10 MUST-PLAY Video Game Spin-Offs

Since its inception in 1996, the Tomb Raider franchise built its name on action-platforming mixed with puzzle solving, with the heroine at its centre standing out far more among the masses. After many years of iterating and refining the mainline series, ending with Tomb Raider: Underworld, Crystal Dynamics took a break from the regular formula. While they figured out where to take Lara Croft next, plans for a spin-off were put in place; the result was Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2010, the biggest departure the series has seen in terms of genre.

Guardian of Light was an isometric cooperative adventure that worked very well with Tomb Raider's puzzle-platforming formula. It was also the first to feature cooperative play as Lara teamed up with the ancient Mayan warrior Totec to tackle various obstacles. Despite its reduced production values, the translation received high praise at the time, alongside high sales on the Xbox Live Marketplace. A sequel, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris would follow four years later. Interestingly, this alternative take on Tomb Raider would end up forming other smaller scale efforts from Square Enix, providing the building blocks for future titles like Hitman Go.