Search the True Christmas Gift – Remake Part 1

Levels by birdmonster

Walkthrough by DJ Full


LEVEL 1 - INDIAN MOSQUE

PISTOL PROLOGUE
Swim through the lake to reach the shore. Hop on the golden platform and collect Blue Piece from it Go around the mosquee and press a switch on its wall to open the door. Go inside and climb a pole between the pillars to escape from the tigers. DON'T backflip into the roof (this is an untextured shaft only), but reach the navy blue space much higher. On the top, backflip N, find a switch on the SW block and press it (opens the door on the other side of the pole). Then, move the pushable architecture piece to the E one time to find the pistols.

FIRE SNAKES BRIDGE
Jump over the central gap, go left, around the pillar and enter the left door. As soon as you do it, turn left again and go around the central structure to find a slot for the Blue Piece. Place the gem to open a trapdoor in the pole room. Climb the ladder and jump out of the slope to get to the second floor. Pull the lever and exit through the door. Do a swan dive over each stone blocking the way across the bridge. At the end, drop to grab a ladder on the left pillon and descend to the lever switch at its base. Go back on the bridge. You need to either be extremely lucky to avoid all the firebolts during the climb, or to save and load after every blast. The second way is a little cheating, but this is, IMO, a better option. After the climb, slide down a slope behind the open door.

PART OF QURAN
Fall into the water, swim through the passage, avoiding two sharks and some snakes, escape to the dry cave and kill all the monsters from there. Grab a Part Of Quran from the center of the place. Pick up a revolver from the NE corner, and a lot of ammo for it from all the corners of this cave. You should have 56 bullets in total. Press the lever switch to open the door leading back to the mosquee exterior. Escape onto a pedestal with remaining Quran scrolls to kill the tigers from there. Then, place the missing Quran piece among the other. It opens a trapdoor behind the central pillar of the room you placed the gem in.

DIE HARD
Get there and use the ladder to descend to the lava part. There are a big and a small normal medis next to the ladder and packs of normal shells in the corners near the lava pool, but watch out for a Middle-East native. Actually, he's a boss, and requires 26 revolver bullets to die and drop Water Key. For not losing the item, lure the opponent away from the slope or the lava and kill him while he is on a flat surface.

FIRE KEY
When you have all the pickups, jump across the lava to climb the blocks. Go to the other end of the long rock and jump over the next gap to land on the ramp. Do a banana jump NE to land on the rock and pull up to grab some revolver bullets. Finally, do a standing jump S and then a feign grab jump to hop into the golden chamber with some pushable blocks. You need to move only one of them. There is a key in the middle of all four - stand above it, facing the blocks you didn't touch and DUCK. This way Lara is able to get the item without moving any other block. With the Fire Key in your backpack, return to the block you picked up the revolver ammo from. Descend on the lowest block on the S, jump on the neighbouring rock and, at its other end, on the another one. Pull up into not so obviously marked crawlspace and go through it to get back on the familiar ramp. Crawl down it to be able to stand up. Now backtrack to the gem room in the mosquee - you know the way.

ROBBING THE INDIAN
Exit the room to the main chamber and enter another door in the same corridor. On your way to the keyholes, notice a laser sight, 12 wideshot and 12 normal shells. Also, there's a proper weapon for them. Looks like that Indian guy stored the whole arsenal for some kind of Jihad, but obviously it was Lara who fought her own version of it and won, so now she can waste all years of Indian's preparations by robbing his armoury. Naaah... she's used to it. When you finish the grand theft, place both keys in their slots, descend down through the open trapdoor and slide down towards the flame to finish the first part.

JUST A FUN FACT - This is what I wrote when I thought you can't kill the Indian guy:
"He's immortal modified red ninja, so shoot him while approaching the goodies. This way you can give yourself some time to grab them while he's covering himself from your bullets. When you have all the pickups, jump across the lava to climb the blocks (the enemy follows you)." Some lines later, in the golden chamber: "Now the Indian guy can be really annoying, trying to slice some kebab from Lara when she tries to move a block. Do the same trick as previously - first make him cover to get some precious seconds, then pull the block."


LEVEL 2 - CHINESE HAUNTED BUDDHIST TEMPLE

PROLOGUE
Just like MichaelP writes in his review: "You will have to start this level from the first savegame provided by the author, because otherwise you will not have the weapons you need to shoot something later on. This is actually not a bad thing to do as I think it saves you from watching the painfully bad long flyby of the temple at the start."

GETTING DOWN
Enter the temple. Go left and around the pillar to pick up the crowbar from next to it, climb the ladder, get 2 packs of flares from the top, jump over the gap to press a switch and go back to the ground floor. Use the W side of the ladder to descend to the basement through the open trapdoor. Pull the lever on the right of the golden ornament. Watch the torches burst into flames. Shatter the windows in the middle of the room to get across and hop into the chamber of fire.

