HEATH ROBINSON SOLUTIONS

A CUSTOM LEVEL CREATED BY RICHARD LAWTHER

AUTHORIZED WALKTHROUGH WRITTEN BY SELENE

Heath Robinson Solutions:

William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) was a London-born cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his drawings of odd contraptions. The children’s books The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902) and Bill the Minder (1912)- both written and illustrated by him- were considered to mark the starting point of his career as someone drawing peculiar machines.

Appendix A:

This is for those of you who wish to give the Expert’s Challenge a go. Appendix A simply describes how to complete the challenge and claim the Expert’s Platinum Medal. Appendix A is added as a way of emphasizing that this task is completely voluntary. Skipping the challenge will not in any way affect the progress of the level.

Pickups: Flares, Manna from Hexham, Manna from Heaven, Gold Key, Demon Dollar, crowbar, Tantalum Key, Rancid Meat, Copper Key, Blue Diamond, Green Triangle, Red Square, Yellow Star, Thinking Cap + 1 Secret (the Expert’s Platinum Medal)

Enemies: None

Main Objective: Obtaining the four underworld shapes that will open the gate to the Millinery store, in which you will find a thinking cap for Demon Smalls.

A year or so later we find Lara back in the familiar surroundings of the Demon Heights museum. This place is quite large, so for further reference we will be calling this hall Art Gallery 1 (for lack of a better name). Turn around (S) and just before the stairs leading down have a quick peek into the right corridor. What you’ll find here is the Millinery. With a bit of luck we’ll find just what Demon Smalls needs there. Four shapes are missing from the receptacles flanking the closed gate and these are exactly what we need in order to gain access to this unique little store.

The area beyond the portcullis at the end of the corridor is “closed for refurbishment”, so until we find the required underworld shapes there’s no reason for further exploration in this area. Opposite of the Millinery corridor there are some stairs leading down to another room which is also closed off.

Hop across the barrier and go down into the dark room where Demon Smalls is pondering on what to do with this latest invention. He won’t be of any help to you, so just climb onto the wooden crate where he stands (the crate is labelled “W. Heath Robinson Equipment”). Face the pillar in the dark corner S/W and do a standing jump up there to gather some flares. You’ve done all that needs to be done here for now, so return back up the stairs to Art Gallery 1.

Go to the far N end and at the junction turn right (Art Gallery 2 is located to the left, but we’ll get back to that later). Head up the stairs and you’ll come to a room with an inactive water pump and a couple of tourists enjoying the sights and marvels of the museum. First of all go behind the block to the left (the one with the connecting pipes) and pick up the Manna from Hexham (these are the equivalent of small medipacks). In this room there’s nothing else to do right here and now, so run up the next flight of stairs.

On top you’ll reach a new junction. Off to the left you’ll see an open doorway and before that some platforms suspended by thin poles with multi-coloured shapes swirling around them. We have some other business to attend to, so for now we’ll just ignore that and come back here later on.

Turn right and enter the first room on the right-hand side. Here you’ll encounter a demon immersed in an intensive study of “Demon Today”. Seems he’s got quite a bit of time on his hands and quite frankly there’s nothing really for you to do in this room either. I just wanted you to take a mental note of it. Leave and continue right; straight ahead you’ll see a closed portcullis.

Go up the stairs to the left and continue all the way to the top, from there head out through the only possible exit. You’ll eventually come out on a ledge. Left and down is the hallway you came from (the far end of it that you haven’t explored yet), there’s another ledge running along the opposite wall and through the window on your right you’ll barely get a glimpse of the Floating Platforms Chamber (which I briefly mentioned earlier).

Run to the far end of the ledge. The ghoul painting is transparent and apparently there’s a passage beyond it. Let that be the hint you need and hop through the painting. Continue along said passage, which ends abruptly with a hole in the ground and a chain running through it. Run into the hole, press Action to grab the chain and slide down into the Weight Watchers Chamber.

Just so that I have said it already: this is NOT a spa, so don’t feel tempted to hop into any of the lava-filled trenches running along the walls. That’s not something you’d walk out of alive, so consider yourself duly warned.

