Palace Dionysus

Back to Basics 2010

Level by Chronicles5

Walkthrough by Chronicles5

Welcome to the Old City of Venice. Lara has been relaxing in her hotel room, but now is the time for her adventure to begin. Pick up the Flares and Small Medipack if you wish. Once you exit the hotel room, you can choose one of three paths. They can be played in any order, but because of the Element Puzzle/Save bug, this method works best:

Path of Wine:

Take a left after swimming through the first alleyway. About halfway down the second alley, there is a platform you can climb up on, and some double doors to open. Inside, find a Large Medipack and Secret #1. This secret is not finished until you find a key card much later in the level.

Jump back in the water and continue going left, pulling up into a grassy area with a set of Bartoli doors. Note the door on the left and two doors on the right. Walk toward the right set of doors - to be ambushed by two of Bartoli's men! Deal with them and take the Glock and Ammo from the table as your reward.

Jump on the boxes to the far end of the room and drop into the hole in the corner to find a switch that grants access to a secret, beyond the left door outside. This is a timed run, and a quick one, so you'll need to move fast. After pulling the Switch, immediately pull up onto the crates to your left, run along them and jump over the table. Line up your run and sprint through the door just in time. Push the Button to open both sets of doors, and enter the small courtyard for a Grenade Launcher, Grenades (Regular and Super), a Large Medipack and some more Glock ammo.

Exit this area back into the warehouse area. Climb up the left or middle window and shoot out the glass. Jump across to an old apartment. Look on the table to find the Lasersight. Outside the Library, you'll need to equip the Glock and Lasersight to shoot the bell above the Library. This will trigger a cutscene and open the doors.

Venture inside the Library and take out two rats. In the far left corner of the room there is a Jump Switch which opens the back room. One of Bartoli's men is waiting for you. Take his Theatre Key, and if you wish, go for another secret. The far right corner of the room has a pile of boxes, on the top of which you can find a Crowbar. Crawl onto the boxes to pick it up, and use it on the secret door behind the boxes on the other side of the room. Enter for Secret #3, a Large Medipack, an Uzi, and some Uzi Ammo. The Uzi and Ammo are by the window, and the Large Medipack is on top of the shelves.

Exit the Library and head left toward a beige and purple looking building. This is the abandoned Theatre. Use your key to enter, and note the boxes to your left. Behind the boxes and near the window you can find a Small Medipack and some Glock Ammo. Climb up the boxes and jump to the nearest chandelier. In the alcove is a timed wall Switch that opens a door on the far end of the theater to the backstage area. Pull the Switch and run to the middle of the chandelier. Use only standing jumps until the last chandelier, then run and jump through the door.

Once Backstage, note the pile of boxes to the back left. There is a Large Medipack hidden within if you choose to go for it. Otherwise, use the Lever switch along the back wall to raise a platform. Jump across and move the Lyre onto the platform, and use the Lever again to lower it. Move the Lyre in front of the red curtain, and use the Chain to raise the curtain. Then move the Lyre onto the stage, in the center of the spotlight. A melody plays, opening a secret Trapdoor. Pick up the Wine down there and avoid the rats. Exit the Theatre the way you came and head back toward the beginning of the level to start on a new path.

Path of Water and Earth:

Back at the first alleyway where the level began, take a right and notice a crack in the left wall underwater. Swim through this opening to pull an Underwater Switch. It opens a door very close by. Swim back out and notice the fenced area and the door you just opened. Swim inside, and head to the left to avoid a Rolling Ball. Head to the back of this room, treading carefully to avoid Steam Emitters. Find the Waterskin in the back left corner, and take this opportunity to fill it in the shallow water. Exit this room and take a right, then a left, to enter the Boathouse.

The Boathouse is the room with arched ceilings, gondolas and speedboats. Pull up on the right side of the room and take out your guns. A dog will ambush you from the grassy courtyard. When you've finished with him, enter the courtyard and pull the switch in the middle of the room. This activates both a Trapdoor and a set of Blades. It also activates a Secret. Head to the Northwest corner of this room and pull out a flare to locate Secret #4, which is another Courtyard room complete with an M16, Normal and Explosive Ammo, and a Large Medipack. Then head back to where you pulled the Switch, and jump over the Blade to the right. It's easier not to nick yourself on this one. Turn around and climb up the ladder to an upper courtyard.

