TR2 - THE DARKNESS CASTLE by Peppigno Rafiele

First walkthrough by Henk Eland, enhanced and corrected by manarch2. A further enhanced walkthrough by DJ Full follows below.

Video Walkthrough by 2JohnRP: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Mman/Semfry also created a full video walkthrough in one video.

In Sep 2019 Fluen release edited versions of the level in an easy and hard difficulty version. Walkthroughs for these follow further down...

 

This below walkthrough is NOT complete. It is just the beginning. If you find something please enhance this walkthrough!

You "land" in a great room with a red carpet. Lara must be king! Explore the room. Turn to the left and pickup behind the stars the Automatic Pistol Clips(1),the Shotgun Shells (2) and Uzi clips (3). Now walk to the other stairs and pickup from behind the M16 Clips (4), the Automatic Pistol Clips (5) and the Uzi Clips (6). When you pickup the ammo shoot three dogs (1,2,3). Walk towards the great closed doors and pickup the Grenade Launcher (7). Now take the right stairs as the closed doors are behind you. Pickup the Shotgun Shells (8). Turn around and flip the switch the open the great closed doors. Kill everything that trying to hunt you down. Kill two bad guys (4,5) and a dog (6). Enter the room and kill another two bad guys (7,8). Climb on the table and pickup the Automatic Pistol Clips (9), Automatic Pistol (10) and Grenade Clips (11). Flip the switch near the closed door. The door will open. Kill a bad guy (9) and two rats (10,11). Go the right and kill the two dogs (12,13) that are running up and down the stairs. On your left you can pickup the Uzi Clips (12), Automatic Pistol Clips (13) and the M16 Clips (14). Climb the stairs and kill another two rats (14,15) and a dog (16). Continue up the stairs. Kill two bad guys (17,18) and a flame thrower (19). When you have reached the top of the stairs. Climb up the last block and kill the dog (20) and two bad guys (21,22). Now there is no way up so we must go downstairs again. You will see a switch. It is a timed switch. When you flip it, a door downstairs will. The available space to get to the door is for me to little. So I didn't find out which door was open for a little while. I think the door by the fireplace. So you can give it a try. When you come down (and you hear the door closing) go straight forward and take in the passage the first passage leading towards the room where we started. Kill all the rats (23,24,25,26,27,28,29) that are walking around. Go back the way you came. Go left, left, right and follow the hallway. You will find the passage full with sharp blades. Climb on the block and pickup the Little Medikit (15). Jump from the block and go left. pickup the Harpoons (16), Grenades (17) and Uzi Clips (18). You can climb the stairs but it is a dead end! Head down and make you way towards somewhat raised block. Jump up and climb the ledge. Watch out for two flamethrowers (30,31) Kill them, before they can set you on fire!. Climb up again. walk into the new chamber. Kill the two rats (32,33). Pickup the Uzi Clips (19), the Automatic Pistol Clips (20) and the M16 Clips (21). Walk to the left and kill the bad guy (34). head back and flip the switch. The first door will open. Kill the two bad guys (35,36). The pickup contains the M16 Clips (22), 2 sets of Harpoon Clips (23,24) and a Little Medikit (25). The other door will not open. Go back to the first room and to the fireplace room. Go left and right, up the stairs. You have to throw the timed switch and run downstairs, then left and through the open door. Get in the pool and pick up Harpoons (26) and Automatic Pistol Clips (27). Get out, shoot five rats (37,38,39,40,41) on the stairs and pull the second timed lever. Sprint through the door and jump over the glass. Push both levers in this room and climb out. Get into the left room and shoot two bad guys (42,43) and a flamethrower (44). Get M16 Clips (28) and shoot a dog (45) and a boss (44) in the other part of the room. Pick up 2 Uzi Clips (29,30) and pull the box under the button. Now I found no way further.

NOT the end of the level.
Pickups: 30
Kills: 44
Secrets: 0 until now.


Note by Mman/Semfry:

This second walkthrough was partly finished by DJ Full (up to the detonator key), and I have finished the rest. If anything is still unclear I have a full video walkthrough with comments/help as subtitles. It differs from this walkthrough slightly as I avoid the Grenade Launcher to skip EPIC FIGHT #1 (and avoid unnecessary conflicts in general), but overall it's very similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX6P5KFRc9k



EPIC FIGHT #1
To kill first 20 enemies described in previous review ( most of these enemies spawn when you walk on the Grenade Launcher tile, so you can just ignore it and skip this fight):
1. Stand in front of the door and move left till you see a black gunman on the right side of the next room. Aim, jump left to hide behind the wall. The gunman should do circles when running, appearing and hiding behind next wall, so:
1. When he turns back, strafe right to see him and hit him.
2. When he tries to shoot you, strafe left and hide from him.
3. Repeat steps 1. and 2. till he dies.
Now target the black gunman located behind the table and jump backwards until you are beyond his sight. Shoot him from here. Move to the right side of the door and stand on the right square, closest to the open door. Aim left - Lara should kill the first of two white gunmen in the room. Meanwhile, watch out for the flamethrowers - they can get out of the room and follow you, just like the black gunmen can. Get rid of both flamethrowers without entering the room. Now switch to Shotgun, enter the room starting from the right square closest to the open door and start shooting immediately, so you can kill one of the white gunmen at once. Jump over the second, roll in midair and eliminate the next one. Stand on the table and shoot 7 rats on the floor.
WARNING: Watch out for a dog falling down from the ceiling!!
Now press the switch, draw auto pistols and just kill a rat and a black gunman. He turns around quite slowly, so shoot him in his back. Now it's time to kill a dog running towards you from the stairs.
WARNING: If the dog didn't fall down from the ceiling yet, it can do it now!!

THE BLADES
Pick up the ammo under the stairs. Don't go up yet. Go back and enter the passage with lots of cutting blades. Make a running jump, turning left in midair, and jump over all of the knives. You can do it without damage, but watch out - if you hit the wall, you'll probably die. Take a small medikit - YES! Jump over the next set of blades and take the ammo. Go back onto the square where you picked up the medikit.

EPIC FIGHT #2
Change weapon to the shotgun.
Climb the next block and kill two flamethrowers. Watch out for the third one in the next room - he can aim down and fry you insantly. Blow him up with a grenade gun.
Pick up the goodies left by killed flame-rs and go up. There are two rats and a black gunman. Don't press the switch yet by continue fight by getting to the second locked door and killing a dog and a black gunman through it. Do it now, so you won't be surprised by these enemies when you return to this place in the future. Now press the switch and pick up the ammo placed around. Go through the open door and be prepared for graphic bug. Kill the black gunman - he is faster than the big one behind him. Now draw the Grenade Launcher and finish the battle.
NOTE: if the dog didn't fall from the sky yet...

RETURN
Pick up everything in the room and go back through the blades. Do it the same way as previously, but now with turning right in midair. Again, if you hit the wall, it's game over, so:
1. Turn back from the screen (I'm talking to YOU, not to Lara).
2. Make a cup of tea.
3. Meanwhile, take a relaxing walk around your room.
4. Drink warm tea that will calm you down.
5. Turn on some sweet music.
6. Take a deep breath.
7. Look through the window at some distant object so your eyes can rest.

Return to game and make the jump.

EPIC FIGHT #3
Go upstairs. Kill another dog and two rats. Now be careful. There is a white gunman up there. Stand two blocks under him and move left as far as you can. Jump up and down and shoot him with normal pistols. The next black gunman can be killed without problem, but when you eliminate him, switch weapon to Grenade Launcher. When you step forwards, a flamethrower will appear. Blow him up. Now get to the highest part of the level and shoot a dog, a black and a white gunmen through the window.
Watch out: they can get to you through the window, so be fast.

TIMED RUN
Press the switch. This run isn't as annoying as it was described in first review. Just remember where to turn. If you hit the wall three times - go back, because you won't make it. After you beat the timed run, STOP IMMEDIATELY when the door shuts behind you.

EPIC FIGHT #4
The third square behind the door triggers another multi-enemy-fight. Encounter 2 rats, 1 dog and 1 white gunman. The rats may draw Lara's attention from the main threat, so for this fight I recommend: switching your weapon to Auto Pistols and eliminating each rat with one precise shot. Now jump forward, do the roll in midair and take out the dog. One more backflip and you should take out the gunman easily with a minimum loss of health.

THE DIVE
Welcome to the sewer section. Jump into the water. Get the harpoon gun, flares and a large medipack from one of the holes (left) and dive deeper into the another (right). There is a lot of goodies down here: ammo for M16, Uzi, Shotgun, Harpoon Gun and a Grenade Gun. And a small medipack.

