20 x 20 x 20 Challenge - Ankh Curse

Level built by: Raider99

Walkthrough by Nina Croft

Secrets: 1

Lara slides down into a chamber with three closed gates and a moveable block. The flyby puts some accent on the receptacle and the double door to the left of Lara, as well as a switch in the adjacent room. After the flyby, approach the moveable block directly ahead and pull it backwards from the alcove twice. Climb onto it and then into the crawlspace above, where you can find the switch. Pull it to open the gate in the corner near the receptacle. Push/pull the moveable block into this opening. Push/pull this block until it stays under the switch at the end of the hallway. Before you climb onto this block to pull the switch, save your position.

TOXIC GAS ROOM: Pull the switch to open the trapdoor in the alcove where the moveable block used to stay. Hop back from the block on the ground and you'll notice that the hallway turned into a room with poisonous gas, that two blocks to the left and right lowered, revealing two switches. One switch is protected with concealed spikes. You can easily locate the safe switch, as the deadly switch has (logically) a human skeleton in front of it (indicating that one had already tried to use the wrong switch and got killed trying). Pull the safe switch and run out of the hallway back to the first room, where you are safe.

Enter the alcove ahead and kill one ninja who will drop the LASER SIGHT. Enter the alcove where the moveable block used to stay and drop through the opening in the floor. Follow the passage to another opening and jump into water. Swim to the fork, first go right and find an SM in the near right corner of the small pool. Return to the fork, this time swim to the right and climb out of the water in the small pool at the end of the UW passage. Pull the lever on the S wall to open the gate leading back to the first room. You don't have to go there yet. Enter the room N instead.

TIMED RUN: Notice a UW lever in the pool, but the water level is too low to use it. From the entrance and to the left there is a wall lever. Before you pull it, save your game. Pulling the switch does many things: raising a block behind Lara, activating two burners and opens a trapdoor high above, but only temporarily. You have to climb to this trapdoor across the burners and climb through before it closes. So, once the flyby is finished, roll and run to the right and jump onto the raised block. From there jump to the right to grab the edge of the corner ledge. Climb onto it and walk to the right edge in front of the burner. Once the burner goes off, jump with Action onto the next ledge. Jump up to grab the monkeyswing above and traverse towards the second burner. Time your traverse across this burner and finally, monkey swing to the small opening in the wall. Drop to grab the edge of it, crawl inside and go to the edge of the passage. Turn around and jump forward with Action to grab the edge of the opening. Climb into the room above before the trapdoor closes. In this room find a switch that will raise the level of the water in the pool below.

Before you leave the room, make sure to pick up the secret first. Pull the lever you just used before the timed run once again. It will raise that block nearby. Climb onto it and stand near the wall, turned to face the triangular opening in the wall above (the lever and pool are on Lara's left). Take one step back from the edge of the block and stand jump to grab the edge of the triangular opening. Traverse all the way to the right if you can and pull into the triangular opening. Turn around and stand jump to grab the edge of a small opening above. Pull in and crawl into the secret chamber where you'll find a SHOTGUN, an SM and an ANCIENT BA CARTOUCHE, representing the first and only SECRET in this level. Return through the crawlspace back to the pool.

REVOLVER: Jump  into the water, pull the UW lever to open the door behind Lara and swim through. In the next chamber, near the skeleton of Indiana Jones (ha!) you will find the REVOLVER. Take it and return to the first pool. Climb out of the water, combine the Revolver with the Laser Sight and leave the room through the open gate. At the next pool, jump diagonally to the right across the corner of the pool and turn right at the fork. In a small octagonal room you'll find a lion head on the wall ahead. Use the revolver with laser sight to aim at the gem in the lion's mouth and shoot to break it into pieces. This will open the gate directly behind Lara. Before you go through the gate, crouch and shoot to break the vases to the left of the gate. Inside you'll find shotgun shells. Pick them up and go through the gate.

GOLDEN STAR: Walk to the edge of the lava pit and run jump to grab the horizontal pole. Swing around and press Jump to release and jump into the room with a pedestal. There you will find the GOLDEN STAR for that gate you saw at the beginning of the level. Since you cannot return the way you came, drop through the opening you have just opened and fall into the water below. Do not lose any time but quickly swim towards the other end and through the opening in the floor in the right-hand corner. Just swim down all the way to the bottom, then through a triangular opening leading to a flooded room with four ceiling UW switches in each corner. You have to pull them as quickly as you can before Lara lose her air. Doing it will lower the level of the water and you will be able to climb into an alcove there and use the wall lever hidden inside. This will open a gate nearby. Return to the shallow pool and climb into the triangular opening. At the end of the passage climb to the highest rock and jump up to grab the edge of the empty pool. Climb up and go to the right and through the gate you have just opened.

SPIKE ROOM: Be sure to remain on the first tile when the gate closes behind Lara. One wrong step, and Lara will be killed by spikes. To make things even more difficult, the camera is fixed in this room and you have to look at Lara from above. I don't know if there are any hints as which spike tile in this room is safe and which is lethal, as I haven't found any. Walk to the outer corner of the safe tile, turned diagonally to face the other safe tile. Perform a standing jump from there. Lara will land on one spiked tile, but it is obviously safe. Stand jump again to land on the corner tile and save your game once again (if you meet the camera bug, press ESC to end it). From the middle of the safe corner tile stand jump to grab the pole, swing around and jump onto the ledge. Enter the opening and go towards the room with teleporter. Kill a dog (Guardian) and let the teleporter bring you back to the chamber with that lion head switch. Return to the pool, kill a ninja there and jump across the pool towards the gate near the burner (East). Go through and return to the first chamber where it all started. Use the Golden Star in the receptacle to open the double gate and go through.

DEMIGOD: Approach the pedestal and take the CURSED ANKH AMULET. This will close the gate through which you came and summon the Demigod and two air wraiths. Kill the demigod with any good ammo you still have and take the GOLDEN KEY from his dead body. Replenish Lara's energy as necessary, as there is no way to get rid of two wraiths. Just be as quick as you can. Use the key in the keyhole NW to open the gate through which you came and go in the next room. There climb into the SW corner and use the JS to open the trapdoor in the middle of this room. Slide through to end the level.