Now that we’re here, let’s try to keep the required backtracking to a minimum and have a look at the demon perched upon the pedestal. The poor thing: having 16 tonnes stuck to his head seems to be weighing him down a bit. Also there’s the matter of that diamond receptacle on the left-hand wall. It’s hardly a coincidence that the demon is holding sticks with diamonds attached to the ends, but how can we make him budge with that heavy weight on top of his head?

Stand directly in front of the demon, draw guns and fire to shatter the weight. By this action the tile underneath the demon pedestal rises and you’re free to push it up against the receptacle on the wall, fitting the diamond perfectly into the empty shape.

Turn around and go through the now open portcullis, down the stairs towards the lava pool. Hop onto the window sill right, go to the end and grab the Gold Key and Manna from Hexham from the pedestals. Return to the Weight Watchers Chamber the same way you came.

We’re not done here quite yet. As you might have noticed there are two chains in the room: the one where you came down and another one leading up through a second hole. Climb the latter, backflip to the floor above and follow the winding passage to a small room. The only other doorway leads to what appears to be a dead end. So what exactly are we doing here again?

Look at the two statues by the W wall. What they have in common is that they’re both lifting a bowl over their heads. The difference is that a fire is burning cheerily in the bowl held by the right statue, but not in the other one. How does one light a fire without a flame?

The statue with the burning bowl is standing on top of an ornate tile. Do you see any similar tiles nearby? Good. It’s located in the corner just left of the statue with the unlit bowl. Now all you need to do is to move that statue onto the ornate tile.

Once you’ve solved that one you’ll hear a trapdoor opening somewhere in a nearby location. Head out through the nearby exit and do remember to turn left just as you pass the doorway: there are some flares for you to pick up on top of the stairs (very easy to forget about those). That done head down the stairs and at the end you’ll find an open trapdoor (this is indeed the one that you just opened, so not a dead end at all then).

Stand at the edge and look down to spot a jump switch. Position Lara directly across from the switch, hop back and run into the hole while pressing Action. This should cause her to grab the switch on her way down and a painting lowers to reveal a secret alcove to the right. Climb into the alcove and grab the Demon Dollar.

You’re now standing in Art Gallery 2 and just off to the S/E you might be able to catch a glimpse of Art Gallery 1 (so you’re not that far away from the starting point). That’s in fact the exact direction we’re headed now. Do not enter Art Gallery 1 though, just pass by it and head directly for the stairs in the corner that will lead you back to the room with the water pump.

Place the dollar you found a little while ago in the slot underneath the Anubis death mask hanging on the opposite wall. This will get the water pump going. As you will also see from the cutscene the unemployed demon from earlier goes back to work, ultimately leading to the rising of a nearby portcullis.

Time to see if we can find said portcullis. Head up the stairs in the corner, go right again on the next floor and pass by the room with the demon you just saw in the previous cutscene. At the far end (in the small room with the stairs leading up) you’ll find the portcullis. Go through there and of course the portcullis closes again as you pass by, leaving you with no other options than that of going forwards.

Forwards in this case means towards a large pool filled with scorching lava. The metal bars going across to the other side does help a lot though, with qualities resembling that of your average zip-line. Put simply: stand at the edge of the lava pool facing the other side, press Action and off you go. It doesn’t matter which pair you use and they also work both back and forth. In addition you can use them as many times as you like, but frankly it’s only necessary to do so this once.

Cross through the transparent ghoul painting in the top right corner and follow the dark passage to the next room. The gate closes behind her (this is becoming quite a habit by now), meaning that there better be a way of opening that gate you see in the far left end of the room. Pick up the flares and the crowbar from the pedestals to the right.

Now focus your attention on the demon on the pedestal. He holds one diamond stick in each hand, but the receptacle seems to be located on the wrong wall and you can’t turn him around either. What to do?