THE CLIMB
Get out of the water.
1. Climb.
2. Kill a rat.
3. Repeat steps 1. and 2.

THE GLASS TRAP
It is mentioned in previous review. You have to go through both door or you're doomed. The best way is:
1. Pull the switch.
2. Jump left.
3. Roll.
4. Run and jump over the glass.

THE SWITCHES
The right switch lets you out, the left lets you into the another section of level. Start with the left one, because (just like in case of the glass trap) both doors are timed. Don't worry - there is enough time to do this run. But you MUSTN'T stop between the doors!! If you do this for too long, the first door will shut behind you and you will have to go again through the whole part of the level you have just completed!!! When you pass the timed run, there is another epic fight.

EPIC FIGHT #5
Draw Grenade Launcher and kill a white gunman. Do the same with the black gunman. A flamethrower is waiting for you and is able to FRY YOU THROUGH THE SOLID BLOCKS! So be careful when blowing him up. Switch to pistols and move forward. A dog will appear so get rid of it.

THE HALL OF MONOTONY
You're in the fabulous Hall Of Monotony, the place made of hundreds of sacred squares covered in round, golden ornaments. It seems to be the copy of legendary Amber Chamber... But I don't know if it really is. Pick up the M16 and Uzi ammo, and... YES! THE UZIS!!! You now should have 720 bullets for this weapon, so it will be used for mass murdering in the next epic fight.

EPIC FIGHT #6
This is the most weird fight in TR Custom Level I've ever had. It is worth to get so far in this level to do it. Draw Uzis, jump onto the highest section of the room and aim down. I will not tell any more...

THE PUZZLE
Yes! There is a puzzle in this game! The hall is full of pushable blocks, some of which are really unpushable in any direction. Don't mind them. Just move the blocks you can move to make a way to the switch on the wall.

THE MOST ANNOYING TIMED RUN EVER
Note: You need to reach the destination room AND get out of it before the door shuts behind you. If you don't make it - you are doomed. Press the switch. From now on you have 46 seconds to get to the door. You have seen this door before. It's that second door on the first floor.
Note: When you reach the cutting blades, make a running jump, turning left in midair, and jump over all of the knives. You can do it without damage, but watch out - if you hit the wall, you'll probably die. This is the most difficult part of the level. When you reach the door, there is an possible, but not necessary, epic fight #7.

POSSIBLE, BUT NOT NECESSARY, EPIC FIGHT #7
I advise you to ignore this one, grab the detonator key and get outta here! You remember what I said about the door... Anyway, if you wanna be stuck, perform this fight, occurring only if you haven't killed the dog and the gunman earlier - through the locked door (check the EPIC FIGHT #2).

M16 ROOM
Get the key and out of here. Also if you wanna get stuck (see above why), pick up the M16 - the worst gun in TR2. Why is it the worst? Because you mustn't stop running if you want to make continuous fire.

USING THE DETONATOR KEY+TOWER CLIMB
Return to the ledge in-between the blade traps, do a running jump over the two blades in front of you to the ledge with the "babe" decal on the floor and a candle on the wall. Stand on the middle of the babe facing the candle and press action to use the key (reposition more towards the middle of the tile tile if it doesn't work). There will be no animation, but the event will trigger, this allows you to climb the stone tower you are now inside. Continue up the steps until you reach a ledge you need to climb with action. Keep climbing; it is essential that you DO NOT JUMP UP STEPS HERE, as you can get trapped in the void, only climb using action. After climbing up a series of smaller ledges you will come across another taller ledge; have a strong weapon like the Uzi's ready and then shimmy to the far right before climbing. On the higher ledge to your left is a Dog and a Flamethrower; if you stay against the back wall on the lower ledge you should be able to kill them safely. After they're dead climb up and go through the open door in front of you (the black pit to the right is nothing).

*THE* EPIC FIGHT
You are now properly on the roof/battlements (note that you can't backtrack after going through the door as there's an invisible wall). There's an absurd amount of enemies here even by this level's earlier standards (although the sheer size of the area works against them), and it will take a long time to grind through them all, so it's hard to give specifics; instead I will do some bullet points of general strategies for getting through with minimal health use (use weapons as you see fit, because you don't really need them past this):

* The general layout of enemies is that there are a bunch on the battlements you start on, along with several in the lower area below, many of them seem to spawn later as you explore this area, so don't get too complacent. The most obvious threat is eight Opera House Miniboss enemies on raised ledges in the lower area, but there are a few more on the battlements too.
* Stick to the high ground until you're sure the area is clear, as it's easy to make space up there and there's lots of space to retreat
* You will notice enemies at a distance flicker a lot and outright disappear. This is actually a big advantage for you because invisible enemies are "frozen" and you can kill them while they can't do anything; lock on to an enemy and then back off until they disappear and you can attack while they have no way to retaliate. Note that, while doing this, enemies only die when they appear again, so you'll have to move in a some point to finish them (and against tougher enemies you'll have to guess when that point is). Once you have some space you can take out most of the Minibosses quite easily (but slowly) doing this.
* There are plenty of Flamethrowers too so watch out, but this area is so big that they don't pose much of a threat. There's technically also water on the bottom floor to save yourself if you get burned, but if it happens early you'll likely get overwhelmed soon after anyway.

(Note that looking off the battlements to the mountainous side areas you might see a switch off one side, I don't know how to reach it and checking the level file reveals it opens nothing of value so ignore it)

THE AFTERMATH
Once you're sure both the upper and lower levels are clear (or 99% clear) it's time to head down to the lower level; either lower yourself on one of the ledges the minibosses were on, then drop down, or jump into the water pool. Ignore the slope as it's a pointless risk. Be careful of the broken glass (which is why the slope is a bad idea) and the small hole dropping down to the main hall (it'll kill you so ignore it). The enemies on the lower floor drop various items, so there will plenty to collect down there if you've cleaned up (though it's not especially important anymore unless your health is low). There are two switches to press down here. For one, there is a Miniboss ledge that is slightly lower and climbable to the right side (facing it) of the slope . Once you are on the ledge turn left and jump across to the Miniboss ledge nearest the wall the slope is on; there is a switch on the wall here. Now turn around and look down; there is another switch against the slope over broken glass; drop down and carefully walk over to press it. These switches open the final area (accessed from the large starting room) and your way off the roof.

GETTING BACK TO THE START
You are now faced with the problem that you are stuck in this "pit" with no way back up. Actually there is one, on the back part of the left side (facing it) of the slope there is a completely invisible ladder texture that you can climb up; once in the general area press action against the slope walls and you should find it. Now you are back on the battlements, head over to the tower structure on the right side (from the top of the ladder). One of the switches below opened the door here which leads to the stone tower where EPIC FIGHT #3 took place. Head down and back to the large starting hall (no enemies should be around, but be vigilant just in case).

THE FINAL BATTLE AND END
The exit lies through the door directly behind where you started the level. Go through and you are outside. One last battle, and it's a breather in comparison to the rooftop one; there's a set of Minibosses and a Flamethrower. The thing is that you have a ton of space to exploit the targeting and AI, so take your time to grind this group down and don't blow it getting cocky now. The exit lies through the gated door at the back wall from where you entered; to open it, check the right hand walls for a dark ledge behind a tree you can climb up, then go forward to fall into a small pit with the switch on one of the walls. Time to leave! Your reward for all this is a busted stats screen.

 

 

Darkness Castle – easier version (remake by Fluen)

 

This version contains just about half the number of enemies, Peppigno Rafiele originally placed, and all of the original pickups. This enables the player to save and makes the gameplay easier.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Among the enemies in this level, you will meet four types of human enemies:

-a gunman wearing a black jacket – from now on called black gunman

-a gunman wearing a white t-shirt – from now on called white gunman

-a gunman using two guns – from now on called two-gun-man

-a man armed with a flamethrowing device – from now on called flamethrower

The black and the white gunmen fire frequently and are able to hit Lara from angles, where she is unable to return the fire. They can reduce her health very quickly – especially when they appear in groups – so keep an eye on your health during confrontations with them.

Strategy: shoot them from behind – often with a powerful weapon to get rid of them, before they deplete your health. It takes them a moment to turn, so roll past them or jump over them with a twist in the air and shoot, until they begin to turn, then move past them again.

The two-gun-man fires less frequently and his shots appear to do less damage. Lara is able to shoot at him from angles, where he has trouble aiming at or hitting her. But he’s the hardest enemy to bring down and requires a considerable amount of ammo.

Strategy: shoot him from behind as much as possible. He is slow to turn and prone to run in circles, if he has the space for that. Run behind him and keep shooting.

