The Secret of the Catacombs

Level and walkthrough by Jon A. (TRPlayer), both obtainable at the author's website which can be accessed by clicking
here (information courtesy of Lara's Home).

The level begins in a small rough-cut hall within the infamous catacombs of Egypt. It has always been known that there were untold secrets hidden within these caves, and now Lara will embark on a journey to discover them.

AS YOU FIRST START OUT

Start the level by turning around. Above the ledge behind you, you will find a package of shotgun shells, and the door where you first entered. There is nothing more here, so turn back around and make your way down the long hall. The door at the end opens when you near it, revealing the pedestal that once held the artifact, now so shrouded in mystery. You can exam the hall on your left, but you will find nothing more there than a series of switches...perhaps the code to these switches lies somewhere else through out the level.

THE FIRST SECRET

The first secret of this level is the only one, and what a difficult one to find it is. At the entrance, after the stone door lifts to reveal the pedestal, there is a shaft leading up to the outside, providing not only light, but a way out as well. Line yourself up—this takes work so don't give up right away—to the shaft so that you can jump up and grab onto its walls. Climb to the top and pull yourself out. You will hear the noise telling you have found a secret...but there is more to it than that.

Go to one of the corners of the small valley you have found yourself in and in a small depression in the ground, you should find the real prize—Uzi's.

GETTING THE BLUE JEWEL

Your next order of business will be to move through the level. Don't you feel better when you're packing a super weapon of your own? Go in the direction which would have been right, had you just exited the starting hall. There are two pillars on each side; so shoot out the vases, grab your items and be on your way...down that long dark hall. There should be no need to light a flare, just as long as you keep running straight, you should reach the destination unharmed. Did that make you 'jump'—rather, fall? It will be okay though; there is water below to catch you.

Swim straight through the tunnel, ignoring the first upward shaft, it is just another source of light. It is the second with which you should concern yourself. Pull out onto the ledge and watch the beautiful fly-by camera show you a view of this room, which you are sure to see again. Move straight, providing you pulled out of the water tunnel straight, until you hit the wall, then turn to the right and in the corner you will find some more flares.

Search the room some more, in the back-left of where you originally entered there should be a crawlspace...crawl through it. Turn around and drop into the hall; if you need to light a flare, then you may, but it isn't necessary. Run to the end of this hall, and turn left at the end, where you will find yet another crawlspace. On the other side you will see a door, which for at the moment remains closed. So, you will have to go to the right.

When you enter the next room a small cut scene will show you the switch, kindly challenging you to get to it. Don't be irrational; look at the floor...those holes must tell you something. However, if you must find out whether or not you should heed my warning, then you can walk forward...I told you so! After restarting the level and making your way back to this room because your curiosity required that you impale yourself, look across to the other side. You are wrong if you thought you were supposed to jump there, I just figured if you were thinking ahead you would have jumped for it, and ended up dying...for a second time. Look at the ceiling of this room; and the answer should become very clear.

Grab the monkey bars above you, and make your way over the spiked floor, and to that switch that has already caused so much trouble. Before you pull the switch light a flare, and look around. On the safe ground you should find some explosive crossbow ammunition. Now you can pull the switch and open the door. Through the door is yet another challenge, this more of button pushing than of wits. Just jump each gap before the slide spills you out into the fire, until you get to the end. You see the long hall and the pit to the left...so you are probably already well aware of the danger that lies ahead. Trigger the ball and get out of its way. This is possible to achieve if you walk forward, and then try to turn around, but you will have much less difficulty if you back up the sloped hall, and then run to the left when the ball starts to roll at you. After the ball has finished rocking in the small pit, you can grab your crossbow. Move up the hall and dodge your way through the darts.

At last, you can see the blue jewel, sitting quite nicely on a pedestal on the other side of the room. Don't fall in the small pits, your only way out will be to run to the ladder at the end, which will awaken every skeleton below you. However, if you are willing to brave it, then you can fall in the second pit, shoot out the vase, and grab the small medipak. Go to the ladder, at the side where you came in on, this will trigger the one skeleton, but if you are careful, you should be able to beat him...after all, you have that explosive crossbow ammunition. Jump the three gaps and grab the jewel off of the pedestal. To get to the door it is best that you jump to the end rather than falling into the first pit and setting off the other skeleton.

PLACING THE BLUE JEWEL

Through the door you will find a pit filled with spikes, grab onto the ceiling and wiggle your way across the gap—are you getting sick of these spikes? Once at the other end, drop into the water and go to the hall on the right. To the left, at the end of this hall, you will be able to get down. Now grab that large medipak that I am sure you have been thinking about for quite some time now. Head back up and find the slide to the bottom, this is where you will want to go. At the bottom you will find yourself back in the hall leading to those dreaded spikes. Turn left, provided you slid forward down the slide, and place the blue jewel in its little spot. The door will lift open and let you through. You can use the pole to climb up, but they are really just there to make you waste time if you do climb them. In this small room, throw the switch and the block in the corner should move down. Shoot out the vases and pick up their contents, then make your way through the hall revealed by the lowered block, and wait for the next half of the level to load.

GETTING TO THE SWITCH

You enter the next part of the level in a passage leading to a large pit. From the passage you can see the switch that you will need to throw. To get to the switch you will have to do a running jump to one of the side ledges—I prefer the right, but it is completely up to you as to which one to jump to. From there you can move to the ledge at the other end, and finally drop down to where the switch is. Hit the switch; it should push out a platform on the other side of the pit. Run-jump-grab to the platform, and pull yourself up. The door in front of you should trigger open immediately and down the hall will be the next challenge.

