TOMB RAIDER EXPEDITION

Debut level by LaraCablara.

Walkthrough by D&G Productions for the original version released in 2009, revised by Phil Lambeth for the updated and substantially changed version released in 2016.  A special thanks to Dutchy for finding the last secret for me.

BENEATH THE MINES

The Main Area.

Lara awakens in a dark cave. Step forward E toward the daylight and awaken the wolf to your left. Climb over the rock S and get a small medipack from the dark corner, climb back over the rock.

Walk down the vine-covered steps toward a water-filled trench. To your right is an alcove and a closed door requiring two keys (for much later).

Continue E, hop into the water and wade to the end of the trench (near the waterfall) to a sword lever on the skeleton Lara is looking at. Use it to open two doors on either side of you. Before you go in, go back along the water a short distance and find flares on the S side next to the pillar.

The Flooded Area.

Go back to the lever and turn left (S), go up the steps and enter the opened doorway (the wider area to the left is for later), just inside are several TORCHES for later. There’s also a brief attack from biting flies. Crawl past the skeleton for a screen shot of a key that you can’t reach from here. Go back, down and up the steps and enter the opened N doorway. Around the second corner is a Skeleton on the floor, pick up the small medipack from under it. Proceed past the triangular openings, wait to shoot a bat, continue into a fixed camera and Lara will drop into a flooded place.

After the flyby swim up and toward the SE corner to find a ceiling air hole. Find the closed door high up in the E wall, look straight down from there and you can see a triangular opening in the wall below, swim down and in, then up into that room to throw the underwater lever. The doors open up in the N wall of the large area, so swim out of the triangular opening and straight up for air. Swim across to the W wall and find a corresponding air hole and closed door. Down below and to the right is an opening partially obscured by vines.  Swim inside and left for SECRET #1 and a GOLDEN SKULL. Exit and swim into the opened N doors. Swim to the back wall and up, then pull out S at the waterfall. Pull up higher to your right, turn right and jump to grab the ledge N. Pull up and cautiously enter the next room.

The Spider Room and Dart.

The next room is guarded by a giant spider, which is invulnerable to pistol fire, so don’t bother trying to shoot it. If you retreat into the opening you came from, it won’t attack you but will circle the room continuously. You’re also safe in the middle of the small pond. When the coast is clear, dash across to the N side of the room into the niche and pull up left into the crawlspace crack. Crawl forward and left into a fixed camera.  Continue to the first opening on your right and lower Lara down the other side.  Turn around and pull down the wall switch to open a trap door.

Pull back out, turn right and crawl to the next opening in the corner. You see the opened trap door, but first pull down the wall switch to lower a second trap door. Pull up through the opened trap door, run forward along the S wall and drop down through the opened trap door in the SE corner. Pull down the wall switch there, pull up through the trap door and run back W. Turn right at the corner and crawl N under the low ceiling.

Near the N wall, turn right and take a running jump NE to land on a stable surface. Walk forward, stand jump E into a depression and jump SE to the next ledge. Find the opened trap door next to the niche and drop down inside to a fixed camera.  Lower Lara down the N side and drop down into a still lower area.  Push the button to kill the spider, which leaves behind the DART.

Get back down, and when you pick up the Dart you get a cut scene of an underwater opening. Exit the spider room S, drop down into the water and swim back into the flooded area. The upper E door is open, so swim in and up and surface. Pull up two times into a room with a giant hammer suspended by a rope.

The Giant Hammer and the First Ruins Key.

Climb the blocks E and jump onto the higher floor. There’s a wall switch in the NE corner, blocked by a wooden gate; use the Dart in the little pole just to the right of it and the gate opens up. Use the switch to fire the Dart and the rope will be cut, so the Hammer drops. Go back down to the ground floor and up the blocks SE, jump through the gap in the fence. Go into the opened doorway in the W wall and pick up the First Ruins Key from the floor, a camera shows the upper W door in the flooded area opening up.

Get back to the water area and swim straight to the other door (W), just inside and up right you can see some light coming through the vines from above. That’s where you can swim up a long shaft, climb out to the left (N) in the next cave. Shoot four rats (there are also two bugs you can’t shoot) and go to the back and left (NW), where you can climb the vines up to the top of the pillar, jump ahead (S) and once more, slide and jump to grab the crack in the wall over the water. Shimmy left and then pull up at the end, turn around to jump to the pillar, turn left (W) and jump to grab up to that beam in the middle of the room. Go to the slanted end (N) and grab up to the monkey climb above. Use it to get into the opening ahead, slide down into the hole and shoot three wolves. Don’t go further N into a fixed camera, but stand in the square depression in the floor and look up W to see a crawl space. Jump to it and crawl inside.

