Level reviews

"A solid level immersed in a pink/red fog, with a varied gameplay: timed runs, push block puzzles, there’s a bit of everything, and some thinking is required, which I always like. I particularly enjoyed the underwater puzzle, and the final fight was a satisfying way to end the level." - Leti

"that's what i call a charm! one of the best entries so far,it's not too long which makes it not boring. i got stuck at the beginning but then i was able to move forward exploring every corner slowly the gameplay is varied and good with some timeds but i hated the push_block puzzle it was unbearable other than that it's worth every minute here,the lighting is good and that rose matched the atmosphere,the boss is very creative indeed! it's not as hard as it looks. i wish there was more exploration, the level is really short but i enjoyed my time here i recommend it to all players. 1h,20min 1 secret''. ...." - PedroCroft_

"After a lot of initial lag it calmed its frames and let me play. It's both familiar and unknown so you feel like you know what you're doing but can still be intrigued with new stuff. Misleading is a pushblock which seems to be for the current puzzle but in fact is meant for the next one, so in order to progress you need to feel like abandoning the work in the middle. Props for organic landscape and a creative and balanced bossfight - especially the latter is a rare thing. Recommended, possibly highly recommended for a rig which doesn't struggle with modern TRLE... but wait a second, isn't the fog just set to low distance while the draw distance remains high? If that's it, then the lag in this level is fixable in less than a minute and I'd seriously advise the builder to do so." - DJ Full

"Let me start with the end in my comments about this level, as finally you do get a boss fight here with Seth that actually requires a little bit of thinking and a strategy about how to beat him. After several "jump around and shoot until he explodes"-battles, this was very nicely done. As is the whole adventure itself, with some interesting gameplay twists and a nice flow from stage to stage. You get a few timed runs that are all not tight in timing but require a bit of preparation work or finding the right path (and one of them you sneakily need to be doing a second time later on), there is apushable puzzle with a little twist, a rather unique wraith pit moment and a little symbol swim puzzle, before it all comes to an end after shooting four gems and the above mentioned boss battle ensues. Maybe the three secrets were not that secret after all and in some places there are quite a few texture cracks (surprising in a level of that high quality), but all in all, this is a creative and hugely enjoyable adventure. (95 min, 3/3 secrets)" - MichaelP

"There have been some levels in this year’s BtB that have put a lot of work into telling a story throughout the level, and then there are levels like this one, where the whole story is in the readme and the author lets the gameplay speak for itself. It’s a decent yarn, to be fair, telling the story of a clash between the gods Set and Ash, which results in a hidden garden underneath a temple. It feels like something that could be a real Egyptian myth. If (like me) you read the word “garden” and thought of sunshine and trees and flowers and birdsong, then (like me) you’ll be disappointed. This level takes place at dusk and is mostly dark and dreary. Lara starts outside a small village before entering the temple, and the eponymous gardens consist of one hub room in the latter part of the level. It’s a decent-looking level with some nice locations, but it’s more The Great Pyramid than Coastal Ruins, which isn’t my preference and wasn’t what I expected. Unlike a lot of BtB levels this year, this is not a set of levels, which is nice and it’s still about an hour long which is long enough. It’s split into three fairly distinct parts. You start out outside a small village, where the goal is to find two keys to open the way into a temple. I liked the focus on exploration during this part, and the area isn’t so big that things become too hard to find. After that, you enter the temple and have to solve a couple of puzzles to open up the way to the gardens. The double timed run had me stumped for a little while – in a good way – but I could have done without the very lengthy push-block puzzle. The gardens themselves feel pretty anticlimactic. I was expecting something grander and more complex, but I pretty much just ran from room to room based on whatever door opened up next. It felt like it was over too quickly. The final boss has an armor you have to remove by shooting it with the pistols before you can damage it with the shotgun or revolver, which is an interesting idea to stretch the fight out a little, but it ends up being a bit awkward as you have to get up close to shoot it and still can’t damage it during certain animations. I probably would have done away with the earlier temple areas and expanded the gardens, since those seem like they should be the main focus of the level. A big, beautiful garden with lots of exploration and gameplay would have been so much cooler than a small garden that just functions as a hub area as you run off to explore side rooms. But then Neil Gaiman once said (about books, but I think it still applies) that when people tell you something’s not working they’re almost always right, but when they tell you how to fix it, they’re almost always wrong. So what do I know, really? Maybe the gardens should have been removed altogether." - Magnus

