TEMPLE OF THE SUN walkthrough

Level builder: Amethyste

Walkthrough by: Nina Nish

Secrets: four Golden Skulls

Important pick ups: four green Serpent Eyes, two red Serpent Eyes, four Codices, two Keys (combine items, each made of two separate parts/pick-ups), Revolver with Laser Sight

Other pick ups: many SMPs and LMPs

TEMPLE COURTYARD: When the level starts, go forward and climb down the long ladder into a big temple courtyard. As soon as you land on the ground, do not waste your time looking around, but run N towards a pool, because a fire wraith is chasing Lara. When you jump into pool, wait under water where you are, until the wraith dies. Then swim into the small UW tunnel opposite the waterfall to obtain the first GREEN SERPENT EYE. Swim back to the pool and hurry up to climb out of the water near the waterfall, and from there kill three snakes that appeared in the pool when you picked up the jewel. Once they are dead, you can retrieve the LMP from the bottom of the pool. Also notice another tunnel in the pool, but the strong current prevents Lara from going in. Climb out of the water and before you start with your tasks, take a look around the courtyard and collect a few pick-ups first.

For a start, climb on the rocks above the waterfall to find the Golden Skull (secret #1). NOTE: Big thanks to Drakan and Raikutee who helped me locate this secret. Return to the place where you entered this courtyard and take a look at the big pyramid W. On both sides of the big staircase you can see two receptacles (serpent heads), requiring two red Serpent Eyes. Once you find them both, you can open the big temple gate at the top of the pyramid. Memorize this place and for now, go N towards the pool. Just around the corner of the pyramid, to the left, you will find an LMP lying on the ground. Pick it up and climb on top of the smaller pyramid W (lying just opposite the pool). Once on top of the pyramid, fing an SMP and the Golden Skull (Secret #2) lying on the ground to the left. Go to the very edge of the pyramid facing W and drop down to the lower tier of the pyramid. From there take a running jump to grab the edge of the small green wall where you can find another LMP. Drop to the ground.

From there go N and to the corner of the courtyard. Take a look at the opening in the corner (to the left if Lara is facing N), a bit hidden with the greenery. Make a mental note of this opening. Also, notice two high ladders on the wall N, with two trapdoors preventing you from climbing to the top. Remember this as well. Proceed going to the right (E) towards the pool, and notice another pyramid to the left (N) of the pool. After this initial assessment of the situation, you are ready to proceed with your tasks. Main goals of the level are to collect four Codices, two red Serpent Eyes and four green Serpent Eyes. If you followed this walkthrough, you should already have one green Serpent Eye in your inventory. If not, pick it up from the pool.

RED ROOM: When facing the pool, take a look to the right of the pool and locate two short ladders in the E wall. Climb the lefthand ladders and crawl into the tunnel. In the small red room crawl and shoot to break two red wooden benches hiding two LMPs. Also kill one snake crawling from behind. Now, step on the reddish tile and sprint through the door on the opposite side of the room before it closes. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not go through this timed door if you don't have the first green Serpent Eye, because you won't be able to come back and you will be stuck. Go up the stairs and to the left around the corner. Once you go by a closed red door to the right, turn around and spot a jump switch above Lara. Use it to open the door at the top of the stairs and enter this room.

Notice a ladder and a closed door to the right and another closed door in the far left corner. Approach the pedestal and pick up the first part of the KEY (Clef). Picking this up will open the door above the ladder and trigger three bats to appear. Kill them, go to the ladder and climb through the opened door. In the next room pick up the first CODEX from pedestal and kill two more bats. Return to the previous room and notice that the small door in the corner has also been opened in the meantime. Go through and use the green Serpent Stone in the receptacle to open the door of the room with burners.

ROOM WITH BURNERS: Do I need to say that you should probably save the game here? There are a couple of ways to beat this challenge with burners, and I am going to describe the easiest way. For a start, observe the cycle of the burners: they are active for approximately five seconds and inactive for two seconds or even less. So, you have to count seconds here in order to get to the other side of this room.

From the doorway jump to grab the edge of the first burner ledge. Do not climb up, but instead, shimmy around the ledge to the other side. Use Look button to observe the burner above. After it has been burning for four seconds, climb up. By the time you are standing on the ledge, the burner should be off. Immediately jump backwards with Roll and Action to grab the edge of the second ledge. This time remain hanging where you are and use the Look button to observe the burner above. After it has been burning for four seconds, climb up. If you did the good timing, the burner will be off by the time you are standing on the ledge, and you will have enough time to run for a run jump before the burner goes on again. So, run jump from there to grab the edge of the third burner. Repeat the same tactic to climb on top of it and perform the last running jump to grab the ladder on the opposite side of the room.