Exploding the Wall.

You’re met by a couple of baby spiders you can neither target nor shoot. When you can stand up, go left and find a hole around the corner. However, there are spike traps directly below, so don’t go there. Straight ahead W you can see a Medipack on a ledge beyond a pit, the pit has a breakable floor, so jump to the far side and pull up quick, get the Medipack and hop back into the pit, just wait and slide into the lower room. Straight ahead (E) are some Explosives on the floor, get those (screen shot of the room above) and climb the block just right (S) of the explosives (not the E ledge, that’s where the spikes are), the camera changes. Face that cage (E) and jump up to shoot the wooden beams over the cage.

Spikes will pop up (and stay up), now carefully pull up onto the spike floor and walk slowly to get to the S alcove near the cage. Only use Ctrl (no Jump) to get inside and then around and jump to grab and climb the vine ladder and climb off to the left. Loop around right, go back through the crawlspace to the cave where the wolf was and walk slowly N until you get a fixed camera. Jump forward over a nasty pit you can barely see. Go to that blue wall and place the explosives after you saved, roll and run jump back over before the wall blows up. Now you can get out and you’re back in the Main Area. Go straight across to the opposite side (N) and up the steps to grab a Torch (old bone). Take it with you and loop around right into the large N opening.

The Stables and a Torch.

Go past the clutter to the back room, drop the torch and shoot two rats. Note the wooden floor slats you need to burn, not to mention the chicken pecking at a dead bear. There’s also a torch hidden in the muck in the NE corner of this room. Pick up the torch, hop onto the bridge under which you can see a skeleton (lying on flares that I couldn’t reach), and go up to the E ledge where you see a campfire. Walk up to it carefully and light the torch. I tried unsuccessfully to cook the dead chicken that I found on the W ledge. Go back down, toss the torch onto the wooden slats and watch them burn. When the flooring breaks away, drop down and shoot two rats. Jump through the E crawl space (hold down the crouch key, then hit the jump and up arrow keys) to the room below.

The Second Ruins Key.

Run forward and pull up E to a fixed camera. Turn right and take a running jump to grab the vegetation on the ceiling. Monkey swing across the fog-covered pit to the other side and release. Turn left to break the fixed camera and push the block two times onto a ornate tile (screen shot of a closed E door) in the next room. Shoot two snakes and go to the skeleton in the shallow trench near the E wall. Pull it back onto the ornate tile for a screen shot of the same closed door.

Use the blocks near the NW corner to reach a ledge structure spanning this room. Run to the central plinth and take the Second Ruins Key to open the N and S doors.

S Door.

Go through the S doorway and drop down to the room below. Push the lowest block E once, then get up and move the higher block against the S pillar.  Use the block to reach the S wall switch (screen shot of the lower S door opening in the previous room). From the push block you can jump and grab back into the entrance, go out and straight over to the N door.

N Door.

Run off from the edge to land on a safe block below in a position where you’re safe from the darts coming from your left. When you land you trigger a sequence of squishy blocks. The red tiles will drop a block onto your head if you step on them.  All but a few, that is.  Turn right and make your way to the SE corner.  The red tile there is safe and has a GOLDEN SKULL for SECRET #2. There’s a large medipack near the middle of the E wall, but it’s directly in the line of dart fire so if you want it you’ll have to stoop to grab it safely. In the middle of the N wall is an alcove with a wall switch. The red tile in front of it is safe. Pull the switch to open the lower N door in the previous room and make your way back there. Drop to the ground floor.

Go back there and to that opened wooden gate N, inside is a push block. Move the block all the way N onto the ornate tile (third screen shot of the closed door). 

Go to the S side and move the block all the way S onto the ornate tile (screen shot of that door finally opening). Get back up to the ledge structure and go through the opened E doorway. Turn left, crawl through the opening and stand up.

The Poisoned Pit.

A flyby shows a bird dying next to a dead bear (because the air at ground level is poisonous). This room played a significant role in the earlier version of this game, but apparently not in this version. I explored it rather thoroughly, thinking that perhaps the secret I'd missed may have been in this area, but all I found was a small medipack on a W ledge.  Step down onto the lower ledge, turn right and jump to the SE the block with the spider (that you can neither target nor shoot). Jump to grab the crack in the wall and shimmy left, around the black rock to a ledge with a fixed camera. Jump N to the slanted rock and slide over the top. Jump to grab the block ahead. Pull up and use the monkey climb to get to a crawl space in the N wall. Get in, crawl to the far end and drop down into some water far below.