The crowbar is the solution. Use it to pry the Gem Holder off the wall (yes, this is actually possible) and pick it up. Bring it with you to the light grey section of the S wall and insert it there (stand in front of the wall and press Action twice). Now you can push the demon on the pedestal up against the wall so that diamond fits into the empty slot.

The gate in the corner opens and Bob is your uncle. At the end of the dark passage you’ll find yourself standing behind another one of those transparent, ghoulish works of art and you’re overlooking the room with the water pump.

There’s a similar passage on the wall to your left, just at the same height as well. A coincidence? I think not. To reach it you have to do a carefully left-angled running jump, just barely tapping Action to land gracefully inside the alcove. There’s nothing here but a lever, which happens to lower a painting over at the opposite wall, revealing a gorgeous blue diamond.

What a tease- there’s absolutely nothing you can do to reach that tempting diamond from where you stand. Well, unless you have found a magical spell that can make her fly. Anyways, you’ll have no choice but to go about it the hard way. Drop down to the floor and head up the stairs like so many times before.

Still faithfully ignoring the left section, head right and keep going upstairs to the top (you’ll notice that the portcullis at the end is open again, but this doesn’t matter as there’s no need to go through there a second time). Eventually you’ll reach the twin ledges above the first floor.

This time around jump across to the other ledge and go left, in the corner you’ll find another dark passage. Follow it to the end and near the bottom of the stairs you barely spot the alcove with the transparent ghoul where you were earlier. You now find Lara at the edge of another opening overlooking the water pump room, seeing it from the opposite side this time.

Turn left and carefully do a standing jump to the ledge you see, landing her just next to the column. About halfway down the ledge there’s a jump switch on the wall, you might have seen this already (it was barely shown in the water pump cutscene, among other things). Pulling it down lowers a second painting in Art Gallery 2, which we’ll get back to in due time.

Right now we have far more important things to do, such as claiming that beautiful blue diamond. Walk to the end of the ledge and, standing directly next to the elevated tile with the column, do a so-called semi-banana jump (i.e. a long running jump with a sharp angle, in this case to the left). If all goes well she should land just inside the open alcove. Great job! You’re now free to claim your prize: the Blue Diamond (which naturally happens to be the first out of the four underworld shapes you’re looking for).

Drop down to the floor and we’re done with all the business that needs doing in (and in regards to) the water pump room. You’ll still need to go upstairs again though. I did tell you that you were done with the water pump business and I meant every word of it: you’re also officially done with the right wing of the first floor. What this basically means is that this time around you’re going left.

On the right-hand side you’ll find the Floating Platforms Chamber (creatively named after the four semi-floating platforms taking up most of the space in this room). There are two keyholes on the wall to the right: one blue and one yellow. We already have one key, but so far no luck on the other one.

Notice the sloped floor leading down to the platforms. Everything has a reason and this is no exception. Line Lara up across from one of the platforms (doesn’t matter which one), standing at the highest point of the floor (just where it starts going downwards). Do a running jump towards the nearest platform, pressing Action in the very last moment to grab the edge of it.

Pull up and hop across to the next platform. Walk to the edge and from there on a simple standing jump should be enough to land her on the N ledge. Go through the crawlspace, finding a pedestal holding the Tantalum Key on the other side. Return outside, drop down to the floor and make good use of your two keys. The painting high up on the wall lowers, revealing a secret alcove with a very useful pickup resting safely on a pedestal.

We need to get up to that alcove and the first step on the road is going back up to the floating platforms. Same procedure as last time. However, instead of making your way over to the ledge with the crawlspace turn around and standjump with a grab to reach the nearby window sill.

This requires another semi-banana jump, not quite as difficult as the last time though. Position Lara as close to the open alcove as possible and do a long running jump with a sharp right angle (and a slight tap of Action). Once there you can retrieve the second underworld shape: the Green Triangle.

Stand at the edge and look down onto the floating platforms. Position Lara across from one of them, walk backwards twice and do a standing leap into thin air. With some fortune and good skills put to use she’ll land just onto a platform. From there you can safely drop down to the floor, not a slice of health lost.