The flames from the flamethrower span several tiles. If Lara’s hit by him, her health will be reduced dramatically – even if she’s underwater. He also sets fire to her. And in this level with very little acces to water to douse the flames that’s an almost certain death sentence. On the other hand, it only take a few shots to bring him down.

Strategy: keep your distance and shoot him with the standard pistols. If you meet him in a narrow area, use the grenade gun to get rid of him, before he can throw flames at you.

______________________________________________________________________________________

The hall

 

You begin the level by falling to the floor in front of the exit doors from the castle.

Take the pickups on both sides of the stairs. With the hall to your back you will find ammo for the automatic pistols, the M16 and the uzis at the left side. A dog will appear by the double doors in the opposite side of the hall. Kill it.

At the right side you will find ammo for the shotgun, the uzis and the automatic pistols. Another dog will appear near the doors in the opposite side of the hall. Again kill it.

Go up the right stairs and use the switch to open one of the double doors, the dogs appeared by. Follow the the right gallery and pick up the ammo for the shotgun along the way.

Go to the now open door, but avoid the tile with the grenade gun.

The fireplace room

 

In the next room is a fireplace, a table, some chairs and two closed doors. The table holds a set of grenades, the automatic pistols and ammo for them.

While you take the pickups on the table, 4 rats will appear in the hall. Go there and shoot them, but stay away from the tile with the grenade gun.

First fight

 

Once the rats are dead, go toward the grenade gun while facing the fireplace room. As soon as you step on the tile with the grenade gun, a black and a white gunman and a flamethrower will appear in the fireplace room.

The white gunman will soon enter the hall. Kill him and keep a large distance to the doors to the fireplace room. Once he’s dead, wait a bit to judge the behavior of the two other enemies.

Usually the flamethrower will also enter the hall – hence the need for a safe distance.

If he stays in the fireplace room, things are more risky, because he is difficult to predict. Stay on the right side of the red carpet and carefully approach the double doors to be able to peek into the left side of the fireplace room, where he tends to be. Sometimes he remembers his prime mission in life and enters the hall in order to kill Lara and can be dealt with from a safe distance

Other times he patrols in the far left corner and is ready to turn his flames on Lara if she gets too close to him (as in “enters the fireplace room”). To deal with the flamethrower, stay in the hall and walk right outside the right side of red carpet, until you can spot the left corner of the table in the fireplace room. Stay there and shoot at the flamethrower, when he passes that corner during his circling.

The black gunman tends to stay in the fireplace room. Sometimes he runs around in the corner on the far side of the fireplace. Be aware, that if that is the case, the table in the centre of the fireplace room gives him cover, while he’s still able to hit Lara. Yes, it’s unfair. Unless the flamethrower is already dead, the best strategy is to stay in the hall and jump and down to get a clear line of fire over the table while shooting at him, else just pick a powerful weapon and enter the fireplace room to kill him.

But often the black gunman is attracted to the still closed door on the left side of the room and just mindlessly runs against it. On some occasions the flamethrower shares his interest in that door. Shoot him/them at your leisure with the standard pistols.

Once all enemies are down, use the switch in the fireplace room to open the door next to it and the single door by the left gallery in the hall.

Less hard fight

 

The moment you walk into the doorway, you will trigger another 3 enemies: a black gunman, a dog and a rat. Because you opened two doors, your enemies may appreach you from more than one direction.

Quickly take one hop back and jump up on the table in the fireplace room. The black gunman and the rat are certain to enter the fireplace room. The dog might go through the hall or just stay on patrol in the room, you’ve gained acces to.

Be aware, that you have a dangerous way to the next medipacks. It would be wise to use a powerful weapon to get rid of the gunman, before he drains your health too much. Try to turn in his direction to avoid wasting precious ammo on the dog and rat. Then you can kill the roaming animals with the standard pistols.

Remember to go back and pick up the grenade gun.

Go into the corridor, that runs along the hall and the fireplace room, and decide, if you want to go up the spiral staircase to the right or navigate the wall blades to the left.

Up the spiral staircase…

 

To the left of the wall sconce is a nook with ammo for the automatic pistols, the M16 and the uzis.

The steps of the staircase are of different heights. When you reach the step the same height as Lara, the next enemies further up the stairs will be triggered. The first enemy is a rat.

Pull or jump up on the high steps and shoot the rat. On the step above a dog roams, but is unable to reach you. Shoot it from the safety here as well.

You should be able to hear footsteps from further up the stairs. They belong to a white gunman and a flamethrower. The flamethrower is no threat at the moment, but the gunman is.

Arm yourself with a powerful weapon and pull or jump up on the step belown the dog and kill the gunman, who is located on a higher step around the corner.

The flamethrower is located at the top of the staircase, but is unable to reach Lara. Proceed carefully as long as the steps are so high, Lara has to vault or pull up on them. Once you spot the first low step, draw the grenade launcher, make Lara stand with her back against the wall and jump sideways up on the step before the low step. Fire as soon as Lara begins to aim the launcher at the flamethrower.

If the flamethrower is not within Lara’s aim, he’s most likely stuck at the top of the stairs. Proceed carefully and make sure always to aim as much around the corner as possible. In these close quarters the survivor will be the one, who opens fire first.

After that the rest of the way is clear. Go up the stairs, until you reach a switch. Opposite the switch is a ledge, you can jump up and grab. If you wish, you can climb from there and up to what appears to be the top floor of a tower and take a look through the grates, but you can’t do much there.

…and down again

 

Return to the switch. It opens the last door in the fireplace room and has a tight timing.

Flip the switch, roll and begin a rapid descent down the stairs. Keep running with a turn to the right to keep clear of the walls.

Do everything you can to stay clear of doorways and furniture and just hurry through the door in the fireplace room. Then stop.

You have just reached another set of stairs. And you are about to be attacked by a dog further down these stairs and a black gunman from behind you.

For some reason the dog stays near the bend on the staircase. So you are able to deal with your new enemies one by one.

Arm yourself with a powerful weapon and hop backward down the steps. As soon as you hear sounds of activity, run up the steps again to confront the black gunman, who hides in the doorway. Then calmly stay at the top of the stairs, pick the standard pistols and kill the dog.

Flooded basements

 

At the end of the stairs dive into the flooded room. The camera angle changes to focus on Lara. That makes it difficult to get oriented.

This room is the upper part of two flooded rooms. If you swim right ahead after entering the water, you will find the other access to air and the way up to a set of high blocks.

But these two flooded rooms contain quite a few (and much needed) pickups, so take those first. Once you have reached the other air hole, look down and spot the large medipack in the dip below you.

In the trench in the room you will find the harpoon gun. In the corner on top of one of the slabs you will also find flares.

Get some air and swim to the corner on the other side of the room. The slab here hides the passage down to the room below.

The floor in the room below consists of two long slabs and a short one. You have entered it above the left slab.

On this slab is a small medipack and in the trench left of it is ammo for the uzis and the M16.

On the short slab is a set of harpoons. In the wide trench between the long slabs is a set of grenades and ammo for the shotgun and between the short slab and the long neighbour is another small medipack.

In the rightmost trench you can find a set of grenades and more ammo for the shotgun.

Timed run with a sharp edge

 

Once you have got all pickups, swim up to the air hole in the corner and climb the high block. By now you should be able to hear the a rat on the next steps. Climb or jump up on the next block and kill it.

Before you do anything else, go one block down and take a peek through the grated door. Both the grated door and the one in the next door are operated by the switch in the room, you currently are in. There are also glass shards in front of the second door.

This is a tight timed run, and if the second door closes, when you are about to pass it, you may end your life on those glass shards.

Don’t let yourself be fooled by the thin air above the second door. When the door is closed, Lara is unable to jump over it and will land on the glass shards.

Climb back up on the upper block and flip the switch. Turn Lara around in a 135 degree turn (a roll here is a waste of time) and run down the block, through the grated door, across the room and make a running jump to pass the glass shards and the (hopefully) still open door.

Dark room with two switches

 

The door beyond the steps in this room opens into the hall, where you started the level.

The switch on the right of the steps opens this door and is timed, but with plenty of time. The switch on the left of the steps opens a second door in the same gallery and is not timed.

Press both switches and climb the steps to return to the hall.

The rosette room

 

This room is almost solely decorated with rosettes. It also hides a flamethrower, a black gunman and a dog among a myriad of blocks, of which some are movable.

Pick a powerful weapon and enter the room. Follow the trench, you have entered, to the bend and jump on the block in the corner opposide the entrance. If you move any further into the room, you risk to be in range of the flamethrower, who moves around alternating between the first and second layer of blocks.

The better option seems to literally keep your back against the wall.

Once the gunman is down, you can switch to the standard pistols and shoot the flamethrower at your leisure. Then pick up the ammo for the M16 on the block, you are standing on.