Swim down and find a triangular opening S, go through and pull an underwater lever. Return, pull out W and climb the blocks to an opened door in the N wall, get inside and turn left.

The First Lava Room.

Go forward a bit for a remote camera shot that shows the overhead area. In the back of the room is a closed door, to the left of it a dark block (SW). Pull up onto the block and jump up into the niche in the S wall. Go up to the W wall for another fixed camera, jump N to grab the sloped roof, pull up and back flip into a higher opening in the S wall. Take a running jump N onto the roof, then another running jump onto the SE pillar. Jump NE to grab the hanging vine. Instead of jumping immediately to the next vine, jump to the pillar against the N wall and pull up into the opening for a GOLDEN SKULL and SECRET #3.

Drop back to the previous pillar and jump SE to grab the second vine.  If you need flares, you can turn right and swing to jump into the opening in the S wall. Otherwise, turn slightly left and swing to jump onto the E ledge with the wall switch. Pull it down for a screen shot of the W door opening below. Jump to the nearby SW slope, slide and grab, drop and slide safely to the central walkway. Cross the lava room and go through the opened W doorway to face another lava room.

The Next Lava Room.

Jump to the lower ledge in the lava to the right (NW) and go from there to the block at the N wall, the trigger tile will extinguish the flames in the crack. So now you can shimmy along the crack. Once hanging from the pillar, go just around the corner (where the camera changes) so you can drop, slide and back flip onto the corner of the central block with the burner. Turn around and spot a block that is lying on its side along the opposite wall (S); stand jump from the SW corner of this block to the slanted block SW and slide/jump up to the fallen block.

Don’t take the W route yet. Instead, turn E and jump to the trigger tile to extinguish the flames coming out of the crack in the S wall. Grab the crack and shimmy left until you can pull up into an alcove.  Pull down the wall switch to raise a block elsewhere.  Use the wall crack to get back to the trigger tile, and this time take the W route from the fallen block. Jump to the slanted block, slide and jump to grab the crack in the column, shimmy around to the other side where you get a fixed camera. Drop, back flip onto a ledge and turn to see the block you raised. Get up on it and push the button to open a wooden gate right below you.

However, you can’t get to it because of the raised block, so you have to go back the way you came, push the wall switch back up to lower the block, then return once again. When you’ve done this, go in where the block lowered. Hop the triangular rocks in the lava, shoot the S wall covering and enter the passage. Follow through, pause for a small medipack and step out onto a bridge spanning a new and much larger lava room.   

The Huge Fiery Room.

Go to the S end of the bridge in front of some huge skeletal remains, look left and jump over to the E opening for a GOLDEN SKULL and SECRET #4. Jump back to the bridge and return toward the N end. Turn slightly right near the entrance and jump to grab the block. Pull up in the corner, turn right and take a tricky jump in cramped quarters to grab the block against the E wall. Pull up and hop SE onto the E ledge.  Pull up S onto a higher ledge and make your way W along a stone bridge.  At the end jump NW (watch the low ceiling) down to a ledge against the W wall.

Jump up to grab the crack in the wall and shimmy left and around the corner. Drop down to a ledge, reverse roll and hop SE to a large alcove. Climb down through the hole in the floor and pull the wall switch (cut scene of a closed ceiling trap door).  Climb back out, using the vine ladder, and jump NE onto the ledge with the skeletal remains. Take a running jump SE into the wall niche and locate the ground hole.

Safety drop down and pull down the wall switch for a screen shot showing that trap door opening. Reverse roll, walk forward into a fixed camera and turn left to pull up onto a block. Walk to the NW corner, facing NW, and take a leap of faith down to a yellow ledge in the lava where you’ll suffer some health loss. Jump N to the low wall, then hop along the lower ledges in the lava to the N wall, shoot the cracked wall panel and hop in there for a GOLDEN SKULL and SECRET #5.

Use the flat ledges W to get back to the low wall and from there make your way back to the yellow ledge you came from. Take a running jump (low ceiling) to the next ledge. Stand jump up to the next ledge, pull up through the opened trap door and find yourself back in the Main Area.

Go across to the S side into that alcove you investigated when you began this level. Use the two Ruins Keys to open the double doors.  Step inside for a concluding flyby where the builder shares a special flycheat code, then the level ends unceremoniously.

Revised by Phil - 14-02-2018