Level reviews

"I liked the music in this Venice level, it was very fitting of the environment and of course the visuals and textures were as well with plenty of variety and lovely bright or pale/light colours in a splendid late afternoon sunny atmosphere in the outside areas. Speaking of variety the gameplay certainly has lots to offer in that department starting off predictively with some item and switch finding before moving on to extensive push block tasks, key pad puzzles, target shooting tasks (some obscure,some not) torch and water pouch tasks, a "chess type puzzle" and several fun timed runs! The negatives for me was the lack of traps, enemies or dangers etc with a bit too many hidden tasks for my liking, I think some "lara look" hints would of been better rather than having to resort to looking at a walkthrough multiple times but overall a good solid level with many aspects or features to enjoy." - John

"A solid level with lots of exploration and puzzle solving. Gameplay is really enjoyable. There are many items to collect and some interesting tasks are included. Designwise it's good, however I have some mixed feelings. The city looks mostly good but the sewers not at all. They are empty, wallpapered and their lighting is weird. They drag down the level's visual quality in my opinion. Some other interior rooms could have had a more varied lighting too. Nonetheless the overall atmosphere remains nice and the level has it's own vibe. I can recommend this level. It's a fun and pleasant raid, perfect for the easter time." - BlackWolfTR

"9/10 without the last secrets, 2/10 if you go for them xD - that was my biggest rage since Perceiver's levelset... otherwise this is a chill adventure interesting with story and top-notch cramped Venetian architecture, realistic even though some rooms have a lighting seam problem, sometimes so serious it feels like if the map is wounded. The only major gameplay issue is the chess puzzle which requires you to follow the chess rules and then suddenly abandon them without a warning, so after several tries I concluded the only reasonable solution is to follow the walkthrough. Also, unfortunately this is yet another level in a myriad of those with broken sounds so I cannot give a 10 for immersion, but if you fix the problem, I will :)" - DJ Full

"A long level with a good design from an experienced builder. A lot of explorarion to find keys and items, I enjoyed the movable bookcases puzzle, but the puzzle with the movable horses was confusing for me, and the on-creen texts were not very helpful too; also I often found a lot of dead ends and get a considerable backtracking. Finally I couldn't find the last switch/lever to open the trapdoor (I assume a secret) but finished the level anyway. I love the Vivaldi musics, the flybys and cameras were properly used too but I found several texture defects here and there. Certainly a solid level worth to play to take a relaxing time. Good work." - Jose

"_*Things to note*_: There is a mechanic which the author doesn't explain, basically, when you enter certain areas you will be unable to use your weapons (or even re-equip them) until you exit out of them. So if you enter one of these areas, don't panic or think the game glitched, just exit out of the area and re-equip your weapon of choice through the menu. Secrets 2,3,6,7 are miss-able. My advise is to get secret 2 and the switch that opens the door to 6/7 before exiting out of the shop with the laser-sight, since you'll be unable to go back. Be careful with the rat in a certain place, he can lock secret secret 3 out. --- NOW FOR THE ACTUAL REVIEW... This level was pretty fun, it reminded me of "city of memory" in the sense that you have an open area which you can explore and do the tasks in the order you want, it has a pretty relaxing and pleasant Venetian atmosphere and the visuals help to create a very nice little town, though in some walls you can see the "outline" of the texture images which was somewhat off-putting but nothing major. Though the clock puzzle was somewhat cryptic. Overall, a pretty nice ride, I recommend it if you want a less "shoot-y" level with more exploration." - SeniorBlitz

"I started to play this game a month ago but I quit because I couldn't get out of the book maze and really lost my motivation to play it. Seeing the great feedback the game has I decided to give it a try again. Lara starts in a, at first look, nice designed huge open environment. I started with some basic exploring of the area and saw often very stretched textures that could be fixed with propped aligning of the wall grid. The texturing errors repeat themselves often trough the level. Another thing that I noticed are object without collision ( ships and columns ). Also, many objects here have a wrong applied light on them so they are just too dark or to bright compared to the surrounding. The inner and outside rooms of the city are often just too empty and not decorated with objects to make them feel more alive. The author uses too often shadow bulbs to create a light diversity, which is not a good way to create light ambience of a level. Sometimes light cracks can be seen. I kept exploring further and discovered a huge, empty, monotone rooms with a head on the wall. I did the timed run, but I got to a dead end. I guess I'm somewhere where I'm not supposed to be ? But why does the author let the player go so far away from the main path ? Later I discovered a room with a huge read bug warning that didn't do anything good to the atmosphere of the game. Lara often encounters huge massages on the screen that stay too long. Found a shootable lion head with a missing camera hint, so I'm not sure what it opened. Occasionally trough the game switches had missing camera hints. There are many keyholes to find in the city. I struggled a lot until I found the first key. It was placed in a huge underwater area, which is an odd way to place a key. It took me also a long period to find the right keyhole. Soon I got again to the book maze that includes painfully long pushing of cases around 10 – 15 minutes. Barely made it out. The first time I played this game I thought I had no pistols available as I couldn't draw them, which made me miss many gameplay parts. On my second try, I saw I had the pistols in the inventory, but I couldn't equipped them. It was very strange. Then, just randomly the pistols get available and I can equip them and use them. Is this a bug or something the author did on purpose ? I have no Idea, but it's played out badly. The game included too much key collecting and remembering where something was. The use of the lasersight was not very predictable. The huge maze was another thing I didn't quite enjoyed. The game ends in the room where the bug warning was. I left the game with mixed feeling. I think the game is a bit too cryptic in the gameplay category, too much key collecting, remembering where something was, too easy to differ from the main path with gameplay task being often not that interesting. The overall design was nice, but generally seemed too basic for the rating it has. Light and texturing was, again, too basic with many flaws. I can't even praise the atmosphere too much. It didn't push me to play the game. I still recommend the game, but there are far better Venice styled games than this one. When I take a look at levels with similar rating like ˝one day in venice˝, ˝Relic˝, ˝black lodge˝, ˝Knight of cydonia˝, this one seems overrated and way below them. My rating will be also based on comparison of other venice levels." - Gorty

