprisingly cool. You move through rooms, fight enemies, solve puzzles, and collect loot. There's not much more than that, so in a way, your goal is simple. 

The controls are simplified, but they still feel responsive. Movement is smooth, and combat has a nice rhythm. I found myself running into some issues, though, which had led me to try and restart the level time and time again (the grappling hook would not do its job, but it later turned out to be a "user problem" - I'll expand on that below).

Aside from some little hiccups here and there, everything else felt pretty good.

There's also a multiplayer version 

Being the only one with the game in my family (my husband didn't have it), I couldn't try out this option. Oh, how I would've loved to troll him a little bit. From what little I could read about the multiplayer, it's extremely fun, so if you have someone to try it with, I'm confident you'd have a blast.

Sadly, the controls don't feel as good if you don't have external controls

Some issues I've run into while playing were not even on my radar. As you probably know, I'm used to playing a ton of mobile games on the daily. I've played shooters, I've played MMORPGs, puzzlers, and pretty much everything else you can imagine. I've had my equivalent of "smashing the keyboard" on a touchscreen to try and figure stuff out, and whenever I got stuck in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, I tried to get unstuck a lot. A LOT. 

I eventually pushed through, but that only happened after multiple failed attempts. In part, those were due to the controls. Unfortunately, there's not much I could do in that regard, because the buttons are placed in such a way that you have to press them in the correct sequence and timing. Even one and a half hours into the game, you might still run into something that will make you scratch your head. 

Let me give you an example - close to the starting point, I had to use the grappling hook to pass through a drop filled with spikes. I had to jump and use the hook to get to the other side. Simple enough, right? The grappling hook worked, but because the buttons are next to each other and you have to hold down the grappling hook button, it took me a solid 15 to 20 minutes of trial and error just to find out that first I had to jump, then press and hold the hook button.

Note: I do have to admit, I played the game on an iPhone 17 Pro. I didn't have access to a keyboard or mouse, but if you play from an iPad, you could connect them. Those could make the experience a lot smoother.

All this leads to another point.

There is a lack of a simple tutorial

I'm not someone who strongly advocates for tutorials where the controls/progression are straightforward, but if a game literally has you trying for 20 minutes without success, I believe a tutorial is in order. How foolish of me to think I could nail this just because I've played a dozen other Tomb Raider/Lara Croft games!

On to some good news - you can create your own build!

As you progress, you will unlock gear. This will feel pretty good, because that's when you can start equipping different gear that can adapt your build. You can pick an amulet that gives you additional shots, or one that will give you scatter shot. Basically, you can adapt your build based on what weapon you like to use, and how you want it to fire. It's pretty fun, and that makes for a fair bit of replay potential.

Of course, you can download and play the demo stage anytime you want. This is completely free, which is great, because it stays true to the other titles in the franchise. If you like it, you can then purchase the full version, which comes with a ton of perks.

As a long-time Tomb Raider fan, I found Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris on mobile to be a charming adaptation. It respects the spirit of the original while embracing the strengths of the mobile format. It blends action, puzzles, and lighthearted adventure in a way that feels good, while not trying to compete with the mainline series. It has some quirks (like the missing enemy HP bar), and the controls need a fair bit of getting used to, but if you can look past those things, you'll definitely enjoy the experience.