Turn N/W and head through the doorway to the next room. In here you’ll find a spectre swirling between two mirrors. The room itself doesn’t hold anything of greater interest so just continue through the next doorway. Turn right and go to the wall with the ghoul painting, passing a closed portcullis on your right-hand side.

When you reach the wall you’ll find not just one, but two paintings. Look at the hands of the ghouls in the paintings- don’t they just seem to form around something? Well, I thought so and if you turn to look at the pillar opposite of the two paintings you’ll find a jump switch. Pull it to hear the sound of a portcullis rising very close to where you stand- you’re free to explore the next area.

Of course the portcullis slams down behind Lara the moment she enters the room, so there’s no way but forwards from here on. The portcullis behind you won’t rise again until you’re done with a couple of trials, so we’ll focus on gaining access to the area beyond the portcullis across the room.

As you might have figured out already the demon pedestals and diamonds have everything to do with it. For each demon you have two receptacles, but only one of those two receptacles can be used and your task is to find the right one. Get it right and the portcullis across the room will rise. One single mistake and Lara won’t make it out of this room alive.

NOTE: Before getting started, remember that you must not under any circumstance save the game halfway through the puzzle. This is also mentioned in the readme file added to the level folder.

Flanking the portcullis you have two blue faces. Look at their eyes. Now have a close look at the demons, or rather: their eyes. They’re all looking towards either the left or the right wall. The best way of seeing where each demon is looking is to view them in profile (i.e. from the side). Push the pedestal up against the wall that the belonging demon is looking at. The pattern is as follows (when standing at the back of the room looking towards the portcullis with the blue faces):

1- left

2- right

3- right

4- left

Head through the open portcullis and all you’re left facing is a lava pool running around the corner. The chequered tiles in the pool are of the kind that will sink around half a second after you step onto them, so apparently you’ll need to move quickly. To add a bit of comfort I can say that it’s not all that difficult, once you know where to start off and what tiles to use.

Position Lara approximately as shown in the screenshot below:

Sideflip right with a slight left angle and immediately standjump to the next tile. From there run straight ahead and jump to tile # 3. Upon landing run with a sharp left angle to the edge and jump to the fourth tile (which is right at the corner).

From the corner tile hop to the tile diagonally across from you, making sure to steer Lara a bit left in mid-air Quickly veer left, go to the edge and leap with a quick tap of Ctrl into the alcove in the wall ahead. Congratulations, you made it!

Of course you have to get back as well, but that’s a different story. First of all grab the Rancid Meat from the pedestal and a camera shot shows a portcullis rising in a familiar location.

Now for the getting back part. Stand approximately in the position shown in THIS SCREENSHOT:

Standjump to tile # 7 (the last one you hit before jumping into the alcove earlier) and immediately standjump to the tile just at the corner. Ideally you need to land approximately a step away from the leftmost corner, which will most easily allow you to do a standing jump to the next tile.

The moment Lara lands run with a very sharp right angle and jump at the end to land at the fourth tile. A running jump is too long to reach the second-to-last tile, so a standing jump will do. Finally runjump to the last tile and immediately sideflip right to land on safe grounds. Phew!

Save your game and head back out to the room with the demons and diamonds. There’s that portcullis you saw rising earlier, you’re officially free to go.

Head back up the stairs on the left, through the room with the spectre, to the Floating Platforms Chamber. Go right and up the sloped floor, turn right again and you’ll see a doorway. That’s where we’re going next, so head down the stairs and follow the whitish ramp to the room at the bottom.

In this room there’s a white demon and a red one, the latter has a hook attached to his forehead and stands on what appears to be a treadmill of sorts. Stand in front of him and stick the rancid meat onto the hook. Apparently starved the red demon starts running in a futile attempt of reaching the meat and a painting lowers in a different room, revealing an alcove with a tempting red glow to it.

That’s in a room we haven’t visited yet, but we’ll get back to that a little later. There’s still one more thing that needs to be done first. Go up the stairs S/W and you’re back in Art Gallery 2. Turn right and you’ll find the two hidden alcoves revealed by some jump switches you pulled earlier. The rightmost alcove contained (as you surely remember) the Demon Dollar that you found before, but the left alcove still remains unexplored. Up until now that is.

