Verdict
Tomb Raider 2013 is a joy to play on iOS, with it running really well on my iPhone 13. It features various graphics presets to suit your preferences, and has touch controls that are truly accessible thanks to comprehensive customization options.
I'm a huge Lara Croft fan. I've played every single one of her games numerous times, and I'm especially fond of the 2013 reboot, which is why I'm happy to review it for the second time in a matter of months. At the tail end of 2025, Aspyr brought Tomb Raider (2013) to the Nintendo Switch family of systems, while Feral Interactive is now gearing up to bring it to iOS devices.
As the game is more than a decade old at this point, and, as I said, it's not been too long since my Tomb Raider Definitive Edition Switch 2 review, I'm mostly going to focus on the performance of the mobile port. However, I'll give you a quick rundown, just in case you're not familiar with this specific Lara Croft adventure.
One of my favorite aspects of the Tomb Raider reboot and the subsequent games in the trilogy, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, is that they feature a baby-faced Lara, particularly in the 2013 game. What I mean by that is that she isn't the badass you know her as; she's a fresh archaeologist who's yet to engage in combat or fight for survival, all of which changes when her boat crashes on the Japanese island of Yamatai.
Quickly, the game throws you into a fight for survival, equipping Lara with a basic bow and other gear, all of which you can upgrade as the game progresses to make things a bit easier on yourself. Sometimes, you need to upgrade items like the pickaxe, or you can't progress, so it's vital that you keep an eye out for scrap as you explore the island - you also need to manage it wisely. Once you pick an upgrade, you can't get that scrap back.
The world itself is great to explore, featuring its fair share of caves and tombs, because what is a Tomb Raider game without those? However, beyond the combat and puzzle gameplay that's synonymous with Miss Croft, it's the characters that I like about Tomb Raider, boasting an enigmatic cast, with enemies that you genuinely despise and some allies that you grow to care about.
I played the game on an iPhone 13, and to my surprise, it runs really well. While the game would undoubtedly look a bit better on the iPhone 17, you can still fully enjoy it on an older phone. I didn't encounter any bugs and had minimal instances of frame rate drops - I can honestly say I'm impressed, and the praise keeps coming as Tomb Raider achieved something very few mobile games have. I like the touch controls.
Touch controls aren't typically something I enjoy, but the team at Feral Interactive has done a great job: they're highly responsive and not at all intrusive, have both left- and right-handed defaults to suit all players, and still allow you to see plenty of the screen. I also have to give props to the customization options available. You can completely tailor the controls interface to suit you, right down to changing the size and opacity of the buttons, so if you do find them too impactful on the screen, you can change that.
Another addition I like is that you don't need to button-mash or panic during quick-time events anymore, as the mobile version of Tomb Raider has an accessibility option that lets you choose a setting that requires little more than holding your thumb on the screen to overcome these scenarios. I'm here for anything that makes a game a bit more friendly to everyone, and QTE can be a real turn-off for some players.
While I found that moving the camera around was nice and easy, even when aiming (you just need to hold your thumb on the arrow button and move as you would with the camera), you can opt to use auto-aim to make your life even easier if you don't completely gel with the touch controls but want to avoid using a controller.
Overall, Tomb Raider is a very good mobile port, one that I can't wait to play again when I upgrade to the iPhone 17 (maybe even the iPhone 18). It runs really well, features various graphics presets to suit your preferences, boasts very accessible touch controls, and allows you to take a truly great Lara Croft adventure with you anywhere.