THE CHAMBER OF FIRE
STOP on the first square behind the entrance. Rocks fall down. Swan dive over the one in front of you and over the following torch on the pedestal to reach and grab a big medi lying on it. Find a small one on the top of the N blocks. Drop to the ground and follow the next passage. Pull the lever to open the next portal.

SECOND TEMPLE
Pick up the Seraph from the pedestal. Go around the apse and down the ramp in the next corridor. Press the switch and watch another flyby showing you nothing. Approach the temple and use the Seraph to open it. Go inside and shatter the vase in the corner on the right of the entrance to find a large medi. Collect a small one from by the nearest table. Go across the temple and pull the lever to open a trapdoor behind you. Roll, run into it and hold Action to grab the ladder. Climb down to the library. Pass between the regals and find the lava section behind the N portal.

LAVA ONCE AGAIN
Jump over the gap and grab the ledge. Pull up and go up the ramp. Face NE (because you can ignore the closest pillar, as there is nothing to find there) and jump on the following rock. Pull up onto the higher one, jump diagonally on the next one and grab another ledge. Shimmy around to fall onto the lowest fragment. Now the destination pillar is difficult to see on the NE. Runjump on it. See the exit? Jump into the next room.

THE TWO LADDERS
Ignore the whole climbable wall running around this place. The only two things to climb here are the pillars. No matter which one you climb, both of them lead to the same place. And on your right you can already see the closest one. The second column is placed exactly on the other side of the central building. Get to the top of any pillar and watch out for the low ceiling when jumping on the central structure in purpose of pressing two switches located on the roof. Only the S one opens the exit. After throwing it, return to the ground and go through the door indicated by the camera.

TRANSITION
Jump into the pool and swim to the end of the underwater passage. Get out of the water and climb the blocks filling the following corridor. You may think you can pull up to get out of the canyon, but it's only an illusion - you're on the very top of the game, and the surrounding rocks are not the rooms, but one of the features of unofficial level editor. Follow the passage, jump over slopes and slide down them till you reach a bit flat surface. Now watch out, all the pits behind the next corner are lava traps. Jump over them to land on the red carpet. There's no way out of the following hole, so don't fall in. Behind it, use the blocks to descend and proceed through the rest of the canyon to find the red roof. Approach the hole and look down to see where the rocks to avoid are. Pass by them when you jump into the hole and fall into the water. Swim through the diagonal passage and go left on the junction to find two large medis at the end of the alcove. Pass the rest of the main path and resurface.

1ST BOSS
Pick up two small medis from the left and right of the switch. Now use the crowbar to throw the broken lever. Again, watch a little bit overflown-by flyby. Go across the bridge (below it lies the death zone). Pass the next corridor and jump over the slope to fight a ghost. Demighost, I think. Keep so close to the phantom to make it unable to target you. When it dies, pick up a key it left. Jump over the next slope and, at the end of the passage, open the door with the item you acquired from the boss.

TRANSITION 2
In the next room, pull any of the boxes twice to be able to go up the ramp. Fall into the water, get out, exit the room, go across the courtyard to reach the next ramp, go up it and through the crawlspace. On the other side, avoid the magma tiles.

2ND BOSS
Throw a switch by the exit to open it and activate the dragon. WARNING! If you save during the door opening anim, the boss will vanish!!! To finish the level, you need to kill it, as it drops the key to the exit. If you are doomed anyway, help yourself with the author's savegame. If not, kill the dragon (it's very fragile) and pick up the item. Climb the ladder the boss appeared next to, pull up to place the key and exit. At the end of the following passage, there is the end of the second episode.


LEVEL 3 - CLOWN PIRATES

GENERAL WARNINGS:
1. "Do not use the bike too early as you will then be stuck later on. Only go there when you do already have the first key." (from the review of MichaelP)
2. The version of grenade gun you can find in this part is a dangerous weapon which can kill you, but there is a proper way of using it. However, save grenades for last boss.
3. Remember to pick up the second coin.
4. Don't save during Torso Guy's dying anim.

PROLOGUE
Slide down the dune and sprint into the water. Swim ahead for some time, till you see the floating pyramid. Get on the bank, go around the building and jump into it.

CAVES
Fall into the water. Pick up the shotgun and some ammo for it. You should have 6 normal and 6 wideshot shells now. Get out of the hole. Proceed through the cavern until you can safety drop to the large area, where 3 SASes await you. Kill them all and press the switch on the other side of the place, next to the exit. Watch another patience testing flyby and, seeing all these monsters down there, remember: you can always refer to author's savegames.

THE FALL
Before you hop into the pool, read the whole instruction below to understand everything that is gonna happen in next seconds. There is a way to bypass the pool and minimize damage the SASes cause. Walk to the edge of the right square in front of the pit. Face the pool and tap right once or twice to turn a little bit. Now do a standing jump and press Action. Then draw the shotgun in midair and hold Forwards. You will touch the water and, as a result, Lara will hide the weapon, but you won't fall into the pool. Also, you won't be stuck if you keep running to free yourself. Go right and hide behind the closest pedestal. Finish the SASes coming out from behind the corners, one by one. This way I didn't use any medikit in this place.