"This level is divided into three distinct areas: the village, the temple, and the underground areas consisting of the titular gardens. The village looks quite nice, even though the pink fog can be a bit too thick at times. The gameplay there is mostly fun, as you have to find four levers to turn four cat statues, with the quests involving a range of tasks, including a somewhat tough timed run. The temple area too has mostly good gameplay, including a nice pushable puzzle and a timed-run-plus-double-rope-swing (the rope swing part is thankfully not timed). There’s one weird/annoying moment, where the timed switch has to be used again later for a completely different task, which is not at all intuitive. The temple area is decently built (I especially like the huge hall with the ropes), but it feels very sparsely decorated and lacks colour (apart from the ubiquitous pink fog). Considering the huge amounts of decorative objects and beautiful textures in the BtB2024 pack, this lack of artistry feels a bit underwhelming.
This feeling continues once you get to the Gardens of Ash. While they’re not bad to look at, they do seem to be rather small and not-very-impressive for a god’s supposedly “magnificent” gardens. The gameplay in this section is more uneven, with some good bits, like searching for and shooting gems, and a puzzle-cum-underwater maze (as a general rule, I hate underwater mazes, but this one was surprisingly fun). On the other hand, there’s a really annoying bit where Lara has to shoot multiple targets while being attacked by wraiths. However, the worst encounter is in the end, when Lara enters Ash’s vault and is attacked by Seth. This boss fight simply drags on and on, as Seth is vulnerable to heavy weapons only for brief moments, and then you have to go back to shooting him with pistols. It’s not a bad idea in theory, but in practice, it’s really tedious.
Overall: Despite some of my grumbling above, I mostly liked this level. It’s easily overshadowed by some of the other highly impressive BtB2024 levels, and it’s hard not to feel that the builder could have made better use of the BtB2024 package; but taken on its own, it’s a pleasant level with some good gameplay and some nice locations." - Mytly

"This would have been a top tier BtB entry had it not been for the pervasive darkness that kept a damper on my enjoyment from start to finish. I couldn't even read the compass to tell what direction I was facing when bringing it up in my inventory, and that's something that should have been fixed during testing. Anyway, the healthy variety of tasks are laid out quite logically and expertly, although in my game I couldn't get either the red or the blue bar to deplete during the concluding battle with Seth, despite having ammo and health packs to spare, so I called it quits at that point. But I had considerable fun along the way and my scores would be even higher if the lighting had been a bit more player friendly." - Phil

"A solid little level with some good connectivity between areas and a few particularly nice twists like the challenging boss fight and a switch that sneakily had two (similar) actions. I found the push puzzle engaging, but straight forward and I specifically enjoyed the ankh quest. The secrets were none too hard to collect. I didn't find the fog too overpowering. Overall a good raid." - Adrian

"What I liked about the level: 1) I like traversing on rooftops for pickups and to see the landscape below. 2) The beginning atmosphere gives the feeling of sunset. 3) Nice timed run with timer with just the right amount of time to make it tough but not too tough. 4) The push block puzzle was enjoyable. What I didn’t like or thought could be improved: 1) I think would have been nice to have some clues to where the “cat” switches could be found. 2) Would have preferred the sloped column route to have an alternate exit (eg. tunnel back to the main area). 3) Would have liked a clue that the timed lever had two purposes. 4) Not fond of boss fights so the added shield while unique made the fight much tougher. Conclusion: A well built level suitable for average players." - Lizard Queen

"Thank you, builder, for this level. Congratulations on entering the competition and completing such a tight and perfectly paced adventure! The only thing I couldn't really get into was the story, which provides no real motivation for Lara. The level ends up falling flat after defeating the boss. There is also a little something missing, occasionally, with visual atmosphere. Some areas inside the temple end up very gray, when the theme of the level is a god of oases/vineyards, invoking lushness. I think some more colorful -- or at least Egypt-themed -- textures should adorn the temple more. These are very minor things, of note only in a competition like this one. The level is wonderful." - MigMarado

"There are some really splendid looking areas in this game and the whole B2B package has been put to very good use. Of particular note was an extensive block push puzzle which really took all my concentration (such as it is). Good balance of gameplay and one of the shorter levels on offer Extremely atmospheric and a most suitable boss ending." - Jay

