CATACOMB TOWERS

Level by René Brooymans (Piega)

Authorized walkthrough written by Phil Lambeth

Lara begins by sliding down a slope to come to rest on a flat spot overlooking a large underground room. Turn around and look back up the slope and steal a glimpse of the outside open area that's now tantalizingly out of reach. There's no way you could know this now, but that open area--or one very much like it--leads to the exit trigger that serves as your ultimate goal as you progress through this level.

Turn toward the SW and take a couple of standing jumps until you reach an alcove up in the south wall. Step inside and claim the shotgun ammo. Jump down to the uneven floor and run up the sloped blocks near the NE corner and hop down into the hole for a small medi-pack.

Climb out of the hole and locate the rubble piled up against the east wall. Take a standing jump to it and turn around. Jump straight up to grab the ceiling, then monkey swing over to the nearby west wall (making a dogleg to the right as you do so). When you reach the wall, release and immediately grab the climbable surface. Shift to the left until you reach an open area, then climb up as high as you can go. It's difficult to see anything in the darkness at this point, so continue shifting to the left, around the corner, until you can go no further, then climb up until you see an opening in the ceiling. Pull up into the small room above for SECRET #1 and locate the CROSSBOW on the pedestal. Then go up the stairs on either side and pick up two quivers of crossbow arrows and some shotgun ammo. Finally, go into the short hallway to the east and pick up the large medi-pack in the corridor. Go back to the hole in the floor, drop back and grab the edge, climb down until Lara is hanging from the bottom edge, and safety drop to the floor.

As you explore this room further, you'll find an opening in the dark SW corner that can't be reached from down where you are. So reverse roll and run down to the other end of the hallway. Scramble up the rubble and take a standing jump up to the NW corner. Turn around and jump straight up to grab the monkey bars. Monkey swing across to the other side (hit the look key to restore camera control if you need to) and drop down into the alcove. Pick up the SHOTGUN, which will come in quite handy when dealing with the skeletons you'll encounter early and often.

Safety drop to the floor, turn around and go through the archway to the north, and throw the floor switch to your left. This opens a door in the next room, past the next archway, up a short ramp to your left. Go through this opening and run up the longer ramp until you reach the top. Turn to the right and allow Lara to slide down the long slope and into the room below. Dodge the skeleton you've just awakened and run forward into the next room. In the west alcove separating the two rooms you'll find some uzi ammo. If you want to save your shotgun ammo, you can drop down into the large central pit with the grated floor and catch your breath, as the skeleton won't come down after you. Or, if you prefer, simply blast the skeleton into the pit with the shotgun. Note the water flowing beneath the grated floor in the pit.

There's a door to the north that's now closed, and you can see a receptacle to its right for an artifact you don't yet have. So run over to the open doorway near the SW corner of this room and locate the ladder just inside and to the left. Climb about halfway up the ladder and back flip to the next higher level. You can see a Golden Star on the west wall over a platform, but you don't yet have the crowbar you need to pry it off the wall.

Hop into the east opening to the left of the ladder. Take a running jump east and grab the opposite opening. Pull up for some flares, then return to the west opening. Jump back to the ledge, turn around and jump up into the SE opening. Turn to your right for a view of the room below where the skeleton is wandering about in frustration (assuming you haven't already dealt with it). Take an angled jump to the right down to the roof and locate another ladder in the NW corner.

Climb the ladder and pull up at the top. Jump down and you'll see a hole in the floor that overlooks the Golden Star you just now bypassed. You could jump over the hole and enter a passageway to the west, but let's save that for later. Instead, turn to the right and vault up onto the low spot between the two pillars. Take a running jump and grab across the gap to the east. Pull up, step forward and throw the floor switch. A cut scene shows a door opening elsewhere.