Pick up the Large Medipack to your left and enter the Library. Two Cult Members will attack from either side in here. Perhaps it's time to whip out that new M16? Pick up the Uzi one of them drops, and climb the bookshelves. Head to the South wall and note a pack of flares on top of one of the bookshelves. Then climb up onto the far chandelier, and make a running jump to a Jump Switch on the South wall. A door opens directly in front of you, to grant you access to the Atrium.

Walk across the Bridge connecting these two buildings and enter the Atrium. By the windows on the far wall there is a Small Medipack, should you need it. Below you are the three Element Puzzles. Walk down the stairs and head South to another open door below. Walk across to enter the Cemetery.

Upon entering the Cemetery, take notice of the aerial view you're given. Two lit-up spots on the ground determine where the cross statues need to be moved. Note another cross statue at the far South wall. The crosses are in alcoves to Lara's left and right. Move them to the center of the fenced area, moving the first one block South toward the other cross, and the second one North toward the atrium. You've made a cross-like motion with the two statues, and so a block raises in the water along the South wall. Now you can move the last cross onto the block, and obtain the Bag of Earth that was hiding underneath. Head back to the start of the level to start another path.

Path of Fire:

Back at the beginning of the level, go straight instead of left and pull up into a grassy courtyard. Be wary of a shooter in an upper right apartment, and a dog in the second courtyard area. Climb up to the apartment with the shooter, dispose of him, and take his Shotgun. Pull the Switch on the wall to see a door open outside the Boathouse. If you'd like, there's Shotgun Ammo and a Large Medipack in other apartments in this area. Cross the first courtyard to the left apartment and pull up for the Shotgun Ammo. Go down the hallway and out the far window across to another apartment, and pull up onto the crate for the Medipack.

Head for the Boathouse area, where you saw the underwater door open. Facing the beginning of the level, this area is now to your left, in the far corner. When you reach the corner, swim to the right and inside the open door. Pull up into a small alleyway with a ladder, and catch a glimpse of a Baddy keeping guard up above. Climb the ladder to the top, and if you like shimmy to the right a bit to gain an edge on your enemy. Take care of the Baddy and pull the Switch. A set of doors open below you. Don't miss the Small Medipack in the far corner of the balcony. Climb back down to the lower level and enter through the doors you just opened.

There's Shotgun Ammo on one of the crates and on the table in the hallway. Watch out for the Rat coming your way. Walk around the hallway and up the stairs into the Library. Climb the ladder and turn around to face a Jump Switch on the far wall. Run and jump to the switch, opening the painting above and activating a blade trap. Climb back up the ladder and walk around the corner. This is a tricky jump. You can't jump directly into the door, so instead angle yourself to reach the wall to the left (all the bookshelves are climbable) and make a running jump to grab the wall. Climb across to be underneath the painting, and make sure Lara is hanging by her hands so you can pull up into a crawl. Crawl under the blade and pick up Bartoli's Stronghold Key.

The camera shows a view of where to go next. This is the house just beyond the courtyard with the dog, right in the heart of the map. Exit this house the way you came in, making sure to crawl underneath the blade. Jump back in the water and if you please, treat yourself to some Uzi Ammo on the ledge to the right. It's just underneath the Library window. Then take a right and swim down the canal until you reach Bartoli's Stronghold. Use your key to enter.

This is a dark and gloomy room filled with TNT boxes. There are flares to your right and a Large Medipack in the far left corner, behind some boxes. Light a flare and climb up the tower of crates to the left, to notice a trapdoor in the ceiling. Stand facing the wall, on the back edge of the crate, jump and pull down the trapdoor. Then turn to the right and pull up onto the ledge. Now we're on the roof. Pull the switch and see a trapdoor open underwater.

