Level reviews

"Definitely not what I was expecting, but still a fun raid filled with neat effects. Not many enemies in here, other than a few dogs and the titular hydras, although the minisub can catch you offguard especially while trying to climb out of water. There are a few new animations as well and this one in particular seems to take a while before it finally launches Lara to the ladder. The mirror sequence was quite elaborate but should pose no challenge if you opt for the D&G guided experience, which there is no reason you shouldn't, as that will also take you to the bonus level which was short but quite unexpected. Visually, thanks to the schools of fish in the main area and the general wind effects, plus the high quality textures and objects obviously, this holds up pretty well. 55 minutes, 4 secrets. 10/25" - Treeble

"Another very interesting level of Drakan and I can say that this one is very fun and surreal at the same time, I think it's the first time I've seen a builder use this submarine (I strongly believe it's from TRC in the Russian levels but I'm not sure) and they are very deadly and try to avoid it as much as possible, the challenges can make you break your head despite being simple, the lighting here is good and also very colorful, simple and efficient but battling with the hydras if you don't know the trick to kill them quickly you will be stuck here for a long time. apart from that the secrets are pretty easy to get a silly level bonus :P the game isn't as hard as it looks and the gameplay is pretty easy. i recommend it for all players. 1h04m,4/4 secrets." - PedroCroft_

"Would be more immersive if it wasn't almost exclusively made of rectangles. Would be also more satisfying if that yellow sumbarine guy could be kapoof'd at some point. We mostly circle around and inside a single room but finding nice features on the way, including some bonus artifacts. There seems to be no main prize unless it's killing the hydras, but the secret bonus is rewarding instead. Difficulty is all right except from the mirror room key which requires too much luck to understand. I think you can give this one a try but note it's often veeeery slow." - DJ Full

"This level was enjoyable but definitely not among the very best. The gameplay proposes some innovation thanks to TRNG, like the air current making Lara fly, but there's nothing memorable in the long run. The objective is rather easy with no noteworthy puzzle or platforming sequence. The first mirror room appeared to be useles, but I saw later in the walkthrough that I missed the shotgun that was camouflaged on the floor of a very similar colour. The first secret was easier to find than the main path, which involved a clever way to avoid a flame in front of a ladder. The custom animation from water to ladder was weird with Lara shaking before climbing from the water to the ladder. Also, several attempts are needed for her to finally climb out of the water. That would have been less problematic if it wasn't for the submarine shooting missiles at Lara. The same submarine blocks the exit of a long underwater tunnel later on. Should have placed a box to prevent enemies from entering and have it wait outside to ambush Lara. Enemies have weird changes to their attack and health. I've been one-shoted by a dog and the knights were simply tedious to kill, as well as the hydras that kept their huge life pool from TR5. I'm curious as to how those elements from TR5 were added to the game as they worked quite well. The atmosphere is monotonous in this castle and as other already have said, the tone of the level is inconsistent with exploding dogs, hydras and submarines mixed together. The texts in blue comic sans were a bit unaesthetic and the comments showing up distracting. The gifts Making Lara fly is fun but over-emphasising on it doesn't add anything to the game, it even breaks immersion. Most of the statics were not coloured with the room ambient light. The bonus level was something... unexpected, but a nice touch. Overall, it's a level worth playing but that won't stay in memories as other can." - TimJ

"This was mostly quite an enjoyable level, although I personally wouldn't have ranked it among the very very best levels out there. It is really good, no doubt about it, but it was possibly just a little overrated for me. There are some nice next-generation effects included like the wind tunnels and some text hints, but the level may have been better if these effects weren't so many, as I got just a bit distracted by them. Gameplay is quite nicely varied, with some platforming, trap avoidance and some nicely paced enemy attacks. I also enjoyed the unique twist on the standard mirror room puzzle and the boss fight against the giant head from TR5 (seeing as both are rare occurrences in custom levels). I did encounter a couple of game crashes in that boss fight though, so watch out. The environments are well constructed considering their theme, although it doesn't really come together in a clear cut fashion. The bonus level was admittedly a nice though short addition for finding all secrets. Overall, not among the very best out there (in my opinion), but very playable and a worthwhile effort." - Ryan

