The player moves Lara Croft as a puzzle piece through a board game while avoiding obstacles and manipulating the environment.

The game was developed as a spiritual successor to its 2014 Hitman Go, based on another Square Enix Europe franchise.

All of the staff left besides technical director Antoine Routon and game director Daniel Lutz, and after a month of ideation, Lutz convinced Routon to work on a turn-based Hitman game, which became Hitman Go, and released to what the developers considered a positive response.

The quick, turn-based puzzle concept itself came from a focus on short sessions while keeping the bespoke series visual aesthetic, like an "elegant board game", through many rounds of iteration.

[6] Upon seeing the Hitman franchise reduced to its core elements, the development team saw a Lara Croft Tomb Raider version as an obvious next step (or as they called it, a "go-brainer").

They fit Lara Croft in the Hitman Go setting and knew to change elements like less focus on assassinating foes, less board game aesthetic, more animations, and more emphasis on environment than enemies.

[8] The team also emphasized gameplay for the player to learn without tutorial and storytelling that did not interrupt the play experience.

[8] The Square Enix team collaborated with Tomb Raider brand owners Crystal Dynamics to fit the series license.

[11] The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions included additional time exclusive levels "Mirror of Spirits" developed by KO_OP.

[22] Reviewers commended the game's aesthetics,[16][17][19] puzzle design,[15][17][19] and fidelity to the series,[17] but criticized its short length.

[19] Chloi Rad (IGN) wrote that the game was theatrical and diorama-like in its display and attention to detail.

He found the puzzles "decent" but the game altogether not particularly challenging and not worthy of recommendation outside of series fans.