Level reviews

"I can only call it a draft. I spent a ton of time trying to find anything in the keep, unaware I'm supposed to do just that - keep the item and go away. I think even a demo should possess traits of being rather finished than not. It doesn't happen in this case." - DJ Full

"A short demo and a rather incomplete one at that, as the final rooms are visibly unfinished and hardly hold any interest from the player. The initial bit isn't all bad though, with a few enemy encounters through a castle setting of sorts, gunning down soldiers in the battlements. The SFX are all wrong, however, most of them are missing and Lara's pitch is off, which made the whole thing rather detracting. Good to cram between one massive release and the next. 10 minutes. 12/22" - Treeble

"This level had some good ideas, but wasn't executed to it's fullest potential. Gameplay - in terms of the fights were quite difficult, but the game wasn't that fun to be honest, very generic and under utilized. Enemies - very difficult, they were strangely powerful for some reason, taking them down was hard. Puzzles - there was only one and it just involved getting a key to a door. Atmosphere - not very good, the textures were all over the place. Sound - was strangely broken. Cameras - very basic. Lighting - very good lighting to be honest, i was very impressed with the indoor lighting. Textures - all over the place and some were missing. Conclusion - this builder has potential, but this level was very short and a missed opportunity to be very good if the effort was put in." - JimmyBeon

"Not entirely without potential, but unfortunately this demo is a bit difficult for me to recommend in its present state. The textures are a bit rough around the edges and badly applied in a few places, while the numerous dark corners were a bit tedious to explore. All you really have to do here is shoot a couple of guards and knights, and locate a couple of key items. It was also a shame that the big central tower couldn't be explored properly." - Ryan

"So, according to Gerty's review we played this some years ago…hmm, the screenshots didn't ring a bell. But as soon as the game loaded, the memories came flooding back; well, trickling back, more like. It was about some TR3 London guards in an atmosphere of greyish gloom, wasn't it? Funny how all you remember a few years on is…actually, that's about all that's memorable here. No wait, there are two crusaders here, too (Horsemen given the Knights Templar look); these were unexpectedly well done and thus should be memorable too, right? Well, no, not really, since the way they're used here, they're just so much more cannon fodder; there's no build-up to your meeting the undead. Sloppily textured, textures and even entire rooms missing, flat lighting, hopelessly mangled sounds: it's nothing short of a marvel that the level in the state it's in actually succeeds in creating any atmosphere at all, and yet it does, despite the odds, to some degree. Not so much a demo, rather an unfinished project, or one that has barely begun to even exist, it's a pity that this hasn't been taken to a more substantial ontological plane. Bonus point for the two guards who wouldn't do any killin' until their cigarette break is over." - Mulf

"Returning to building nearly 8 years after his last level, how does this latest demo from TombsOnTheBrain fare, in comparison to his past works? Well, I'm afraid to say that outside of taking advantage of the various custom objects/textures made available over the course of time, its practically business as usual(with the same exact problems popping up yet again.) Who knows? Maybe when the full version of this project ever comes out, perhaps the builder will have finally learned to craft better levels. But considering we haven't seen anything since then, I suppose we'll never end up knowing for certain. Not recommended." - Ceamonks890

"A very short demo level that at the start looked rather primitively with a mix of Great Wall and castle textures, but the final area looked OK save for the not textured spot. The gameplay is consisting of the usual "find levers or item to open door"-type; many sounds were missing and the objects were way too bright; the only thing I liked were the custom knights. Believe me there's not much to say about this level and thus my review is reasonably short. 7 minutes." - manarch2

"Repetitive texturing - well, that's all I can say, since this level is so pointless in every way. Well, the final part is very pleasant, but there's a place where the author forgot to texture the wall, so that ruined the final room a bit. Puzzles, hard jumps, timed runs or something should've been put into this small adventure. And Lara sounds like she sucked some helium before this small adventure." - rtrger

"The castle itself looks intriguing, but so far doesn't have anything more than a walking tour around it, and that is the end of the level. At the start there are a few texture and sound problems, but Lara fights mercenaries and red-eyed knights to get key, then climbs the surrounding walls. On top the sky is directly above her head. When Lara first sees the castle this raises expectations. But the fly-by when she enters the grounds has problems blacking out, so this area is unfinished, both the castle itself and the surroundings. Explore the area and the level ends. Ten to thirteen minutes, depending on the final tour." - dmdibl

"Very short this demo to can say something about this castle level. Pull some switches, kill some enemies, using a key and no more. There are many missed sounds, and another ones are strange. The rooms are too much dark and sometimes you can reach the end of the rooms with no textures. Simple architecture and a strange colour in the horizon. No much more to say, a lot of work in front to offer someting better." - Jose

"In between Anniversary and Underworld we (Mulf and I) raided this little romp. It is rather straight forward and in need of a lot of TLC. For now it is fighting the guards, some of them are so called friendly, as well as some knights that are guarding this place. Getting Keys and the Gundulf's Cross get you in the grounds surrounding the castle. Do go in the castle as the first time around I ran to the left and hit a finishing trigger and missed out on what is inside." - Gerty

"As a Demo this indicates a degree of promise should a completed level result from it.As it stands,however,all you have is a terribly ragged Castle exterior and elementary gameplay. It's telling that the one visually convincing part of the level (the ruined Tower in the incomplete courtyard) was impossible to access. If a fully-realised and well-constructed level were to result from this,it ought to be an interesting experience in a rather original setting;but a huge amount of work needs to be expended in order to meet this proviso.As a start,the sky needs to be darkened to match the nocturnal ambience; and then the entire opening area must be completely re-modelled. If I were the builder,I'd get to work!" - Orbit Dream

"I like a castle setting and this one isn't half bad, although if the builder is going to leave so many dark areas in, then he really needs to provide a lot of flares. It's always hard to judge a demo and I'm still not sure why people produce them since I'd bet the only people that play them are the reviewers. As demos go, I've seen far worse. Would it make a good full-length game? Perhaps. We'll just have to wait and see." - Jay

"A 10 minutes raid that look interesting and with a fluent flow, I like the setting that is ruined castles in the midst of rocks. The demo seems to have been literally"cut" from the full map without regards to the realism of the demo itself as in the last area there are black walls. There is not even the need to use the key dropped by a dead crusader to hit the end. Other enemies were gunmen. There are some different textures and also some from the TR2 great Wall level. The Coastal ruins Horizon look strange here , and do not match with the grey sky , there is also some missing sounds (switch, door) and I found the level rather dark and the lighting dull. Nevertheless a full game to look for." - eRIC

"A short level, taking me around 8 minutes to complete, with not much in the way of excitement to talk of. Gameplay is simple throughout, and generally consists of clambering over a few rocks here and there and taking care of a few enemies along the way. Texturing and lighting (both of the environment and objects) is sub-par, though some areas do show at least some effort on the builder's part, yet the massive black expanse of unfinished areas visible at the end of the level caused a massive blow to the atmosphere. Couple this with plenty of missing sounds, and we're left with a short, simple demo with at least a decent fly-by to its name." - Spike

"Not easy to rate this 10 minute demo as it does indeed seem very much a 'work in progress'. The overall setting shows promise though and it is always great to see a builder come back after so many years of absence. You get a fairly dark and rather linear run for switches here, killing the occasional guard and knight along the way. The author mentions that he is aware of things that still need to be fixed before release of the final piece of work, so I will not mention that the sky and the horizon really do not fit together, that the object tint on some of the very bright objects needs to be adjusted and that it is generally not considered good gameplay to hide pickups in pitch black dark corners. Much more work needed on this, but a good start nonetheless." - MichaelP