Step up onto the parapet to your right, turn around and hop back to grab the southern edge. As an alternative, you could safety drop from the north side onto the ledge below, at a cost of some health. There's some shotgun ammo in the window alcove, and two stashes of uzi ammo on the ledge. Shimmy past or take banana jumps around the protruding tongues to progress, and safety drop to the main floor when you're done (at the cost of additional health) and get back up as described in the previous paragraph. Locate the ladder in the corner and climb down to the roof below. Note for later the closed door in the north alcove. Since there's nothing more to do here right now, climb back up the ladder, turn left and vault up onto the parapet behind the floor switch, and take a running jump and grab to the other side. Vault up onto the parapet to your left and climb down the ladder in the corner. Take a standing jump and grab to land inside the opening. Turn to the right and take an angled standing jump to grab the ladder. Climb all the way down to the anteroom of the large area being patrolled by the skeleton. (If you're lucky, and if you didn't ban him to the pit earlier, you'll find that by this time he's buried his head in a wall somewhere and won't pose any further danger.)

Directly across from the ladder a door is now open. Go inside and take a hairpin turn to the right. Enter the dark opening and run down the stairs. You'll soon arrive at the body of water you glimpsed through the grated pit above.

Jump into the water and start swimming east past the pots and the pillars. There's a nearby opening to your left where you can pull up, but right now the door is closed. Swim to the other side of this little canal and climb out onto the stairs. Take the stairs as they wind up and to the left, until you reach a small room lit by a wall torch. Go through the doorway to the west, and the door to your right opens as you approach (awakening another skeleton in the process). Note also the ladder ahead and to your left. Climb up the ladder and back flip about halfway up to reach the next higher level. Locate and throw the nearby floor switch. A flyby shows a door opening behind you; it ends at a floor switch you threw earlier, and you see a door opening in front of it.

Jump back to the ladder, shift to the left and drop down into the opening. Take an angled standing jump down to the roof to your left and climb up the ladder in the corner. Pull up, turn right at the floor switch and go through the open door. Run down the dark tunnel, turning left and then right.

You emerge in a mid-sized room that's peppered with platforms in a sort of hopscotch layout. Note the four pinkish floor squares that stand out from the rest of the floor. On either side of the doorway is a large structure that can be moved. Drag and push each one in turn to rest on the nearest pinkish square. When the second structure is so placed, a door up on the south wall opens. Now push and pull the two structures to the other pinkish squares, whereupon a block is raised below the open doorway so you can access it.

As soon as you climb up from the block into the doorway, two retching mummies come up in an effort to bar your entry, so run forward quickly and climb up onto the central structure to claim the PHAROS PILLAR.

Then turn around, jump down to the floor and run past the slow-moving mummies to return to the previous room where the mummies won't follow. Hop down to the floor and turn left. You'll see that a new corridor has opened up to the west, revealing another pinkish square at the end. Go to the movable structure against the north wall and pull/push it as necessary to bring it to rest on the new pinkish square. After a mild commotion behind you, reverse roll and run all the way to the other side of the room. The face-mural formerly covering the east wall has divided, allowing access to an opening. Pull up into the opening, hop down into the small room below and take the LASERSIGHT from the pedestal for SECRET #2.

Return to the previous room, climb up onto the block and into the room where you picked up the Pharos Pillar, and jump up onto the central platform as a sanctuary from the mummies.

Look down to the west and you'll see a crawl space with the crowbar and an open door to its right. When the coast is reasonably clear, hop down and pull up into the crawl space to claim the CROWBAR. You'll be tempted to turn around and attempt to back out the other side to safety, but that doesn't work. Nice try. So back out and drop back into the room with the mummies, then dash around them and through the open door. At least one of them will follow you out into the tunnel, but not down to the lower ramped hallway.

Run down the ramp to your right, hugging the right or left wall to avoid the dart gun ahead, and return to the arched opening. Keep running ahead, and up the other ramp, and slide back down into the room formerly patrolled by the skeleton. Run north into the larger room and make a hairpin turn to the left into the smaller room with the ladder. Vault up onto the platform, climb up the ladder and back flip to the next higher level as you did before when you get about halfway up. Turn around and vault up onto the platform. Use your crowbar to pry the GOLDEN STAR off the wall. The animation used by Lara here is most unusual.

