EGYPTIAN DREAM

Level by Pascal Ducey (MagPlus)

Authorized walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Since this is a tutorial level, and since a walkthrough is bundled with the level download, we're dispensing with the unwritten "two-week" rule in this instance.

Run forward out of an alcove, turn right and run up the ramp into daylight. You're near the front entrance of a large temple. Continue west past the temple and pick up the CROWBAR in the fog-filled depression. Return to the temple stairs and go through the small opening at the top. Hop down, turn to your right and hop down again. Pick up the flares and continue north to enter a small room. Push two buttons to open the door between them, then run down the stairs onto a balcony. Turn to your left and pull the piece backward twice so that it comes to rest on a yellow-ringed circle. Then push it forward all the way until it comes to rest on another yellow-ringed circle near the wall. The camera angle changes to show the closed door ahead.

Reverse roll, run just past the first yellow-ringed circle on the floor and turn to your left. Take a standing jump forward to land on the pillar in the pit. Take a running jump onto the north balcony and turn left. Pull the piece backward onto a familiar circle to cause a block to rise in the pit near the door. Now push the piece all the way forward until it comes to rest on another circle, and the large door in the west wall lifts open. Go back to the break in the balcony, turn right and stand one step back from the edge of the balcony. Take a standing jump down to the central pillar.

Turn right and take a running jump and grab to the raised block west. As you pull up you can hear the snapping sound of a spike trap. In one fluid motion, take a running jump off the block and grab the opening ahead. Pull up into the entranceway and run around the central column. Go up the stairs, through the hallway and turn left into a room with four colorful pedestal pieces that can be moved.

Before proceeding, however, reverse roll and go back into the corridor. Pull up into the crawl space ahead for SECRET #1, stand up and turn to your right and use your crowbar to pry the GOLDEN BEETLE off the wall. Return to the room with the pedestal pieces and push each one forward twice onto the square with the corresponding color, and the grate in the center falls open. (If you're starting to suspect that this level is going to be too easy for you, don't be deceived.)

Disregard the strange noise coming from below and jump into the water. The noisy underwater fan will push you west along a passage into an area where you can walk up some stairs into the next room. A ninja is prancing about inside, so draw your pistols and kill him. He drops a JEWEL OF APOPHIS, so pick it up and go forward to the west wall and take the SMALL WATERSKIN from the pedestal. Go up the stairs and enter an area guarded by two jackal statues on either side of a closed door in the west wall. Climb up onto the block, stand on the west edge facing east, and jump up to grab the trap door in the ceiling. Take a standing jump forward to grab the ladder in the shaft and climb up into a dark upper room. Step forward and pick up the second JEWEL OF APOPHIS.

Reverse roll, jump across the shaft and pick up the small medi-pack in the west alcove. The hungry whines from below tell you that the jackals have been awakened, so climb down the ladder, thinking that you'll drop down onto the block and kill the beasts from the safety of that position. However, you find to your surprise that the block has disappeared, so you and your pistols are on your own. After order has been restored, go back down the stairs and insert the Jewels of Apophis in the snake heads at the SE and SW corners to open a door in the east wall. From the west side of the pool you can take a running jump and grab to the block in the pool, pull up and run forward to claim the LARGE WATERSKIN from the pedestal in the alcove.

Turn around, jump into the water and climb out via the steps. Run up the stairs on either side and make a U-turn to approach the scales near the east wall. The design on the wall beyond the scales indicates that two liters must be poured into the pot on the left. The formidable stars in the floor (where you stand, coincidentally, to pour) indicate that a misstep will likely be fatal. Go back downstairs to the water and fill the large waterskin. Combine it with the small waterskin, leaving it with the necessary two liters. Go back upstairs and empty the large waterskin (not the small one, mind you) into the pot.

Reverse roll as the door in the west wall opens. Follow the passage and slide down the slope to your left into a pool of water. Note the closed grate in the floor of the pool and pick up the small medi-pack in the before pulling out at the south edge. Two jackals run forth to greet you, so shoot them before they can sink their jaws into you. Look around. This is a hub area to which you will return several times. To your right and left and below are flame emitters guarding chains. Your assigned task is to turn off the flames, one by one, and pull the chains as you go. Straight ahead is a row of colored buttons, and behind them up the stairs is a row of openings that are presently closed off.