"Drakan never fails to produce visually appealing levels and The Lair of Hydras is no exception. Lighting & texturing are excellent, as is the use of objects. Of notable inclusion here was the rocket firing scuba guy in the first room, not seen that before...and rather deadly! The rest of the game play consists of classical TR elements with nudged a bit outside the edge with little twists like pushing a ball back out of a pool to trigger a falling platform. The rising vapour rooms that let you do long jumps were a nice touch too. If I were to be critical, I think the encounters with both the hydras & the floating Roman head from TR5 were perhaps a little too easy. If you manage to collect all 4 secrets (4 golden dragons) you also get treated to a brief bonus level set in one of Lara's nightmares!. All in all i netted 1 hour 40 mins from Lair Of Hydras. It's another fine level here from Drakan certainly one for your play-list Recommended. Stiggy :)" - TheStig

"The theme here seems a little overly incoherent to me; you've got high-tech Submarines, strange exploding Dogs, and texturing that's technically good but doesn't really come together into a true sense of place. The closest I can say is that it has an "Imprisoned Spirits" style, but it doesn't quite fit into that category either. Despite that the new objects are technically great in their execution (although it was easy to get one pushable boulder stuck), and there's some nice new functions to certain things.
Gameplay is a nice mix of challenges. I can't say there was anything especially stand-out but it's all enjoyable and flows well if you're observant, outside of some vague object functions and an overly hidden underwater opening. There's an easily hit illegal slope one spike jump did seemed like a massive jump in difficulty from the rest (although it was one of the last tasks). The secrets are also worth finding for the short and amusing bonus level. A good level, but I don't think it's on par with most other ~9.5 scoring levels." - Mman

"I have no idea why this level is classified as 'Egypt' - there is nothing remotely Egyptian about it, and as far as I can make out, it's set in a castle of sorts. The location is pretty nice in itself - the main chamber is particularly impressive, and even the dungeons look good due to the contrast of the pale yellow fog and blue lighting. There are occasionally far too many long empty corridors, but otherwise the setting is great. The upbeat music that plays whenever Lara dies is a real mood killer, though.
There are some nice puzzles, such as one involving pushing a rollingball across uneven ground (I didn't even realize that was possible), as well as several enjoyable traps and plenty of fun platforming. There are a number of new TRNG features included in this level - a few too many, IMO, as they wind up making this level feel more like a test level for these features rather than a coherent level in itself. That said, I did enjoy seeing Mr. Laser Head again (i.e. the laser shooting gladiator head enemy from Trajan's Markets in TR5); Lara's wind-assisted jumps were fun; and the various new types of mirrors were cool, especially the 'inverted' mirror. The enemy submarine, on the other hand, felt like a weird addition, as it makes no sense in the context of the level. I don't normally care if a level tells a story or not - just 'Lara hunts for X artefact' is good enough for me. But apart from avowedly surreal/fantasy levels, I do expect levels to have some sort of coherence in terms of setting, enemies and story - which unfortunately is lacking here, as I spent a lot of time wondering just what Lara is supposed to be doing here ... wherever 'here' may be.
The four secrets are easy enough to get - though the fourth one can be obtained only by using a bug move, which is why I didn't get it, wrongly thinking there would be a legal way to get it later. So I had to use a savegame from the walkthrough to access the bonus level, which is extremely short but cute. No doubt Lara's nightmares are often along such lines!
Overall: An enjoyable level, albeit a somewhat incoherent one." - Mytly