Reverse roll and step forward to face the ladder. Take a standing jump into the portal to the right of the ladder, then turn right and hop down to the roof. Head to the near corner and climb up the ladder. Pull up onto the parapet and swing around the column into the west tunnel. At the intersection, a turn to the right brings you to a slope that's too steep to climb. Take a left and turn right at the end to face a central column in a very deep room. The green-lit top portion is adorned with a pedestal on which sits an artifact for you to get.

The column is too far away for you to reach with a running jump and grab. Instead, turn around and hop back to grab the edge. Release and immediately grab the crack directly beneath you. Shimmy to the left a short distance until you can pull up into a crawl space. Crawl forward through the tunnel and take a left at the bend. When you reach the end you'll be able to stand up. Hop down into the hallway and make a hairpin turn to the left just before you reach the stairs. Push the black-lined panel with the face in the center, to raise a block in the opening below, then reverse roll and go down the stairs. Turn left at the bottom of the stairs to encounter another mummy. Stun it momentarily with a blast from your shotgun, and climb up into the opening. (Be careful here, as the mummy can and will follow you up onto the block and push you forward to your death.)

Take a running jump and grab to the stairway that wraps around the central column. Pull up and wind your way up the stairs until you reach the pedestal. Take the PHAROS KNOT and look for a way to get back out. Let's see now, do we try to jump to the open doorway to the east? Nope, screaming death. Well, why not just go back the way we came? Because when you back out of the crawl space to the crack in the wall, there's nowhere to go. But wait! There's a hole in the ceiling above the pedestal. Sure enough, Lara can pull her way up to the roof. Surely she's high enough now to reach that open doorway to the east. Nope, screaming death again.

Go to the east edge of the roof, facing the north wall, and jump up to grab the monkey bars. Monkey swing a short distance forward until you reach the corner of the roof below you, then turn right and follow the row of white tiles embedded in the ceiling. Make a circle around the far side of the block that juts down from the ceiling to your left, then when you get to the other side turn to the right and go around the far side of another block jutting down to your right. You'll hear some music that lets you know you're on the right track. Monkey swing all the way over to the opening in the NE corner and drop down into it.

Step forward and slide down the slope that was too steep to get up from the other side. Go through the east tunnel, hop over the hole in the floor, and climb down the ladder on the other side of the parapet to your right. From the roof below, take a standing jump into the window and use the ladder to climb back down to ground level. Go into the large room with the central grated pit, and use the Golden Star in the receptacle to open an upper door in the north wall.

Climb up into the opening and hop down into the hallway ahead. Look up and to your left, and you'll see a crawl space. Jump up and grab the edge, pull inside and crawl forward until you reach an opening to the right. Lower yourself into the next room with a small fountain for SECRET #3. Locate the alcove in the SW corner and vault up into it. Climb up into the opening ahead and hop down into the hallway. Safety drop from the opening at the end down to the water-covered stairs. Turn to the south and the door ahead will open as you approach.

However, before leaving this area turn around and swim down, making a hairpin turn to the right to bring you to a sunken room where you'll find the REVOLVER on a pedestal in front of the grate. After picking it up, go back and drop down into the little canal you navigated earlier. Swim in either direction to the stairs and climb out of the water. Combine the Revolver and the Lasersight and shoot the underwater pots for some goodies: near the west end you'll find some explosive crossbow arrows, and near the east end a small medi-pack.

Now make your way back to the large room with the central grated pit. Climb up into the north opening as you did before, and hop down to the other side. Turn right and go through the twin arches into a small room. There's another crawl space up in the SE corner; jump up to it and lower Lara down the other side. Turn left and run to the end of the short tunnel for some shotgun ammo. Return to the previous room via the crawl space. Reverse roll and run through the archway ahead, then turn left and run through another one.