The dog roams the second and third layer and is easy to shoot with the pistols. Go to the blocks, it patrolled on the second layer, and take the two clips of ammo for the uzis and the uzis themselves.

Take note of the switch high on one wall. It starts a very tight timed run. If you haven’t yet passed the corridor with the wall blades opposite the spiral staircase and cleared out all obstacles on the first floor, you have no chance of making it.

If you’ve followed this walkthrough to the letter, that is what you’re about to do. Ignore the switch, leave the rosette room, cross the hall and turn left to enter the corridor with the wall blades.

Wall blades

 

Go around the wafer thin wall and stop, when the wall blades are triggered. Position Lara at the corner near the wall blades and turn, so when you use look, her whole head is free of the diagonally opposite corner (see picture).

Hop back and make a running jump with a left turn in midair. Done correctly, you will not sustain any damage.

Around the corner is a raised block with a small medipack. Vault up on the block and pick up the small medipack. Note: when you approach it to vault up on it, you have to avoid the corner between the raised block and the panelled wall (right side of the raised block), because the wall blade on the other side of the block and panelled wall for some reason is able to kill Lara through it.

Ignore the rest of the corridor, you will get there later.

Upper floor

 

Jump up and grab the floor of the upper storey. For some reason Lara refuses to perform the usual jump-and-grab, so you will have to do it manually.

Pull up and dispose of the flamethrower, who will appear from the right. The grenade gun is a good choice here.

Leave the large medipack in the left nook and the set of grenades, the flamethrower left behind, alone for now. You have another dangerous foe to get rid of first.

A second flamethrower runs around in the next room, which is raised one block compared to the small anteroom, you currently are in. Most often he stays in that room, and you can shoot him with the standard pistols by jumping up and down behind that block.

If the flamethrower proves slightly more intelligent and begins to run towards you, you will have to retreat quickly or switch to the grenade gun, before he gets in range to put fire to you.

Room with bookcases

 

Keep your pistols out and proceed carefully. When you enter the doorway to the next room, you trigger a rat on the bookcases in front of you and a dog in the corridor to the right.

Stay in the doorway and shoot at the rat. The dog will shortly join you, so jump back and down from the block while killing it. With the dog out of the way, pull back up and get rid of the rat, if it’s still alive.

Pick up the M16-ammo in the corner left of the entrance, the ammo for the automatic pistols in the middle of the room and the uzi-ammo in the left corner next to the switch. Remember the large medipack and the set of grenades left behind by the flamethrower in the anteroom.

The first bedroom

 

When you use the switch on the wall between the bookcases, the door to the first bedroom opens, and a two-gun-man rushes out. Deal with him by forcing him to run in circles, while you stay behind him and shoot him in the back. This may take a while, if you use the pistols, but I’d still recommend that.

Enter the bedroom. On the right table is a small medipack, on the left table is ammo for the M16 and and on the bed is two sets of harpoons.

Leave the room and use the switch again to close the door. The door to the next bedroom is on a tightly timed run, and the open door to the first bedroom will be an obstacle, that can slow you down.

Preparations for the timed run from Hell

 

Now you have to return to the rosette room. In order to return to the ground floor safely, you have to lower yourself down on the raised block in the corridor with wall blades, else you risk to land beyond it and within reach of the wall blades located there. Keep ingoring the unexplored end of the corridor.

In order to pass the wall blades on your way back to the rosette room, you will have to place Lara in the corner opposite the raised block and turn her slightly less than 45 degrees diagonally (see picture). Do your best to squeeze into that corner, before you turn.

 

Then make a running jump with a right turn in midair to avoid the wall blades.

When you return to the rosette room, you have to move one of the movable blocks to be able to reach the switch on the wall.

 

You may also want to move one or two of the movable blocks in the lower layers of blocks to close some of the pits and thus make your exit from the rosette room swifter. Every second counts.

 

Check your health. You will have to pass the wall blades again, and even though you will have time to correct Lara’s position, before you jump over them, you may still be nicked by one of them.

Then press the switch.

Timed run from Hell

 

Your route is as follows: leave the rosette room, cross the hall, pass the wall blades, climb up on the upper floor, turn right, rush to the end of the corridor and enter the bedroom there. On your way to the bedroom you will also have to shoot a newly released dog.

Of course, that is a lot easier said than done.

Once you have pressed the switch, roll and make a running jump with a slight left curve to both the run and the jump to land at the opposite side of the room. Done right you should land on the edge of the second layer of boxes. Stay in motion and drop down to the first layer. Turn left and make a running jump to the doorway.

Run out onto the gallery in the hall and aim slightly right for the hole in the balustrade. Use the distance from the door to the hole to make the running start for a running jump as far out into the hall as you can get. After the landing you still have so much distance left, that you can make another running jump to the door on the opposite side of the hall.

Run into the corridor with the wall blades and line Lara up for the jump over them as previously described. Vault up on the raised block, jump up and grab the ledge of the upper floor, pull up and make a running jump up on the next block.

Draw your standard pistols, as you will meet the aforementioned dog somewhere between the room with bookcases and the bedroom – sometimes inside the bedroom.

Then run and jump your way to the bedroom. Reaching it is more important than killing the dog, so if you jump over it along the way, just keep moving.

Second bedroom

 

In front of the desk is ammo for the automatic pistols. On the bed is the M16, a large medipack and a set of grenades. And one the table is the “rusty key” (in fact a detonator key) – the only puzzle item in this level.

On the floor in front of the desk is ammo for the automatic pistols.

The broken staircase

 

Return to the raised block in the corridor with wall blades (remember: lower yourself carefully down) and make a running jump to the unexplored end of the corridor.

Right in front of you is the detonator. In the nook to your left is ammo for the uzis, a set of grenades and a set of harpoons.

If you want to, you can make your way up the broken staircase, but don’t expect to be able to get far.

Use the “rusty key” with the detonator to break the staircase some more – but in a more climbable way – then climb the blocks.

If might be difficult to make Lara grab the second very high block. The only place high enough for her to be able to reack the edge of that block is right at the edge of the block, she’s currently standing on. You may have to pull up right at the spot and turn left to face the higher block. From there, the usual “action” and “up” should work.

At the top of the staircase a dog awaits you. Kill it, bon’t leave the room just yet. You better survey the situation first.

Battlements and yard

 

The open door in front of you gives access to the battlements surrounding a yard and a small army.

The battlements themselves are populated by: 2 two-gun-men, 2 white gunmen, 1 black gunman, 2 flamethrowers and 2 dogs.

The yard is populated by: 5 two-gun-men, a white gunman, a black gunman, 2 flamethrowers and 2 dogs.

A total of 19 enemies all at once. Now you know, why you had to conserve your ammo.

Battle tactics:

- First get rid of the enemies on the battlements. Then deal with the enemies in the yard.

- Move counter-clockwise around the battlements. This way you’ll meet only one or two enemies at a time and will be able to concentrate all your firepower on that enemy. The walkthrough describes this approach.

- Save the M16 for later. The range of this weapon makes it ideal to use against the enemies in the yard, especially the black and white gunmen and the flamethrowers. The black and white gunmen have potential to drain a lot of your health with their frequent shots, even while you are on the battlements. And the flamethrowers will have a splendid opportunity to roast you, once you have moved down to the yard.

- Once you leave the tower, the door will close behind you and deprieve you of that cover. Keep close to the crenellated side of the battlements. From there the enemies in the yard will be unable to shoot at you. There is nothing on the other side of the battlements but a long fall.

- At one end of the yard is a pool, you can extinguish fire in, if one of the flamethrowers managed to set you on fire. The downside is, that it might cost you all your medipacks to stay alive long enough just to reach that side of the battlements and jump into the pool. And the flamethrower on the island in the pool will set you on fire again, as soon a you leave it.

All-out battle

 

If you have preserved the ammo for the uzis, you should be able to use the uzis (and the M16) for all of the enemies here. Stay in the safety of the tower, you have climbed and use the uzis to shoot the approaching white gunman ahead of you.

A two-gun-man and, a black gunman and a dog are on the other side of the tower, you’re at the top of.

The black gunman and the two-gun-man tend to gather as close to the tower as possible and shoot away at Lara. That combination is ugly, because the black gunman drains a lot of Lara’s quickly, while she tends to aim for the two-gun-man, whom it takes time to kill.

The better approach is to ignore them right now and hurry towards the broken corner of the battlements. But be careful. Two flamethrowers will appear (one between the blocks of the broken corner and the other on the long side of the battlements, so be prepared to hop/jump backwards to avoid their flames. Shoot them with your weapon of choice.

