TOMB RAIDER: ECHOES OF ANTARCTICA - THE LIBRARY

 

Level by Shabab Siddiq (tombraiderxii)

 

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

 

 

The Library

 

Begin in an outdoor courtyard at nighttime in a steady rain.  It has apparently been raining for quite some time, as the deep depression in the center of the courtyard is filled with water.  There's a closed E gate requiring a key you don't yet have.  Next to it against the wall to your right is a square hole where the camera angle changes when you step into it.  Its significance never became apparent to me.  Head W onto the porch and turn left into a short alley to find a homeless man needing money and food for himself and his dog.  There's nothing you can do for him at present, so turn around and head to the opposite N alley.  Pull open the floor trap door and climb down a shaft partially filled with water.  Release and swim forward for some flares, then continue until you can swim up a companion shaft.

 

Pull out of the water and pick up the floating magnum ammo, the MAGNUM, the LASER SIGHT, two more packets of flares and some nearby magnum ammo.  Push the floor lever to open the doors to the courtyard building.  Go between the two S chests, jump to grab the wall and climb back up.  Enter the W building by either of the two doors.  The windows just inside are all shootable, so clear a path for yourself if you wish.  Go forward and enter the next W doorway.  In the room beyond you'll encounter a baddy dressed for winter activity.  Dispatch him and pick up the GREEN KEY he drops (the gate you saw earlier requires a Red Key).  Notice the button presently out of your reach on the wall ahead.   As you run around this area you'll attract the attention of a flying book. 

 

You'll find the keyhole for the Green Key in the SE foyer.  Open the gate and enter a wing of the library.  Turn right and head to the W wall.  To the right of the closed door is a book column you can climb.  Facing N, climb the column, pull up at the top and back flip onto a neighboring column.  Back flip again to land on a balcony.  Run to the E end past the computer stations and vault up onto the table for the ORANGE CODE CARD.   Get back down to the library floor and exit this room.

 

Head straight N into the next room and note the text that appears on your screen:  Clue:  I can push something here...Also, SAVE before starting this puzzle, just in case.  Shoot another flying book and go up the stairs in this area to spook two more flying books.  Go W until the camera angle changes, signifying that you're near a pushblock.  Push the block once N, then go to its left side and push it all the way E until it comes to rest on the dark tile next to the wall.  Side flip to your right over the railing and return to the main hall.  Go up the right stairway and turn right at the top.  Enter the hallway and run past the bookshelves, shooting a flying book along the way.  Just past the bookshelves, turn to your right and run along the narrow wooden balcony.  The camera angle changes on the way.  Hit the look key to regain control, turn right at the corner and stop at the edge of the balcony.  Take a running jump S and grab the ledge.  Pull up and shoot the fuse box cover, then pull down the switch to raise a series of blocks to your left. 

 

Safety drop to the floor (you can't simply jump and grab the raised block), return to the main hall and retrace your steps to the narrow wooden balcony.  Go to the raised block and pull it back twice.  Climb up over it and jump back to the ledge.  Push the switch back up to lower the blocks.  Jump back to the pushblock and move it onto the row of lowered blocks (but don't leave it on the lowered block in the corner, where it would be in your way).  Get back over to the ledge and pull down the switch to raise the blocks again.  Jump back over to the row of raised blocks and push the pushblock over the edge onto the wooden balcony.  Move the pushblock to the other end of the balcony and onto the carpet.  Pull it once S, then push it E to the floor below through the opening in the railing.  Jump down after it and push it W four times.  Climb up onto it and push the button to open a gate in a room upstairs.

 

Hop down from the pushblock, exit this room and return to the main hall.  Go up the right stairs, turn right at the top and run all the way N past the bookshelves into a small room.  Duck into the open alcove to your left and pick up the CODE CARD.  Exit this room, run to the bookshelves in the hallway and turn left between them.  Locate another pushblock and pull it back four times until it's in the middle of the hallway.  Push it N into the center of the small room you visited earlier.  Push the block E into the alcove, climb up onto it and push the button to lower the trap door in the floor behind you.  Get down into the hole and pick up the GREEN CODE CARD. 

