Levels listed...
TR5 - 31
TR4 - 3141
TR3 - 177
TR2 - 133
TR1 - 61
72381 reviews (20.4/level)
3532 (99.7%) walkthroughs
445 Hall of Fame levels
1221 levels rated >= 8
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release date: |
25-Dec-2008 |
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# of downloads: |
96 |
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average rating: |
8.06 |
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review count: |
8 |
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review this level |
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file size: |
126.00 MB |
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file type: |
TR4 |
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class: |
Castle |
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author profile(s): |
email(s): |
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| Reviewer's comments |
"Strong deja vu feelings when playing this level, looking through the author's releases I realized I played the newer version before playing this one. I love the green and blue lighting overall, makes for a gorgeous level with the impressive lake and castletown settings, often accompanied by some lively music. Lots of platforming to be done, all in all good pretty fun and a solid start to the Skribblerz Stonez 3 series. 40 minutes, 4 secrets. 03/24" - Treeble (24-Mar-2024) |
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| "I must admit, I have finished this level quite a while
ago. That is why I only want to brief my impression of
it. I really enjoy GMac's levels and I loved his
'Flashback' adventure. 'Return to the Loch' is an
enjoyable sequel to his 'The Loch' level, where we can
further explore the castle. It is quite a creative
thought to let player deeper into the dungeons and it
definitely made me count for a little bit more than I
got. If you know the original level, you won't be
surprised by this one. If you don't know the original
level then definitely go for that one first. Here you get
what you could usually expect from GMac, although I had
hoped for a little bit more of play time (I finished it
quite quickly). All textures, lighting atmosphere is in
place. I actually enjoyed the level being peaceful rather
than spooky or mysterious. It feels a little bit like a
holiday trip. Recommended for all, but I'd rather return
to 'The Loch' before this one. I have just noticed, that
'Flashback' is not available for download anymore, so
going for 'The Loch NG' instead seems a reasonable
option: you get all in one cohesive adventure." - jawi (22-Feb-2020) |
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| "I liked the Loch and i've liked returning there. There is
only a couple of places that are the same. The gameplay is
quite different , you need to retrieve 3 gems to find the
thistle. In the first two there is much jumps required and
a few traps , a couple of things to do are a bit tricky but
nothing too much difficult. In the third one , exploration
is needed to raid a big area with a great torch puzzle.
That was well thought and fun to play. Good musics and
flybys as usual and good setting too even if it is a bit
grey." - eRIC (01-Jun-2019) |
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| "An enjoyable level in typical GMac style - huge
tall rooms to explore, good atmosphere, a nice
use of music, dark texturing, brooding
architecture and interesting gameplay with a
few nice touches thrown in for good measure. I
found the battles against the thugs rather
annoying and tedious, but aside from this,
everything should be accessible to everyone,
even a beginning raider, with some nice torch
work, gymnastics and find-the-route gameplay to
locate the Skribblerz Stone." - Ryan (17-Jul-2017) |
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| "This on the contrary isn't my favourite of GMac. That four-baddy fight was more luck-involving than any battle I have ever seen from him, I don't really know what was the point, just like intentionally disabling the secret with spikes - I don't understand how builders even think about such trolling, and especially in this case I picture the pain of players who will find out they need to re-climb the whole thing including the fight aforementioned. The castle is made of few tiles in greyscale, and occasional blue light patches seem like a cheap trick for more points I won't give. But the pickups are wonderful accent as always - those pink gems so effectively break the overwhelming monochrome pattern you almost cherish them in your hand when grabbed, unable to overappreciate how greatly they contribute to the specific atmosphere. The music is so good I lost my focus and listened to it instead - not good for the game but I will save these songs on my drive and look for more pieces of their authors since this stuff may be really helpful for BUILDING!" - DJ Full (06-Mar-2017) |
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"I haven't played the original Loch levels, so this 'return' level felt less 'been-there-done-that' than the other level with a similar premise in Skribblerz Stones 3, i.e. 'Further over the Rainbow'. That said, nearly all of GMac's NG levels have a very similar visual style and fairly similar gameplay, so there isn't a lot here that's unexpected. That's not a big deal, though - I enjoy his style, by and large.
There are three main areas that lead off a central hub. Of these three, the large courtyard with the torch-and-five-boulders puzzle is great, with a lot of challenging gameplay. The other two, however, are rather similar large halls, with somewhat repetitive gameplay, involving mostly jumps along the edges of the rooms. I'm a bit puzzled at the linearity of the level: a 'central hub with multiple offshoot areas' setting is tailor-made for a non-linear level. Why not allow players to choose which order they want to explore the offshoot areas in?
There are plenty of visually impressive areas, such as the opening area with the castle on the banks of the loch, the central courtyard with the Skribblerz Stone, and the courtyard with the five boulders. Even the two large halls in the first two offshoot areas are architecturally impressive, though they feel a bit empty. The colours are predominantly grey, with the occasional green or blue highlights.
Overall: A pleasant level in a style typical to this builder. As long as you don't expect anything new, you won't be disappointed." - Mytly (15-Apr-2016) |
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| "I am pretty sure I played and reviewed this one prior to its temporary removal from trle.net but playing it again now, I seem to have very Little recollection of the level and hence could enjoy it as if it were a new one. And I did indeed enjoy it for the 45 minutes it lasted - with three distinct parts to acquire the three gems and after a bit of platforming in the first two, the whole torch puzzle area in the third is quite inspired. The battles with the shooters seemed a bit overdone and superfluous to me, but as enough ammunition and health packs are provided, this is a minor gripe. Solid and very typical GMac level and certainly worth playing - even a second time..." - MichaelP (28-Dec-2014) |
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| "This level marks a good start to Skribblerz Stonez 3, as it's a well done level in any regard. The loch at the start is really nicely designed and even if most indoor areas can't keep up to the exterior ones, the atmosphere in this level is pretty great. There's a good usage of flybys and music, the texturing is nearly faultless and the lighting is good. Maybe some rooms feel a bit grey and uniform and some of the one-square towers really don't look quite believable but overall the looks are quite pleasant. Gameplaywise there is quite a large variety of tasks and especially the platforming parts are quite inspired, as well as the torch puzzle in which you have to drop several boulders. It feels a bit monotonous at times but the good and fast pace and the steady variety of tasks never let this level feel dull. There's nothing quite outsanding in this level but overall I had pleasant 35 minutes in here and found four well hidden secrets." - manarch2 (26-Aug-2014) |
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