THE CUBE ROOM

Level by pvonr

Walkthrough by DJ Full


PROLOGUE

Turn around and climb the polerope to get Horseman's Gem. Get back down and put it in the receptacle to open the door. Go through it. There's another receptacle ahead - but You don't have a gem yet, so get out of the corridor through the hole above You. Climb the next polerope, get the Gem, 6 x normal shells, 6 x wideshot ones and a gun making You able to shoot them. Go back, insert the Horseman's Gem and throw the skeleton behind the door into the water (You can do it with Your shotgun).

UNDERWATER MAZE

Hop into where the skeleton has just fallen in and find the hole in the middle of the bottom. Follow the left wall of the underwater maze to find the air pocket on Your way to the dry platforming zone. Pass the N row of pillars to find and kill a SAS in the following alcove, where You are supposed to press the large wall button. This flips the last room, inverting pillar alignment, so You can runjump/grab/pull up on the first one of the unexplored row, and follow its first half. Hop on the second row and continue jumping to the far switch. Press it and hop back into the water to follow the left wall again and find the underwater door open. Swim some more to spot an air pocket (it's an obligatory one - You will die without taking a breath here!). From there, swim down through the nearby corner hole and, just like You did for the last time, follow the left wall (the right corridor contains another door to open). Surprise! An air pocket! Get out of the water and pull the lever switch. It opens the door mentioned in last brackets (You may not know about them if You tend not to read brackets - and in such case, You won't know about this warning as well). Return to the maze, go right on the first junction because the left corridor is a dead end, and ahead on the second, as the right corridor is the one You came from. Resurface in the final pocket and behold a pushable pillar.

SOME CORRIDORS AND CRAWLSPACES / FINDING THE SCARAB PIECES

Actually, it's better to pull it than push at first. Find a not-well-supported-ceiling hint and place that not well support under it. The support won't support the ceiling, but it will open a masked door somewhere close by. Follow the corridor behind it to find a room filled with four pillars. Unlike their fella from the previous room, they support the ceiling quite well imo. There is also an exit in the corner opposite to the entrance, and the jumpswitch near the entrance, opposite to the exit. Throw it (the jumpswitch, not the entrance) and it opens (the exit, not the jumpswitch). Enter the exit to exit. Enter the Corridor of Shatter Crawlspace, named by me after a crawlspace full of shatters. Enter the crawlspace and shatter all shatters to find Mechanical Scarab. There is another crawlspace several steps behind You. It contains no shatters, but there is Ornate Handle to handle. OK, OK, I know! I already find those lousy word jokes disturbing, so You must be already annoyed by them. Go back through both crawlspaces and step into another big hall with Portal Guardian slot. You are missing Hathor Effigy. See the jumpswitch? It's too high, but there is yet another crawlspace next to it with missing part of the key in it. Get the item, combine it with Ornate Handle and place the complete puzzle in its slot. That gives You access to a staircase, with a SAS going downstairs. Keep him at a safe distance and he won't manage to shoot once before he dies. Reach the 1st floor, spot the door, get Winding Key from the crawlspace (combine it with Mechanical Scarab) and throw the familiar jumpswitch to open the door spotted in the beginning of this sentence.

THE SCARAB IS USED / MORE CRAWLSPACES

Get upstairs once again and use the scarab twice to deactivate spikes. After the second time, check a two-crawlspaced pit on Your right to retrieve the scarab. Back in the corridor, go down the ramp and de-harm the last trap at its bottom. There is one more set of spikes ahead, but the scarab can't work anymore - however, use it to get rid of it and retrieve some memory bytes. Next, grab the wall crack and, shimmying above the trap range, watch it deactivate with smile on Your face. Drop behind it, check the crawlspace for some normal shells and climb the ladder.

CAVES

Follow the sandy passage. Ignore the door but find a passage on Your left. Kill 2 bats in the next part of the cave. Find a crawlspace. Get through. Go left. Kill 2 more bats. Hop into the S watery passage. Follow the right wall to find a large medi. Continue following the right wall to spot a really narrow hole. Swim in for another Horseman's Gem. Resurface and place the Horseman's gem in the receptacle near the far door in the last corridor. Follow its longer part to find a bright chamber with a jumpswitch. Throw it and go back, behind the gem door. The other door in this corridor is open - go through it, and the last accessed part of the passage, to find Yourself at the edge. MS to the next jumpswitch and throw it. Get back to the previous jumpswitch room. The nearby block is raised - use it to grab the crack above it. Shimmy right, enter the crawlspace and hang on its other side. Shimmy right and SAVE. Drop on the slope and do a series of sliding/jumping, with the last slide done backwards to grab the ledge. Shimmy left and pull up into the next corridor. SAVE and time the darts (or sprint through them - if You're lucky, they won't harm You at all). Again, it's recommended to SAVE. Press the switch and the last door in the cave is open. Follow another crawlspace, climb the ladder and get through the last crawlspace in this part of the game to drop in a familiar place. You should remember the way to the door. If not - it's in a cave before the one You killed the first two bats in.