MORE CAVES
The Atlantean monsters appear to be the gold miners only, imprisoned by the SASes and forced to work. They obviously don't notice you set them free. Give them some time to realize it. Grab the coin one of the SASes leaves and collect 3 wideshot and 3 standard shells from the pedestals. There are also 2 super and 1 normal grenade to grab. Exit the room by going through the passage on the top of the hill of gold. Place the coin in the receptacle near the door on the other side of the next chamber. Follow the corridor, platform across the magma lake and go through the next passage, which splits in two. Choose the right path to find a lever switch. WAIT for a SAS to come out of the room (for the coin he drops not to fall under a magma ball you can't move). Kill this guy and GRAB THE PICKUP. Otherwise you won't finish this game. Now follow the rest of the same corridor and go right in the place where both paths join together. Go along the glass and find a portal at its end. Enter the chamber with a pillar in the center. Find and press a switch behind this column to open some trapdoors in the previous room. Fall down through them to land in a pool. Swim through the wide passage, resurface and get out of the water at the end. Runjump and grab the next ledge. Pull up onto the platform.

TORSO BOSS
One notification before you kill the Torso Guy: DON'T SAVE during his dying animation, before the key is dropped. If you do so and then load this savegame, the boss will respawn and you'll have to fight once again to retrieve the key!!!
Grab as many shells as you can before the Torso Guy reaches you. If you fall into the water and save - you're doomed and have to refer to author's saves once again. Just like the Indian boss from the first level, this one is very tough and requires at about 41 shots to kill (using normal shells). When it dies, it drops the modern-looking key. It has no name so I call it "The Wardrobe Key" (why not?). Get out of this platform by runjumping and grabbing the ledge of the platform with the golden wall behind it.

THE RIGHT ONE
Follow the passage on the right of the mentioned golden wall. Go through the next cave, around the closest pillar and climb the ladder on it to place the coin you have in one of the receptacles on the top. The right one is the right one. Open the door and climb the opposite two-segmented ladder to get on the platform with some normal shells to grab.

THE TRUE CHRISTMAS GIFT
Safety drop to the next cavern and fight 4 SASes there. One of these boys gives you grenade gun. As Christmas will be soon, gotta think about this idea. There's no Christmas tree around, but it must have been here, and we exactly know where it was growing, because there is a hole in the ground - obviously, someone has ripped this tree from its soil, together with its roots. Or were just testing the grenade gun on it to check out if the true Christmas gift truly Christmasly giftly works. Get into the hole to grab a ladder inside (maybe Lara assumes someone has stolen the tree and wants to chase down that guys - I don't know yet, we will see). Descend to realize these roots must have been very, very long - because there is not so much water around and the tree had to search for it - and fall into the corridor, apparently dug by the thieves and once functioning as an escape path. Follow the passage till you slide down...

THE BIKE
...into the familiar place. Pass by the gold miners once again and throw a switch next to the door behind the pool. Proceed through the revealed corridor to find the bike. Get on it and drive up the three ramps. Park the vehicle at the end of the passage, under the ladder. Climb it to find the new corridor and 6 normal and 6 wideshot shells in it.

THE LAST OF THE DEMIGODS
Pull the lever at the end to open the window. Draw the shotgun and drop down back to the initial desert. Keep so close to the demigod to make him unable to shoot you. This is tougher version of this enemy. I spent all but one remaining normal shells on him (14) and 4 wideshot as well. But I may have missed several times. After the fight, pick up the key the demigod drops.

THE CLOWN PIRATES
Place both keys in the holes above the blocks on the left and right side of the S exit. Go through it, follow the corridor and press the button at its end to access the patio. The boss awaiting you there is tougher than any other I've ever seen, and more annoying than Semerkhet's cow, fire cobra and hammergod... together. These two guys you have to fight now are the clown pirates - the blue and the green. The first one is a modified white ninja, the second is based on red one. So get rid of the blue one first. In the meantime, grab normal shells scattered around (in this purpose, sprint across the place to make some distance and not let the ninja push you aside, preventing you from picking up the ammo). There are also some medis to collect - 2 big and 1 small - but if your health is running low, it may already be too late for grabbing them! So pick them up as soon as you can (recommended). When you kill the green guy, shoot the blue one and wait for him to cover from your bullets. Then, backflip and draw your grenade gun. If you make enough distance, your own grenade won't blow you up. (Also, you can sprint into the previous corridor with the grenade launcher drawn, to get some more space. I did it, escaped to the very beginning and managed to throw 4 super grenades at the ninja. That finished him, when I ran out of all the shells.) After the fight, grab the keys the enemies leave and place them in the slots on the left and right of the exit to reveal the last corridor, full of pillars.

EPILOGUE
Follow the hypostyle passage to exit the third episode and - what it means - the whole levelset. Pheeeew... You made it!