Return To Egypt 2- Cleopatra’s Palace

Level made by Razyel

Walkthrough made by Selene

Pickups: Crossbow explosive ammo, crossbow, shotgun wideshot ammo, crowbar, 4x Black Scarab Beetles(4x Load), small medipacks, flares, normal shotgun ammo, 2x Load keys, shotgun, large medipacks, grenade gun flash ammo, grenade gun, normal grenade ammo  (0 Secrets) 

Enemies: Skeletons, golden harpies, beetles, hammerhead shark

Entering the palace:
Lara's continued adventure in Egypt begins where the last one left off (or so it seems): by the entrance of the palace. Run forwards to the end of the hallway and go past the first set of pillars. If you go between each set of pillars you will find some pickups behind them: explosive crossbow ammo on the right side and the crossbow and some more ammo to the left (the crossbow will be on your left side as you run past the columns and the ammo on the right). Proceed through the only open doorway in the room and up the neon-pink stairs between the two sphinxes. As you start running past them and down the stairs on the other side Lara will look quite revealingly up on a jump switch on the back on the left pillar. Pull it down and you will see a block lowering somewhere else. Continue down the rest of the stairs and follow the hallway around the corner.

As you approach the spikes Lara will once more look up on the wall to the left, where there is another jump switch (this is where you lowered the block using the first switch). Pull this one down too and the sound of the spikes popping stops. When you look closer you will see that the spikes have frozen in their current position(if they are retracted you can run over as usual, but if they are out it's a safer bet to walk through them...both cases have occurred during my gameplay). Pull up into the higher hallway and follow it to the end.

The main hall- finding the crowbar and first beetle:

You will now enter the main hall of the palace. Looking up on the wall ahead and above you will see a statue (maybe of Cleopatra herself?) and if you look closely you might spot a jump switch on the wall to her right. There is also a closed door with an accompanying receptacle to the left (W). And just for further reference there is a closed door in the pool ahead in the S/W corner. We'll get back to that door later though. For now climb onto the fountain in the middle of the pool and pick up some shotgun wideshot ammo and in the S/E corner of the pool you'll find a crowbar at the bottom.

Climb out of the pool and head through the open doorway flanked by two burning torches to the E. Follow up the ramp and stairs to a room illuminated in red on top(here I heard something like the sound of darts being shot out, but I couldn't see anything nor was Lara hit so don't worry about it). Pick up the wideshot ammo on the pedestal to the right and go up the ramp opposite. On top a skellie will rise in the opening to the left so feel free to use the crossbow to deal with it. Doing so will also blow up the chest ahead and reveal more wideshot ammo for you to pick up. Jump over to where the skeleton came from. On the back of the statue's dress you will see a black scarab beetle which you can pry off using the crowbar (in the inventory this is invisible and it's called Load). Now you can pull down the jump switch that I mentioned as Lara first entered the main hall and doing so opens the aforementioned door in the pool.

The Pyramid Chamber- another scarab beetle: 

You can drop down safely from here, so go and dive in the pool and swim through the now open door. Go on until you reach a room where you can surface, but first pick up the small medipack and flares from the pedestals on the bottom. What lies ahead of you now is the Pyramid Chamber. As you climb out of the pool and go through this room you will notice that the black pyramid in the middle has four slots in it. If you think this is where the black scarab beetle you just found goes you're absolutely correct, but you're still up for a wild goose chase as you're in need of three more of them so just take a mental note of this room for now. And while you're first at it pick up the normal shotgun ammo from the pedestal in the S/W corner and the Load key from the pedestal opposite (N/W). Leave this room, but before getting in the pool jump over to the E wall and pry the 2nd Scarab Beetle off the wall there. Now jump in the pool and swim back to the main hall the way you came. You can now use the Load key (the non-invisible one) in the receptacle by the W wall to open the door next to it.

Fire……:

In the next room there is a column of fire on the block in the middle and that's not all there is. De facto, this room is inhabited by two golden harpies that are more than willing to dispose of our heroine, and fast too. If you opt for using the crossbow (there is plenty of ammo enough for every enemy you'll meet in this level) you can get rid of each one with two arrows....even before they start firing themselves. Playing with fire is not a good idea so stay away from the block with the fire column, but take a note of a receptacle and closed door in the N wall and another closed door sans a receptacle in the wall opposite. There is also an open door to the W and that's where we're going next.

