Back to Basics 2008 - ????

Level by Leroy

Walkthrough by akci

Story:

Lara finds herself in the middle of nowhere, in an unknown place. Travelling through ruins, she enters a temple where mysterious things occur...

- known bug: Right after starting the game, you have to save it and reload it in order to avoid a crash. Please do that each time you start this game. Unfortunately this does not work for everyone.

Note: But fortunately it seems it doesn't always crash either, since the writer of this walkthrough didn't encounter that bug.

You start on a small island in a big lake facing N. Far ahead, just about the boundary of the distance limit there is a round metal gong, use the look button or binoculars and you would be able to see it. Shoot it with your pistols while jumping to get a camera shot of a closed gate, you have to shoot 4 more of these to open it. If you wish you can jump all around the lake area starting from the SE corner, and find several other spots you can shoot the gong from, but there is nothing to achieve. Turn left (W) and swim to a walkable triangle where you can climb on shore, close to the SW corner. Run/jump behind the V-shaped block, you can use the next tile under shallow water for a curved run, or do a walk/jump. Pick up the Uzis and clips in the 1st secret. Locate the nearby underwater crack, it's a bit N from the secret, and swim through.

Swim to the end, get out of the water. Light a flare to see a medipack on one of the spike tiles. I could find no way to turn off the spikes, but if you stand on the next tile facing away (N) and position Lara that a hop back would take her precisely on the medi so she won't take any unnecessary little positioning steps before picking it up, you'll have just enough time to get it into your possession, then roll to get off the tile. See Dutchy's tip in the next paragraph for turning off the spikes. Only works with a hop back then roll, rolling both times won't give you enough time. Find the right starting position with angled sidesteps, save before trying it to see if it's the right one. Start the earliest possible moment while the spikes still are out, you'll suffer a little injury but the spikes only kill if they pop up while you're on the tile. Once done do it all over again, because picking up the medi reveals that the Statuette is also on that tile, when you pick that up you'll hear the tune for the 2nd secret. Note from Moderator: You must gain this secret in order to access the next two secrets. However, they aren't required in order to progress in the level. Go up in the corridor in front, here is the closed gate you saw, jump and shoot the gong to open the bars in the previous room. (So this gong isn't one of the remaining 4 which opens the gate.)

Go in the newly opened room, pick up the small medi and note the hole in the ceiling. Move on, at one point in the corridor a fly-by kicks in and a raptor attacks, kill him. There are 4 closed bars, 2 on each side, the timed switch at the end of the corridor opens the first one to the left, it's very forgiving, you don't even have to dash. Go there and push the crate two times, shoot the vase behind it and pick up the flares. Climb the ladder, in the alcove to the left you find uzi clips, on the right a switch which opens the bars on the other side downstairs. Climb down to the opposite room, dispose of the raptor, pick up the clips at the skeleton and push the crate out into the corridor. Climb back around and go to the corridor where now the crate is, push/pull it to the middle of the small room, under the hole. It becomes static, so you can get up into the passage above.

Note from Dutchy: You can now move the second cage in this area (in the S room) to the marked tile at the timed switch you used at the W end of the passage, the spikes will then retract and you can get the secret [in the previous paragraph] without problems, apart from a Medipack you'll get something that will give access to two more secrets.

Note: If you're going to find everything for the first visit you'll have to come back here only once, but if you travel back and fro you'll find that this block has the habit of disappearing, if that happens use the other crate. If that one disappears as well, and you still have business left in the following areas, you won't be able to finish the level.

Go to the ledge, standjump to the horizontal pole and grab the next ledge. Jump with curve into the opening and you arrive at a large room.

Note: From here on the level becomes complicated, and you can do things in a different order. If you follow this walkthrough you'll encounter the least possible oddities. If not, keep in mind that there are several shallow pools in this room, covered by ice. Each contains a vase you must shatter, and one the torch, they become available after you break the ice. But due to flipmaps involving other actions in the room, the ice on some could reappear, and if you missed your chance to bring out the torch or shoot the vases you won't be able to finish the level. If you shot a vase the first time, you don't have to worry about its reappearing, shooting them once seem to be enough.

Just above the entrance is a horizontal pole, stand under it facing W, jump and grab it, hit the forward key to jump on the ledge. Pick up the small medi, jump on the roof where a campfire burns, then to the next one and pick up the Heavy Silver Key. Jump back to the campfire and turn E, you see two poles and a jumpswitch in the corner. Jump on the V slopes, facing the switch and keep jumping with curves till you're in the middle of the slope, then jump at the last moment when sliding backwards to reach the highest possible point on the other slope, and jumping from there you can grab the first pole. Jump for the switch to extend another horizontal pole in the previous room with the pit.

Go back there, walk to the ledge and stand/jump on the NW platform. Run/jump to the pole, then grab the platform, pull up, jump over the small slope at its lowest part. Watch out for the spike door behind the corner, go in the room and fight two raptors. Pick up the flares from the skeleton and the crowbar in the SW corner.

