Back To Basics 2008 - The Lost Inca Outpost

 

Level by Mugs

 

Walkthrough by Selene

 

IMPORTANT BUG NOTE: In the second water wheel room there’s a potential bug that can make it impossible for Lara to climb out of the pool. Be sure to save the game before diving in and if the bug should occur you can either try to dive and surface again or reload the game.

 

 

A raptor nibbles at Lara’s back before she drops down a hole into a catacomb of some sort. You can probably kill the raptor from down here (as a sort of revenge), even though it frankly isn’t necessary. Pick up the flares and climb the ladder at the end of the passage.

 

Proceed towards the doorway on top and you’re treated to a nice little fly-by, introducing you to a lush and green temple area. Walk forwards and turn left towards the dark corner, shoot the white urn to get the lasersight. As you approach the edge of the waterfall a tribesman will attack from behind.

 

Drop down the water and Lara will land in a pool below. Climb out of the water and pick up the large medipack, turn to face the water and in the left wall there’s an alcove - do a running jump over to it. Turn around and to the left there’s a higher ledge, a standjump while pressing Action should be enough to reach it. Crawl through the narrow space and climb the ladder up to another crawlspace. Here you’ll have to let go of Action for an instant and pull up into the crawlspace before she can tuck her legs back up on the ladder.

 

Drop down into the pool on the other side and climb out onto the nearby rocks. Pull up N onto the level above. Walk across the rocks, hop over the slanted part and kill the tribesman at the end. In the darkness to the left there’s a narrow crack where Lara can crawl in and retrieve a box of normal shotgun ammo.

 

Go back to the waterfall and this time do a running jump over E to the flat part of the rocks opposite. There’s a monkeyswing above (the twisted, wooden branches with the white flowers) - jump up to grab it and traverse ahead (W) and right (N), following the hanging vines. Position Lara directly in front of the crawlspace on the wall, drop and press Action again, then pull up.

 

Drop down onto the ledge below. The skeleton lying on the ground is guarding a revolver. Grab it and combine it with the lasersight. Turn left and behind the large plant there’s a narrow crack in the wall. Stand down by the skeleton where you found the revolver, facing the crack, and arm Lara with the revolver. On the other side of the crack there’s a white urn, shoot it and the gate opens.

 

The urn in front of the gate is empty, so no point in breaking it. The switch lowers a rope back in the main area. Return to the waterfall and this time climb onto the shore on the same side as the crack with the shotgun shells. Stand on the topmost flat spot NW and do a long running jump up to the level above.

 

Climb up the rocks to the N (up by the totem pole/column that has been tipped over). The part to the right can be moved out of the way, underneath it you’ll find the Mask of Bosi. Return to where you climbed up here and this time clamber your way up across the rocks on the E side of the upper waterfall. When you can’t go any further do a running jump up to the top (into the waterfall itself).

 

Walk down across the rocks on the other side of the waterfall until you can’t go any further. From here you should be able to do a running jump to grab the rope you lowered earlier. Turn Lara around so that she’s facing the opening in the fence stacked with skulls nearby, start swinging and leap off at the peak of the swing.

 

The double gates to the left are closed. Before entering the temple go right and at the back of the block with the urn there’s a switch. Pulling it deactivates a spike trap somewhere inside. Go up the stairs to the temple. Here you’ll find two openings, in the left-hand one there’s a cage with some bone remains dangling in it. The right-hand doorway is the main entrance.

 

Enter the temple and shatter the white urn to the left, you won’t be able to move the cage I mentioned earlier if the urn is in the way. Now study the three pictures over by the two closed gates opposite. Most of you will probably remember these from TR1’s Tomb of Qualopec. If you look up at the ceiling you’ll find that the tiles there are evenly distributed between being blank and having the same pattern as you just saw on the wall by the gates. One ceiling tile differs from the rest though and it’s up to you to find it (hint: right wall). Once you’ve spotted it you have to position the skeleton cage directly underneath it. That done, the leftmost gate will open.

 

Cross the deactivated spike trap and go down the stairs. A tribesman attacks so let’s teach him some manners, shall we? When you come to the base of the stairs turn around and look up towards where you came from. At the top step there’s a crack near the floor, inside it there’s a white urn. Arm Lara with the revolver and shoot it. The nearby gate doesn’t open (although you hear the sound of a trap door opening), but there’s a switch behind the gate so we’ll have to get back here later on.

 

For now enter the 1st Water Wheel Room. Dive into the pool and swim through a crack in the N wall, then up through a trapdoor you just opened. Surface, climb out and place the Bosi Mask in the receptacle on the wall. Swim back down to the pool and climb out of the water, the gate you passed by at the stairs is now open. Pull the switch, opening the second gate up in the temple.

