trle.net
Your host for all Tomb Raider Custom Levels ever released!

Levels listed...
TR5 - 31
TR4 - 3137
TR3 - 177
TR2 - 132
TR1 - 60

72240 reviews (20.4/level)
3530 (99.8%) walkthroughs
442 Hall of Fame levels
1217 levels rated >= 8

TR Fan Site

 


Catacombs of Fog by Rapetou

Avmaster 9 8 10 8
Gerty 8 8 8 8
Jay 8 7 8 8
Jorge22 9 9 10 10
Jose 4 7 8 8
Kristina 7 7 7 8
MichaelP 9 8 8 8
Navi 8 7 8 8
Phil 8 8 8 9
Raymond 9 8 9 9
Ryan 8 8 8 9
Sakusha 9 8 7 8
Sash 4 5 7 7
Scottie 9 9 10 9
Treeble 8 8 8 8
 
release date: 09-Mar-2004
# of downloads: 61

average rating: 8.02
review count: 15
 
review this level

file size: 18.10 MB
file type: TR4
class: Cave/Cat
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
rapetou@tro-online.com

Reviewer's comments
"By all accounts, I should have hated this level. Not only it's built with the catacomb wad (my least favorite), it's filled to the brim with pixel precise jumps, lots of backtracking, insane rope swings, tight timed runs, lengthy swims, underwater and crawlspace mazes, a sequence where you have to push not one but two pillars while beetles are having at you. Even following Kris' amazing walkthrough, this was still quite the challenge and even if my final stats only read 65 minutes, I'd say it took me nearly three hours to see this one through. And while it has all the ingredients to frustration, there was an odd rewarding feeling for every cleared task. The very first secret is pretty much a joke (a crawlspace atop a ladder -- ie Lara won't crawl in --, which in turn is located about halfway down a slope, all the while Lara is offscreen?) and it is the only way you can get the shotgun, and this being teh catacomb wad you just know you'll need it. Kris mentioned a second secrets so I used trview to look it up and it's past another insane rope swing towards an invisible ledge to reach the crawlspace. Funnily enough you get a useless clockwork beetle inside, whereas the first secret was pretty much crucial. Ah, yes, before I forget, there's one lava room with a lot of tricky jumps between spikes, but in the very entrance of that room you need to do a banana jump while sliding down a slope. And on the way out you need to a pixel precise jump onto said slope to reach a rope just ouf of reach, and then luck out by having Lara glide into the alcove where you came from. Honestly my highest regards go to those who finished this without a guiding hand. 65 minutes, 1 secret. 05/21" - Treeble (09-May-2021)
"Undeniably a level that will test your raiding mettle to the extreme. There's a wide variety of gameplay to sink your teeth into and everything is doable with plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) of practice, but a few of the gameplay tasks do go overboard on the difficulty side: namely the triple rope swing, the unfairly timed manoeuvre required to dodge a boulder, very tedious swimming sections that require sucking up medipacks (a thing that I will never be a fan of) and the sequence where you have to push two pillars to their spots while being devoured by beetles. This did spoil what was otherwise an invigorating and sneaky raid, which was actually really well put together and had a rather attractive environment to showcase and I actually quite liked the vase shooting puzzle near the end. Recommended for more patient raiders." - Ryan (06-Mar-2019)
"Definitively not for beginners this level. It's not strange that so few players have rated this one all this years. The secret in the very beginning is very difficult 'cause Lara refuses to grab the wall, and I don't know what's the problem to place a shotgun later in the game. Later when playing you notice the tricky tasks again and again; when you have to do that very looooooong swim to get that pharos knot and return again wasting a lot of medipacks even if you do the perfect movements you think this will not be a good game; also the nasty underwater labyrinth you need to swim several times was not a very nice task. later when you reach the entrance ramp in the lava room with the spiked boulder killing you always, you really need to read the walkthrough and think: "my God!". And so on to the end of the game. If you like very hard challenges it's your level." - Jose (18-Jul-2012)
"I would consider this level to be an Expert's Challenge, for there are several areas that are not only difficult, but what I would consider unfair to the player. Some examples are (1) a rope swinging exercise involving three or four ropes, without adequate headroom to make a clean grab from one rope to the next, (2) an extensive pushpiece puzzle that has to be executed while enduring a horde of beetles nibbling at your heels, and (3) unmarked spike traps in a crawlspace maze, for crying out loud. There is also some annoying backtracking, but not enough to where I felt justified in marking down gameplay. Kris, the mother of Bex (who hosted the late and lamented Lara's Home), has provided a well-written walkthrough which I found very helpful during the hour and a half that it took me to navigate this perilous course. Not a level for the faint of heart, but fun if you have the time and the patience." - Phil (18-Nov-2011)