Go up the stairs ahead and take a closer look. Each opening has a vertical row of colored tiles to its left that matches the colors in the horizontal row below. However, the color sequence differs. Moreover, the openings on each end are marked with an up arrow, while the opening in the middle is marked with a down arrow. Note the color pattern for the left doorway: Red, blue and yellow, reading from top to bottom.

Go back downstairs and push the large colored blocks in the reverse order: Yellow, blue and red, because the arrow is pointing up. (If you should ever push the colors in the wrong sequence, you'll get some enigmatic harp music while Lara bursts into flames.) You hear a door opening, much like the sound of someone clearing his throat. Run back up the stairs and into the left opening. Push the button on the wall to your left to operate the Lara Lift. When the elevator stops, step out into a room with four pedestal pieces. However, this one is not quite as easy as the one you mastered earlier.

As before, you have four pieces to push onto tiles of the corresponding color. However, the green piece is not conveniently placed next to its tile, so I would place it first if I were you (across the blue tile, but that's okay). Then move the other pieces, and after each correct placement you'll be rewarded with harmless blue electrical effects. When you place the fourth one, the central pyramid starts to sizzle and soon shatters to reveal another JEWEL OF APOPHIS. Go pick it up, and you'll hear a trap door falling in the north alcove.

Jump into the shaft and fall into the water far below. Pull out on the south side and run over to the east alcove to your left. Place the Jewel of Apophis in the snake head to turn off the flames, then hop back, jump forward onto the block and pull the chain once. You get a cut scene of the closed grate at the bottom of the pool, so it appears you'll need to repeat this exercise twice more to open the grate. Now go up the stairs and inspect the color pattern next to the middle room. Run down to the horizontal row of colored tiles and push them in this order: Blue, red and yellow (since the arrow is pointing down).

The gate to the second elevator room is now open (and the flame you may have seen inside earlier has been extinguished by virtue of your trip to the first floor--the flame in the third elevator room will likewise go out as soon as you reach the second floor), so go there and push the button on the wall to your left. When the elevator comes to a stop at the second floor, step out into a room with a central wading pool (in which you'll find the SHOTGUN), a caged ahmet in the west room and a set of scales to the north beyond a closed grate. Looking at the diagram on the north wall, it appears that you need to pour four liters of water into the pot this time. Since the large waterskin holds five liters and the small one holds three liters, you need to put on your thinking cap. (If you pour an incorrect amount of water into the pot, the ahmet will be released, and after you kill it you'll find it has been replaced with its clone behind the closed west gate.)

Here's the drill: Fill the large waterskin and combine it with the small, leaving two in the large. Empty the small one and once again combine the large with the small, emptying the large and putting two in the small. Fill the large one again and combine it with the small one, filling it and leaving the required four liters in the large one. Approach the scales and dump the contents of the large waterskin into the pot on the left. The east gate opens, so go inside, pick up the large medi-pack to the left of the chain, and then pull the chain once. Reverse roll and see that the block in the center of the pool has opened up. Jump up and claim the JEWEL OF APOPHIS. The grate drops open in front of the scales, so drop through and land in the water below.

Pull out on the south side and go downstairs. Insert the Jewel of Apophis in the snake head to turn off the flames, and pull the chain for another screen shot of the grate in the floor of the pool. Go back upstairs and check out the pattern next to the closed gate on the right. The arrow is pointing up, so go to the row of colored tiles and push them in this order: Red, yellow and blue. The last gate is now open, but before going upstairs walk around to the back of the structure with the colored tiles and pull up to the top. Pick up THE SPHINX'S MAP for some important clues concerning your third floor tasks. Now you're ready to go upstairs into the room on the right, push the button on the left to operate the elevator, and enjoy the long ride up.

Emerge in a room with four wall switches arranged in the central structure at each point of the compass. In fact, you'll find an extra COMPASS in the SW indentation to pick up before you begin. There are four closed doors, one each in the east and west walls and two in the north wall, each with a different blue-dotted pattern overhead. Your map tells you to take these in a certain order, beginning with the east doorway. Don't ask why, just do it.

The pattern over the east door shows one blue dot to the far left and two to the right. Turn around and inspect the wall switches, and you find that the ones that conform to the pattern over the door are (in no particular order): North, west and south (oriented facing the wall, not the central structure). Throw these three, and the east door dutifully opens.

