Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is an action-adventure game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix's European branch for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS.

In North America, on 16 December, the video game was released for iOS devices which included cooperative with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options.

The game was released along with its successor as part of The Lara Croft Collection for Nintendo Switch by Feral Interactive on 29 June 2023.

[2][3] The game also features cooperative gameplay, and players can take control of either Lara or an ancient Mayan warrior named Totec.

Like with some previous installments, Lara retains her dual pistols with infinite ammunition and a grappling hook, which she is able to use to cross gaps and which Totec can tightrope walk across.

[11] Two thousand years ago in ancient Mexico, a battle was waged between Totec, the Guardian of the Light, and Xolotl, the Keeper of Darkness.

Totec survived the battle and found a way to defeat Xolotl, imprisoning him in the mirror of smoke and becoming its immortal guardian in the form of a stone statue.

Depending on the number of players participating, Lara and Totec either join forces or go their separate ways to try to stop Xolotl.

Guardian of Light is not part of the main Tomb Raider brand, but was intended to start a new series simply titled "Lara Croft".

[3] Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light uses recycled musical cues from Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld by composers Troels Brun Folmann and Colin O'Malley.

[22] In North America, on 16 December, Crystal Dynamics released an iOS version of Guardian of Light for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

[27][28] The first downloadable content pack, entitled All The Trappings, received a thirty-day free release alongside the online cooperative patch on 27 October for Xbox 360.

[29][30] On October 28, 2021, on the 25th anniversary of the first Tomb Raider game being released on the Sega Saturn in Europe, Crystal Dynamics announced that Guardian of Light and its sequel Temple of Osiris would be ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022.

[31] In December 2022, over a year following the announcement and the Crystal Dynamics acquisition by Embracer Group, Feral Interactive confirmed that the games would instead be released in 2023.

[35][36] In a September 2010 ranking, IGN listed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light fourteenth in their top twenty-five Xbox Live Arcade titles of all time.

[47][48] Square Enix head of product development, Darrell Gallagher, revealed in August 2013 that the game had sold more than 1 million copies on all platforms.

[42] Chris Watters of GameSpot also gave the Xbox 360 version an 8.5 rating, praising puzzles, visuals, replay value and challenges, but panned the game's plot.

[52] Keza MacDonald of Eurogamer gave Guardian of Light a 9 out of 10;[39] the same rating was also given by Meagan Marie of Game Informer[40] and Tom Orry of VideoGamer.com.