Level reviews

"I hate adulthood, I really do. It's exhausting. The reviews for this level suggested it might be a short raid despite being unbearably dark, and they're correct on both accounts. The readme even claims you should adjust your monitor brightness in case it's too dark, all the while saying there are enough flares to get by. Well, the flare bug comes into play early on (although at some point later the author did deactivate the many, many fire traps as flares start to work again). It's quite rough on the edges though, and then there's a pitch black maze at the end which funnily enough manarch2 guides you through with just a handful of directions. One nice touch I found was the first torch disappearing when it was no longer necessary. Although for a dark level such as this one, that might be the one time such a helpful trick backfires. Oh well. Back to real life, which is definitely a much worse affair regardless. 30 minutes. 05/24" - Treeble

"Notoriously dark - we have flares and fire but that's one or another color for too long. We pick up tons of never used ammo and I'm not a fan of the forced flame damage either. Still, the main impression is positive - basics are mostly done correctly with interaction diversity and medium difficulty, so the pace is okay and we don't feel stopped too much, except from the boring end game maze. Short but good." - DJ Full

"The builder has good potential, and I always say to build according to your tastes, but there the darkness is present from start to finish and there are not many torches because you always have to have a lit torch to see everything . And for the final bouquet, a dark labyrinth (but we can have a torch). Too bad this darkness, because the gameplay is correct." - Drakan

"If ever there was an example of a good level spoiled by bad design choices, it's this. The perpetual darkness is almost unbearable and there were quite a few annoying gameplay decisions on display here. Labyrinthine, pitch black corridors, annoyingly timed flame traps, buggy timed sequences and odd trap combinations that require nothing more than precision to pass all combine to make a less than satisfying experience. To be fair, there are also some enjoyable sequences: a nifty timed bridge, a moderately interesting torch puzzle, some fun boulder traps and an interesting return to a familiar location. But overall, this is a good example of why a potentially good level has been so negatively received." - Ryan

"Here's one for Phil! You begin with a slide in absolute blackness to a pit of spikes;negotiate your way around a confusing underground semi-labyrinth,performing numerous tasks in almost perpetual blackness with not a single camera clue to assist;saving in the wrong place can prevent a door opening;a timed underwater lever can only be used once;important switches are hidden in pitch-black corners in mazes;and the flare bug kicks in,so you can't even use these to help light your way.After about ten minutes of this nonsense,I resorted to step-by-step progression with the aid of the Walkthrough,and I tell you what...many of the puzzles in this game are actually really rather clever!A devious speed run;challenging timed ramps;good use of traps;and a classic 'returning to a familiar place from an unusual angle' moment.With well- judged atmospheric lighting,some helpful camera hints and a good team of beta-testers,this could have been a really interesting and intelligent level.As it stands,the builders decision to plunge the whole environment into near impenetrable darkness throughout its length is a very good indication of why such a potentially decent adventure has been met with such a cool reception." - Orbit Dream

"This could have been a very interesting level , with the player having to think while being often on his toes, the author having some good ideas , such as good traps or short timed tasks or clever placement of crawlspaces. , I also quite like the fact you return at the beginning much later in the game. Some of the tasks are good , unfortunately there are also things that do not work quite well aside from the impeding darkness , notably of course the fact that the player can be stuck for good without knowing why , and the use and placement of objects could have been designed better , if the player picks up the star before the torch he surely will have to reload, the one-shot UW timed switch is an evident mistake. Among other things that were not great choices : it is also strange to have a pad tile patterned with a deadly texture , the 'trenches' in the ramps room was not a big idea, the fire emitter in the switch that you can only activate by setting Lara on fire is never too amusing. With more light and more fortunate choices , it would have been a good raiding moment." - eRIC

"This could have a been a much better level than it turned out to be if the builder had not made a few poor choices. First and foremost, the level is simply too dark throughout, to a point that you almost cannot see anything without a flare in hand (and there is a period in the middle of the level were even the flare bug kicks in to make matters worse). Secondly, the severe lack of cameras, which only allows you to progress if you either telepathically enter the mind of the builder or read the walkthrough. That aside though, there is some really good use and combination of traps of various kinds and a nice course that sends you around the place a few times during the 40 minutes it lasts. Next time more light please and you will see the scores will be higher..." - MichaelP

"Perhaps the builder went for a realistic look, but my advice would be: don't bother. This is just plainly too dark and for me this ruined half of the fun while going through this level. And then the flare bug kicked in as well, this could have been easily avoided by anti triggering all the flames that were needed for lighting and traps. Be certain to save at strategic points and save often as there are a few very stuck moments and the only thing you can do is go back to a save way before. Apart from finding not enough flares there is also the lack of medipacks, not my idea of fun, reloading to see what you can do to avoid in using them. Not being properly beta tested or the builder didn't listen but it could have been a grand exploration and now it just fell short. A pity though." - Gerty