Go inside, take a left at the intersection and pick up the BINOCULARS as you turn the corner into a new room. Stop onto the entrance tile and get your bearings. The liquid floor covering is highly toxic and must be avoided at all costs. Look across the room into the mirror in the south wall and note that a number of the tiles are protected by hidden flames. These must also be avoided. The SE tile near the center of the room is safe, so take a running jump to it. Turn to your right and take a running jump to the walkway in front of the mirror, and turn right. Step onto the center of the safe tile in front of the wooden gate and pick up some shotgun ammo. Go back along the walkway to the east end and look in the mirror. You can see some irregularities indicating the presence of a ladder in the corner wall. Go back to where you jumped to the walkway and take a running jump back to the safe central tile.

Turn to your right and take a standing jump NE to the next safe tile. Turn right and take a running jump east to the safe tile against the wall. Turn right, hold your breath and take what looks like a suicidal running jump to the wall in the SE corner. Hit the control key to grab the hidden ladder with Lara's feet immersed in the deadly fluid. Climb up until Lara's hands are just past the white wall, then back flip onto the ledge above. Turn around and check out your surroundings. There's a flame-protected pedestal on the far side of the room, and a nearby wall switch that turns off the flames for a short period of time. Save your game here, just in case.

Throw the wall switch, sidestep quickly to your right, reverse roll and take a running jump and grab to the next ledge (avoiding the plainly marked spike trap field). Pull up and take a running jump across to the west side of the room, again avoiding the spike trap field, pick up the JERRYCAN from the pedestal and back flip to safety an instant before the flames return. Here's a neat, quick and safe way back down. Stand near the NE corner of the ledge, facing west, directly over the entrance tile to the mirror room. Hop back and wait until you clear the edge before hitting the control key (so you won't grab the edge). You'll land safely on the entrance tile, so run forward and exit this room. (If you choose instead to come down by jumping onto any other safe tile, you'll summon another ninja from outside the room.)

Your Sphinx Map tells you that the NE door is next, so check the pattern over that door. Then throw the east switch (whereupon the east door slams shut with a thud) and raise the south switch. The NE door is now open, so go inside and follow the passage into a rather large room with two colorful objects directly ahead. Draw your shotgun as you step forward, as two jackals and two ninjas are on their way to the attack. Drop them one by one as action music plays, and when peace is finally restored, pick up the small medi-pack on the east walkway (assuming one of the ninjas didn't steal it while you were fighting the rest of the enemies).

Your job now is to lower the colored pedestal push pieces to the room below. At the north end of this room are two artifacts frozen under pyramids of blue light. In the west wall is a short corridor with a ladder at the end, but the way up is blocked at present by a grate. On the north face of the column next to the yellow pedestal piece is a switch. Throw it to lower the grate south. Drop down to the lower room and locate the GUARDIAN KEY on the pedestal. A cut scene shows the NW door in the other room. Since you can do nothing here for the moment, stand on the edge of either colored tile, jump up to grab the grate and pull up. Leave this room via the SE corridor and look at the pattern over the NW door in the next room. Lower the south switch, raise the north switch and the door opens.

Place the Guardian Key in the wall receptacle as you enter, opening the door to your left. Enter and stand squarely in front of the tightrope. Hit the action key and the up arrow to slide gingerly along the tightrope across the gap to the other side. If you're extremely fortunate and have Lara lined up just right, it's possible to make it across without having to adjust either right or left along the way. However, in most cases Lara will start wobbling in one direction or the other, in which case you must immediately stop and make a very slight adjustment in the opposite direction before continuing. When you finally get across, hop down into the passage and use the ladder at the other end to reach the room below.

You find yourself in a fairly large, almost empty room. There is no ceiling, and high above are a number of floating platforms you'll see closer up in a short while. In the east wall are two gated alcoves. Near the west wall are two flaming blocks with a bull resting quietly between them. Go wake up the bull by running in front of it. It's clumsy and slow to change directions, but its horns are deadly. You need to act as a human red flag and lure the bull to charge into the eye panels on the flaming blocks. Of course, this places you in considerable peril, so stand in front of the eye panel, wait until the last instant and jump out of the way just before the bull's horns strike. When a panel has been struck in this manner the opposite east gate is opened. You can wait until both gates are open, then pull up into each alcove and push the button inside, or do them one at a time. When both buttons have been pushed a gate opens outside.

