THE FORGOTTEN PROJECT

Level by Sponge

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth


The opening words on the screen tell us we're somewhere in Egypt, but it sure doesn't look like it. Advance a bit and you'll come to a besotted Pierre sitting on a wall talking to himself. Whatever he's drinking has put him in a mighty good mood. Vault up onto the wall beside him and pick up a TOKEN. Hop down behind the nearby car and insert the Token in a coin receptacle. A flyby takes you through a nearby area, so run NW away from Pierre and look for an opening in the E wall of the gray building with large red and black stripes.

Inside the building you'll find that a NE gate has lifted. Beyond it is a strange rope symbol in the shape of the numeral 4. There are several of those in this area, all of which need to be set on fire, but you don't yet have the necessary tools. Go back outside, turn left and look toward Pierre. In the distance SE you can see another one of those rope designs on the roof of a building. Now it's time to explore this Egyptian village, which certainly won't win any beauty prizes.

Head toward the N end of the village until you come to a square with what looks like a fountain-less structure with one of those rope symbols at its top. Nearby in an E alley is a disoriented Larson brandishing what hopefully is not a loaded gun. Whatever else might be wrong with him, he doesn't make any attempt to shoot at you. Look for a gray block at the SE side of the square and get ready for a climbing exercise. There are annoying fixed camera angles along the way, but the idea is to keep going up with standing jumps (and grabs, if necessary) until you reach another fixed camera angle giving you a panoramic view of the nearby roof.

Climb up to the very top and pick up the TORCH. Hop down W and use the flame there to light the torch. Toss your torch to the ground below and go down to retrieve it. As stated in the builder's readme, you can swan dive from dizzying heights without suffering any ill effects. Don't try this by jumping W from the lighted brazier, however, as there's an invisible barrier that prevents Lara from assuming the swan dive position.

Once down, take your lighted torch to the rope symbol accessed when you used the Token. When you set it on fire, a cut scene shows a compass on a burning tile on a roof somewhere. Each time you burn a rope, by the way, you hear the chimes signifying a secret. Wait a few seconds and then hit the look key to restore camera control. Once you're able to move on, take the torch with you outside and across the street W to the building where you can see another rope symbol in the front yard. Set it aflame for a similar cut scene.

Now go to the N village square. Light the next rope symbol on the fountain-less structure for another cut scene of the burning compass. Find the SE gray block you used earlier and jump with the torch to the roof of the adjacent building. You can see a rope symbol in the distance S. Make your way there, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and light the rope that's situated on a blue mound. A cut scene shows the burning tile from an different angle, with a view of the next rope to locate and burn.

Run W and hop over to the roof of the next building. Turn right for a view of the most recent cut scene. This looks easy. Walk to the edge of the NW platform and take a running jump N to the next platform. Oops, you can't make it with the torch in hand. Or with a running jump and grab, come to think of it (although once there, you can make the jump S). Time for Plan B. Get down and use the blocks in the village square (starting with the familiar gray SE block) to get back up where you found the torch. Get on the ledge opposite the one with the lighted brazier and stand at the SE corner. Jump SE to the roof of the next building, and when camera control is restored you find yourself next to the fire-trapped compass. Walk to the SW corner of this roof and face SW. You need to throw the torch so that it lands on the roof with the next rope symbol, so use your binoculars to make sure you're properly lined up. Throw the torch, check to see that it landed on the roof below, then face W and jump across to the next roof.

Face N, hop back and grab the edge of the roof and find that the wall is just one big ladder. Climb down past the poster of the attractive couple to the roof below. Retrieve your torch and light the fifth rope symbol. The cut scene reveals that the flame has gone out, so climb back up the N wall to the roof, jump across E to the next roof, vault up onto the raised tile and pick up the COMPASS to end the level.

There's a bit more to this level. For example, you can climb the crane for a spectacular view, but there's nowhere to go from up there. Also, I wasn't able to access the warehouse area W, but at the end of the paved street NW of the village square, you can climb the E wall of the brown building and pull up into an alcove where you'll find a SMALL WATERSKIN. You can even fill it in a shallow pool near the rock pile NW of the crane, but its only possible use is to douse the flames prematurely so you can get the compass without first burning the ropes. However, I was unable to accomplish that. I could vault onto the burning tile in a corner and avoid being set aflame, but when I faced the fire and emptied the waterskin, nothing happened. There may be more for the completists among us, but that's all I found.