"I have to join in with Nicky here - in that I find this to be a delightful little 60 minute raid, but am a little perplexed why exactly it took the other reviewers in a storm, or least of all, why there haven't been more dissenting voices so far? But before I get into that, one has to give credit for the aspects that work well - the gameplay flows beautifully, with helpful in-game prompts giving you clues for the less intuitive innovations, the fun telekinetic pushable box puzzle, the assisted jumps over streams of air, nice use of traps and custom animations, the cool TR5 enemies, and the overall pleasant castle indoors setting. However, some of the innovations don't really fit the level in their current state at all and make it come across as eclectic or wanting to throw razzle-dazzle in the player's face. Unless it's some inside joke I haven't picked up on (or simply am not 'in' in the joke), I don't understand why the dogs had to explode when dying. The submarine guarding the waters was a nice challenge to spicen up the underwater parts, but completely out of place thematically in what I assume was not intended to be a modern setting. And whoever came up with the idea of playing an overly dramatic choir sound effect when Lara dies deserves to be spanked. The overall presentation has a feeling of naivete to it - with the dreaded Comic Sans font, the cheerful messages, and the mix of odd elements - and it can be both endearing or feel like lacking a style depending on how you look at it. Neither of this makes this game bad - I merely would've enjoyed it a great deal more if it wasn't so undecided what it wants to be - a showcase of the power of new TRNG features disguised as a level, or a proper level that uses those features to enhance and improve what it already has. Still, it's fun to play, and manages to be exciting without being confusing. The 4 secrets are not that hard to find, and the brief bonus level gave me a chuckle." - eTux

"I don't know why this level has got such a high rating. The only thing I would call special is the creative use of new objects. The setting technically well done but bland and repetitive in a way, and nowhere in this level one can see a genius twist in the gameplay or clever constructions of the rooms. Don't get me wrong, this level is good, but a rating between 8/9 would put it in a better comparison to real masterpieces." - Nicky

"In hindsight this has been quite a nice adventure even if I came to a complete stop almost around every corner. Gameplay was very well designed even if some of the new moves need quite some TLC, the"get out of the water on the ladder" move is one. Found a nice shortcut meaning that I didn't had to schlepp a block all the way through a room, just put it under the jump lever, that did the trick. Had some crashes when reloading a savegame from the second mirror room. Couldn't get one secret in the room where one had to jump to the ladder with an emitter, pity though, so no joke level for me. I am glad that this time around there was no demo first LOL." - Gerty

"Loved it! Not too easy, not too tough, a must for every TR level player. I have no idea why on earth it has the "Egypt" indication for since if it's Egypt, then anything could be Egypt. Why not call it "nc" or anything else, which seems to much more appropriate? The author uses some things I'd seen before in one way or another, namely the wind to transport Lara along further distances, Lara being able to grab the ceiling from a ladder, being able to grab a ladder from the water or managing to keep pulling a boulder, I loved that too. Not to mention the exploding dogs. The central room with the shooting sub and the finding of four scarabs (it still doesn't make it Egypt) to get the key bridge, the mechanical serpents or hydras, that mechanical head with the eyes as a weak point, all the turnarounds and turnabouts, traps, puzzles, the perfect sceneries and the general atmosphere, I loved it all. I was afraid I wouldn't manage to get the four dragons to get to the extra joke level but I did. It must last like 30 seconds, not counting the animations, but it's worth it too. I believe this deserves a perfect score of tens, sorry if not everyone agrees. Very well done and not at all frustrating. A medal of honour indeed." - Jorge22

"I am a great fan of Joel's levels and this one is no exception. It is quite a showcase of what is possible these days with the new tools available to the capable builders out there. It oozes atmosphere in places, but it also has a few passages which seem a little bland and rushed. Gameplay is actually distinctly different as you go through the 90 minute adventure. It starts more explorative in nature and once you get that vital key turns into a bit more challenging trap and enemy festival that will test the skills of the more junior raiders out there possibly to their limits. I did enjoy both parts, but still felt things were a bit out of balance and hence felt almost over-constructed to prove a point. I love all the little special effects and the floating head enemy was a great moment to overcome (albeit not very hard to do even without the added help of the pit). Either way, a very special adventure that is not to be missed!" - MichaelP