 

You now have all the code cards, but there's some unfinished business you need to do before you can proceed.  Climb out of the hole (note that the pushblock has changed to a column, preventing its reuse) and exit this room.  Run S past the bookshelves and the first flight of stairs leading down to the first floor, and turn left toward a central bookcase.  Climb up onto the bookcase for some magnum ammo, then get down and run around the landing (in either direction) to the E end of the second floor.  Go toward the center and jump up onto the carpeted slope.  Step back from the E wall and look up to see a window.  Combine your Magnum and Laser Sight and shoot out the window.  Jump up and grab the wall.  Climb up and pull up into the opening.  Turn around and jump up to grab the floor of the attic.  As you pull up you see on your screen the same message you saw earlier.

 

Step forward and get ready to embark on a rather complicated pushblock puzzle.  There are two fixed crates here and four that can be moved.  One of these four sits atop another one, and your assignment is to move that upper crate until you can push it over the E opening.  Start by pushing the upper crate S onto the adjacent block.  Get down and pull back the central crate once E.  Go around to the N crate and move it along the channel (around one of the fixed crates) until it's one square past the other fixed block.  Pull the central crate once S.  You now have three pushcrates arranged in a row.  However, you can't push one pushcrate off the edge of another pushcrate, so you need to get the upper crate onto the E fixed crate.

 

Push the upper crate once E, then get down and pull the W crate once N.  Get to its E side and pull it once E.  Get up onto it and pull the upper crate onto it.  Get down and pull the E crate once N, then push the S crate once W and pull it once N.  You now have a bridge of four crates (the one at the E end being a fixed one).  Push the upper crate E along this bridge until it topples over the fixed crate.  Get down and push this crate once S, then two times E so that it falls through the hole in the floor.  Go down after it, lower Lara through the crawl space and push the crate W so that it falls down onto the carpeted slope.  Hop down onto the crate and shoot the window ahead to give yourself some extra working space.  Now, move the crate W and push it over the edge to the floor below.  Safety drop onto it and move it underneath the raised button W.  Climb up onto the crate and push the button to open two gates leading to the code card receptacles.

 

Hop down, run S past the second flight of stairs leading to the second floor, and loop around to the right to locate the opened gate.  Insert the code cards, and you'll be rewarded with a rather jerky cut scene showing an opened grate nearby.  Get back to the main hall and head down the narrow alley just to the right of the left stairway (or just to the left of the right stairway) and turn at the corner to find the opened grate.  Drop down through the opening and locate the fuse box.  Shoot the cover and pull down the switch to open the gate near the pushcrate on the first floor.  Before getting back up there, run around to the rear of this area and enter the alcove for the CROSSBOW.  Return to the open grate, pull up to the first floor and run around to find the open gate.  Enter the small room, where the camera angle changes, and push the button.  Oops, the gate slams shut and it appears that you're trapped.  However, just step in front of the gate and it will open again.

 

The Train Station

 

Go out to find that everything has changed.  As you run down the dark hallway you get this message on your screen:  There HAS to be something more below the terminal.  A section of the windows to your right can be shot, so do that.  However, if you safety drop or jump straight down through the opening, you'll be run over by a train.  Therefore, angle to the left (NE) and take a standing jump forward with grab so that you'll glide down onto the checkered walkway.  Loop around the small sloped platform to your right and locate the jump switch on the brick column.  Activate it to open a gate in front of a fuse box.  Turn around and find a nearby fuse box behind a closed gate.  The one you opened must be on the other side of the tracks.  Get up onto that sloped platform and jump up to grab the ceiling.  Monkey swing over the tracks and veer to your left near the other end.  Release and pull up quickly onto the sloped platform before the train arrives.  Or, you can release and grab the brick column as you fall, and shimmy right around the corner to drop down safely.

 

Run forward and locate the opened gate.  Step inside the alcove, pick up the shotgun ammo and shoot the fuse box cover.  Pull down the switch to open a door elsewhere.  Go to the E brick column, get on the ladder surface there, shimmy left around the corner and climb up a bit.  Shift to your right and around the corner, continuing until you're able to pull up into an opening in the bridge that you created earlier by shooting out the window.  Turn right and locate the door you've just opened. 