"I really loved the design of this Easter level set in Venice. It's quite possibly one of the loveliest iterations of Venice I've ever seen and I spent a pleasurable 75 minutes taking in the surroundings and being foxed by the puzzles and timed runs. A couple of those timed runs were quite challenging, although possible to do without much frustration and there are some nice text hints throughout the level to guide you through what your next task will be. Sounds and cameras are really well executed and the seven secrets require some additional preparation beforehand, although I was a bit disappointed that the crawlspace maze only hid a secret and not something more and I would have liked to figure out what to do with that toy elephant. Nonetheless, this was an absolute treat." - Ryan

"This is a very lovely Venetian level, that you should play! The Vivaldi music is magnificent and very well placed, the storyline is sound and entertaining, with a touch of Shakespeare at the end and even a funny version of a Cat's Lost Paradise. Objects are also very nice, with special mention to that cute mini-elephant. The gameplay is slightly damaged by a labyrinthic map (my Lara became lost a lot of times), and I would also mention that the rat's sequence, although creative, let the rat's role a little mysterious, for in my game a block went down and Lara could pick up the Easter Egg without entering the rat's hole and using the lever; she didn't have to deal with the rat at all! But we certainly have here a creative and sound game, and a joyful Easter Time with Lara." - Josey

"I hadn't realized how prolific this builder is. "Charades" clocks in at #19, and after a brief apprenticeship her levels have consistently earned stellar numbers. This one is no exception, and everything in it clicked for me (well, except maybe for that maze near the end, which serves no purpose other than providing the last two secrets). That double timed run was especially exhilarating, forcing me to save along the way in numerous slots before I finally conquered it. Only to find, I might add, just another secret for all that invested effort. I have a built-in bias for Venice levels in any event, and the surroundings here were pure ecstasy on the eyes. Dutchy's walkthrough made things much easier for me, but even with its help I spent more than an hour and a half making my way through the canals, alleys, sewers and shops. There's much to do here, and I can practically guarantee you'll have a grand time. High recommendations." - Phil

"Excellent. I loved the design and the overall atmosphere, colours and lighting very much included. It's a discovery/puzzle-based, peaceful level (no enemies included - who needs them, anyway?) and I I was struck at how much (and so mind-boggling at times) can be done in such a relatively small area. It all seemed pretty solid to me in spite of never having gotten to use the jump switch near the cats square or (I'm assuming they may be connected) ever getting that famous trapdoor in the garden open. A really lovely Venice level as it is." - Jorge22

"With any new release of this builder you can be sure to get an enjoyable, touching and creative release and that alone makes me always hope for a new level of her. This is no different; it has a very nice layout that despite being somewhat maze-like doesn't leave you running up and down (only if you search for some of the well hidden objects) again and again. There are also some nice little puzzles that spice the thing up, like the knight pushable and the clock puzzle (though it indeed should've been more precise), although I believe that apart of those the level is a bit less inspired in the puzzles department and relies slightly too much on exploration and finding items. A minor thing is that using the two levers to partially flood the cellar area is not needed at all as you can fill the waterskin elsewhere. The seven secrets, of which I still couldn't find one, were highly enjoyable to find though, and all hidden either very sneakily or with some added challenge like a rather labourous double timed run or finding five levers spread across the whole map to open the path for the secret. The storyline is very cut and supported very sweetly by cutscenes, customized objects and texts. The level is not only nice to play, it also features a good atmosphere with a lot of details and decent texturing and lighting overall - although sometimes there's a slight wallpapered feeling, some areas are a bit squaric and the lighting in the larger canal areas is not very realistic, there are still enough well designed parts that leave a good overall feeling to the whole thing. Audio guidance and, as mentioned before, the cameras, are well done. Overall, a 50 minute long level that everybody should be able to enjoy, although it could have had even something more to it at times." - manarch2

"I really liked this well put together level. It was challenging in places - which is much better than too simple, and the secrets not too easily found. A couple of long timed-runs. Good storyline and nice Venitian textures with a few neat objects such as the mini-elephant. I didn't have any problems with program crashes. Maybe slightly dark in places and the clock time could have been more precise as that delayed quite a few people. Otherwise I had no complaints. Highly recommended." - Adrian

"Another splendid Easter Time level and in one of my favourite settings too. This incarnation of Venice is very lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed running around, which is just as well considering how confused I got. In fact I ended up starting it again since I'd become so tangled up, but I really didn't mind since the gameplay is highly entertaining. No enemies of course, but plenty of puzzles and occasional timed elements. Unless, like me, you can become easily confused, this shouldn't really cause any headaches for a reasonably experienced player. There are plenty of written narratives throughout the game and the one in 'cat square' really amused me. The ending is rather delightful too. Regrettably, I never did manage to interact with the miniature elephant - I really wanted to find something to feed it. Ah well. A must-play." - Jay