"I enjoyed this level a lot. It's shorter than the builder's previous level Barkhang's Nostalgy but I enjoyed it just as much if not even more. The gameplay was great but very challenging in some areas. I only needed the walkthrough 2-3 times. The submarine in the main area was slightly annoying though but it was not too much of a problem. Finding the 4 golden beetles was very entertaining and the puzzles were great to solve. The only area I had a lot of problem on was the spike rooms. Those were very hard! The builder also manageed to get great atmosphere in this level and the textures were placed perfectly in my opinion. I only managed to get 1 secret but I hopefully would get them all the next time I play. A very great enjoyable level and I am really looking forward to the builder's next fantastic level." - afzalmiah

"This was a pretty and innovative small adventure. I liked the puzzles, especially the one with black creatures that crawled into the cages. I also liked the pits with white wind blowing and the mirror rooms. The rooms overall are well-lighted with beautiful fog effects but often quite empty, some more decorations and furniture would make the level more rich and fresh. The blue texts that appeared every now and then were quite unnecessary in my opinion and the yellow submarine was really annoying. (I loved the group of fish in the pool, though!) The background sounds fit excellently the level's dreamy atmosphere. I enjoyed spending those 45 minutes with this level, recommendations!" - Valdive

"This level was just stellar. Innovative gameplay, interesting and challenging puzzles and a great looking environment. I really enjoyed this level from start to finish. Excellent job, Drakan!" - Shandroid

"As expected, Drakan plays souvereignly on the TR-machine creating stunning effects. E.g the player finds wind-rooms that make Lara jump higher an farther or under-water-trapdoors never seen before. Gameplay is quite creative and fluent. A guy in a submarine is annoying Lara while she has to collect and place some beetles in a main room before she meets some hydras. Some jumps in a spikeroom are a bit challenging, but not that hard. As the game seems to be built at the limits of the engine, it's a bit buggy. My game crashed several times. All in all: an other high quality-level as expected." - Christian

"To me, this is what raiding is all about. Nice environs with ebnough light to see them plainly, crisp gameplay that's sufficiently challenging without causing undue frustration, and an unexpected innovation here and there. There's a rarely-seen animation to mount a ladder while head-deep in water, and the second recent use (also in The 13th Floor) of a bad guy whose eyes need to be shot out before he kills you with deadly rays. Dutchy's walkthrough tells you how to kill the hydras efficiently, and by using his method (I used the pistols, didn't take long) you're never in danger of being immolated. The bonus level is a brief nightmare which comes to an end when Lara reaches the end of a monkey swing before she reaches her destination. All good fun, and I hope we see more levels like this one. Highly recommended." - Phil

"I loved playing this game: a one room challenge with diversity all over it. The main room was pretty entertaining, the submarine was always chasing after, but it was not particularly annoying. I liked the flying parts and the humour sentences used (thanks for that). The puzzles are varied and the fact that you can get the secrets any time was pretty convinient. The new movement was really usefull and all in all this game was complete and magnificent. And the bonus level was just the final laught for the amazing level (although I was sad it was so short). Good job!" - Minaru

"God, what is this place ? The design is absolutely unique and breathtaking. We recognize Drakan's style, especially with its colored lightings. Textures have high quality. Gameplay is composed of two parts. First you need to collect four gold beetles in areas built around a lake, in which a dangerous submarine is swimming (great idea !). When placing the beetles at the center of the lake, two bridges slide and allow us to enter the second part, where we meet hydras. There is also a boss fight ! There are nice innovations in terms of gameplay, with TRNG features, such passages where Lara can fly. Another good point in this level is the sense of humor of the author. The history, for example, is very ironic. There are also several funny comments from Lara and we can collect bonus item throughout the level. If you manage to collect all the secrets, you will discover an interesting "joke level". Beautiful work, Drakan, I can't wait for your next level !" - Kosmos

"Gameplay&puzzles= really nice, I loved the blast of air. I the puzzles and enigma. Bref, it was really good ^^ Ennemies, Objects&secrets: I liked the horseman and the creature, I don't really like the sudmarine, but It's just a detail. Atmosphere sound & camera: I loved the myst in the main room, sounds were nice and cameras too. Lighting&textures: textures were perfect lighting was ingenious. I recommand players, to have a try, this level is really enjoyable!" - Lara_Fox_Croft

