Catacombs of Rome

Level by Samu Himanen (December, 2006)

Walkthrough by Harry Laudie

[Note] Some of the music gets stuck in a mind-destroying loop. I renamed the music files 013.wav, 104.wav and 108.wav to something else and started the game. The music files did not play and my sanity was saved. [End note]


You slide down a slope into a trench and stop next to a skeleton. Go to the south wall and push in a block as far as possible. Pull down the wall switch and run north and through the open door. Drop into a pit and pull down the wall switch and go south again. Continue pushing the original block as far as possible. You are in a small room with a closed door in the south wall. Shoot two bats and climb the ladder in the north-west alcove. Shimmy left into a tunnel and follow the tunnel to the end. Use the wall switch and the door opens beside you. Enter onto a ledge above the starting trench. Shoot a brown vase for a small medipack.

Enter the west tunnel and shoot a rat. The rats in this level are huge. You enter a small room with a door and a key lock. Pull up into a crawl space on the west wall. Follow the crawl space and drop into a room. Press a face button on the back wall and get a cut scene of a closed door. Exit back to the ledge above the trench. Go to the north-east corner and look down into the trench. Turn east and slide down to a small bump. Then slide down into the trench. That bump enables you to get to the ledge from the trench side. Go south and pull the block back into the entrance again. Go north to the pit and move up the wall switch.

Go south again and stand jump onto the bump and then to the upper ledge. Go down the tunnel to the ladder and get into the lower room. Go east and see a tunnel now that the block has been moved. Enter the tunnel and press the face button. You get a cut scene of the closed door.

Return to the room and go north in the tunnel to the closed door. Crawl into the triangular crawl space in the east wall. On the other side you face a lava trench and breakable tiles. Run and jump to the first tile. Stand jump to the second tile. Go forward a little and stand jump to grab the higher third tile. Shimmy to the right corner, pull up, turn left a little and run and jump to grab a fourth tile to the north. Pull up and jump the remaining tiles to finally jump into a safe tunnel. Follow the tunnel to the west up the stairs and shoot a rat. Pick up a Key from the pedestal and hear a trap door drop. Climb the ladder on the south wall. Follow the tunnel to safety drop back into the starting trench.

Go south to stand jump to the bump and then to the ledge. Enter the west room and use the key to open the door. Enter and stop before a lava pit. Back flip to the south slope and jump forward to grab a ledge above you. Press the face button and get a cut scene of the door opening. Grab the edge and release to grab the lower ledge. Pull up into the tunnel and go back down the ladder to lower room and find the open door. Enter the door and go down the tunnel. The door closes behind you. You get a flyby of a lava lake, three closed doors and a block with four switches. Go to the end of the tunnel and you are on a balcony over the lava lake.

Run and jump east to a corner column. Stand jump down to a lower south column. Stand jump to grab the south ledge with the statues and closed door. Run and jump to a south corner column. Safety drop to the ledge below and pick up Uzi ammo. Continue west to the next ledge with statues. Continue to the corner column and then to the last ledge with the statues. Safety drop to the platform below and go east to the block with the switches. The switches work in combinations to open the upper doors. The useful combinations for the switches are:

North Up; West Down; South Up; East Down; opens upper west door

North Down; West Down; South Up; East Down; opens upper east door

North Up; West Up; South Down; East Down; opens upper south door

The other combinations close the doors.

Set the switches to open the upper west door. Go west and drop onto the safe shore beside the lava lake. Go to the north-east corner and pick up the Uzi's hidden in the green plant. Return and pull up onto the platform again. Jump north to a column and then stand jump south to the ledge with the statues and the open door. Enter the open door and climb down a ladder. Follow the tunnel and shoot two rats. Pick up a small medipack from a pedestal. Time the two flame emitters and press the two face buttons. I found it best to back flip out of the way after pushing the button. You get a cut scene of a trap door for each button. Return to the ladders. Climb the south ladder and back flip and roll to the grab a north ladder. Climb up and shimmy to the right to exit back to the lava lake. Safety drop to the platform and return to the switches.