About halfway down the passage look up to see some alcoves high on the wall. You can’t reach these yet, so just be patient and keep going forwards. Soon enough a fly-by camera is triggered, giving you a good view of a large hall with more of those sinkable chequered tiles littered around a lava pool. And just when you thought you were done with the hard stuff…..

Actually it’s not really as difficult as it looks. It just takes a lot of patience and a bit of precision, toppled with a dash of good timing. First things first: there are three tiles you need to focus on right now. Two of them are in plain view, the third one around the far left corner.

Walk to the edge, save the game and do a standing jump to land on the first tile. Keep running, jump and roll in mid-air to land Lara on the second tile facing the passage she came from. Immediately sideflip right to the final tile and once there keep jumping straight up and down while pressing Action. This way the tile won’t sink and she should eventually grab a ladder up on the wall above.

Climb around two corners to the right and go all the way to the top. Backflip to land on another tile- only that this time the tile won’t sink. Quite the contrary in fact: it rises, enabling Lara to turn around and do a long running jump into a passage in the wall.

To her immediate right there is a button and a sign on the wall saying “Expert’s Challenge Only”, with an arrow pointing back towards the lava hall. It will take you to the only secret this level has to offer, but beware: it’s not called an Expert’s Challenge for nothing. This is by far the hardest task in the game (way worse than the arduous task of retrieving the rancid meat) and not for the faint of heart. Consider yourself duly warned.

For a full description on how to complete the Expert’s Challenge refer to Appendix A at the bottom of this walkthrough and return to this part once you’re done. The rest of the level follows below.

Follow the passage around, hop across the gap with the chain and claim the Copper Key from the pedestal. Climb the chain down to the ground and look around. Remember the high alcoves I told you to notice upon entering the lava hall? Well, now you’ve just been up there and you’re once more back in the passage behind the lowered painting in Art Gallery 2.

From Art Gallery 2 go N/W and follow the passage to a room with some paintings on the right wall and a mirror suspended by a pole. We’ll be back here in a little bit, so just leave the room and continue W. In the next room you’ll find something called “Demonica Divinorum Rays”, bound to “induce hypnosis in the feeble-minded” (evidently so).

Continue to the next room which contains a power generator of sorts. First of all head into the alcove in the right wall to retrieve the Red Square. Only one underworld shape to go. The power generator seems sadly inactive, so go over to the N wall to find a button. You can’t access the button due to the glass case surrounding it, but you do have a key in your inventory. Use that in the keyhole and voila: button available for use.

Pressing the button gets that generator going and somewhere in a different room a ray of light is reflected off the mirror to hit a demon’s eye in one of the paintings. A second painting lowers to reveal the final underworld shape.

Go back past the hypnotized demon and through the doorway across the room. From the hallway outside head left and left again to reach the room you saw in the previous cutscene. Climb into the centre alcove of the right wall and collect the Yellow Star.

Drop down to the floor and have a look at the paintings again. Doesn’t that painting at the bottom look oddly familiar? Press the button at the back of the torchlight right of the painting, a third ray of light shoots out and you can pick up the Manna from Heaven from the pedestal that was hidden behind the bottom painting.

That’s about all we need to do here and now we have the four underworld shapes as well. Leave the room, head S and go back to Art Gallery 2. Continue S to the far wall, go left and enter Art Gallery 1. Keep heading S and turn right into the Millinery corridor. At long last you’re ready to place the underworld shapes in their rightful places, gaining you entrance to the Millinery.

Head down the passage and just past the ghoul painting a load screen pops up. Enter the next room and spend some time marvelling at the beauty of the Millinery itself and all the amusing items displayed in it (I just love those little demons cleaning the floor).

Go to the far right side and through the open doorway. Head around the wall ahead (doesn’t matter on which side) and pick up the Thinking Cap from the pedestal. We’re not quite done yet though, so return the way you came and have a last look at the Millinery before leaving (halfway down the hall and through the doorway on the left-hand side).