"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! Nevertheless I wanted to play only completely relaxes a nice Catacomb level and come from the outset into the most difficult situations. That there was immediately at the beginning of the level a Secret, have I only noted when I had to consult the WT. Since how should I for heaven's sake jump from a rope to a monkey swing? With two ghosts in the nape?? If I did not have to go at all, but the place where I really had to jump was also to be reached hard enough. But one grows on his duties. But who the sodding hell thinks up such a heavy diving distance including a maze? This action was damn hefty. But very well built. And if one thinks, it can become not at all difficult, a lava space with amusing pillar hopping and as an addition a tricky time run follows. And there are of course still much more heavy duties. Who says, actually, that only the Japanese can build such heavy levels? Or such people like Raymond and QRS? Rapetou is able to do this as well. And, besides, the rooms look fantastic. Above all of course this gigantic space with three glass floors and the water column in the middle. And the very nice textures fit to it. I have not liked a thing, however, at all. This was because the room where one had to push both columns. Besides, one was bothered because constantly by the small little beetles. Though I had enough medipacks, but, nevertheless, this place was quite irritating. Another nuisance was which one had to shoot with the explosive ammunition a certain mummy to receive a precious stone. Where from should one know such a thing? However, these were only two nuisances of an all together great adventure. There one and a half-hour net playing time have been worthwhile anyway." - Scottie (05-Mar-2010)
"Ooh aah eeee! That's the sound I made as my fingers became sore hitting and rehitting the reload button. I don't know even if I should actually write a review for this level as I didn't end it thanks to the nibbling beetles in the room where you have to move two pillars they just took all my health no matter how many times I tried to accomplish the pushing of the objects but you know what I am going to write this review as I put at least 4.5 hours of my life trying to get through this extremely frustrating level though in game time says 1 hour. At the start it didn't seem like a bad catacomb level but as soon as I hit and I'm sure for most other players the lava room with boulders and spikes to outwit I almost crawled into the foetal position with mental exhaustion and to top it off when I thought I could finally leave that god forsaken room I found that my troubles were only beginning as I sat swinging like a demented godfather clock pendulum on a rope trying to jump to the hideously designed entrance/exit. Then there was the quite impressive looking room with towering blue transparent tower filled with water that had almost impossible to see vases to shoot that seemed all a bit too devious though maybe I should have checked out the flyby to the room a little better but as I was still sobbing so hard from happiness at leaving the lava room I couldn't see through the tears. Then I get to the beetles that did me in only because I was low on health because of the really evil long underwater maze swim well I had 2 large and 1 small medi at the beetles so you would think that should be enough to get to the end of a level and I was just jack of the whole thing. Had the difficulty in some areas been lightened up a tad I'd say that players would find this level more pleasurable to play than it currently is and I know I shouldn't say this as it is an intrinsic part of the level being in it's name when you start up I'd recommend not worrying about the volumetrics as the fog is more annoying than enhancing as it is too thick and blinding in the main room....did I just cross a line!?!" - Sash (23-Oct-2004)
"Cher Rapetou 'Un niveau dans l'ensemble relativement difficile' say you in the 'lisezmoi' that accompanies the game - and I underline the 'relativement'. And I grin. Let me tell you about some truly anthological parts of this game concerning difficulty... a) The very beginning before you understand what you have to do but that's intelligent I suppose. b) The rope part with the ice wraith arriving just as Lara reaches the last rope amidst a fog so dense that won't almost let you notice the water hole deep at the bottom on the left side. c) The water part all of it in search of the knots. d) After the monkey swing the part where Lara arrives in a room where she has to slide down a ladder and escape a spiked ball perform several very well timed jumps among spikes then get back to the start of it with a little poison in between do it all over again escape another very fast spiked ball escape yet more spikes while using a lever surrounded by acid that looks like water get to the start with some more poison in between and then grab a hard to grab rope and try to gain enough momentum to get back to the top passage where she first came from. I swung on that rope maybe a zillion times! Finally you manage to get away from the horror room. Phew! That rope truly demands persistence. You go get another star. You place the second star. Notice another opening and swim inside. A little monkey swinging with two fires on the way no big deal. Push a lever and climb to a room with a weird jelly-like structure in the middle and a couple of skellies that won't leave you alone. What do you do then? I'm not telling but the solution is simultaneously simple and very clever. It's nice to become invisible at the eyes of the skeletons for a while laugh right in their skulls and open the first entrance on your way up to get the Pharos Pillar lying at the very bottom of the structure. It's a long climb but even the spiked ball isn't as bad as the previous ones. One can manage. You're on the first floor now and not doing too bad so you imagine. There are two levers. Every time you push any of them wham! here come the pikes off the