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The Lost Castle by Osvaldo

Ceamonks890 6 4 5 5
DJ Full 6 7 8 6
Drakan 8 8 8 7
eRIC 6 7 8 7
Jay 7 6 7 7
Jorge22 7 7 8 8
Jose 5 6 7 8
manarch2 6 5 6 7
MichaelP 6 7 6 6
nerdfury 6 6 7 7
Orbit Dream 8 8 7 8
Phil 8 8 8 8
Ryan 7 7 7 7
Sponge 7 9 8 8
 
release date: 10-Nov-2018
# of downloads: 82

average rating: 6.91
review count: 14
 
review this level

file size: 36.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: Castle
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
mecaoficial@protonmail.com

Reviewer's comments
"How about a short trip to Scottland? In this lost castle, Lara needs to destroy a gem that's contaminating the ruins, raising the dead, and emitting little blue gems attacking curious visitors. She needs three artefacts to open the chamber with the giant gemstone, and cross many a trapped room to get there. There are only flying gems (a customised enemy - I like it!), some skeletons and mummies in this level. The mummies are a bit of an odd choice, since they are not bog mummies, but of the Egyptian variety instead. Decorative objects in the game are scarce; it's mostly vases Lara Croft stumbles upon. A few secrets can be found on the way, too, consiting of weapons she can use in her fight against the undead forces her little stroll startles up. Cyan blue and a firy orange make for a savoury contrast in lighting. I have always liked the Scotland texture set and it is being used here to a level of some proficiency. Lara's little castle tour strictly focuses on the inside of the ruins, although you can see the cloudy sky of an approaching thunderstorm through the collapsed rooftops, which is a nice touch! I think some door sound was missing, and I would have loved to hear some bagpipes playing in the distance, though otherwise, given its brevity, the game comes up with a nicely varied mix of classic TR music. It took me about 45 minutes to complete this level." - Sponge (25-Dec-2023)
"A very functional level in a TR3 Castle setting. Meaning that you are always kind of busy for the 40 or so minutes it lasts, rarely in doubt as to what to do next, and a few killer gems, skeletons, burner and spike traps keep you on your toes along the way. The one shimmy passage was unnecessarily lenghty and hence borderline tedious and had I not checked on the reviews, I also would not have realized that the final section was actually on a timer. Good and solid, but really no special moments in here that you will be remembering for a long time." - MichaelP (10-Dec-2023)
"(6) Gameplay & Puzzles: This is an easy adventure that took me about 1 hour. The gameplay flow is decent, and there's a good variety of tasks (simple platforming, a few traps, combat, some pushables) however the tasks themselves just aren't unique or memorable. In other words, you'll likely have performed these tasks a bunch in other TRLEs. In my opinion there were a couple of questionable gameplay design choices involving backtracking. First of all, you flip back and forth through some flame traps and it gets a bit dull after a while. Why make the player do that again on the return trip? A monkeyswing option on the return trip would have been better. In a similar vein, there's an area with a long shimmy session -- why make the player redo that shimmy on the return trip? I do think the builder needed to let the player know that the final room is timed and if the player fails the timer, Lara dies. The fact that the timer is generous is besides the point. The builder used TRLE, not TRNG, so he wouldn't have been able to use on-screen text, however a note regarding the time allowance in the level description or readme file would have been better than no note at all. Finally, there are a couple of dull pushable sequences during the final timed run which detract from the element of thrill. (6) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: The enemies are OK, but the use of Egyptian objects was quite jarring in this Castle setting. Many rooms feel like they're lacking in object decor. (7) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The atmosphere/architecture isn't very exciting and rooms often present themselves as solely functional, as opposed to functional + offering eye candy. The cave with the Hathor receptacle is way too boxy looking. Music cues are utilized well, as are camera hints for the most part. There is a timed run near the beginning of the game that's missing a tense sound cue and an associated camera but it's not a big deal. There's a nice flyby near the end of the game but I think more could have been done with flybys. (7) Lighting & Textures: It's not a bad looking level in general; no areas are too dark and the builder occasionally uses lovely pops of color to highlight areas of interest. However, the lighting is quite flat in other rooms. Something neat is the fact that the area with the bird statue will change color, blinking, once the wraith is triggered. It's a small, subtle detail but it comes across as very polished to me. Misshapen textures are not uncommon and the textured animated waterfalls don't look good. Overall, a pleasant but not a memorable gameplay experience. 6/6/7/7." - nerdfury (21-Aug-2021)
"Not the most essential of Osvaldo's levels but not the less pleasant either. All right there is nothing really new here , but it was entertaining for 40 minutes or so with fire burners , jumps , spikes , skeletons and i liked the light emphasizing the litle bird statue to destroy the elemental. Yes , another level with corkscrews and blue_gems_as_bats (which i never liked) and the same TR3/TR4 musics , lighting and texturing could have been done even better, for the rest there is not much to criticize." - eRIC (12-Jun-2019)
"Well, it seems that this author after all those releases got out of ideas. Again a classic level, this time in a castle environment but with the same features and puzzles than previous ones: the same small room with corkscrews and switches, the rolling ball in the ramp, shooting the skeletons with the shotgun so they fall into pits... Nothing really innovative here. At least the secrets are not hard to find and there is a good architecture, lighting and texturization. Only for nostalgics." - Jose (14-Mar-2019)