"If we forget the jump over the spike pit, this level starts rather pleasant, with a nicely lighted first room. It showed the work of a beginner, with some squeezed textures, but everything was fine. The first downside was the room with the two fire switches, one has to be used and then Lara catches fire and has to jump in a nearby pool. And, for the first time, and not the last time in this level, a question came up in my mind: Why? The trapdoor puzzle was quite a refreshing idea, after a quite intriguing cutscene I started with the timed run... What a mistake. Who did know at this moment this leads the player in total stuckness. Isn't it possible to leave this door closed before one raises the block for the torch? So that players don't have to do everything again? I don't know. Why? The ramp area was way to big and the trenches too dark. Why? You can get stuck if you don't have the crowbar and drop into the trench with the crowbar lever. Why? The timed run was quite tight but a nice challenge, but with an underwater ceiling lever it is only doable once. Why? There surely was an overdose of traps after the three doors up the ramps and sprint-jumping through four circle traps was way too much. Why (I'm not repeating myself, am I?)? Phew... few minutes in this level really can be called "decent". Pushing a nicely designed pedestal, finding Revolver and Lasersight to shoot some lion heads. But then, after re-entering the pool area, we find ourself in a room with spikes appearing out of nowhere, and we have to pull a lever. First, as I couldn't find a way to distract them, I used the rest of my medikits that weren't used for the unbelievable amount of traps, or the fire switches at the start, or some high falls in the ramps room. But after some time I found out there was a invisible lever in this room (at least for us players, as it can be found in a gap close to the wall where I have been before, but the lever remained untouched because I couldn't (means wasn't able to, even if I tried to) see it. Only with binoculars maybe. Why? And finally, this level ends with the most boring thing in a level. A dark and confusing maze with even a high up jumplever to find. Some areas looked pretty the same (why?), so it took some time to finally end this level. Without these "whys" the gameplay rating would exactly be the double of what it is now, and the LT one also would be much higher. So I have to end this level. And I hope in the builder's next level there aren't (so m)any whys. I think that he has a lot of potential." - manarch2

"This Egyptian themed level is constantly dark. I hope your computer screen can get bright. Thankfully there are quite a few packs of flares in addition to two torches (though the torches are not just for show). On top of that there are barely any camera cues, so it is hard to figure out what a switch did, leaving the player to wander around until Lara stumbles onto something (literally). If that wasn't enough, there is a game-stopping timed run because the underwater switch can only be pulled once...and unless you plan very far ahead, you need to traverse this route several times, but cannot. I was fortunate to find a place to use the corner bug so I wasn't stuck forever. The only thing that saves the level is some of the interesting action sequences, such as one where you pull switches to construct a timed bridge. The large room with the three ramps had an interesting design to it too. For all its confusion, it only took me 40 minutes to get through, but it felt much longer." - SSJ6Wolf

"Not so bad this egypt level with variety of tasks and dangerous underground areas. I was stucked with the cartouche and the hand in the inner areas till I found the crowbar in the water room. The same defect as many other levels: excessive darkness in many rooms and very few flares force you to use a bunch of them to explore and then reload to save flares and do the tasks; evenmore, the flare bug appeared in the big room with the large ramps. No properly beta tested I think. Another features indicate an effort behind; even so, I found very few enemies and no much work for cameras and sounds. With some touches after a good beta testing, this level could be rated higher; I see potential in this author." - Jose

"This Egypt level could have been a pleasant one to play if it wasn't for the bad lighting and a couple of other annoyances. There was an underwater door that finally opened after about thirty reloads, a timed switch that would not reset and of course the lack of light. Had I played this the usual way, I would have been out of flares within the first third of the level, so I resorted to the exploring an area with flares, remembering where things were and then replay the segment without them trying to conserve for later. Honestly, that is not a very enjoyable game play. Other than that there were no big challenges, a bug attack in a room with deadly floor, lion heads to shoot with the shotgun (I missed the revolver) and a timed fire pillar run. I did like the combination trap on top of the ramp with boulder and blade doors, but did not really enjoy the final maze with the sudden ending. The room design was compact and looked OK in the areas where there was enough light and from what I could see the texturing looked alright in most areas although decoration was kept on the minimal side. Only very few enemies were placed here and there so there was not much to do in the fighting department. As far as for secrets - I didn't find anything. I am sure the builder tried to make this level atmospheric by making it so dark, but most players do not enjoy running around without being able to see anything and only have limited amount of flares available. Recommended only if you can play in a really dark room and have a bright monitor. (50 min, 0 secrets found)" - Blue43