Set the switches to open the upper east door. Go west to get to the upper west ledge again. Then work your way around the columns and ledges to the upper east ledge. Enter the door and drop into a whole. Again you face a lava trench and breakable tiles. Slide down a slope and jump to the first breakable tile. Crouch and quickly crawl forward to a safe block. Crawl to the end of the second breakable tile, stand up, and go forward. The tile breaks and you are on the slope in front of it. Slide and jump to grab the edge in front of the slicing blades. Get through the blades by your favorite method. I usually use a side jump. Shoot a rat that attacks from the north tunnel. To the south is the way back. Go north and face a fire emitter in a pit. Turn around and when the fire is out, drop and grab the edge of the pit. Shimmy to the left and pull up into an alcove. Go to the end and press the face button. You get a picture of a trap door dropping. Shimmy back and go south to jump into the exit tunnel. Use the wall switch to open the door and exit back to the west ledge. Work your way around the columns and ledges back to the platform with the switches.

Set the switches to open the upper south door. Go west to get to the upper west ledge again. Then work your way around the columns and ledges to the upper south ledge. Enter the door and loop around to the right to pick up flares. Then go north to find the open trap door. Save the game, as the next part is very hard. You slide down two short slopes. Then you slide down a long slope. Stay in the middle of the slope and draw your pistols. You have to shoot the lock off a door and jump into the open door before you fall into the lava pit at the bottom. Inside the door, you can shoot a bat. Go to the right and get into a crawl space. On the other side, drop onto a slope and jump over the lava to a safe ledge. Go into the high corner area to pull up into the west alcove. Press the face button and you hear a door open. To get out of the alcove is also hard. Stand at the left corner of the face button. Turn at an angle to the north-east towards the face button. Then do a side jump to the left and you get over the corner of the fence as it meets the wall. You are back into the tunnel below with the open door.

Enter the door and slide down a slope. Jump up the lava pit at the bottom. You are in a large cave and facing a building with two closed gates. Go to the north-east corner and climb the two blocks. Jump west to pull up onto a ledge. Run and jump to the south to another ledge. You see an opening to the south-west that you cannot jump to. There is a crevice to the west and you can grab and shimmy around to see a closed door. This is the route you have to take for a very tight timed run. Safety drop to the ground. Go north to a lava pit. Grab the south edge, release, and grab the edge of a tunnel beneath it. Pull up into the tunnel and go to the end. Save the game in front of the timed switch. Pull the switch, roll and run to the end of the tunnel. Run, jump to the slope and back flip. Go to the north-east corner and follow the route to the open door. Use stand or running jumps. If you have to grab and pull up too many times, you will probably not make it. On the north ledge, jump to the left side of the south ledge. Pull up and turn and run and jump to grab the outside right side of the crevice. This way you have less crevice to shimmy over. Shimmy around to the right and around the next corner as well. As soon as you turn the corner, drop and turn and sprint for the door. I am not sure, but side jumps may also work.

Once inside the tunnel, pull down the wall switch and go to the right to exit the tunnel. Safety drop to the ground. The two gates are open. Go inside and retreat back as two gladiators attack you. Be careful as you fight in the arena because there are lava pits on the floor. Go back through the either open gate. Go south and push in a movable block. Turn to the left and push a movable block into a room. Notice a locked gate in the east wall. Return to the gates. Go north and push in a movable block. Turn to the right and push a movable block into a room. Return to the gates. Pull back the north block. Go south to return into the room and go north to pull the block into the room. Exit and go into the open north tunnel to pull down a wall switch.

Now push the north block back into the north tunnel. Use a similar method to get the south block out of the south tunnel. Enter the south tunnel and drop into the hole behind the open gate. Just follow the tunnel to the end and pick up a Key off a pedestal. Return to the room with the locked door. Use the key to open the door. Go down the tunnel to enter a large room. Pull up onto the central platform and pick up the coin from the pedestal. You get a flyby around Lara and the level ends.

07-jan-2007