"It's in theory all well executed, I didn't really spot any literal "flaw" in it, but it's a bit too classic, too green for me, too little vibrant in colors, and definitely lacking a proper division into small things and big things - like, 90% are just rooms, corridors and things we have seen before. In short, I could feel it's solid and balanced but I enjoyed the author's other levels more." - DJ Full (30-Dec-2018)
"A much better Osvaldo level than the last one I played. There's plenty going on in a scenic setting, and the flow seemed well balanced between puzzles, traps and enemies. I hung around in the final room before pushing that floor lever, having been alerted to a timed run by manarch2's review. Sure enough, the room started falling apart with explosions and Lara quickly died. There's nothing that indicates the start of the timer, unless it's that action music I mentioned in the walkthrough. Anyway, I agree that it's a pretty generous timer, especially considering the fact that I took my sweet time after the action music began and still made it with time to spare. I still haven't tackled The Temple of Seth, and may never do so if Osvaldo keeps churning out levels at his present pace. And The Lost Castle is one of his better ones. Recommended." - Phil (20-Nov-2018)
"A fairly enjoyable and mostly fluent adventure in a castle environment. Perhaps not the best rendition of a Scottish Castle you'll ever see, but solidly made and at least managing a sufficient atmosphere. There's quite a lot of backtracking to get through and one shimmy section was too tedious for my liking, but everything otherwise moves along simply. The ending sequence was a bit confusing, as the fast paced music seemed to indicate that it was timed, but I progressed at my normal speed and managed to pull the ending lever anyway, but then a flyby started and the level went to a black screen, which was rather jarring. A pleasant level nonetheless." - Ryan (20-Nov-2018)
"This is more of a step in the right direction as the levels before. It's mostly a fluent and rather solidly designed level, the atmosphere is okay and texturing and lighting are also handled well enough at the same time, which doesn't happen too often in this builder's levels. Perhaps a few more apt objects might've helped to establish the atmosphere, as the standard Egypt ones don't fit well here as well as the enemies (skeletons, gem bats). Other than that, the enemy placement is okay and serves for a few nice scenes, and the three secrets are also nice to find. The gameplay is nothing special and contains many of the builder's trademark traps and type of progression, but the annoyances often seen in the builder's games are reduced to only slightly annoying backtracks and one shimmy session that does really nothing to enlarge the fun factor. The finale could've been a quite adrenaline-rushed affair if the timed run had not been so hilariously generous - I'm sure no one will need 10 minutes to pass it. Three would've been more than enough. Anyway, a 25 minute level that shows the builder does react to reviews (?) but there's still way to go in order to produce some really masterful games." - manarch2 (16-Nov-2018)
"Simple yet well done and reminiscing of TR3's castle settings somehow, with several pesky skeletons in the mix. An enjoyable, player-friendly, ride, if you're not after something overly complicated, with a kind of sudden ending (now, who would say?)." - Jorge22 (16-Nov-2018)
"The castle is of the Scottish variety and quite easy on the eye, although somewhat sparsely furnished. It's a large area to explore, but not overly confusing and full of typical Osvaldo spike /fire /boulder style traps. Enemies are mainly skeletons (plenty of shotgun ammo supplied) and those gem-like re-textured bats. It's pleasant enough without having any 'wow' factor." - Jay (14-Nov-2018)
"In the style of the previous levels of Osvaldo, this one is also quite simple and linear. 2 secrets found and I almost miss the shotgun while it can be very useful against the skeletons." - Drakan (13-Nov-2018)
"This an enjoyably immersive 45 minute adventure,within a not particularly convincing Scottish Castle environment (you never got the feeling you were in an actual place;but rather,a succession of well-lit yet coincidentally castle-textured rooms);but containing gameplay for which the word 'brisk' was surely invented.Each and every area you enter looks at first glance to present a formidable challenge;but nothing can't be achieved by running,jumping and shooting a lot.The skeletons don't particularly hinder your progression,as you collect the shotgun very early on;and the various quests for the key pick-ups require little more than agility (or adequate observation,in the case of the booby-trapped lever sequence).The shimmy sections became a little tedious;but,as the way ahead is always clear to see,you never seem to stop moving - and that applies especially to the artificially fraught Finale;where the straightforward ascent of a large room,to the accompaniment of urgent music,ends in an inexplicable boulder sequence and the level cutting to black.This inconclusive ending feels rather deflating;but it's all about the journey in this particular adventure - and,as such,it was rather fluent and enjoyable." - Orbit Dream (12-Nov-2018)
"The better level of the two releases Osvaldo made available on the same day, as unlike 'A Room', this is a raid that feels as if it has actual substance to its overall gameplay structure(offering a satisfyingly fun but fair challenge, in spite of all the stock TR4 objects & enemies feeling considerably out-of-place for a location that looks to be Scotland-themed, considering the textures used from TR3 Gold). It may not look all that impressive still visually-speaking or leave much of an atmospheric impact, but at least the builder seemed to put more effort into this one. Recommended if you're wanting to play something, which will entertain ya to the very end. Be warned however. As much like 'A Room' which suffers from the same issue(which I regrettably forgot to bring up in my critique for that), the game cuts to black and presumably plays the TR4 credits audio. But with nothing to see and no way to skip it, you'll have to quit the game forcefully by ctrl-alt-deleting out. Shameful of Osvaldo to not remove this before public release, but that's still a minor pet peeve for a remarkably solid level." - Ceamonks890 (11-Nov-2018)