 

Return back up there and go through the open gate, only to find a switch. This is the beginning of a timed run and a quite tight one at that. Pulling it raises a block up in the room above the water wheel. It’s a bit difficult, but can be done. This is my way of doing it:

 

Pull the switch, roll and run ahead, sharp left turn and a very sharp right turn (and while you’re at it: do avoid being toasted in the fire pit out in the main room). Immediately jump with a right angle into the other doorway and run down the stairs. Veer left into the room with the water wheel, go right and run up behind the water wheel. Press Action right away and Lara will vault up onto the wheel. Just keep Action pressed as Lara swings around the horizontal pole and she’ll grab a grate at the end. Pull up, roll and immediately do a U-turn right. Runjump onto the block, turn left and run up to the wall. Finally jump up and press Action to grab the crevice up on the wall….and all this needs to be done before the block lowers. Easier said than done, but still fully possible.

 

Pull up where the crevice is at its widest, crawl underneath the overhang to the left to find an opening. Climb down the ladder, drop down onto the slope and grab the edge. Pull up, backflip, roll and grab the ladder opposite, drop to grab the edge of the alcove and climb the ladder down to the ground.

 

Behind the blocks in the N/W corner you’ll find some normal shotgun ammo. In the shallow water underneath the broken bridge there’s a lasersight (just in case you didn’t get the first one). You’re also treated to a fly-by of a crevice high up with a white urn. There’s a narrow crack in the E wall, crawl underneath there and light a flare so that you can see. Pick up the flares and kill the compy. At the far back there’s a dimly lit opening, crawl through there and kill a second compy. Climb one of the ledges and kill the two raptors that roam around in the room (you might have to run around on the floor a bit to lure them out).   

 

Shoot one of the urns on the block by the N wall and get the Key to Peace. Go around to the S wall and jump over the red floor tile at the end. This is a trapdoor which will open as you do this and a boulder will roll down into the hole left behind. Pick up the revolver (again) and climb the ladder down into the hole. There’s an alcove down there where you can pick up the crowbar.

 

Climb back out of the hole and follow the floor around to the right. At the back E wall you can use your newly acquired crowbar to retrieve the….eh….Boobie Prize. Note the unattainable large medi-pack on a slope in the S/E corner.  Return to the crawlspace N/W and go back to the area with the broken bridge.

 

Pull up onto the S section of the bridge (be careful, one of the lower tiles, on the N section of the bridge, is loose and will collapse), turn to face the wall W (between the two ladders where you came down to begin with). Arm Lara with the revolver and aim for the crack in the wall, just above and to the left of the sloped ledge up to your right, you should barely be able to make out the tip of the white urn. Shoot it and you’ll see smoke rising if you hit it. You’ll also know if you’ve hit it because a rope will have lowered nearby. We’ll be getting to that soon, but right now crawl into the narrow opening at the end of the bridge (S side - that is, when Lara is facing S). The secret chime sounds and through a small crack you’ll see a white urn. Never mind that one though, instead press Action and if you’re in the right spot Lara will pick up Secret # 1: the shotgun.

 

Drop down to the ground and climb the ladder up into the wall alcove. Runjump to grab the slope opposite, pull up and backflip/roll while pressing Action. Lara will with some luck grab the rope. The next move is slightly difficult. Above the bridge there’s a slope and a horizontal pole. You have to swing towards the slope, jump off when Lara is at her highest point to land on the slope, immediately jump forwards and press Action to grab the horizontal pole. The rest is a piece of cake: swing around the pole and just keep pressing Action so that she’ll grab the ladder on the wall opposite.

 

Follow the passage until you can pull higher up (near a wooden floor tile). Crawl through in the opposite direction and follow to drop down into the water in a room with another water wheel. In the N/W corner there’s a switch, pulling it both raises a block and a wooden platform at the opposite end of the room. Climb onto the block, stand with your back to the wall and standjump to grab the horizontal pole. Leap off and grab the platform, pull up and turn around.

 

Climb up onto the rafters and up here you’ll find an open doorway in the W wall. Right next to it on the left-hand side there’s a gate, currently closed. Runjump over to the doorway and inside there’s a large wheel. Saving the game here is probably a good idea, as you have a timed run coming up. You have to turn the wheel 5-6 times. When this is done the gate outside should be fully open.

 

Turn left immediately after you’ve pulled the wheel the last time and run towards the exit. Do a long jump over to the rafter and veer right. Runjump to land right inside the gate before it closes (or if you miss, grab the edge and quickly pull up inside).

 

Pull the switch here to lower the nearby block (this will let you back out into the room with the wheel) and also open the gate high up at the N wall. Walk over the rafter and do a running jump + grab to sail through the open gate. Kill the two bats that attack and pull the switch on the wall. A wooden trapdoor somewhere opens, dive into the pool below and climb into the crawlspace N where you came from to begin with.

 

Go through the dark room and drop down to the level below, here you’ll find the trapdoor W you just opened. Walk to the edge and look down into the shaft to spot a jump switch. Hang from the edge and drop to grab the switch, opening up a path through the double gates in the outdoor area.

 

You’ll now find Lara standing above the 1st Water Wheel Room. Drop down into the pool, pull out and leave the room N and climb up the stairs back to the temple entrance. As you proceed through the opened doorway down the steps E towards the pyramid three tribesmen attack from behind. Kill them and continue all the way to the bottom. Clamber up to the right side of the pyramid and use the Key to Peace in the receptacle next to the door to end the level.