ground before you can even sigh. There's got to be something else maybe something you can shoot at... And the levers aren't but traps. Not my favourite kind I must say because they tend to make the game confusing. After a zillion looks going up and down and up and down you solve the puzzle. Clever... I've got the Pillar now I've got the third star and I've placed it. Time for a small crawl maze and arriving in a room with... oh no! Here come the beetles! And I've only got three quarters of my health and a small medipack! Allow me to quote once more from the 'lisezmoi': 'Les trousses de secours devront quant à elles être comptees afin de pouvoir en beneficier à certains moments cruciaux notamment lors de la rencontre avec nos amis les scarabees'. Yeah yeah easier said than done. Fortunately though weren't as many or as hungry as they usually are and I was lucky enough not to have them follow me along the crawl maze in one of my tries. Now what? I go back to every room in search of something I can explode. Nothing. Then as I blow up a mummy much to my surprise there it is the much needed gem that will let me go up again and finish the game after a couple of these and other moves... Cool I'm now able to send those dreaded skellies back to hell where they belong! Wham! And the game ends after another (luckily not too hard) spiked ball run. Back to the desktop. So what are my impressions after the odyssey? The game is hard truly harder than most but at least it makes sense which isn't the case at all times. It's doable I suppose certainly not for beginners but yes it's doable and the living proof of it is I did it and came back alive. Rapetou tells us his challenge was to build a level using the original level editor. (one note: I didn't use the revised wads and had no problems at all with that; another note: Now I notice I never found the beetle I should be searching for!) Mission well accomplished. The textures are very well applied the lighting is good (in spite of the overdone fog) and there's even much room for originality. Looking back the only thing I really hated was that almost impossible rope swinging in the 'horror room' - that my friend really felt more like work. Apart from it the game doesn't enter my Top 10 but it may easily enter my Top 20 and you do have my blessings. Tough game but a great job. Just have a little mercy on us next time won't you?" - Jorge22 (27-May-2004)
"I started this level but couldn't finish it because the rolling ball was too fast for me. But I gave it a second try. And at the second try I was able to finish it. There are ropes to use; an underwater maze is waiting for discovery. In the maze Lara finds three pillars. Opponents are skeletons and mummies. At the start of the level you have to get the shotgun (before sliding down to the first room). The rest of the level was not too difficult only a lot of time is needed because I had to practise a lot in this level. Lara must look for three stars place them and crawl thru the crawlspace maze into the room where beetles attack her. Move the statues to their places and get the goodies from the column. Then the end of the level is near. Lara returns to the place where she started the level. Use the pole to climb up avoid the rolling ball and Lara can escape of the catacombs of fog. By the way the catacombs are really foggy (laugh). I recommend this level only for experienced players for a newbie it is too difficult." - Avmaster (23-May-2004)
"WARNING do use the revised WAD as well or else Lara won't climb properly. I thought that this could be an excellent level but there were some not very funny things in it like the underwater maze you had to manage a couple of times and it was a rather nasty maze in my opinion. Also I couldn't get rid of the wraiths so shooting them to keep them at a distance was a way to go on and at the end the flare bug kicked in. Not that you needed the flares that much but still... Some solutions are not at all obvious like the shooting of the vases way up but all in all this is a great level to play. Glad there is a shotgun to find as those skeletons can be a pest. I loved the beginning great idea. There are traps and you for sure will die quite a lot. There is enough camerawork but don't get too cocky as I did because I overlooked a door in the room with the water column and it took quite a while as there is a timed tile you need to stand on. Do find the crossbow as there is target shooting and pick up every arrow as you need to get some explosives as a mummy is carrying something Lara needs. Found 1 secret and it wasn't the beetle. 16-04-2004" - Gerty (30-Apr-2004)
"This is the most difficult level I have tried so far. I gave 9 for gameplay because it is evil from the beginning until the very end. Unfortunately there are huge sound problems and a bug with the crowbar animation (that's all right. I had a problem with the water skin animation in my level which was fixed thanks to this author). This is the first time that I have ever seen timed spikes popping in and out constantly (except for 'Burial Chambers'). The underwater maze was quite challenging and the boulders made me jump out of my chair and they were very difficult to avoid. By the way the load screen he made was nice. I think 'Panne d'Essence' should've been used as a bonus level as a reward for those who got both secrets. After playing a difficult level they will be rewarded with a ridiculously easy one." - Hitsumei (30-Apr-2004)