"The main setting here is a small outdoor area that leads into a temple; the visuals are decent and portray these themes well, although there's nothing extremely impressive. The stand-out feature is a thick (but distant enough to not get in the way) pink-ish fog throughout, which lends the outdoors in particular quite a distinctive atmosphere; I almost wondered if it was related to the fog bug I had in other levels but a little testing revealed it was intended, which I was glad of because it looks quite cool. I don't feel the fog fits quite as well towards the end though, and a later fog shift would have really helped the later parts be more distinctive. I also felt the lack of big vistas was felt when you reach the titular garden, which looks fine but isn't especially impressive.
Gameplay starts with mostly exploration in the outdoor area, which requires some careful looking around but isn't too difficult, although there's a timed run that injects a little action. The second part in the temple is where the main puzzle were, which were decent (including a block puzzle that looked intimidating but was faster and simpler than I expected), although it had the most unintuitive moment of the map with a dual-use switch that is only vaguely hinted at by the fact that both objects affected by it are technically the same thing. The final section goes back to exploration with a larger-scale revolver target puzzle, and then a boss that's actually quite creative with a shield that prevents heavier weapons working until it takes some damage; I feel it went on a phase or two too long but it's a cool idea. The secrets felt a little perfunctory with them almost seeming like basic progression, and one being a random floor pickup towards the end. A good looking and playing level with no major issues, but it doesn't have anything too standout aside from the interesting fog use." - Mman

"My first foray into BtB-Egypt and it was quite a strong one I thought. The environments are beautiful, neatly enhanced by the use of the reddish fog, and gameplay was quite varied with a number of branching tasks (two different sets of four statues to be activated each time), some of it was a bit obscure at first sight but I'll blame myself for that one as for the most part I've been playing with the help of walkthroughs, so admittedly not at my sharpest, and also because it's the first time around there's still much to learn about the novelties in this year's competition. There was a clever use of timed runs, none of which is annoyingly tight, and the boss fight was ingenious even if a little laborious as everytime you drain the shield you can only get one hit in. Still, a solid starting point if I may say so. 90 minutes, 2 secrets. 07/24" - Treeble

"I'm a fan of distance fog but not the bright pink variety. I felt it clashed with the greys and greens of the texturing and made the overall look unsightly. Gameplay was good as far as it went, it just needed a bit more octane to be truly top draw." - Dick

"Transforming the desert into a lush, green oasis has been the dream of desert dwellers since ancient times. As the antithesis of the state of destitution associated with the desert, oases teach us that true utopia is not a state of abundance but the negation of all suffering, which nevertheless lies in human nature. - In this level we set out from an oasis into an underground temple to find a secret garden that promises to be even more lush. However, not only is the oasis of a modest appearance insofar as it fails to create a contrast to the dusty temple interior. When we actually find the garden, it’s a little bit underwhelming, if I may say so.
While the starting area seems little too dark in comparision, our journey begins under the omen of a deep pink sky, which is propably supposed to depict a sunset, but looks rather ominous when combined with the distance fog. This lighting problem repeats itself throughout almost the entire level. Geometry, texturing and object placement are simple and solid – except in the garden: just putting grass textures in there and slamming flowers on them doesn’t really cut it imo – but no noticable imperfections and great individuality.
The gameplay is quite versatile and fun, with engaging traversal, enough enemies along the way, an interesting raising block puzzle and a very inspired mechanic for the final boss, among other things. However, I was struggling with some imo bad gameplay decisions: First, a lever for a timed run was placed on slanted ledge where you can easily fall off, which can make repeat attempts rather tedious. At one point I surely missed something, because no way was I supposed to burn medikits to snatch a key from the flames, right?! The laser sight was placed in such a way that you would probably find it much later than you needed it, which tempted me to shoot all the targets with the shutgun (imagine the pain!), because I deemed it the intended way. The shield thing in the boss fight was a brilliant idea, but how is somebody gonna find out that wants to play pistols only? Lastly, one secret is just a medipack lying in the weeds – as I said: oasis is the dialectical truth of desert…
Conclusion: Despite some flaws in it’s presentation and direction, this level makes for a short-ish, but engaging adventure you will surely enjoy!
***
Duration: short to medium (~1:30 h) | Difficulty: easy | Rating: 7 / 7 / 7 / 6" - evinaru_2

"Liked

• There are several engaging timed runs which may take a couple of tries, but I imagine most raiders will be just fine overcoming them.
• There are also several puzzles, from pushing things up and down raising blocks, to pulling the correct levers in a small underwater maze.
• There's a fair amount of different enemies, ending with a boss fight that will require Lara to rotate between her weapons before she reaches her prize.
• The level is crafted well, especially the starting area, which is a well-decorated oasis for Lara to explore and search for several switches and ankhs.