 

Go on through the dark passage and allow Lara to fall down through a trap door on the bridge, that opens as she steps on it.  After a long slide, the following message appears on your screen:  There would have been a level jump to a level called the Catacombs.  You would level jump back to this;  hence why I moved Lara back to this spot.  When you finally drop down to a stable surface, hit the look key to restore camera control and push the two floor levers on either side of you.  The W one raises the trap doors on the bridge, the E one opens the gate to the first fuse box you saw earlier.  Go across the bridge and stand at the opening above the railroad tracks.  Jump NE with grab to glide down onto the walkway.  Enter the alcove, pick up the large medipack, shoot the fuse box cover and pull down the switch to open a door on the bridge near the two floor levers. 

 

Get back up there, using the same method described earlier.  Run N across the bridge and enter the room beyond to find the BOOK OF ARTIFACTS.  If you bring it up in your inventory you'll see that it's intended to be used somewhere, but I never found out where.  Go back across the bridge and shoot the baddy who's there to meet you.   He drops SOME SPARE CHANGE, so pick it up and continue all the way S and turn right to enter the room where you began this section.  Push the button to restore the library setting, then exit this building N (taking a shortcut through the shattered window openings if you wish) and turn right just outside to approach the homeless man and his dog.  Offer him the Spare Change, whereupon he thanks you with this message:  Thank you, kind woman.  Take this key.  I found it in the library. Someone must have dropped it.  The RED KEY appears in your inventory, so go out into the rain and insert the key in the E keyhole to open the nearby gate.

 

Vehicle Compound

 

Run into the next area and locate the motorbike parked among the Jeeps.  Don't get excited, because you don't get to ride it much.  In fact, I don't believe its use is even necessary to complete the level.  Anyway, mount it and drive it S.  If you try to drive it N, you get this message: I'm not supposed to go this way.  In fact, you can't go that way, as an invisible force field stops you cold.  Turn right at the corner and continue to a closed gate.  Get off the motorbike and go back down the ramp a bit.  Turn S between the hedges and follow the passage (passing a gated crawl space, beyond which you can see a key).  When you reach the crate, push it for some flares, then pull it back where it was.  Continue around the bend and slide down E to a lower passage.  Follow to a dead end and pull up left into the NE corner of a large open courtyard.   Shoot the dog and the baddy, and note the nearby motorbike.  However, someone parked it so that it can't be mounted from the right side.  Go around the motorbike and head S, staying close to the large dirt mound against which the motorbike is parked. 

 

Jump onto the shorter green mound and shoot another dog.  Face NW and jump to a stable surface on the brown dirt mound between the tall post and the short post.  From there, jump up just to the left of the short post.  You'll hit an illegal slope, but keep the jump and up arrow keys depressed and you'll eventually hop forward to the top of the brown dirt mound.  Walk around the short post and face E.  Take a running jump and grab the edge of the bridge.  Pull up and note the closed door to your right.  Follow the bridge left until you can go no further (noting another closed door to your left).  Jump up here to grab the sloped roof.  Shimmy right around two corners and drop down onto a ledge.  Push the floor lever to open the second door you just now passed, and shimmy back to it. 

 

Enter the building and jump up to grab the ladder in the S face of the square hole in the ceiling.  Climb up to a crawl space and pull up inside.  Crawl forward as the camera angle changes and lower Lara down the other side.  Drop down and locate the SE button.  Push it to open the door at the other end of the bridge.  Safety drop to the ground and use the green and brown mounds to get back up to the bridge.  Enter the building to your right and note the closed door requiring that key you saw earlier.  Shoot out the SE window and step outside for some magnum ammo.  Go back and pull up onto a ledge where you can see a number of pushblocks.  The idea is to get the blocks away so that you can push a button in the middle of the N wall, so start moving them (using the SE and SW ledges for storage space).  You can jump back and forth to the ledges as needed, and you can also shimmy past the blocks.

 

When you've cleared the way sufficiently, push the button to open that gate in front of the crawl space containing the key.  Exit this building, safety drop from the bridge and go to the NE corner of the courtyard to hop down into the trench.  Follow the passage and jump the slopes to reach the higher passage.  Follow to the open crawl space and enter it for the YELLOW KEY.  Return to the building you just left and use the Yellow Key to open the door.  Enter the alcove, shoot the fuse box cover and pull down the switch to open the exit gate.  Go there, get on the motorbike if you wish, and ride past the open gate to end the level.