Climb down the pole in the next small room. Hop down off the platform and run through several archways to the north until you reach a new immense room. An extended flyby gives you a preview of the tasks that follow. Take some time, if you wish, to explore this area. If you turn right and run all the way down to the archway near the SE corner, you'll locate a hole in the anteroom and a ladder you can climb down, but the door at the end of the short watery tunnel is closed right now.

There's a similar archway near the NE corner. This anteroom also ends with a closed door. In the north wall you'll find two door niches right next to each other that are presently blocked. There's nothing on the west wall but a couple of grated windows.

Having made a complete circuit around the outer part of the room, it's time to explore the interior. The first thing you notice is a central pool surrounded by a square parapet and massive columns. Jump into the water and notice the device in the center of the underwater platform. Swim through the opening in the east wall, zig to the right and enter the next room, then turn left. Pull up onto the ledge and throw the floor switch to open the double doors you saw in the north wall.

Drop back into the water and explore this underwater maze. You'll find some shotgun ammo in an alcove, and there's an air hole near the SW corner. Nearby is an open door that was closed when you first arrived, so swim through and locate another air hole where you can pull out. Going to the west leads to a quick dead end; going to the east involves a longer path and an eventual small medi-pack. Jump back into the water and locate yet another air hole in this little maze that brings you to the now-open door leading to the ladder allowing a return to the anteroom in the SE corner. When you step back into the large room, you get a quick cut scene of two skeletons emerging from their graves, one to your right and the other straight ahead.

Either annihilate the skeletons with your crossbow and a single explosive arrow, or lure them to the edge of the central pool and blast them over the edge with your shotgun. Or, if you prefer living dangerously, simply dodge them while you run toward the north wall. Dash inside the left doorway that you opened with the floor switch (the right doorway is for later), then immediately turn left and run west down the hall. The skeletons won't follow you into the next room, so take a few seconds to catch your breath before venturing on. Pick up some shotgun ammo in the NW alcove opposite the hallway, then enter the torch-lit room. Next to the torches in the south wall are receptacles for your Pharos artifacts. Use them to open the large door between the receptacles.

Enter and turn left to run down the hall. Then turn right, whereupon the door behind you closes and a mild earthquake ensues. Step inside and note that you're behind one of those grated windows you noted earlier in the west wall. Climb up the ladder opposite the window, pull up and throw the floor switch in the alcove ahead to begin the process of raising the water level in the central pool outside. A door in the south wall also opens, so climb back down the ladder and and go through the open door to a small room with a central water hole.

Jump into the water, and you'll find yourself in what appears to be an underwater burial chamber. Locate the air hole in the SE corner and pull out. Turn left, step down, turn right and locate the ladder to your right. Climb up and throw the floor switch in the alcove ahead, and you'll hear more sounds of running water.

Climb back down, and the exit door in the east wall is now open. Pause for some uzi ammo on the central platform before exiting. You'll come to a room with three columns. Climb up the ladder in the NW corner. Pull up, shoot a jar on the central platform for some revolver ammo, cross the room past the columns, and climb down the ladder on the other side. Reverse roll, run down the hall and make a hairpin turn to the right to locate the next ladder. Climb up and throw yet another floor switch in the alcove to your left.

The skeletons are now awaiting you down below if you didn't deal with them earlier, so get down quickly and make your escape through the now-open door in the north wall. Turn left and return to the large room as the skeletons give chase. Thwart them by jumping into the central pool, where the water level now comes up nearly flush with the ledges.

Swim down toward the device on the underwater platform and look up to see an air hole you couldn't access earlier. Pull up into a little room and climb the pole in the NE corner. Back flip into the next higher level. Climb up onto the block and push the panel with the face in the center. A cut scene shows you an area outside, and a door opens in the north wall. Take a standing jump and grab to land inside the opening. At the end of the walkway ahead you can see a closed door between the torches and pillars, so obviously some additional work is required.