Dive into the water and swim to the left, heading underneath the front door of the Stronghold to find the trapdoor. Swim down and back up through another hole. Watch out for the open flame, and pull up when it goes out for a few seconds. Then pull the Valve Switch and watch the cutscene. On your way out of this room, pick up a Small Medipack in the wastebin to your left. Swim back through the trapdoor and pull up outside the Stronghold, now in ruins.

A cutscene reveals the location of the Torch (up on a pillar) and the hole in the ground caused by the explosion. Swim into the hole and down to the end to find Bartoli's Heart.

When you exit, you can go for the Torch which is above where the Fireplace used to be. Climb up on the small block to the right of the Fireplace, and up to the next block to the left. Jump across to the next pillar to find the Torch. There are two flames that can be used to light it, one on either side of the house, facing the Theatre and Atrium respectively.

If you've already opened the Atrium and obtained the other Elements for the Element Puzzle (meaning you chose this path last), go ahead and light the Torch and jump across the Southeast corner toward the orange building, turning right to pass in front of the gates of Palace Dionysus, and then making a Northwest jump across toward the Cemetery/Atrium area. Use the Bag of Earth, Wine, and Waterskin, then light the torch to the Wine to open the door.

Path of Dionysus:

With the Atrium door wide open, enter and be ambushed by two Cult members. This is a great time for the Grenade Gun. One of them drops a Small Medipack. Pick up the Palace Keys on the central Dais, and get a view of your next destination. Head out of this room and exit the Atrium toward the Cemetery. Then jump across to one of the two Halls in front of the Palace. Use your Palace Keys to open the Blue Hall. Pull the Switch and make running jumps to clear the spikes, and make it inside the door before it closes. Pick up the Mask Piece and exit the way you came in, now chased by a Blue Wraith! Dive into the water to extinguish him, and pull up out of the water. If you like, there's M16 ammo at the far end of the alleyway between the Blue Hall and the Cemetery, right in front of a fenced area.

Head back to the front of the Palace, to the Red Hall. To the left of this Hall there is a Large Medipack in front of a shadowy area. Pick up the Medipack and be ambushed by a Dog. Take care of the Dog and open up the Red Hall. Save here. Pull the Switch and immediately back up and turn for a running jump across the first two holes to avoid Flames which spew from the ground. If you don't make it, reload your savegame, as the Flames come out more quickly after the first time. Once you make it across the first two Flames, back up and prepare for a running jump across the third when it goes out. The door closes soon after, so be quick. Pick up the second Mask Piece, and run out to the water to extinguish the Red Wraith.

Pull up in front of the Palace Gates, and combine the two Mask Pieces to form the Mask of Dionysus. Place it on the tier to the right and the gates will open. Cross this grassy courtyard and enter the Palace. A Cult Member sees you coming and closes the doors. Pick up a Large Medipack to your immediate right in an alcove if you wish, then dispose of him. If you'd like, pick up his Secret Movie Card. This can be used in the first Secret room for a special cutscene, way back at the beginning of the level.

Note the two Chains in the center of the room, with a chandelier in between. Pull the left Chain first, and see a view of a block rising in the far room, and a Jump Switch on a pillar. You won't have long to make it in there. Immediately run and jump onto the chandelier, making a twist jump to land right in front of the second Chain. Pull it and the doors will reopen for a short time. Turn and run through them to enter the back room. Keep running and turn up the stairs (either way is fine) and at the very top, turn, run, jump and grab to reach the block. Run to the edge of the block, back up, and make another running jump (has to be lined up perfectly) to reach the Jump Switch, opening the main doors. Climb up the stairs to enter this large area.

If you want Secret #5, walk to the far side of the room by the windows, and pick up the Garden Key. This can be used downstairs to open a Secret area. Secret #5 includes another M16, M16 Ammo, and a Large Medipack. Once this is done, go back upstairs and place Bartoli's Heart in the receptacle.

Legend has it that above a bath of wine, Dionysus will bring the dead back to life at the cost of their heart. Prepare to fight Bartoli's Ghost!

Once you've vanquished the Ghost, pick up the legendary Pan's Rose to complete the level.