Pocket Puzzler

Square Enix Montreal is offering up its mobile puzzler Lara Croft GO as a free downl?oad for a limited time. All you have to do is grab the 2015 title on ei?ther iOS or the Android Store between now and April 1 and you can dive into the strategic adventure game for no charge.

Lara Croft GO is a neat little title that takes the typically action-packed adventures of Lara and translates them into 40 stages of turn-based, strategic action. The exploration, combat and puzzle-solving aspects are all present and correct, albeit at a more thoughtful and relaxed pace. The concept works surprisingly well, much as it did in predecessor Hitman GO.

Also available on PS4, PS Vita, and PC, Lara Croft GO?? is currently only free to pick up on mobile platforms - though the PC version is currently discounted over on Steam.

Stuck at home? Lara Croft GO is free to download from March 27 to April 2. #stayhomeandplay
Download on mobile:
iOS: //t.co/ZhSyVmmm4e
Google Play: //t.co/IygcYlEEoe pic.twitter.com/6kC8gkdBQH

— Square Enix Montréal (@SquareEnixMtl) March 27, 2020

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Hey, it was good!

It was probably the worst kept secret of PSX, but Lara Croft Go is coming to PS4 and Vita later today. Originally released back in August of 2015 on iOS and Android, it took them long enough, but it's here, and will join Hitman Go as another widely released Go series game.

Don't knock it! This sub-franchise is actually pretty good. I'm also keen on trying it out if/when it comes to the VR arena.

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Square Enix mobile games on sale

In need of something to new play on the commode? Square Enix Montréal has you covered. The studio is offering deep discounts its mobile catalogue this weekend on the iOS App Store and Google Play, dropping Lara Croft GO and Hitman: Sniper's asking prices to $1, while Hitman GO, um, goes for $2.

Meanwhile, the new Hitman GO: Definitive Edition is also available on PlayStation 4, V??ita, and PC for $8.

Square Enix Montréal [Twitter]

[Update: Looks like Google Play didn't get the $1 memo, as Lara Croft GO is priced at $2.11 over there.]

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Great gaming on the go

Mobile gaming often gets a bad rap among the hardcore crowd, but looking at 2015 it seems like the platform is really coming into its own. These aren't your Candy Crush or Flappy Bird clones; these are some leg??itimately great titles.

Alphabear appeared to be a simple word game at first glance, but showed impressive depth for those who dug into it. Downwell might work better with real buttons, but for an action platformer it handles surprisingly well on a touchscreen. Hearthstone is Blizzard's powerhouse card battler, finally making its way to phones this year. Lara Croft GO takes advantage of the control scheme with its thoughtful puzzle gameplay. Steven Universe: Attack the Light! shows a small role-playing game can be just as fulfil??ling as an 80-hou?r epic.

I know which of these is my favorite for the year, but I honestly woul?dn't begrudge any? of these the title.

Here are t?he nominees for Destructoid's Best Mobile Game of ?2015.

• Alphabear
• Downwell
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
• Lara Croft GO
• Steven Universe: Attack the Light!

_{[Incomplete products like Steam Early Access titles, and episodic titles that are not fair to assess as stand alone experiences, without a full episode count, were not eligible for this year's awards. The cutoff for entry into Destructoid's 2015's Game of the Year awards is December 4, 2015.]}

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But I still love it

Lara Croft GO might just be my favorite mobile game of the year. Having played through the campaign twice now, I can safel??y ??say there isn't much I'd change about Square Enix Montréal's minimalist puzzler -- though the same can't be said for everyone.

One criticism many players levied at the turn-based Tomb Raider was the puzzles might have been a tad too easy. Even in our official review, Destructoid's own Zack Furniss asserted his one issue with Lara Croft GO had to do with a lack of challenge, arguing the difficulty never ramped up in a satisfying way or left him stumped fo????r very long. Well, guys, be careful what you wish for.

The team at Square Enix Montréal has been listening to feedback, and "The Shard of Life" expansion is targeted squarely at players who wanted something more complex out of the base game. Comprised of 26 new puzzles, the free update has a high floor in terms of difficulty, picking up right where the m??ain story left off and ratcheting up the tension from there.

The Shard of Life sees Lara descend into a new ancient burial chamber, the Cave of Fire, where she comes acr??oss a new obstacle, immortal enemies, en route to pilfering the grotto's hidden treasures. The invincible creatures can be stunned, but will eventually rise back to their feet (or insert turn of phrase that better applies to snakes). This adds a new dimension of challenge, requiring players to approach puzzles from different vantage points and hastening the window of opportunity for certain obstacles to be surmounted.

In addition to adding a new dimension of chall??enge (these immortal enemies often make it so precise movements must be made, narrowing the window of opportunity for you to get by them), they inject a new element to puzzle solving, where their felled-bodies might hold a switch down, but only for a certain amount of time before they start moving again and alter the landscape.