Stay away from the large broken ramp. A misstep here will send you on a slide to a sharp end in broken glass at the bottom of the ramp. And the top of the ramp is exactly that bit lower than the battlements, so the flamethrower moving around at its base is able to reach you with his fire here.

Round the broken corner of the battlements. Be careful, because some of the slopes may be steep enough to have you slide down from the castle and to your death.

Your next adversary is a dog moving around the long side of the battlements. Kill it and approach the next broken corner.

A white gunman is running around on the broken corner. He rarely leaves the slopes, so you’ll have to come to him. As you get closer to the corner, a two-gun-man will appear on the next section of the battlements and shoot at you. Try to keep your distance from him, which keeps you out of his firing range, and deal with the white gunman first. Then navigate the corner and kill him with a powerful weapon, while you chase him back and forth near the crenellations to avoid shots from the enemies in the yard.

The grated doors ahead of you are the ones you had the opportunity to take a look through much earlier in the game.

Run and jump over the corner of the yard to land on the last section of the battlements. Your arrival here should make the black gunman and the two-gun-man split up and attack you individually.

Your first opponent, though, will be the dog. As you move along this long side of the battlements, the black gunman appears, shortly followed by the two-gun-man, but if you use a powerful weapon, you’ll have the black gunman down, before the two-gun-man becomes a challenge. Kill him just like you did his predecessor.

Now to the enemies in the yard. Note, that 4 of the two-gun-men are placed on pillars along the walls and thus stuck there. They are your last priority, because they are the least dangerous opponents right now (aside from the dogs).

Your primary targets are the black and white gunman, who are able to hit you from almost all angles and drain your health very quickly. But the two-gun-men have a bad habit of attracting Lara’s aim.

The best solution is to stay at the centre of one of the long sides of the yard and one or two steps away from the edge. Use the M16 to shoot the black and white gunman and the flamethrowers. The dogs are less important, but if you have saved up all of the M16-ammo, you should have enough to not care about that. If you have sufficient with M16-ammo, you can also kill some of the two-gun-men.

When you have killed as many of the freely moving enemies as possible, it’s time to descend.

Lower yourself down on the pillar nearest to the tower, you arrived from. Take care to avoid the beam above it, as it might prevent Lara from grabbing the ledge and make her loose some health by the subsequent fall.

Above this pillar is a switch, which opens one of the exit doors in the hall. Press it and kill more of the enemies still active in the yard. If you have sufficient of the M16-ammo, you can kill quite a few of the two-gun-men. But if some of the flamethrowers on the battlements are still alive, it is vital, that you save some of that ammo to shoot them, before you try to leave the yard.

Then move down into the yard.

There are quite a few pickups in the yard, but none in the pool at the end. Feel free to explore the strange construction in the pool, though.

Going from the pool-end of the yard, there are a set of grenades on the island in the pool. Standing on the island and looking at the yard, you will find two sets of grenades on the border of bricks around the pool and a small medipack to the right of the pool.

To the right of the broken bit of the ramp is another set of grenades. And to the right of the whole part of the ramp you will find ammo for the shotgun near the ramp and ammo for the automatic guns further to the right.

To the left of the broken bit of the ramp is a hole down to the hall, but the drop is to long for Lara to survive. To the left of the whole part of the ramp is ammo for the M16 and a large medipack.

Opening the escape route

 

There is another switch in the yard. It is on the right side of the ramp among glass shards. Fortunately, Lara is able to avoid harm, if she walks though the shards, so do exactly that and flip the switch to open the grated doors in the intact tower, which enables you to leave the battlements.

If you haven’t pressed the switch at the top of the pillar, you’ll have to make your way up to the battlements and proceed to lower yourself down on that pillar to do so.

The only way up from the yard is via the invisible ladder, Peppigno made. The aforementioned ladder is on the side of the ramp as shown in this picture.

 

None of the two switches are timed, so take your time and move around at your leisure. Climb back up to the battlements and go down the uneven staircase beyond the grated doors.

The garden and the last fights

 

When you leave the building, you will face a black and a white gunman. Kill the black and the white gunman, but don’t go into the valley between the ramparts, as this will trigger another pair of enemies.

When you get into the valley, a flamethrower and a two-gun-man will come out of hiding from behind the ramparts – one from each side. They are the last enemies in this level, so use whatever ammo you’ve got left.

The two-gun-man tends to get himself stuck at the vertical sides of the ramparts, which may help you to concetrate on the flamethrower and get rid of him, before he sets you on fire. Them kill the two-gun-man.

The exit

 

The garden ends in a stack of crates and another grated door. Look past the side of the right rampart and spot the tree growing there. If you walk behind that tree and look up, you should be able to spot the place, where the higher rampart is cut off.

Pull up there and jump down into the shaft behind it and press the switch to open the grated door.

Return to the garden to leave through the tunnel behind the door.

Note: if you want to know your statistics, you’ll have to draw them up manually, before you exit the level.

When the level ends, you will get an unreadable version of your statistics, before the game crashes.

 

 

Darkness Castle – harder version (remake by Fluen)

 

This version contains so many enemies, that the save file is unable to contain the data. You will have to play the entire level in one go.

The game engine can’t handle many enemies at the same time, so make sure to kill all enemies in every fight, or you will soon have to face enemies, who switch in and out of existence and are able to hurt you, while you are unable to reciprocate.

Peppigno Rafiele was also very sparing with both ammunition and medipacks, so if you want to play the level on his conditions, you will have to be very conserving with both.

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If you on the other hand want to enjoy a good bloodbath and to shoot away, you can just use the all-weapons-cheat for TR2.

It is performed like this:

1. Light a flare (this is imperative – if you don’t do this, Lara will explode)

2. Walk one step forward

3. Walk one step backward

4. Turn Lara around herself at least twice. The direction doesn’t matter.

5. Jump backward

If you hear the holster-sound, you did it correctly. If not, repeat the steps.

You will now have:

-51 small medipacks

-51 large medipacks

-51 flares

-the harpoon gun and 5001 harpoons

-the grenade launcher and 5000 grenades

-the M16 and 5000 bullets for it

-the uzis and 5000 bullets for them

-the automatic pistols and 500 (yes, 500) bullets for them

-the shotgun and 83 bullets for it

All pickups found later will be added to that.

Note, that if a weapon has already been acquired, the TR2 game engine will automatically switch weapons of that type remaining in the level to ammunition for the weapon. As you now have all weapons available, you will find only ammunition.

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Among the enemies in this level, you will meet four types of human enemies:

-a gunman wearing a black jacket – from now on called black gunman

-a gunman wearing a white t-shirt – from now on called white gunman

-a gunman using two guns – from now on called two-gun-man

-a man armed with a flamethrowing device – from now on called flamethrower

The black and the white gunmen fire frequently and are able to hit Lara from angles, where she is unable to return the fire. They can reduce her health very quickly – especially when they appear in groups – so keep an eye on your health during confrontations with them.

Strategy: shoot them from behind – often with a powerful weapon to get rid of them, before they deplete your health. It takes them a moment to turn, so roll past them or jump over them with a twist in the air and shoot, until they begin to turn, then move past them again.

The two-gun-man fires less frequently and his shots appear to do less damage. Lara is able to shoot at him from angles, where he has trouble aiming at or hitting her. But he’s the hardest enemy to bring down and requires a considerable amount of ammo.

Strategy: shoot him from behind as much as possible. He is slow to turn and prone to run in circles, if he has the space for that. Run behind him and keep shooting.

The flames from the flamethrower span several tiles. If Lara’s hit by him, her health will be reduced dramatically – even if she’s underwater. He also sets fire to her. And in this level with very little acces to water to douse the flames that’s an almost certain death sentence. On the other hand, it only take a few shots to bring him down.

Strategy: keep your distance and shoot him with the standard pistols. If you meet him in a narrow area, use the grenade gun to get rid of him, before he can throw flames at you.

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This walkthrough will describe a strategy to play the level with only the supplies Peppigno allowed.

The hall

 

You begin the level by falling to the floor in front of the exit doors from the castle.

Take the pickups on both sides of the stairs. With the hall to your back you will find ammo for the automatic pistols, the M16 and the uzis at the left side. A dog will appear by the double doors in the opposite side of the hall.

At the right side you will find ammo for the shotgun, the uzis and the automatic pistols. Another dog will appear near the doors in the opposite side of the hall.

Go up the right stairs and use the switch to open one of the double doors, the dogs appeared by. Follow the the right gallery and pick up the ammo for the shotgun along the way.

Go to the now open door, but avoid the tile with the grenade gun.

The fireplace room

 

In the next room is a fireplace, a table, some chairs and two closed doors. The table holds a set of grenades, the automatic pistols and ammo for them.