Go down the stairs and you will notice that Lara insists on looking up on the walls to the left and right. Now THAT is a mystery to me, as there's obviously nothing there. You will find some normal shotgun ammo on a pedestal around to the right of the stairs and if you go back and around the stairs to the left the shotgun is waiting for you on the pedestal in the corner. Lara will still be looking up left and right as you approach the open doorway(admiring the architecture perhaps?), but just ignore that as there's nothing of interest there whatsoever.

…and spikes…:

Next Lara will enter a room with the joyful sound of popping spikes greeting her. Said spikes can be located on a ledge in the middle of the room and can be completely and safely ignored as we'll find another way up to that ledge with the tempting jump switch opposite. First of all drop down to the ledge below the spikes and push the large white button with the green frame to raise a pair of blocks on the other side of the spike ledge. Now press Look to get the right camera angle back and dive into the pool below. You'll find nothing there but a closed door, so climb out of the water and start climbing the ladder in the N/W corner. Climb up past the second dark part of the ladder and backflip to the small ledge behind. Turn around and do a running jump on top of the now raised blocks. From there do another running jump to grab the longer ledge on the other side. Climb the ladder almost to the top, sticking to the leftmost side of it as the roof is higher there, and when Lara is about one climb away from the top backflip. Voila: Lara is now standing on the long ledge opposite of where you entered.....and no spikes involved.

…..and bones:

Pull the jump switch, which in its turn opens the underwater door in the pool below. Well, what can I say.....swan dive!!!!! Swim through the door and through a cavern like tunnel until Lara can surface in a room illuminated in a bright red colour. Climb out of the pool here and a dramatic music sequence will cut in. No worries, all that happens is that two skeletons come running in from the doorway to the right so use the crossbow to wipe them out. Once done you can pull out the pistols and shoot the two chests ahead. The left one is empty and the right one contains crossbow ammo. In the next room where the skeletons came from there is a chest to the right containing a large medipack. Next follows two ramps up into a tiny cave where three skeletons are standing guard. Deal with them (if you wait for the right moment you can blow them all up with one arrow alone) and go through the red opening to the E.

The room of the rising pillars:

Continue up the ramp to the left and on top you are attacked by two more golden harpies (with one of them I experienced that you could actually hear it, but it was strangely enough no where to be found). Go down the stairs to the right and pick up some more crossbow ammo, then go back up and down to the left where there's another batch of crossbow ammo to be picked up. Light a flare and go through the dark tunnel to the E. About halfway through stop and turn around, then look up to spot a jump switch. Doing so opens a door at the opposite side of the room. Continue through the tunnel and also remember to pick up the Load key from the pedestal over by the sphinx. Now you can go through the door you just recently opened and push the white button with the red frame. This raises a block below the jump switch out in the room by the sphinx so go there and climb the block, then jump to pull the switch down and open the final door (left of the other door you opened). Go through the hallway to find the final button and push it to raise the pillar next to the jump switch from before. You can now use the two blocks to climb up onto the floor above(NOTE: The mystery of the disappearing harpy was solved the moment I climbed through the hole in the ceiling, it turns out that it had managed to fly all the way up there and was waiting for Lara to come along and dispose of it).

Just another scarab beetle:

Go over to the S wall and turn right and you should spot some crossbow ammo behind the first pillar and a jump switch on the back of the second one. Pulling it down opens the red door in the E wall so go over to it and follow along up the stairs. Darts shoot out of the walls in the next room, so crawling up the stairs could be a good idea. Run past the disabled spikes and in the next room you will find a wooden pole with a very tempting scarab beetle on it surrounded by some blocks. There are also four jump switches in the room, but the only one you can use is the one above the doorway where you entered. It raises a block below the scarab beetle so you can climb up and pry it off. The remaining three switches are fire-trapped, so don't bother trying. Run through the doorway to the S and drop through the hole in the floor down into the pool in the main hall.

The N door- souvenirs and switches for good measure:

Re-enter the room with the fire pillar to the W and this time use the Load key to open the door to the N. Pick up the crossbow ammo and enter the doorway E. Run through the ante-chamber and from there proceed through

the blue doorway E. Thanks to the fact that Lara focuses all her attention on the jump switch up on the left wall it gets very difficult to see what to do here, so pull the switch down first(to get the camera back to normal if not for anything else). Oh, it also does raise a block under another jump switch in the next room so go in there, blow up a couple of skeletons, pick up the grenade flash ammo from the pedestal and climb the block to pull the switch down to lower a block somewhere else. Turn left (N) and go over to the wall covered in foliage, this is very much climbable so climb up to the top and proceed through the opening caused by the formerly lowering block. In the next room push the button to raise some blocks in another area.