Note: The crowbar is under an object and rather difficult to pick up. Stand there from the N, there will be one spot where if you push ctrl Lara tries the picking up animation, do some running towards the spike object with a bit of left or right turns to find the right spot. When you've got it, crouch and she will pick it up.

Use it on the N door, pull the switch inside to open the trapdoor under the campfire in the main room. Pick up all the clips, then open the door on the S wall between the clips and the switch. Behind it is another switch, pull it to open the timed door in the next room, dash through it. There are several fire emitters here, all guarding switches and a key. One of them on the S wall is pausing at regular intervals, the rest are continuous. Go left, then right and it will be the one on your right. You have to pull the switches one by one to get the key at the end, but to make things interesting the switches don't turn off the next emitter entirely, just make them pause a bit. You'll always have more than enough time to pull them during the pauses. Here is the order: this one, then - NW corner - SE corner - westernmost one - the one in the SE corner of the first room - SW corner - E wall - the last one in the S corridor - now you can pick up the Metal Key in the first room. The door opens, but before going inside pull the last switch next to where the key was, this one opens the door behind the animal skin in the room outside. Go in there and you find two more doors, one you can open with the crowbar, pick up a medipack and clips behind it, the other opens with the Statuette and leads to the 3rd secret where you can pry off the wall two Inca Magic Stones (or beetles). Go back to the main room, this involves a tricky jump to the pole from the triangle, use walk/jump or run with curve.

Back in the main room notice that the dropped campfire is still burning in the water. Shoot the nearby vase at the left wall, you'll get a camera shot of a door high above, you have to shoot 4 more to open it. The next vase is in the water, you can't crouch there but if you jump where the water is still shallow enough to have the pistols in hand, but also deep enough for Lara to crouch for a moment before standing back up, you can shoot it with pistols, or come back to it later when you have the crossbow. Swim through the underwater passage and pick up the 1st Wheel in the enclosed underwater area. Go back to the entrance and jump to the pole again to get to the upper level, this time go to the SW corner and stand/jump over the slope. Jump to the pole, jump on the slope over the next top, jump and grab the platform, pull up. Go to the N end of the platform and run/jump on the next slope, jump and grab the pole, jump on the last slope and grab the edge of the crawlspace. It leads to a valley with waterfalls.

Drop to the ground and go up the rocks on the left just before the pool, grab the higher rock and shimmy all the way behind the waterfall, pull up on the last ledge. There is an opening below, you can stand/jump there with a left curve, or you can ctrl/drop on the ledge directly below, and do it from there easier. Use the Heavy Silver Key on the keyhole and the trapdoor opens under your feet.

Wade through the passage and you arrive at a pit with some tiles leading to the other side, or so it would seem. From the second tile jump diagonally to the tile on the left, close to the cracked column. When you jump on the middle row a short fly-by kicks in and then you have a few seconds to grab that crack before the remaining tiles disappear.

Note: This column is a bit buggy, as Lara would climb and shimmy in a strange fashion, so keep a save before the fly-by, just in case.

Once you've grabbed the crack, shimmy to the left side of the column before a boulder falls, then climb up, my Lara was only willing to climb up if her feet weren't set. A rope appeared in the middle, due to the walkable triangle jumping on it is a bit tricky, again walk/jump or use a curved run. Swing on the rope and jump to the other side. Go in the room, pick up the Uzis from the pedestal, then pull the invisible switch on the E side of the block which Lara looked at. The block lowers, pull the switch in the corner to turn off the spiketrap under the skeleton, pull it away and get the Golden Plate. Go out, jump on the crack on the S wall and shimmy/climb back on the buggy column, jump to the rope again and swing for the other column with a walkable triangle top. Aim for the leftmost corner of the column, as the jump will be altered a bit to the right for some reason. Stand/jump down and head back to the lake.

Jump on the rocks in the left corner for a small medi, then swim to the shore and back on the rock where you shimmied. But this time pull up on it and from the last walkable triangle jump and grab the edge at the top of the waterfall. Swim to the middle of the upper waterfall, pull out and put the plate in the receptacle to turn off the spikes in the underwater passage. Swim down in there, it's right before the receptacle, swim under the first blade, over the other two and pull up into a room. Kill the raptor, then go to the back, the high doors open for you on both sides, but close behind you. Pull the switch in front of the pole, you can hear spike traps turning off, then quickly run under the pole, jump and grab it. Just hang there for a while, till the floor reappears, then go out to the previous room. Pull out the object from the dark corner and place it under its upper half, one of the similar objects in the main room also becomes electrified. If you tried this before, spikes would have killed you. On your right pull the invisible switch on the brownish block to reveal the receptacle for a beetle, place it to get a camera shot of the door in the dark where the popping spikes are. Swim back and go to the edge at the top of the waterfall. Run/jump on the lower gray cornerledge on the left, run over the corner to the inner ledge. Jump over the low slope and go to the other end of the ledge. Turn right and jump on the higher platform, pick up the 2nd Wheel, jump back to the entrance and go/crawl back in the main room, just don't drop onto the slope, as it's an illegal one.