THE BLOCK PUZZLE

This puzzle can be tricky; one wrong move can present you with more work than you had to begin with. At the moment your goal is not seen, but I am sure rather easy to guess. You are trying to make your way to the other end of the room. Begin by pushing the first block back into the wall (actually, there is an opening for it there). Now, pull the block on the right side back until you can no longer do so. Proceed by pushing the block the rest of the way. Do the same with the block on the left, remembering not to 'block' yourself in. Now, pull out the block furthest to the other side of the room until you are able to get behind it and push it. There, you will see the door. The next step is to pull the block that you first pushed out of the cavity to reveal the switch for the door. Once the door is opened you may proceed on to your next task.

THE DOOR PUZZLE: RUNNING WATER

After you leave the room with the block puzzle you will have noticed three doors in a neat line-up in front of you. Your goal is to open all three of them. You can actually take on the task of opening each door in whatever order you prefer, but I will be doing it this way, just to keep things simple.

First go to the right and walk into the room with the two slides, one goes up and the other goes down. You can try until you are dead, but you will never be able to get up the one, your only way to continue is by going down. Once at the bottom of the slide, go to the right and grab the flares off of the raised piece of floor, and enter the next room. The water that is running is much to shallow to pull Lara along, so it will present no danger. Head to the other side of the room; here you will find a trapdoor and a ladder. You must climb up the ladder and pull the switch, which will open the trapdoor. Follow the new passage until you come to the room with the four fountains in the corner. On the other side of the pillar in the middle is a ladder, leading to a switch that will open the door in the room you were just in.

When you are on the other side of the door, you will be presented with one of the most difficult puzzles in the level, the underwater maze. If you look at it, there are two things that will hint to your progress. Look at the floor, and you will see a grating every once and a while, these are the gratings that you want to see. When you see the grating on the wall, then you know that you are on the wrong path—letting you turn around long before making your way to the end. Try the maze a few times using these hints...and then, if you must, you can use the map of the maze on the next page. Once you are through, you will be sucked into a new area. Let the current take you until you are no longer moving; you should end up in the center at the one end.

Swim to the surface and pull onto the ledge. You have to make it to the ledge in front of you. There are actually a few ways to do this, so you can use what works for you...after all, it isn't that much work if you do screw up this early. The next ledge is easily obtainable; simply line yourself up at the corner and run, Lara should catch herself and make the ledge (or you can use a jump if you so desire). Look at the ceiling, here there are monkey bars again. Use them to go across, then use the second set to go across to the next ledge. This is where it will get tricky, the wall is a ladder, and you must jump at it at a slight angle so that you can catch it, yet won't land in the water. SAVE! This takes a little practice for the less experienced raider. When you are on the other side you can hit the switch to shut off the current, ALL current. This means there won't be any current in the water below you either, so you will be able to easily get back to the maze. Go up the ladder and make your way around and down the stairs and hit the switch. The first door is now open.

THE DOOR PUZZLE: SAND TRAP

Slide down the slide and go into the room on the opposite side of the one you just exited. It will be dark, but that will change shortly. Run around to one of the ramps and go up to the middle. Hit the switch which will turn on the four flames and open one of the doors. The four flames here are a curse in disguise of a blessing. You will have to make your way around them when going in and out of the doors, trying not to turn poor Lara into a moaning pile of ash. In the next room there is a heap of sand, and a switch on the wall in right-front of where you entered.

Pull the switch; it will open the other door in the main room. Once again you must brave the flames, but if all goes well, you will find yourself in a room of broken pillars and chipped ledges. Looking to your right you will see that one of the pillars is low enough for Lara to grab onto. Pull up on it and back jump, you should land on the one behind you sliding straight. Jump, grab and shimmy over until you can pull yourself up. From here you will want to make a jump to the other ledge, preferably a running jump. Move across the monkey bars and throw the switch that moves the sand from the one room into the current room. Go back to the other sand room and enter the newly opened pit. Crawl in a ways and then push the lever to open the second door.

THE DOOR PUZZLE: NARROW SHAFT

Go back to the first room you entered after the block puzzle and in the ceiling you should find a narrow shaft leading upward. Climb the wall beside it until you reach the top. Pull the switch, and you have opened the third door. This is clearly the easiest of the doors to open, yet if you are not looking you can miss the opening.
With the three doors open, you can make your way to the next part of the level.

BEYOND THE DOORS

There isn't much more after here, you are almost on your way out of the catacombs. Just wade across the small pool of water—don't bother with the trapdoor, as it isn't open yet—and on the other side pick up the first piece of Ptolemy's weapon, North-South. After picking this up, the trapdoor in the water opens and you can swim through the water shaft.

After swimming just a ways, the level will load into a different one and you can continue on your way. Pull out of the water at the end and turn around. Jump onto the ledge at the side and make your way back to the space where the level first began. The other door, across from the first one that opened, will open, and you can make your way outside to the end of the level where the train awaits you to take you to your next part of the quest...

AND THE OTHERS?

You may have noticed, while traversing the level, that there were a number of places, doors, switches, which you did not go to or activate. Do not worry about these for the time being. There is no way you can get through them. These will be explored further when Lara returns to the catacombs as the last stop on her quest for the lost weapon of Ptolemy.

The End