GRAND STAIRCASE

Behind the door, kill 2 dark scorpions and pick up Pharos Knot. Drop through the hole back into the initial pool. Get out of the water and place the puzzle in its slot. Behind the door and the following corridor, kill 2 descending SASes and proceed to the next room (don't go upstairs) to behold some pushables. Look more carefully - there is a hole above the rightmost one, and the ladder in the hole. Climb it and pull the lever on the top to open the door. Not the door in front of You - it is the door on the top of the stairs You recently ignored. Behind it, another killable SAS awaits You. Behind him, another crawlspace awaits You (in the left wall). Behind it, another stairs await You. At the bottom, another corridor... No wonder even I don't like my own sense of humor... and a crawlspace. Get in. And through. And into the water. And through the water, going left at the junction and then following the right wall to find an air pocket with a switch. Throw it, go back to the first junction, swim ahead, and then (paste the remaining part of the end of the last phrase here). Hop into the water, return to the first junction and follow the left wall to find the third pocket with the third switch. This opens the third underwater door. You should know where it is, and the last pocket above it, containing a lever switch. Pull it and leave the maze the way that led You in. In the preceding corridor, a block has raised. Hop from it to grab the ceiling and MS to the far crawlspace. Get in and kill a scorpion before picking up Horseman's Gem. The slot for it is downstairs, but the path is no more accessible, so You need to go ahead on the junction and climb a set of pillars to throw a switch on the top, what opens the exit at the end of the other corridor beginning on the right of the crawlspace junction. Going through the door brings You back into a familiar place, so You can return to the hall, place the gem in the receptacle and open the underwater door to pass the next corridor. There's a switch at the dry end - press it. This opens the second door on the top of the grand stairs (in the place where You have killed the last SAS). Go through to find Yourself at the bank.

DRYING THE POOL

The goal is: visit the side rooms to un-flood the pool. Begin from the S part. Climb the ladder, grab the crack, shimmy left, drop and grab the crawlspace edge, go through this hole and climb another ladder. Behind the crawlspace, grab the crowbar from the top of the pillar and jump on the other column to reduce drop damage. Back on the ground, return to the pool room and enter the N chamber to move some blocks: clear the NE corner to reveal a crawlspace. Get in and draw Your weapons: You can kill a SAS from here. Get out and press the switch: the pool is dry. Follow the next crawlspace and the corridor for not to reverse all this pushing/pulling. Slide down to the start point. You know the path, so get back to the pool room and press the switch in it to unlock the Golden Star behind the central door. Use the crowbar to obtain the item. Place the star in the middle receptacle located in the initial pool area.

QUEST FOR KNOT

In the revealed corridor, there are two crawlspaces: the first one is low and contains a grenade gun + 14 normal charges, the second one is high and leads to a platforming zone. Equip the grenade gun and do a series of slides to blow up the mummy at the end, just before landing on a flat surface. Go upstairs, MS across the area and drop into the pool. Don't dive deeper yet - get out first and find a switch in the crawlspace in the left wall. Throw it to raise a door You shot the mummy next to. Now dive and swim up when the path splits in two. Get out of the water and time flames (tip: SAVE/LOAD trick helps a lot if You have no time for this) for big medi and Horseman's Gem. Go back and check the remaining underwater corridor for a way out. Swing 2 ropes to land on the ex-mummy pillar. Go through the new corridor to find another rope in front of You. Use it to get back in and through the crawlspace which led You here. Continue through the spiral corridor to the HG receptacle. Place the puzzle and dive into another underwater maze. On the junction, spot a masked, narrow opening and swim through for Laser Sight. Leave the alcove and proceed into a pool with a red vase in the middle. This is the thing You're supposed to destroy - and You can do it in two ways:
- SHORTCUT: You think You need a revolver or a crossbow? Nooo! Throw a grenade above the vase and let it sink... the door is open and the crossbow part is skipped!
- INTENDED WAY: go in the unexpored underwater opening and R, L, R, and L into the last narrow opening. There is a crossbow inside. Combine it with laser sight and annihilate the urn! As You can see, the shortcut wasn't as great as it seemed to be. Get in the last UW corridor for a Pharos Knot behind it. Drop back into the familiar passage and go left to return to the hub pool.

SURROUNDED BY DOORS

Place the knot and slide'n'bounce off the slope behind the unlocked corridor, curving left to land in the transverse passage. It leads to another slope - slide'n'bounce off it to grab/pull up into the crawlspace. Pull the following lever. Now the room below You is flooded, so drop in. 4 doors around You, all of them closed - we need to open them! Dive and follow the corridor to find a dry switch at the end (remember the UW door on Your way here, and a HG slot in here). Press it - the first door above the last pool is open. Go through to find a jumpswitch in the NW corner. Pull it and the opposite door is open as well. Behind it, locate a vase - also in the NW corner - and shatter it to raise the third door. This time, in the SE corner, there is a polerope and an alcove following it, containing a switch. Throw it (to deactivate spikes at the bottom of the slope where You probably spotted Horseman's Gem). In the NW corner, find a crawlspace and a ladder following it, and another crawlspace following the ladder. Go through and hang. Drop from the rightmost point of the crack for not to lose health. Slide down for Horseman's Gem, MS to the far jumpswitch, throw it and bounce several times to land on a safe block. SAVE. The door leading out of the watery pit next to You is now open. It leads to the already visited UW passage. Go right at the junction and resurface in the slot room. Place the Horseman's Gem and the last door above the pool is now open. Get through it and follow the corridor into the...

EPILOGUE

Go through the nicely textured passage to grab the prize.