Turn E and go in the passage and you find the millwheel, a series of cogs on the N wall, and switches on both sides. Put the Wheels in their places and the millwheel starts to roll. The switch on the right opens the timed door upstairs, but before pulling it you should rearrange the rope. The goal here is when jumping from the wheel on the rope, Lara should pull up her legs immediately, that way you'll have more than enough time to turn around and swing towards the door, if she does it with delay there is still a chance to reach the door in time, but it's extremely difficult. After many tries I found that the rope once moved then slows down and swings less and less, at the end literally pixel by pixel, and doesn't always stop at the exact same spot. And that seems to be a deciding factor of how Lara behaves when jumps on it. So jump on the rope and make it swing, then drop in the pool. Pick up the medipack now that you're there, then pull up on the shore and wait until the rope fully stops. Now save your game. Jump to the rope again and see if Lara pulls up her legs immediately, note that even if the rope is at the right spot she won't do it always, although she will more often than not, try it 2-3 times just to be sure, loading back the same save, of course. If she won't do it, repeat the process. If she does it, load your save, pull the timed switch and get in the door without much difficulty. Pull/push the object under its upper part to open the gate in the main room. Pull the invisible switch on the block you're already familiar with, and place a beetle into the receptacle. Drop back down and use the switch on the left of the wheels and go in the opened bars.

When you reach the junction, bars close behind you and a boulder is coming your way, so you have to run for your life. There are also blade traps to spice things up, the method that best worked for me to get through was to dash first, pressing jump to dash/roll over the first blade, then simply run under the second one, jump from the slope just before the corner to lose no time, then run and jump over the third blade. It can be done without injury. At the end jump to the pole and grab the platform. Light a flare to notice the switch on the left, pull it to open the bars in the opposite corner. It's timed but isn't tight, although it's probably a good idea to drop the flare before jumping on the gray climbable surface, as far as you can, and shimmy all the way to the right till you switch to the other one in the corner. Release ctrl for a moment to get down a bit then shimmy left into the opening. Drop down in the valley and fight two raptors. Don't bother going any further, an invisible wall blocks the way to the back of the valley. Pick up the Crossbow+LaserSight next to the campfire and the small medi in a bush. Backflip on the slope in the nearby corner and jump to grab the ledge, go back the way you came (through all the shimmying, polejumping and the blade corridor). When you reach the bars they open for you.

Back in the room with the wheel now you can shoot the vase in the middle of the pool. When you do it the camera sticks in a close position, save and load to make it go back to normal. Go back to the main room and through the opened gates (N). There are four switches here, pull the SW one to open the trapdoor, the rest are trapped. Jump from the block and pull up. Shoot two gongs, one is obvious, the other is high up in the middle of the room. Get the medipack at the S wall and head back to the main room.

Use the Metal Key in the keyhole on the object in the middle of the room, that gives you another pole above. Go to the entrance and jump yet again to the pole, from the SW corner reach the platform in the middle of the W wall, as you did before. But this time turn right and make an angled jump with a right curve to the pole, jump with still a right curve to the next pole, then onto the wooden platform. Walk to the N ledge and stand/jump on the slope, jump to the pole and to the last slope, slide a bit then jump in the opening. Go up in the passage, run/jump and pull up on the wooden platform. Look up to the right, there's a gong there and you can aim at it from here. You don't have to bother jumping to the next block in the middle, as an invisible platform leads there. Pull up and make a leap of faith, jump to the marked slope left of the next open trapdoor, and it closes. Keep jumping on the slopes with curves to eventually slide on one of the edges to the trapdoor, as it is timed.

Turn S and either run/jump or stand/jump/grab to the next block, depending on which side of the trapdoor you started from. If you look left you'll see the block you're going to lower. Repeat the previous manoeuvre. Now you are above the entrance, safety drop onto the jumpswitch to release a boulder, which breaks the ice in one of the pools. You can only get down to the vase there from N because of an invisible tile, shatter it. Pick up the torch by the boulder (S of it) and light it at the still burning campfire, you have to stand in the water to do so. As the water is deep enough for Lara only to jump vertically, go to a ledge and jump while holding forward, that will bring you out of the water. Go to the last pool and set the bushes in flames to melt the ice.

Note: Another bug, sometimes you have to light both of them, sometimes one is enough.

Shoot the last vase, pick up the arrows in the NE corner of this pool. Go to the entrance and jump up to the pole for the last time. Jump on the roof where originally the campfire was, this is the best spot to shoot the gong behind the opened wall E. Stand in the SW corner, facing NE. Finally the block lowers in the shown gate.

Go all the way back S to the spikes where you found the statuette, if you found and placed the beetles the door here is opened. Go in to collect the Shotgun and ammo in the 4th secret. Go through the gate, pick up the medipack, save your game before drop in the hole.

A native shows up and a little later two T-rexes, you can kill them all, starting with the latter if you have the shotgun, but it's enough to kill the native (only then his pets disappear), and the exit opens.

Note: There are another bugs here, he doesn't show up everytime, that's why you need a save before this room. Also make sure not to step again on the tile after the slope, because that closes the exit and you'll be trapped here.

Go through the exit and this rather buggy level ends.