While I confess I wasn't among the virtuosos who completed Lara Croft GO without breaking a sweat, The Shard of Life never feels unfair. That said, I've probably spent more time deal??ing with some of the individual rooms in the add-on content than I did with entire stretches of the original game. It definitely has me thinking more, as each puzzle is a multi-step process with nary an easy solution.

At ??times, there's a bit more mental gymnastics involved than I might have preferred, considering I was comfortable with the campaign, but it's difficult to get too broken up over some mild frustrations in a sizable, free update to an experi??ence I already love and enjoy.

If you've yet to try Lara Croft GO, it's currently 40 percent off via iTunes and Google Play for $2.99.

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Swipe right

Antoine Routon grinned. "We have people knocking down our door saying 'Can you do our game too?'" Routon's the lead programmer at Square Enix Montreal -- the publisher's studio that's dedicated to?? mobile titles. Square Enix has a newfound affinity for trusting this Montreal team to adapt its biggest properties in a way that makes sense for phones and tablets.

None may be more noteworthy than in the case of Lara Croft because Square Enix has two very distinct visions for her. The first, Tomb Raider, is the gritty survivalist Lara which is most well-known in the triple-A big budget space. The other, Lara Croft, is what Tomb Raider&?nbsp;of? yesteryear was defined by: exploration-based treasure hunting.

Lara Croft GO fits soundly into that latter category by more than just name alone. Despite being a mobile title, it nicely captures the spirit of the very first Tomb Raider games. Donning her classic outfit, Lara works through level after level in search of an art?ifact. Puzzle-solving and exploration are earmarks, just as they had been all those years ago.

However, the mobile format is what makes GO distinct. Rather than continuous action, this game is turn-based which places a greater emphasis on thinking before moving. A rudimentary example might be a pair of snakes that are facing opposite directions. You always have to attack from the side or back, lest they ??strike and kill you first. There's only one path that allows for the correct order of operations; the others just leave you dead.

But, even when Lara Croft GO deals out frustration, it doesn't negate progres??s. This is the mobile crowd, after all -- a group that might not have the patienc?e to have its time wasted. Checkpoints come frequently and everything is ever-so bite-sized.

On a micro-level, the scale of each section is obviously intentional. Routon says that the studio knows who it's developing for. Despite Lara Croft GO allowing for minimal time investments, Square Enix Montreal is seeing a more encouragi??ng trend. "People intend to play for five minutes, and they end up playing for an hour or more," Routon comments. "We tell playtesters they can? leave, but they say they want to finish this puzzle first. I guess that's not a bad thing."

It really doesn't come as a surprise that people don't want to put Lara Croft GO down. It elegantly encapsulates what makes Tomb Raider work, and boils it down to its purest form. Swipe, swip??e, swiping on the screen is so simple, yet it doesn't feel c??heap to lead Lara on an adventure in this fashion. Helping production values are the strong aesthetic and the narrative told only through gameplay details.

Although it's in the mobile market, Square Enix Montreal prices its titles more traditionally. GO will be available on August 27, but the cost is unknown right now (Hitman Go released at $4.99). Once invested, this game is fully playable at any speed; there are ??no energy meters to temper progr?ess. Routon confirmed that there will be microtransactions of some sort, but their nature will be puzzle solutions for those who are struggling.

In a wasteland of freemium games, this price model is commendable. More commendable, however, is the way that Square Enix Montreal boldly gets back to the roots of Tomb Raider. Series veterans will rediscover a Lara Croft that they know and love in a format that's undiscovered to them. Fitting, seeing as Tomb Raider should be all about discovery.

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Just in time for PAX

I was pretty fond of Lara Croft GO, the new minimalist Tomb Raider from Square Enix Monréal, when I checked out the game at E3 a couple months ago. So, I'm delighted to hear we needn??'t wait too much longer to? get our paws on it, as the upcoming mobile title is releasing later this month.

The iOS a??nd Android app is currently planned for an August 27 release, according to the studio.

That's one day prior to this year's PAX Prime, where Square Enix Monréal will be throwing a launch party at Seattle's Hard Rock Café. At the very least, it should give attendees like myself something to do in the aeroplane betw??een ignoring the safety briefing and standing in the aisle after landing, impatiently waiting for the earliest opportunity available to get off that danged winged-sardine can.

Square Enix Montréal [Twitter]

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'Set in a long-forgotten world'

Square Enix has some experience putting out mobile games with big name IPs. Hitman GO released last year and by most accounts it was a solid title. Now it looks like it's our favorite tomb raider's turn with Lara Croft GO.

Comparing screens, it looks like Lara Croft GO uses an on-rails movement system similar to Hitman GO. However, rather than getting her assassination on, Lara is more suited to environmental puzzles and fighting supernatural beings. One interesting thing to note is that this takes on the Lara Croft moniker rather than the Tomb Raider name, suggesting it is likely set to be more similar to the more puzzle-focused The Guardian of Light and The Temple of Osiris than to the mainline action series.

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