Head through the hallway and you’re back where you started. Go straight ahead and down the stairs to the construction site where Demon Smalls is waiting. Stand behind him, go to the inventory and select the Thinking Cap. Press Enter and Lara hands the cap to him. You have successfully completed the mission, so feel free to sit back and enjoy the final cutscene.

APPENDIX A- THE EXPERT’S CHALLENGE

If you choose to go through with the challenge, do so at your own risk. Push the button and a glass door opens out in the lava hall. Do a running jump back to the tile you came from and look around the right corner to find the door you just opened.

First of all position Lara something remotely like THIS:

Do a running jump with a sharp right angle to land on the first gilded slope, just past the door you opened.

If Lara lands on the slope facing upwards: simply backflip twice to bounce across the second slope and land on the third one. Jump forwards from the third slope, angling her to the right and pressing Action so that she’ll grab the ladder on the wall.

If, on the other hand, she lands on the first slope facing down towards the lava: jump to the second slope and then towards the third, but roll in mid-air before landing on the third slope. From here jump with a right angle towards the ladder as described above.

Position Lara as far to the left as possible and three climbs down from the top of the ladder. Backflip to land on a fourth slope (you have to land on the slope facing downwards), jump to a chequered tile, then to the next one and jump with a sharp angle to land Lara on yet another slope. Follow up with another jump to a slope and with a left angle to the very last one. From there backflip to a safe ledge.

You’re all but done yet, but now the prize is within reach: the medal you’re looking for is located on a pedestal to the far right. Do a running jump to the white platform near the left wall and you’re ready for the real challenge.

Reaching that pedestal at the far end of the room looks so easy and yet: if there’s any word that can be used to describe the challenge that lies before you, “easy” would not even come close to being one of them. If you’re getting cold feet you can climb out of this through the passage in the left wall. If not: well, all the best of luck.

Precision is the key here, which explains why it’s so difficult. It’s often a matter of luck as much as skill.

The first and easiest part is to do a standing jump to the first chequered tile and then a running jump to the second. Be careful to avoid the burner on your left-hand side. Sideflip left to the third chequered tile. Now the going really gets tough: you need to reach the slope to your left, but there’s a burner in front of it. You might have to apply a few of those jumping-straight-up-and-down-moves while waiting for the burner to stop before sideflipping left to the slope.

Again there’s a difference between landing face-down and face-up. If you land facing upwards you simply need to backflip to land on the chequered tile you just came from. If you land facing downwards you’ll have to jump and then apply a mid-air roll to land facing the slope you just bounced off.

You need to backflip again to land on chequered tile # 2, this so that you’ll be able to jump back to tile # 3 with enough room to do a running jump to tile # 4. Unfortunately there’s a burner in front of the latter as well, so this requires quite a bit of timing and truckloads of luck.

Once you’ve reached tile # 4 swerve right and jump to the final slope. Jump forwards again and Lara should have landed safely on the platform with the pedestal. If you’ve reached this point you can give yourself a huge pat on the back, save your game and pick up the Expert’s Platinum Medal.

Ok, you have successfully completed the challenge and claimed the prize. Now what? Well, for starters you have to get back to the white platform the same way you came. The comfort is that it’s not nearly as difficult as what you’ve just been through. The two burners that gave you such a hard time before have both been deactivated.

Stand on the left side of the pedestal facing the last slope you jumped from. Do a running jump to the chequered tile in the corner, veer left and jump to the slope behind the inactive burner. Jump to land on the next chequered tile, hop to the third one (angling Lara slightly

right in mid-air) and do a running jump to the last chequered tile. Immediately standjump to the safe platform.

You have officially completed the Expert’s Challenge. Climb up into the passage in the wall ahead, head up the long flight of stairs and once you reach the top, drop down into the passage below. At this point you should find Lara back by the button that enabled you to access the Expert’s Challenge. From here on you can just return to the part of the walkthrough where you left off for the challenge and continue from there.