While you take the pickups on the table, 8 rats will appear in the hall. Go there and shoot them, but stay away from the tile with the grenade gun.

First tough fight

 

Once the rats are dead, draw the automatic pistols and face the fireplace room. Go toward the grenade gun while facing the fireplace room. As soon as you step on the tile with the grenade gun, 6 enemies will appear in the fireplace room: two white and two black gunmen and two flamethrowers.

Don’t waste time trying to pick up the grenade gun, but make at least two jumps backward while shooting away at the one black and two white gunmen in range. These are also the enemies most prone to enter the hall.

The two flamethrowers are less predictable. Normally one of them tends to follow the gunmen into the hall.

Shoot away and keep an eye on your health. Also make sure you don’t waste bullets on an enemy, who is already going down.

When you get rid of the gunmen in the hall, quickly switch to the standard pistols to kill the flamethrowers. You really have to save as much ammo for the powerful guns as possible.

For some reason closed doors are very attractive to the enemies, and quite often some of them will persist in running against a closed door. Shoot them at your leisure with the standard pistols.

If they are running against the closed leaf of the door to the fireplace room from the opposite side of you, you will have to be more careful – especially if it’s a flamethrower. The door leaf protects them from your bullets, but they might manage to get free, when you approach. Here you may have to use something other than the pistols to kill quickly.

Sometimes the last black gunman stays near the farther side of the fireplace and one of the flamethrowers will either run in circles near the opposite side of the room or run against the door there.

If that’s the case, be very careful, when you approach the fireplace room. Sometimes the flamethrower will find his way around the table and set Lara on fire, before you get the chance see him.

To deal with the flamethrower, stay in the hall and walk right outside the right side of red carpet, until you can spot the left corner of the table in the fireplace room. Stay there and shoot at the flamethrower, when he passes that corner during his circling.

If the black gunman hasn’t already managed to get around the table and into the hall, he should be fairly to deal with. But be aware, that if he stays in the corner behind the fireplace, the table in the centre of the fireplace room gives him cover, while he’s still able to hit Lara. Yes, it’s unfair.

Once all enemies are down, use the switch in the fireplace room to open the door next to it and the single door by the left gallery in the hall.

Less hard fight

 

The moment you walk into the doorway, you will trigger another 6 enemies: one black gunman, 3 dogs and 2 rats. Because you opened two doors, your enemies may appreach you from more than one direction.

Quickly take one hop back and jump up on the table in the fireplace room. The black gunman, one dog and both rats are certain to enter the fireplace room.

Be aware, that you have a dangerous way to the next medipacks. If you by some miracle have managed to get to this point almost unharmed, you can choose to conserve ammo and just use the standard pistols for all of the enemies.

If not, you do well by using a powerful weapon to get rid of the gunman, before he drains your health too much. Try to turn in his direction to avoid wasting precious ammo on the dogs and rats.

Now you can kill the roaming animals with the standard pistols. You most likely have to leave the safety of the table to go searching for at least one dog.

Sometimes the missing dog gets stuck behind the wafer thin wall between the room next to the fireplace room and the room with the wall blades. Enter the room next to the fireplace room with the standard pistols drawn and cautionsly approach the dog while walking close to the rightmost wall.

When you step on the differently textured floor tile, the dog usually becomes unstuck and attacks. Quickly shoot it while hopping backwards.

Remember to go back and pick up the grenade gun.

Go into the corridor, that runs along the hall and the fireplace room, and decide, if you want to go up the spiral staircase to the right or navigate the wall blades to the left.

Up the spiral staircase…

 

To the left of the wall sconce is a nook with ammo for the automatic pistols, the M16 and the uzis.

The steps of the staircase are of different heights. When you reach the step the same height as Lara, the next enemies further up the stairs will be triggered. Two rats (one of each of the next two steps) await you.

When Lara has pulled up on the step with the same height as herself, draw the standard pistols and jump up onto the next (even higher) step while shooting to kill both rats.

On the step above a dog roams, but is unable to reach you. Shoot it from the safety here as well.

You should be able to hear footsteps from further up the stairs. They belong to a white gunman, a black gunman and a flamethrower. The flamethrower is no threat at the moment, but the two gunmen are.

Arm yourself with the grenade launcher, stand with Lara’s back is against the wall and jump sideways up on the step in the corner. Fire as soon as Lara aims at her enemies (even if you can’t see them). One grenade should kill both gunmen and spare Lara further harm.

The flamethrower is located at the top of the staircase, but is unable to reach Lara. Proceed carefully as long as the steps are so high, Lara has to vault or pull up on them. Once you spot the first low step, draw the grenade launcher, make Lara stand with her back against the wall and jump sideways up on the step before the low step. Fire as soon as Lara begins to aim the launcher at the flamethrower.

If the flamethrower is not within Lara’s aim, he’s most likely stuck at the top of the stairs. Proceed carefully and make sure always to aim as much around the corner as possible. In these close quarters the survivor will be the one, who opens fire first.

After that the rest of the way is clear. Go up the stairs, until you reach a switch. Opposite the switch is a ledge, you can jump up and grab. If you wish, you can climb from there and up to what appears to be the top floor of a tower and take a look through the grates, but you can’t do much there.

…and down again

 

Return to the switch. It opens the last door in the fireplace room and has a tight timing.

Flip the switch, roll and begin a rapid descent down the stairs. Keep running with a turn to the right to keep clear of the walls.

Do everything you can to stay clear of doorways and furniture and just hurry through the door in the fireplace room. Then stop.

You have just reached another set of stairs. And you are about to be attacked by a dog, a rat and a white gunman further down these stairs and a black gunman from behind you.

For some reason the dog and the rat stay near the bend on the staircase, and the white gunman stays on the other side of said bend. So you are able to deal with your new enemies one by one.

Arm yourself with a powerful weapon and hop backward down the steps. As soon as you hear sounds of activity, run up the steps again to confront the black gunman, who hides in the doorway.

Then calmly stay at the top of the stairs, pick the standard pistols and kill the dog and the rat.

Continue around the bend and shoot the white gunman in the back and either jump over him or roll past him, when he tries to face you.

Flooded basements

 

At the end of the stairs dive into the flooded room. The camera angle changes to focus on Lara. That makes it difficult to get oriented.

This room is the upper part of two flooded rooms. If you swim right ahead after entering the water, you will find the other access to air and the way up to a set of high blocks.

But these two flooded rooms contain quite a few (and much needed) pickups, so take those first. Once you have reached the other air hole, look down and spot the large medipack in the dip below you.

In the trench in the room you will find the harpoon gun. In the corner on top of one of the slabs you will also find flares.

Get some air and swim to the corner on the other side of the room. The slab here hides the passage down to the room below.

The floor in the room below consists of two long slabs and a short one. You have entered it above the left slab.

On this slab is a small medipack and in the trench left of it is ammo for the uzis and the M16.

On the short slab is a set of harpoons. In the wide trench between the long slabs is a set of grenades and ammo for the shotgun and between the short slab and the long neighbour is another small medipack.

In the rightmost trench you can find a set of grenades and more ammo for the shotgun.

Timed run with a sharp edge

 

Once you have got all pickups, swim up to the air hole in the corner and climb the high block. By now you should be able to hear the 2 rats on the next steps. Draw the standard pistols and jump up on the next block while shooting to kill the first rat. Repeat to kill the second rat.

Before you do anything else, go one block down and take a peek through the grated door. Both the grated door and the one in the next door are operated by the switch in the room, you currently are in. There are also glass shards in front of the second door.

This is a tight timed run, and if the second door closes, when you are about to pass it, you may end your life on those glass shards.

Don’t let yourself be fooled by the thin air above the second door. When the door is closed, Lara is unable to jump over it and will land on the glass shards.

Climb back up on the upper block and flip the switch. Turn Lara around in a 135 degree turn (a roll here is a waste of time) and run down the block, through the grated door, across the room and make a running jump to pass the glass shards and the (hopefully) still open door.

Dark room with two switches

 

The door beyond the steps in this room opens into the hall, where you started the level.

The switch on the right of the steps opens this door and is timed, but with plenty of time. The switch on the left of the steps opens a second door in the same gallery and is not timed.

Press both switches and climb the steps to return to the hall.

The rosette room

 

This room is almost solely decorated with rosettes. It also hides a flamethrower, a black and a white gunman, a dog and a two-gun-man among a myriad of blocks, of which some are movable.

Pick a powerful weapon and enter the room. Follow the trench, you have entered, around the bend to the right and run all the way to the end of it and touch the wall. This will make the white gunman, who hides in a pit among the blocks, appear. Either run back out into the hall and kill him with the standard pistols, when he follows you. or shoot him from the trench with a powerful weapon.