"Up for a challenge and still not tired of the good old catacomb textures? Then this is your level for almost 90 minutes of net gaming time. The series of tough tasks is built in a very convincing and smart way and I thoroughly enjoyed the test of my dexterity on various very close boulder runs timed jumps over spikes timed target shooting tricky rope swings breathtaking swimming passages and classic enemies (skeletons mummies wraiths and beetles) placed in the most possibly annoying way. The room with the high water column is a great structure. There are three downsides though. The one jump to avoid triggering the boulder in the lava room is extremely tricky and comes down to a lot of luck to manage it and an underwater and a crawl maze are just not my cup of tea but all the rest was truly brilliant. A very special level indeed! Try it if you dare." - Michael (13-Apr-2004)
"Right from the beginning of this level you can tell you're in for a bumpy ride. This is quite challenging. There's an absolute beast of an underwater maze so be prepared to drown quite a lot. Avoiding boulders can be easier said than done and you will not believe what you have to go through to obtain the portal guardian. You'll probably need a coffee break by this time. Are you feeling refreshed? I do hope so because the pace isn't about to let up much. Pick ups are few and far between and there are quite a lot of skeletons to deal with so don't waste your shotgun ammo. The room with the tall water column is nicely designed and you will really have to work to obtain the pharos pillar here. Eventually after a lot of blood sweat and tears you will obtain three golden stars to give you access to a warren of underground crawl spaces. Yes it's scabby knees time again. Once you've picked the gravel out of your kneecaps you can experience the pleasure of being eaten alive by those horrible little beetles whilst you try to obtain some explosive ammo. Ah revenge time on the mummies and skellies. Lovely. Get a gem to enable you to return to the start of the level and after one last boulder you can escape into the fresh air. I guarantee you won't be bored for an instant with this one. " - Jay (28-Mar-2004)
"This is one of the harder levels a real challenge for the skills end the endurances of the raider. Altogether I liked it very much. Lara is in foggy catacombs. So you meet basically all the textures and objects from the catacomb-standard level it's only slightly modified. The rooms and the atmosphere created with it are quite good. I especially liked the central hall (where the rope swings are) and the big hall with the tall water column. After the initial sequence with some difficult jumps you come to this central hall. First you have to do a rope swing sequence and come down to the ground of the hall. Now you have to do here and in the adjacent halls and rooms a lot of things to get finally back to the top of the hall and then to escape the catacombs near the start of the level. This involves a really hard underwater sequence with a maze where you have to swim absolutely perfect to manage this task and not to loss health and this at least three times. Another very hard task is to avoid a spike ball. Soon you get that Lara can't avoid to be in the path of the ball if it comes down but you can avoid that it comes down ... . Then some nice jumping around on blocks with spikes. Lara has to be really fast and accurate. In the big hall with the tall water column you have to find (not easy!) and shoot a lot of objects (bones and vases) the shooting of one bones is a timed task. Here you find also the second secret the beetle. The other is more at the start (very unfair placed in my opinion) and finding it helps you to deal with all the skeletons. And then this really annoying beetles which nibbling on Lara when she pushes objects around. You have to be really careful with all the medipacks in this game! But this had been the only annoying thing to me. Only for those who like more difficult levels!" - Raymond (20-Mar-2004)
"Admittedly this level has some hard points but is very interesting. Plainly textured with the catacomb theme quite obviously it includes an underwater maze which took me some time to master and got all of my health some tricky jumps avoiding spike balls and spikes popping from blocks as well as timed runs. Don't expect much ammo or powerful guns; you will get the crossbow when you need it as well as the explosive ammo. Enemies are skeletons mummies and nibbling little beetles. The items the player needs are knots a gem and a pillar but to get the last one requires some tasks to be completed first and a timed run-shooting task. A very sneaky secret which I found accidentally because I always jump up when sliding on slopes was the only one I found so I am guessing the other one I missed which the author says is the beetle must have been equally well hidden. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to complete it." - Kristina (19-Mar-2004)
"This was a hard level. Very good puzzles some timed sequences and Lara needs to be really quick there. There are three stars to find and the crowbar. On top of that there are tricky jumps combined with traps. So the player needs endurance and patience. There is also rope swinging while chased by wraiths - did not like that at all. Lara has to really watch out for her health. I also did not like the beetles as Lara needs to move pillars to the right symbols with those at her heels - very tough. I like difficult levels but not when you end up short on medipacks - no fun. Enemies were skeletons mummys wraiths. Sound and camera are ok. At the end you get a gem and need to shoot a vase. Play it if you like this kind of level." - Navi (19-Mar-2004)