"This could have been a very pleasing level, the gameplay has promise, the areas look good (those you can actually see!) and there's plenty of imagination used. But, and it's an enormous but, the whole thing was ruined by the awful lighting. There were other problems, illegal slopes, flare bugs, door bugs, but the main problem was the lighting. In the 'Read me' the builder states that it is a dark level and that the players should adjust their monitors. Well, I've got a large, fairly new monitor and it was unplayable even with all the adjustment possible including the graphic card adjustments. I had to play it on my wife's computer which had an identical monitor but a slightly better graphics card, here it was just playable. What about all the players out there with budget computers and older monitors? A level should be accessible to all players, irrespective of the cost of their equipment. It is possible to have moody, atmospheric, gloomy even eerie lighting without it being too dark to play as many builders have shown time after time. I don't know if the builder used Beta testers but they should have thrown up these problems before release. OK, grumpy old man rant over. Taken as a whole, with the problems fixed, this should have been a level that I would have enjoyed playing as the builder obviously has some excellent ideas as well as some sneaky ones. Pity really." - Diz

"There are good things one can say before beginning any kind of rant. The level shows a clever intellect in the gameplay. Lara sees a sideways jump switch at the start that is impossible to reach as she slides past it, so that players start wondering from the beginning. There are flame emitters and some players (me) may wonder if Lara is supposed to throw the impossible short-timed flame switch and then run into nearby water. Actually the author has provided a better way to escape damage. Still near the beginning there are a series of timed trapdoors, but it is futile for Lara to run down them, as the gate at the end is shut. Yet this appears to be the only exit. Again the author has been pleasantly devious. Taken as a whole, there is a lot going on throughout this level, which some may appreciate. I found it impossible to enjoy because there were virtually no camera shots of what switches or levers did. I tried repeatedly, searching, hearing trapdoors falling open in a large three-ramp room, and I still have no idea what levers did. Almost everywhere this level is not just dark, it is obscenely dark, and in this large three-ramp room a flare bug kicked in, so Lara was left helpless to maneuver. Lara had to jump into a triangular passageway, an illegal slope against a vertical wall, and work along this to use a wall lever. Since when did illegal slopes become an integral part of play? For the longest time I thought Lara trapped because I couldn't believe that that was a real route. The author does something similar elsewhere, where Lara is forced to swim across a ledge toward a gate, when any other level designer would consider that an error. The author uses a timed underwater ceiling lever, something no one else does because this lever cannot be reset; players who fail to do everything here on the first try are stuck if they continue elsewhere and overwrite their saves. Too many places are cramped, dark, and confused. There is a large dark maze at the end as the final blow to any player clinging to a shred of hope that this will end well. The author has a lot of potential with unexpected (and good) sneaky tricks, but has completely misguided ideas about level designing, as the faults appear to have been deliberately introduced. Took a couple of days to play because of the darkness and the confusion about levers." - dmdibl

"I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to wince when I see a debut Egypt level, thinking it's likely to be a chore to get through, especially since the author's readme indicates that it's a dark level. How nice it is to be proved wrong from time to time. Yes, it has its faults and it is very dark in places (and it really didn't help when the flare bug kicked in), but I still found myself really enjoying the gameplay, full of admirable sneakiness and misdirection, which will necessitate you engaging your brains, plus a good variety of tasks to accomplish, including some timed elements. It seems pretty well built, apart from missing textures from time to time, and exploring is pleasant in the better lit areas. Enemies are few and far between, which is just as well really, given the deep gloom of certain parts. I feel this builder will be one to watch out for in future, but I really would urge the use of a good beta tester next time." - Jay

"This level could be a good level if he was not so dark about wide distances. Ordinarily I play with brighter settings. Though this decreases in many Levels a little bit the atmosphere, but on the contrary can I recognise everything better and need less Flares. But even with these brighter settings the level is too dark definitively. This is a real pity, because, actually, the level is not so bad at all. The rooms look good, the textures are applied cleanly (so far I could recognise this), the tasks are not difficult and with the time run the inclined player has enough time. However, it would have been better if the level builder had used another time run lever, namely a lever which one can use several times. One can use this lever only once and if one has not completely on top raised the raising block first, one cannot deactivate the fire on the fire blocks any more. This is, in principle, no problem, because the corners of the fire blocks are safe, thus one can jump again upwards. However, it points that the level builder has not properly planned and built this part. This can happen with a debut level absolutely, however, it is also a hint that the level was possibly not tested, because the testers would have noted such a thing certainly.
Summary: There are two things which the level builder should change if he wants to build even more levels., On the one hand, his next level should be clearly brighter and on the other hand he should allow to test his level. Apart from that is he on the right track." - Scottie