Your next target is the black gunman, who moves around on the first layer of blocks, but deeper inside the room. Choose the automatic pistols and jump on the block in the corner opposide the entrance. If you move any further into the room, you risk to be in range of the flamethrower, who moves around alternating between the first and second layer of blocks.

The better option seems to literally keep your back against the wall.

Once the gunman is down, you can switch to the standard pistols and shoot the flamethrower at your leisure. Then pick up the ammo for the M16 on the block, you are standing on.

The dog roams the second and third layer and is easy to shoot with the pistols. Go to the blocks, it patrolled on the second layer, and take the two clips of ammo for the uzis and the uzis themselves.

You can hear the two-gun-man move, but he’s trapped in a pit in the corner of the room and is unable to hurt you. Due to the great number of enemies in this level and the possible bugs, they cause in the game engine, you are still better off killing him.

This is fortunately easy and almost without danger. It just requires patience and a lot of bullets from the standard pistols. Climb the third layer of blocks and approach the pit, which is his prison. Stand on the rosette on one of the blocks, that comprise the pit and fire away. The two-gun-man will run in circles and make attempts to shoot at you, but with very little luck.

Take note of the switch high on one wall. It starts a very tight timed run. If you haven’t yet passed the corridor with the wall blades opposite the spiral staircase and cleared out all obstacles on the first floor, you have no chance of making it.

If you’ve followed this walkthrough to the letter, that is what you’re about to do. Ignore the switch, leave the rosette room, cross the hall and turn left to enter the corridor with the wall blades.

Wall blades

 

Go around the wafer thin wall and stop, when the wall blades are triggered. Position Lara at the corner near the wall blades and turn, so when you use look, her whole head is free of the diagonally opposite corner (see picture).

 

Hop back and make a running jump with a left turn in midair. Done correctly, you will not sustain any damage.

Around the corner is a raised block with a small medipack. Vault up on the block and pick up the small medipack. Note: when you approach it to vault up on it, you have to avoid the corner between the raised block and the panelled wall (right side of the raised block), because the wall blade on the other side of the block and panelled wall for some reason is able to kill Lara through it.

Ignore the rest of the corridor, you will get there later.

Upper floor

 

Jump up and grab the floor of the upper storey. For some reason Lara refuses to perform the usual jump-and-grab, so you will have to do it manually.

Pull up and immediately choose your course of action. Two flamethrowers will appear – one from either side.

If you are prepared to take a risk, arm yourself with the grenade gun and try to kill both flamethrowers with one grenade. In this case timing is of the essence. Let them meet each other on the middle tile, then fire.

If it didn’t work, you will have to immediately hop back down to the lower floor, before the survivor sets you on fire. From there you can choose to kill the second with one or more grenades or switch to the standard pistols.

In both cases you will have to step back to the farther edge of the raised block in the corridor and from there jump up and down while firing away with the weapon of your choice.

If you choose to solely rely on the standard pistols to get rid of both flamethrowers, you quickly hop back down on the raised block in the corridor below and then step back, until you reach the edge of the block. Draw the standard pistols and begin to jump up and down while shooting. Every jump will move you a bit forwards, until you are no longer able to aim at the flamethrowers. Step back to the edge of the block and resume the jumping and shooting. Once both flamethrowers are dead, climb up onto the upper floor.

Leave the large medipack and the set of grenades, they left behind, alone for now. You have another dangerous foe to get rid of first.

A third flamethrower runs around in the next room, which is raised one block compared to the small anteroom, you currently are in. Most often he stays in that room, and you can shoot him with the standard pistols by jumping up and down behind that block.

If the flamethrower proves slightly more intelligent and begins to run towards you, you will have to retreat quickly or switch to the grenade gun, before he gets in range to put fire to you.

Room with bookcases

 

Keep your pistols out and proceed carefully. When you enter the doorway to the next room, you trigger two rats on the bookcases in front of you and a dog and a black gunman in the corridor to the right.

Stay in the doorway and shoot at the rats. The dog will shortly join you, so jump back and down from the block while killing it. With the dog out of the way, pull back up and get rid of the rats.

The black gunman will usually run around in circles at the end of the corridor to the right, so you can safely approach him, while you use the protuding wall section as cover. Use the standard pistols to kill him, while you jump or roll past him, when he tries to turn around and face you.

Then go back and pick up the M16-ammo in the corner left of the entrance, the ammo for the automatic pistols in the middle of the room and the uzi-ammo in the left corner next to the switch. Remember the large medipack and the set of grenades left behind by the flamethrowers.

The first bedroom

 

When you use the switch on the wall between the bookcases, the door to the first bedroom opens, and a white gunman and a two-gun-man rush out.

Arm yourself with a strong weapon, seek cover near the corner and shoot the white gunman, who is usually the first one to arrive. Quickly switch to the standard pistols and deal with the two-gun-man by forcing him to run in circles, while you stay behind him and shoot him in the back. This may take a while.

Enter the bedroom. On the right table is a small medipack, on the left table is ammo for the M16 and and on the bed is two sets of harpoons.

Leave the room and use the switch again to close the door. The door to the next bedroom is on a tightly timed run, and the open door to the first bedroom will be an obstacle, that can slow you down.

Preparations for the timed run from Hell

 

Now you have to return to the rosette room. In order to return to the ground floor safely, you have to lower yourself down on the raised block in the corridor with wall blades, else you risk to land beyond it and within reach of the wall blades located there. Keep ingoring the unexplored end of the corridor.

In order to pass the wall blades on your way back to the rosette room, you will have to place Lara in the corner opposite the raised block and turn her slightly less than 45 degrees diagonally (see picture). Do your best to squeeze into that corner, before you turn.

 

Then make a running jump with a right turn in midair to avoid the wall blades.

When you return to the rosette room, you have to move one of the movable blocks to be able to reach the switch on the wall. Some pushing and pulling should get you the movable block near the pit with the (now dead) two-gun-man placed under the switch.

 

You may also want to move one or two of the movable blocks in the lower layers of blocks to close some of the pits and thus make your exit from the rosette room swifter. Every second counts.

 

Check your health. You will have to pass the wall blades again, and even though you will have time to correct Lara’s position, before you jump over them, you may still be nicked by one of them.

Then press the switch.

Timed run from Hell

 

Your route is as follows: leave the rosette room, cross the hall, pass the wall blades, climb up on the upper floor, turn right, rush to the end of the corridor and enter the bedroom there. On your way to the bedroom you will also have to shoot a newly released dog.

Of course, that is a lot easier said than done.

Once you have pressed the switch, roll and make a running jump with a slight left curve to both the run and the jump to land at the opposite side of the room. Done right you should land on the edge of the second layer of boxes. Stay in motion and drop down to the first layer. Turn left and make a running jump to the doorway.

Run out onto the gallery in the hall and aim slightly right for the hole in the balustrade. Use the distance from the door to the hole to make the running start for a running jump as far out into the hall as you can get. After the landing you still have so much distance left, that you can make another running jump to the door on the opposite side of the hall.

Run into the corridor with the wall blades and line Lara up for the jump over them as previously described. Vault up on the raised block, jump up and grab the ledge of the upper floor, pull up and make a running jump up on the next block.

Draw your standard pistols, as you will meet the aforementioned dog somewhere between the room with bookcases and the bedroom – sometimes inside the bedroom.

Then run and jump your way to the bedroom. Reaching it is more important than killing the dog, so if you jump over it along the way, just keep moving.

Second bedroom

 

In front of the desk is ammo for the automatic pistols. On the bed is the M16, a large medipack and a set of grenades. And one the table is the “rusty key” (in fact a detonator key) – the only puzzle item in this level.

On the floor in front of the desk is ammo for the automatic pistols.

The broken staircase

 

Return to the raised block in the corridor with wall blades (remember: lower yourself carefully down) and make a running jump to the unexplored end of the corridor.

Right in front of you is the detonator. In the nook to your left is ammo for the uzis, a set of grenades and a set of harpoons.

If you want to, you can make your way up the broken staircase, but don’t expect to be able to get far.

Use the “rusty key” with the detonator to break the staircase some more – but in a more climbable way – then climb the blocks.

If might be difficult to make Lara grab the second very high block. The only place high enough for her to be able to reack the edge of that block is right at the edge of the block, she’s currently standing on. You may have to pull up right at the spot and turn left to face the higher block. From there, the usual “action” and “up” should work.

Be careful though. At the top of the staircase a flamethrower and a dog await you. Fortunately the flamethrower seems disinclined to attack you, as long as you stay down on the much lower block.