"A new adventure for Lara in a very special place. Lara is hidden in a secret underground lair and the objectiv is to kill the 3 Hydras of the game. We are an exellent gameplay not really difficult and because of that the level is playable by everyone. It is also not really dark and the lighting is just exellent, I really enjoying the yellow light around the central tower. Nice idea and it's in the very end we discovered the secret of this light ... nice effect also. The are also a few new enemies like the knight templars and the "explosiv wolf"^^ and some werewolfs in their cages ... but nothing impossible to kill even the Hydra ... there are most stupid than other thing ^^ and very funny to kill. I also really this the small submarine, we dont kwnow exactly why it is in the lair ... maybe a bodygard for the hydra ^^. There are alos a small bonus level for the secrets hunters and 3 littles gifts. TO CONCLUDE: AN EXELLENT LEVEL by another french author, very funny moments (the bonus level is so great^^)and a nice experience with NGLE. Thanks a lot Jo for this game." - BigFoot

"What can I say about this one ..... first off all it has perfect graphics .. visuals are stunning ... the rest ?? not so.... ok, it is a good game with some new moves. But with bugs too ... I needed a savegame cause I was not able to jump grab a platform without freezing the game ... the bug was present close to the end the end was a bit disappointing ... open a door and if you have all 4 secrets put them in for the bonus level ... thats all ... The submarine which hunts you at the start of the game was ingenious ... all in all an enjoyable game ..... without being something extraordinary." - Jack&

"An exceptionally good level. The author's last two releases (Memories of Steampunk Fashion, Barkhang's Nostalgy) got nearly perfect scores from me, and were great fun to play, so I came to this expecting a lot. This showcases special features and effects produced by the newest Next Generation engine, but somehow I thought play was a shade less interesting than previous releases, and I'm not sure if it's despite the emphasis on effects, or because of it. I had a little trouble getting started, but then switched my monitor to full 1920x1080 resolution. The visuals are much better widescreen, and within seconds I spotted a small underwater crevice. I had no trouble getting seven of the four secrets. There is a section with lifting hot air currents, and three large colorful vases where Lara gets a secret. Then Lara lost the secret. She exits by hot air currents, and sees through bars that the secret Golden Crocodile is restored to its original place. I finally realized what what was happening. After the hot air currents, if Lara goes right to the vases she keeps the secret. If Lara goes left and dives in water the secret is removed. She doesn't even have to follow the water passage to a new area, just starting to go left takes away the secret. Is this deliberate, or is it a glitch? This could be a gag, as there is a lot of humor in this level, including onscreen comments, to a very brief bonus level, awarded for finding all secrets. Appearance and design are all top quality, so any criticism is mostly quibbles. There is a miniature submersible firing torpedoes at Lara in a starting water area. At the end Lara lures the sub into long water passages, and leaves it there. I might have preferred to lose the sub in the middle of the game. Pushing a ball up a step is good. Lara can instantly transport (although maybe she shouldn't--one of my quibbles). There is a good boss fight, and for players who haven't tackled She, the strategies to fight it will be novel. Another reviewer has written, "I particularly like the epic choir when Lara dies." I was going to write that the worst part was that stupid epic choir. This is mostly because the author put a spike tile on a walkway overlooking a room with three spike pillars. The puzzle and jumps here are good, but not the spike tile on the walkway. There are new moves such as Lara pulling directly from water to a ladder, a nice monkey swing puzzle, and a new take on a mirror room with not reflection, but axis of rotation [used in TR1 Atlantis]. Took me two hours to play. Outstanding." - dmdibl

"Another excellent work from Drakan. This time I enjoyed it more than his previous BtB level, not so complex but very entertaining. Really professional. You can find here all you can expect from a well-done custom level: beautiful scenarios, original puzzles and tasks not too hard, marvellous special effects, action, traps, dangers... even the help to kill the final boss was a very good detail. The four golden dragons are not difficult to find, but the bonus level is not really a level, but only an epilogue. Thank you Drakan, I've enjoyed it a lot! Highly recommended." - Jose