Run to the NW doorway and go outside. The bull will not follow you. Turn to your right and follow the ledge close to the outside wall around to the north end. Be careful not to slip and fall over the edge. Turn right into the doorway where the gate opened and climb up the blocks, follow the passage and emerge in the small room beneath the colored push piece room. Pull the moveable column onto the yellow-ringed dot to change slightly the configuration of the room above. Now retrace your steps back through the bull room, up the ladder, across the tightrope, and back to the room with the four switches.

Open the NE door again by lowering the north switch and raising the south switch. Enter the room with the colored push pieces. Use the switch behind the column to close the grate in front of the pieces if you didn't do so earlier. Push the yellow piece forward twice, onto the grate, and go to one side and push it once west so that it's right in front of the red piece. Now push the red piece east once, then push it twice onto the grate next to the yellow piece. Use the switch on the column again to deposit the pieces into the room below. Drop down next to the pieces, squeeze between them and push both pieces onto their corresponding color tiles. You hear the sound of a trap door opening close by.

Pull up out of the lower room and you'll find a pulsing light at the north end of the room where the artifacts are still protected under the blue pyramids. The trap door above the ladder in the west corridor is now open, so climb up until Lara's hands are just above the bold horizontal line, and back flip onto a small ledge. Turn around and take a standing jump NE past a break in the railing. Run to the other side of the central square and jump SE across the gap. Go around to your right and locate the chain. Pull it once, and you'll see a cut scene of the blue pyramid smoldering and then exploding around one of the artifacts below. Look across the room and you'll see a similar chain on the other side. However, getting there is quite a challenge.

Step to the west edge of the block the chain is on, face SW and take a standing jump to the ledge. Face SSE and take a running jump beyond the rail opening to the walkway against the east wall. Locate and pick up the small medi-pack, then follow the passage around to the right and pull up into the opening. Step forward and take a running jump to the roof cut in the structure ahead. Walk forward, slide down the other side and jump off to grab the opposite opening. Pull up, run forward and hop down into the passage, go around the central column and step forward to the opening high above the bull room.

Now is the time to refer to the second clue on your Sphinx's Map. Some of the floating platforms ahead are perfectly safe, others are deadly fire traps, and there's no visual way to tell the difference. Here's the safe path: Take a running jump SW to the first safe platform; angle to the right and take a standing jump NW to the next one; a running jump west to the next one; a running jump SW to the one against the south wall; a running jump NW to the one against the west wall; a running jump and grab north to the next one; pull up, turn slightly to the right and take a running jump NE to the next one; a standing jump east to the next one; turn left and take a running jump and grab north to the next one. Pull up, and at this point the Sphinx's Map tells you to turn slightly to the right and jump NE to the next one. However, you can be forgiven if you choose to follow your own course here. The platform NW is also safe, so take a standing jump to it. Now jump to the ledge behind the column for SECRET #2 and pry the second GOLDEN BEETLE off the column with your crowbar.

Jump back to the previous suspended platform and resume the route prescribed by the Sphinx's Map: Take a standing jump NE to the next safe platform, a running jump east to the last one, and from there a running jump with grab SE to land inside the opening. Follow the passage around to the chain. Pull it once, and watch the blue pyramid around the second artifact below sizzle and explode. Take a standing jump SE to the ledge, and into the alcove on your right for a large medi-pack, then safety drop from there to the room below. Run to the north end and pick up the GUARDIAN KEY (a cut scene shows a flame being extinguished in a wall elsewhere) and the BAG OF SAND from the now-free raised tiles.

Return to the room with the four wall switches. It's now time to use the west doorway, so note the pattern on the wall and lower the south switch and raise the west switch to open the west door. Hop down onto the grate, go around the central column and pull up into the west passage. Enter the next area and make a hairpin turn to the left. Enter the small room east and place the Guardian Key in the receptacle to your right. The door to your left opens, so go there and pick up the TORCH. Reverse roll and toss the torch into the hole in the floor. Use the ladder in the south face to climb down to the room below. Pick up the torch and take it to a flame burning on a raised tile in the center of the room. Stand close to the tile without stepping onto it (lest you burn) and light the torch. Now toss the lighted torch aside, as you won't need it for a while.