From that block you are able to shoot the dog with the standard pistols. Then arm yourself with the grenade gun and make a sideways jump up on the block, the dog was on, and quickly shoot the flamethrower.

Don’t leave the room just yet. You better survey the situation first.

Battlements and yard

 

The open door in front of you gives access to the battlements surrounding a yard and a small army.

The battlements themselves are populated by: 2 two-gun-men, 3 white gunmen, 3 black gunmen, 3 flamethrowers and 3 dogs.

The yard is populated by: 9 two-gun-men, 2 white gunmen, 2 black gunmen, 4 flamethrowers and 4 dogs.

A total of 35 enemies all at once. Now you know, why you had to conserve your ammo.

Battle tactics:

- First get rid of the enemies on the battlements. Then deal with the enemies in the yard.

- Move counter-clockwise around the battlements. This way you’ll meet only one or two enemies at a time and will be able to concentrate all your firepower on that enemy. The walkthrough describes this approach.

- Save the M16 for later. The range of this weapon makes it ideal to use against the enemies in the yard, especially the black and white gunmen and the flamethrowers. The black and white gunmen have potential to drain a lot of your health with their frequent shots, even while you are on the battlements. And the flamethrowers will have a splendid opportunity to roast you, once you have moved down to the yard.

- Once you leave the tower, the door will close behind you and deprieve you of that cover. Keep close to the crenellated side of the battlements. From there the enemies in the yard will be unable to shoot at you. There is nothing on the other side of the battlements but a long fall.

- At one end of the yard is a pool, you can extinguish fire in, if one of the flamethrowers managed to set you on fire. The downside is, that it might cost you all your medipacks to stay alive long enough just to reach that side of the battlements and jump into the pool. And the flamethrower on the island in the pool will set you on fire again, as soon a you leave it.

All-out battle

 

Stay in the safety of the tower, you have climbed and use the standard pistols to shoot the approaching flamethrower and white gunman ahead of you (you might need a powerful weapon for the white gunman).

Ignore the shooting two-gun-man around the tower for now and run towards the broken corner of the battlements. But be careful. Two flamethrowers will suddenly appear out of thin air, so be prepared to hop/jump backwards to avoid their flames. Shoot them with the standard pistols.

Stay away from the large broken ramp. A misstep here will send you on a slide to a sharp end in broken glass at the bottom of the ramp. And the top of the ramp is exactly that bit lower than the battlements, so the flamethrowers are able to reach you with their fire here.

Round the broken corner of the battlements. Be careful, because some of the slopes may be steep enough to have you slide down from the castle and to your death.

Your next adversary is a dog followed by a black gunman. But very close to the black gunman is a flamethrower, so keep your distance, while you kill the gunman.

A white gunman and his black partner in crime are running around on the next broken corner of the battlements. They are unable to leave the slopes, so you’ll have to come to them. As you get closer to the corner, a two-gun-man will appear on the next section of the battlements and shoot at you. Try to find some kind of cover from him and deal with the single gunmen first. Then navigate the corner and kill him with a powerful weapon, while you chase him back and forth near the crenellations to avoid shots from the enemies in the yard.

The grated doors ahead of you are the ones you had the opportunity to take a look through much earlier in the game.

Jump over the corner of the yard to land on the last section of the battlements and immediately attack a white gunman and the black gunman, who arrives a few moments later in the company of a dog. Another dog will arrive just a bit later. If you have the time for it, climb the crenellations and kill the dogs from there.

The final enemy on the battlements is the two-gun-man, you left behind earlier. Again chase him back and forth near the crenellations and use a powerful weapon.

Now to the enemies in the yard. Note, that 8 of the two-gun-men are placed on pillars along the walls and thus stuck there. They are your last priority, because they are the least dangerous opponents right now.

Your primary targets are the black and white gunmen, who are able to hit you from almost all angles and drain your health very quickly. But the two-gun-men have a bad habit of attracting Lara’s aim.

The best solution is to stay at the centre of one of the long sides of the yard and one or two steps away from the edge. Use the M16 to shoot the black and white gunmen and the flamethrowers. The dogs are less important, but when they are killed, more of the “invisible” enemies may appear and be vulnerable.

It’s tempting to kill many of the two-gun-men on the pillars as well, but you still have to conserve ammo, because you’ll face more fights later. So the more two-gun-men you can kill with the standard pistols from the yard itself and still conserve your health, the better. You will get the strategy just a little later.

When you have killed as many of the freely moving enemies as possible, it’s time to descend. However, you can never be completely sure, if you have killed all of them, due to their habit of blinking in and out of existence. So keep your wits about you.

There are three ways to get down into the yard. The fastest way is to jump into the pool at one end. The second way is to kill one of the two-gun-men (if you haven’t already) and lower yourself down on his pillar and from there drop down into the yard. And the third way is to find the invisible ladder, Peppigno made, and use it to climb down.

The aforementioned ladder is on the side of the ramp as shown in this picture.

 

The better way to go about it is to choose your way of descent and use the M16 to kill the two two-gun-men near the chosen end of the yard, before you descend. That way you only have three of them on either side to deal with, once you’re down there.

Now to the remaining two-gun-men. To deal with them you’ll have to make use of one of Lara’s more peculiar TR2-abilities: when she has got aim of an enemy and keeps firing, she’s able to move back to beyond the distance, where she originally was able to aim at the enemy, and still keep him in her aim. But it only works as long as she continually fires her guns.

Go for the second two-gun-man after the one, you have already killed. As soon as Lara aims at him, you start to fire and hop backwards until you have reached the wall of the end of the yard. The two-gun-man will still shoot at Lara occasionally, but usually not be able to hit her.

Once he’s down (after a lot of bullets and patience), move on to the third two-gun-man on that side, aim at him, fire away and hop backwards. At some point he’s no longer able to aim at Lara and will just run in circles on his pillar. Be patient and kill him.

The fourth two-gun-man is dealt with in the same fashion.

For the two-gun-men at the other side of the yard, you don’t have to cross the yard. When you reach the middle line of the yard, Lara will aim at one of them, and you just hop backwards while firing, to the side you already have cleared.

Killing all two-gun-men in this fashion takes a long time. Just for your information.

There are quite a few pickups in the yard, but none in the pool. Feel free to explore the strange construction in the pool, though.

Going from the pool-end of the yard, there are a set of grenades on the island in the pool. Standing on the island and looking at the yard, you will find two sets of grenades on the border of bricks around the pool and a small medipack to the right of the pool.

To the right of the broken bit of the ramp is another set of grenades. And to the right of the whole part of the ramp you will find ammo for the shotgun near the ramp and ammo for the automatic guns further to the right.

To the left of the broken bit of the ramp is a hole down to the hall, but the drop is to long for Lara to survive. To the left of the whole part of the ramp is ammo for the M16 and a large medipack.

Opening the escape route

 

There are two switches in the yard. One is on the right side of the ramp among glass shards. Fortunately, Lara is able to avoid harm, if she walks though the shards, so do exactly that and flip the switch to open the grated doors in the intact tower, which enables you to leave the battlements.

With your back to the aforementioned switch take a look at the top of the nearer pillar and the switch above it. To reach this switch you must first get back up to the battlements via the invisible ladder on the left side of the ramp, then lower yourself down to the pillar. This switch opens one of the exit doors in the hall.

None of these switches are timed, so take your time and move around at your leisure. Climb back up to the battlements and go down the uneven staircase beyond the grated doors.

The garden and the last fights

 

When you leave the building, you will face a flamethrower, a two-gun-man and a black and a white gunman. The flamethrower comes from the right side and is a good reason to retreat back into the hall to deal with him from there, before he sets you on fire.

Then use a powerful weapon to kill the black and the white gunman, but don’t go into the valley between the ramparts, as this will trigger another set of enemies. Now you should be able to chase the two-gun-man in circles and shoot him with the standard pistols.

When you get into the valley, another flamethrower and three two-gun-men will come out of hiding from behind the ramparts. They are the last enemies in this level, so use whatever ammo you’ve got left.

The two-gun-men tend to get themselves stuck at the vertical sides of the ramparts, which may help you to deal with only some of them at a time, if you retreat to the area in front of the castle.

The exit

 

The garden ends in a stack of crates and another grated door. Look past the side of the right rampart and spot the tree growing there. If you walk behind that tree and look up, you should be able to spot the place, where the higher rampart is cut off.

Pull up there and jump down into the shaft behind it and press the switch to open the grated door.

Return to the garden to leave through the tunnel behind the door.

Note: if you want to know your statistics, you’ll have to draw them up manually, before you exit the level.

When the level ends, you will get an unreadable version of your statistics, before the game crashes.