"I absolutely loved this game - it just seemed to have all the ingredients that make me a Happy Raider. For a start, it looks fantastic and I admit the eye candy is a large part of my raiding pleasure. Luckily, the gameplay is equally appealing, as Lara goes in search of four beetles, involving a good variety of tasks/traps/puzzles and enemies with everything aimed at the medium difficult level. There are some new animations, most fun of which is the 'low gravity' effect where Lara can fly over large gaps (accompanied by some amusing comments on screen). As well as dealing with hydras, Lara has to kill some exploding dogs, knights, try and keep clear of a submarine in a pool area and shoot the eyes of the head monster at the end. If you find all four secret gold hippos (oh, all right then, crocodiles) you can access a brief bonus level - do try, it's really funny. I also found three 'gifts' along the way, but I have no idea of their significance. Still, we all like gifts, don't we?" - Jay

"This short level is really nice. Lighting and texturing are perfect. This level isn't really difficult to play, I stucked 15 min at the beginning with a complex jump, but no problem later. Approximately 1 hour of game for me. Player must discovered 4 secrets to reach an hidden level. I like this kind of Bonus. Drakan continues to use performances of TRNG (thanks to mention me). This time we have exploding dogs (lol), pushable rollingballs, mirrors, some objects from TRChronicles. News papers (wink at the world cup in 1998?!) and flowers integrations are so funny and now we know that: Lara can fly ^^. I like this kind of offbeat humour integrates in an oppressive atmosphere. Very good job! I'm looking forward to play next level from this talented builder." - m.julien

"This is a fairly nice level, not too linear, not too complex, lasting about an hour, with modern stuff throughout the whole game. The atmosphere is just about right with great texturing and lighting - not a single mistake throughout and a great variety, hence the perfect score; but it suffers a little bit from a few parts where there was no sound usage. The gameplay at start was not so much varied with finding a few levers, solving an easy but nice block puzzle and killing fairly too many enemies - the variety in them was great though -, but it gets harder and more varied later on with tough spike walls, spike pillars and with a boss fight against the head statue at the end. More than once this game reminded on Taras's She game because some of the features are used in both games (seemingly by chance), as the wind machine or the underwater trapdoor. But there were also a few gameplay problems later on, as one can skip raising the block in the mirror room by simply pushing the box under the jumpswitch, the intended though rather clever way to kill the head is not really necessary if you are only quick and the U-boat was making me being stuck in the passage after returning from the boss fight. Four secrets to find along the way that mostly served as a nice challenge as you see where they are and "only" have to find out how to get them, and when you found all four you'll get to see a nice little bonus level that the builder correctly classified as "joke" - it was indeed a funny one. Well done!" - manarch2