Time: 1 hour 21 minutes | Difficulty: Medium | Rating: 9/10 - Excellent" - JesseG

"Quite a short level compared to other entries but very nice, especially in the first part, where I also really liked the tasks set. The atmosphere suits the title well and is also very well realised. The music is well chosen, the tasks are inventive and well thought out and the gameplay leaves nothing to be desired. Only the final boss caused me problems. In my opinion, the final action was completely over the top for the enjoyable gameplay. I also had a bug here. After I defeated seth twice, nothing else happened. Regardless of this, I really enjoyed the rest oft he game and can highly recommend it." - nad

"A very solid entry this time with a nice outdoor area to explore at the start, then further on more puzzle and trap based gameplay indoors. There are some creative ideas like the pushable puzzle, the final fight against Seth is very well done and I also liked the hunt for the four shatterable gems; the timed runs, while nicely designed, are a bit too generously timed IMO. The looks are very solid, atmosphere is rather strong throughout, one gripe is that the lighting is pretty much the same inside and outside, with the thick red fog being rather opressive after some time (though everything is rather well visible); same goes for the object lighting that felt a little bleak. Overall a rather strong entry in the competition; found the three nice secrets in 45 minutes." - manarch2

"A really wonderful and highly engaging level. Had a lot of fun in there. The game is segmented into four parts (though they aren't standalone levels). Some of my favourite bits include the pushable puzzle, hunt for the shootable gems and the bossfight which is quite different than usual because this time you have to break the shield of Seth in order to damage him. Visually, it's very aesthetic and pleasant to the eyes. The areas look really good, especially the first one which is beautiful and I really enjoyed exploring it. I love the grapefruit-colored fog which adds a unique and interesting vibe to the level. Everything regarding the visuals is spot-on. All in all, I highly recommend this awesome game. I thoroughly enjoyed it." - BlackWolfTR

"There's a lot to like in this one. I loved that reddish fog in the distance which adds up to the atmosphere without getting in the way of gameplay, and which makes this level memorable and unique. Loved the exploration part for the cat statue puzzle, the clever pushblock puzzle (who would have thought lol) and the mechanics to defeat Seth. The overall difficulty is medium, although you need to know some TR tricks. Around two enjoyable hours for me. Definitely recommended." - billie2001

"I really enjoyed this level and how varied and engaging the gameplay is. The level offers a great mixture of exploration, platforming, traps, and puzzles, all of which was very entertaining. In addition, I liked the shotgun/revolver shield mechanic for the Seth boss enemy, which prevents you from getting an easy victory by constantly staggering him with a shotgun or a revolver. Visually the level is solidly built including good texturing and lighting. Overall, it is a great level and I highly recommend it." - Samu

"This may be only my second level of the contest played and reviewed, but it's encouraging that I found this just as enjoyable and engaging as the previous entry. The textures and objects are again put to excellent use, and some of the setpieces (such as the titular Gardens) are indeed impressive to look at and explore. It's also a nice touch that the storyline is brought to completion, as Lara explores deeper inside this temple complex, defeats Seth and restores some semblance of harmony to Egypt. Gameplay isn't too difficult to accomplish, the timed runs are enjoyable additions and I thought the cat statue puzzle was nicely executed. Enjoyable stuff, which is, as I mentioned, an encouraging trend." - Ryan

"Had a decent time playing this level a really good raid to be had here! As with all the levels I've played so far it was very pleasing on the eye. Gameplay wasn't all too challenging but it took me 3+ hours to finish... Mostly due to being stuck trying to find a way up to a lever for most of that time. Thats more of me problem though haha! I also feel it would have been better to get the lasersight a little earlier to save switching to manual aiming for one bit. I really liked some of the puzzles on offer too the moveable puzzle was a highlight for me. All in all this is a solid release and would say its definitely worth your time to play!" - Feats