Go back down where you came from and in the room where you picked up the grenade ammo you will find the blocks you just lowered on top of the stairs to the S. Head up the stairs and go on until you reach two closed doors and a jump switch. Ironically enough it doesn't open any of those two doors, but the ones back in the room where you recently pushed the button to uncover the opening leading up to this switch. At least now you know how to get there, so back we go and through the newly opened doors. As you enter a skeleton spouts up from the ground to the right and this also works as a nice reminder that there is a jump switch on the wall right above where it came from. When you pull it some more doors open, but these are once more in a different room (of course, where would the fun be other wise). Before leaving remember to shoot the chest opposite and get some souvenirs: a small medipack and more grenade flash ammo.

Upon returning to the previous room you will notice that a door has opened to the left. This leads out to the top of the stairs with the switch you pulled earlier and the door you just opened is straight ahead, leading into a room with a lava pool. Well hello.....two golden harpies fly out to greet you so deal with them before moving on, picking up a small medipack from the pedestal to the right and pulling down the jump switch to the left in order to open a door somewhere else. Leave the room and go through the opening straight ahead. Go through the doorway right and on the left side of the next room you will find the door you opened. Go down the stairs and you'll see a torch laying there. You can ignore that though as you won't need it at all (don't even know why it's there in the first place).

The beetles’ den and the shark’s pool

Head through to the next room and (uh oh!) you'll see beetles pouring out from room ahead. Draw pistols (no, not for the beetles) and immediately run left. Crouch and use the pistols to shoot the two chests on the left side and dart over to pick up the grenade gun. Roll and rush up the stairs ahead, trying to avoid the beetles as much as possible and jump to grab the wooden part of the ceiling (this is in reality a monkey swing). Swing left and up past the stairs ahead (E) and position Lara right above the switch. Drop and press Action again to grab it and as you land roll and the run back downstairs. A trapdoor has opened to the left revealing a pool so immediately run over there and drop in to get rid of those pesky beetles. But we're not done yet: instantly swim forwards and climb out of the pool, then draw guns and turn to take out the hammerhead shark that comes swimming along to make matters worse.

Melee attack:

Once that is all over you can breathe and save your game. First drop into the pool and swim right (E), then pick up the shotgun wideshot ammo from the pedestal on the right. Turn around and swim back to where you climbed out of the pool to kill the shark. Run forwards up the steps and get ready for yet another rough challenge. As you enter the cave ahead you once more see beetles pouring out everywhere. Dart ahead and crawl through the narrow space slightly left. As soon as Lara can stand up rush past the pyramid to the left and quickly climb the wooden pillar to the left. At least this rids you of the beetles, but now you have another problem: there are no less than three golden harpies in this room as well so whip out the crossbow and deal with them with a couple of well-placed explosive arrows. Jump over to the ledge left and make your way around to the opposite side of the room where you can pick up a large medipack and when you've done this go back to the former ledge and head through the opening to the S.

The final beetle- next stop: The Lost Temple:

Run along the passage and down the stairs into a room where you can see a pillar with a beetle attached to it straight ahead. It's too high up for now though so notice that there are two jump switches in the room: one on each side of the stairs. Pull them both down and a block rises below the beetle pillar. Climb the block and pry the fourth and final beetle off the pillar. Head through the passage behind the beetle pillar and follow it until you reach a crawlspace in the left wall. Climb up there and go through to the next room, then go left and pick up the two batches of grenade ammo from the pedestal. Crawl back out the way you came in and continue down the hallway until you can drop down through an opening and down into a pool below.

Go through the opening W and into the passage right and from there head through the doorway in the N/W corner. Run up the ramp and the door ahead opens automatically as you approach. Climb out of the hole and you are now back in the room above the main hall, right by the Cleopatra statue. Make your way back down to the ground floor like before and dive into the pool, then swim through the S/W opening again and surface in the pyramid chamber. Now you can finally insert all four beetles in their respective receptacles and the door in the W wall opens. Run through the dark hallway and push the button at the end to see a door open back out in the room with the fire column. Return to the pyramid room and swim back to the main hall. Now you can go through the door to the W (with the receptacle next to it) and you're back in the fire column room. Run through the now open door in the S wall and the level ends.