"This level feels quite a bit like TR Underworld in terms of it's atmosphere and texturing. The stone is quite damp looking and the correct stone textures are used for floors and walls etc. The objects are quite good, although the pillars look a little like giant chess pieces! They do suit the level though. A 'new' feature is picking items such as crowbars and medipacks off a wall. I like how some corners have pillars as it makes it look less blocky. With regards to sound, I particularly like the epic choir when Lara dies. The background sounds are not overwhelming, just general ambience and crickets here and there. There's a new animation for climbing a climbable wall straight out of water - always annoys me not being able to do that, sadly however, regarding animations, the death animation for Lara when she's killed by mutants is wrong. First thing to do is making water (or is it just wind?) blow through a grate, which allows you to be blown up to a high ledge, here we have what looks like the most tedious jump ever, but is simple if you jump into the corner. Next we have the showpiece of the game, a large beautifully designed area with a pool of water which contains numerous fish, and a submersible which fires at you. The central area is particularly nice and is shrouded in mist, it has a few very large windows and balcony. You have to pull an underwater lever and work your way up and around the structure. The colour scheme here is very deep and powerful, with plenty of natural colours and very detailed stone and brick and granite textures, the water is the right colour too as normal water wouldn't usually be perfect blue. I also like the cages surrounding some areas - looks like it's rusted a bit. There's even a sort of waterspout working it's way around. One of the side areas, we have a few spikes, a dog to kill - this is an exploding dog funnily enough, poisonous mutants in cages, now the last thing you'd expect is that they'd be friendly but they are! They take care of knights for you and you collect and place their keys which lowers blocks so you can stand on, then make a block move which gets charged up and raises another block allowing you access to a beetle. Back to the main zone, and this beetle gives you access to the central structure. Then access to another sub section leading off, this is quite fun as you jump into a window current and get blown across. There's a wall climb, switches, trapdoor and push block to sort out here. All reveals access to a very nice little golden dragon to pickup, then you have to close trapdoor, monkey swing, lower another block to get your second beetle, then backtrack and place it in it's slot. I like the vase objects in this game - there's plenty of crystal ones, and brightly coloured ones. You have to go back to the area with the wind currents, as yet another section leads of this section, you have to do a fairly tricky jump to get into it, but there's not a great deal done here, just more water, a trapdoor, a pair of glasses (?), and use a lever to turn on some more wind which you can use to propel yourself across a gap, allowing the pickup of yet another beetle, again to be placed in the central area. The final beetle lies after an underwater tunnel whose door you need to pull open. The area consists of a large rocky central area, with a deep pit which almost seems to go down forever and smaller columns to stand upon. I like how they have rotated 2 window objects to give the appearance of a circular window. There's some moderately challenging jumps here, one of which seems to get in the way of the door which opens. Then we find ourselves with another golden dragon, then a jump near some flames, and we collect the final beetle. Once placed, we collect the bridge key, I love the camera shot which seems to drop down from the top of the screen - good work! Once you place the key, some bridges appear allowing Lara further chances to explore. I like the stair case on one side, this is normally much steeper than Lara can usually manage but it looks like they've used dummy triggers to create a sort of conveyor belt. Here lies a very dangerous creature - the Hydra. The corridor leading to him is nicely done with mirrors on either side and frames the creature quite well. He's quite easy to kill as long as you keep shooting. There's a key hanging on a rope, you then fight a knight. Unfortunately, I saved and reloaded in this room, and it crashed, I had another save though. Anyway, this room is huge, or is it? No, it's just the mirrors giving it this effect, you pull a well hidden block onto a square which raises a block giving you access to a monkey swing. Another thing I've not seen before is climbable rising blocks. Hidden flowers was a nice find. More fun here with another hydra, and a jump over flames and breakable tile - this latter bit is just tedious - why do builders see the need to design sequences like this which require about 50 tries? I managed this by jumping to the collapsible then very forcibly jumped to the ledge opposite, then a switch, and then backtracking, a rolling ball is pushed, that's another thing I've not seen before - looks really good, and you have to push it to force a platform down. We have some moving spikes afterwards which look like they've been designed from scratch, even the sound is custom made, really like these, you should sprint through these but take steps back before doing so, then once this is complete, there's a very sci fi sounding soundtrack, for a room full of columns and timed spikes. Collect a football magazine here. Had a crash if I jumped into mid air here. The spikes are quite difficult to avoid so I shimmied around the edges. The final main task is to destroy a head by shooting it's 2 eyes. I'm really impressed with this release, may be several specific tasks to annoy you but well worth playing, and bug or two to contend with (unless that's just my system). Graphics are perfect, sound could do with a little more variation but quite good. Net gameplay 1 hour 45." - sonnyd83

"Another great level of Drakan, this time it happens in an imaginary setting where we discover magnificent As to a lot of pleasant surprises for the eyes and for the atmosphere level. The author has also incorporated humor in its gameplay and you smile often. We discover that Lara exploits worthy of Superman and I must say I was very amused. The gameplay is well balanced, some difficulties are not insurmountable for most players. To summarize, it is a superb level at any point of view and we spent a great moment of pure pleasure in. I highly recommend you play it! Congratulations and big thank you to the author!" - Daffy

"Another great adventure from Drakan. This level (about one hour of gameplay) is enjoyable. It's more scifi than barkhang nostalgy but have better lightings and textures. Also i liked the new animations (especially the flying Lara). Around a central place, Lara have to deal with hydras and have to find 4 beetles. Gameplay is quite various. Recommendable." - Glouglouton