As long as you're here, go behind the column on the SW side of the flaming tile and push the button there to stop the spikes you can hear higher up. Go back to the ladder and climb back up to the balcony. Go out to the small ramp SW and stand in the back left corner facing NWW. There's a horizontal bar ahead that you need to grab on the right side so you'll swing off and land on top of the pillar formerly guarded by the spikes. You experience a slight earthquake as a block is raised in the floor below. Jump up to grab the ceiling, and monkey swing north to the other side of the room and release to land on another tall pillar. Another slight earthquake, and another block being raised below. Face NE and run off (not jump) this pillar to land on the one against the north wall. Safety drop to the floor and retrieve your lighted torch.

Jump onto the shortest block near the SE corner. Turn and take successive running jumps north to the next two blocks. Take a running jump NWW to the next block and a standing jump SW to the next one. Take a running jump SE to the ledge, then a standing jump SW to the shorter pillar. Finally, take a running jump NW to the opening between the railings and run into the room west. Drop the torch in place by hitting the "1" key to draw your pistols, then step up to the scales ahead. Be sure you step onto the raised tiles on which the scales rest. Starting from your right, empty the Bag of Sand into the scales with the red triangle design, the Jerrycan into the sun scales, and the small waterskin (which should be full) into the scales with the wavy blue lines. (If for some reason you find that both waterskins are empty, the builder has considerately provided a small pool of water in the room below.)

Now pick up the torch, step up to the middle scales and light the oil. You hear a door opening below, so toss the torch aside (you won't need it any longer) and either safety drop from here (at the cost of a small amount of health) or take the longer way down by jumping to the pillars from the east balcony. Go to the cage at the west end of the room and enter the new opening on the south side. Pull the chain for a cut scene showing a block rising in the room with four switches. Go there by climbing up the ladder at the east end of the room, making a hairpin turn to the right across the balcony, and following the passage back to the room with four switches. Jump onto one of the four facing ramps, turn and pull up onto the raised block, and pull up into a small upper room. Take the JEWEL OF APOPHIS from the pedestal in the east alcove as a burst of "you done good" music plays.

Drop down through the hole onto the block and treat the gap as a crawl space by lowering Lara down an edge and dropping onto a ramp. Hop to the floor and run to the opening in the middle of the north wall. Hand from the edge of the hole and drop down the shaft into the water far below. Pull out at the south edge and turn to your right. Insert the Jewel of Apophis in the snake head to turn off the flames, then hop onto the block and pull the chain. A cut scene shows the grate in the floor of the pool falling open, but detour for a final secret before leaving this area. Run up the stairs and into the third elevator room on your right. The interior has been reconfigured, so hop down, crawl into the space on your right for a large medi-pack, then crawl into the small room south for SECRET #3. and another GOLDEN BEETLE.

Crawl back out, run down the stairs, dive into the water and swim through the new opening. Follow the tunnel to the east along its various twists and turns until you finally see daylight above. Surface and pull out at the south edge into an outdoor area at the rear of the temple. Ahead and to your left is a smaller building requiring a Guardian Key for entry. Run around to the SE corner of the temple, where you'll see a shorter sandy pillar and a taller ornate pillar. Go north through the narrow passage between the temple and the sandy pillar, and take a standing jump to the brown ledge supported by two columns. Squeeze past the columns and turn right into a small space. Turn right and step up to the sandy pillar (slightly right of center), take a back flip and keep the jump key depressed so that you bounce off the sloped surface behind you. Grab the top of the sloped pillar, pull up and slide a short distance down the other side, and jump off with a midair curve to your left to land on top of the sandy pillar.

Angle slightly to the right and take a running jump and grab SSW to the ornate pillar. Turn to face NWW and take a running jump to the sloped ledge just beyond the corner obstruction. Slide back and grab the edge. Shimmy to your left as far as you can go, pull up and take a back flip to the next ornate pillar. Turn left and take a running jump and grab to the opening in the temple roof. Pull up and take a running jump NW into the upper temple area. Step forward and take the GUARDIAN KEY from the pedestal. Turn around and jump into the water below. Pull out and go to the entranceway of the building SE. Place the Guardian Key in the receptacle to your right to open the doors, and follow the passage to a docking area where a gently rocking gondola awaits you while Lara's theme music plays. Approach the gondola along the jutting ledge and the level ends.