Hop back down into the room and climb back down the pole. Jump into the water and climb out at the north ledge. If you're lucky the skeletons won't be patrolling nearby, so you can run forward without fear of injury into the open doorway to the right. Turn right and run up the ramp; at the top, turn right and run up the shorter ramp. Hop up onto the adjacent ramp and turn right to face south. Save your game here, just in case. Run up the right side of the double-wide ramp, and two spike balls will come careening down toward you. As soon as the first one passes by to your left, take a side flip to the left (or simply zig quickly to the left) to avoid the second one that's dead ahead. Continue to the top of the ramp and hop down into the hallway. Turn right and head down the hallway, and another skeleton will be resurrected directly in your path.

You can push the skeleton back with repeated blasts from your shotgun, until he falls off the edge of the walkway ahead, or, if you still have some explosive arrows, you can simply blow it away. If you wish to save ammo, however, you can bull your way past the skeleton in these cramped quarters, but expect to suffer some loss of health. As you emerge onto the upper walkway, your path will be blocked by a rook-shaped column, so kill two birds with one stone by hanging from either edge and shimmying past the obstruction. (The skeleton won't bother you while you're hanging.) Continue around a number of corners until you reach the walkway on the other side of the central structure, then pull up and run to the far end. For some reason the skeleton won't follow, and after a while he'll take up a walking-in-place stance somewhere near the central structure and won't bother you any more.

In the meantime, enter the NE alcove and use your crowbar to pry the GOLDEN STAR off the wall (same weird animation). Then run back down the walkway and note the closed trap door in the middle of the central structure. Continue forward, drop and grab the edge of the walkway and shimmy to the other side of the rook-shaped column. Pull up and push the column all the way to the north end of the walkway until it comes to rest on the pinkish square. A cut scene shows a door opening and two wraiths being released in search of you.

Reverse roll and run past the bewildered skeleton and the two wraiths that are now headed your way. Go into the hall beyond the walkway and turn left at the ramp. Run down the ramp and look for an open window on your left. Step out onto the structure and run forward off the edge for a harrowing short cut (and a long fall) down to the water. Swim down to the device in the center of the underwater platform and wait for the wraiths to implode themselves upon it.

Now that you're down here, grab some air and swim into the opening in the east wall to revisit the underwater maze. Make your way back to the SW corner and locate a long vertical shaft where (before you raised the water level) there was only an air hole. Swim to the top of the shaft, cross over and swim down the other side to access a small room for SECRET #4. Pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM from the platform and quickly find your way to the nearest air.

Then return to the central pool and swim to the north ledge, pull up and run past the two lower-level skeletons into the doorway to the right. Head back up the ramp and turn right into the opening you so hurriedly used just now.

Walk out to the edge of the structure and take a standing jump to the ledge below, the one that surrounds the central shaft. Walk around and face the north wall (which has a flat ledge as opposed to the arched structures on the other three sides). Take a running jump and grab to the ledge. Shimmy to the right and around the corner past the column, and pull up. Locate the opening in the corner and pull up into it. Place the Horseman's Gem in the receptacle at the end of the short tunnel, and the door to your right will open. Go inside the next room for SECRET #5 and a veritable treasure trove of goodies lying on pedestals: The GRENADE GUN, a large medi-pack, some revolver ammo and some shotgun ammo.

Exit back to the ledge, hop back and grab the edge, and shimmy left around the corner until you reach the center of the north face. Safety drop to the terraced walkway below and run forward and vault up into the now-open doorway. Hop down and climb up onto the pedestal in the next room to claim the MECHANICAL SCARAB WITH KEY (which you'll need to play Piega's next adventure, Black Palace). When you pick it up, a door on the other side of the room opens.

Go inside, and you'll find your way blocked by a gap that's too wide to jump across. But to your left you'll see a receptacle for your Golden Star. When you place it, a rope magically appears in the center of the room. Use it to swing to the other side. Go up the stairs, winding your way to the right, until you reach a ladder. Climb up into the opening and step forward carefully into the crisp outdoor air. If you're a completist by nature, hug the wall to the left and make your way to the corner for a small medi-pack. Then turn and walk toward the center of this outdoor area to activate the exit trigger and bring this fine level to an abrupt conclusion.