Climb down the ladder into the spikes pit. Now you can finally shoot that pesky bat that has been harassing you. Procees cautiously and time your running across the tiles with spikes. At the other side of the pit, pick up the third Golden Skul (secret #3) from the left corner and climb up the long ladder. In the alcove above the ladder jump into the alcove on the opposite side and use the JS to open the door at the top of the stairs on the other side of the pit. Climb down the ladder, go across the spikes again and climb the ladder on the other side and into the hallway with stairs and open door. Before you go there, turn to face the room with burners and take a diagonal running jump to land on the ledge in the corner to the left. Use the JS there to raise a stone covering the pit in the room on top of the stairs. Run jump to land in the hallway above the ladders, up the stairs and down into the pit below the stone to find the second part of the KEY (Clef). Combine this part with the first part you have found earler, to get the KEY (CLEF) you can use in short.

Picking up this key part caused a door in the room with burners to open. So return down the stairs to this room and from the doorway run jump to grab the first ledge with burner. Use the same strategy as before to climb on top of this ledge and perform a run jump to grab the second ledge. While hanging on this ledge, more Lara to the right and around the corner. When the burner above is about to go off, pull up onto the ledge and run jump diagonally to the left to grab the edge of the doorway there. NOTE: If Lara keeps catching fire while in mid-air during this jump, try to press Action at the last possible moment to prevent her from catching fire.

TRAPPED HALLWAY: Climb into the doorway and slide down the slope. A boulder will chase Lara from behind. Slide to the very edge of the slope and jump off to land on the flat safe block ahead (do not grab it or the boulder will kill Lara). Approach the doorway to the right, taking care not to kill Lara in the burning pool below. Stand at the edge of the lava pool, in the middle of it (facing the rope ahead squarely) and run jump across the lava pool to grab the block on the other side of the pool. Climb up, slide a bit and jump off to grab the rope. Swing across the second lava pool and jump off the rope to land in the hallway ahead.

In this hallway notice an alcove to the right. As you can imagine, this alcove is supposed to save Lara's life. So, turn Lara to face the lava pit and keep pressing Back/Down arrow key to make her hop backwards. As soon as she trigger the first boulder, sprint forward and into the alcove which is now on the left. When this boulder passes by safely, repeat the same process to trigger the second boulder and run away from it. Once both boulders ended up in the lava pool, proceed up the hallway. The door ahead will open automatically. In the small room behind this door find a JS on one supporting pillar to open the exit door. Go through and to the left, down the stairs and return to the temple courtyard.

SMALL BACKYARD WITH PILLARS: Drop to the ground and this time go to the righthand ladder and climb them. Drop from the block to the right and move this block away from the corner to reveal an opening in the wall. Go in and push another block inside the hallway to reveal a closed door and a receptacle opposite the door. Use the Key there to open the door and climb up the stairs leading to a small room with pedestal. There you will find the second GREEN SERPENT EYE. Taking it will cause a sarcophagus in the alcove W to move away from the corner. Go there and pick up the LASER SIGHT from the corner. Picking up of this item will cause another sarcophagus in the opposite alcove to move away from the corner and reveal a crawl space. Go there, crawl in and emerge in the hallway leading to a shaft. Drop to hang on the ladder below the hallway, climb down until Lara hangs below the white horizontal stripe, then climb to the left and from there jump backwards with Roll and Action to grab the opening on the other side of the shaft. Climb up here where the boulders falling from above won't harm Lara. Then climb into the hallway to the left.

Once you emerge in the small backyard with pillars, drop to the ground. There are revolvers on two pedestals nearby but Lara cannot take them, so don't waste time. Go to the SW corner of the backyard killing one bat on the way, and use the ladder there to climb on top of the pillar. From there take a run jump to land on the pillar on the left (in the middle of the backyard). Run jump to grab the next pillar, then run jump on the next pillar and finally, run jump to land on the ledge below the closed red door. From here climb up to the door, and jump up to grab the monkey swing. Follow the monkey swing bars to a high opening hidden with greenery and use the JS there to open that red door you just saw. If you try to drop down from this high opening, Lara will die, so walk to the edge of the opening and jump up to grab the monkey swing above, and swing back to the open red door. Once you get there, drop and kill one pesky bat. Behind this door you will find the first RED SERPENT EYE. Taking it will open the door in the SE corner of the courtyard. Go back and drop to the lower ledge to the left, and then to the ground. Use the JS in the small room behind the SE door to open a door back in the main courtyard.

To return to the main area, you have to climb on top of the pillar in SW corner again and to perform the same jump sequence until you can climb to the red door you have opened first. From there you have to run jump diagonally and with Action to land on the pillar where you initially entered this backyard. Save your game before this jump though, as Lara can die if she misses this jump. Return to the shaft and run jump to grab the ladder. Climb up and enter the crawl space and the room beyond. Exit through the crawl space to the right, climb the higher ground and follow the hallway with stairs back to the temple courtyard.

SMALL PYRAMID: The door you have just opened is located on the pyramid to the right (N). Go there and up the stairs. The door you opened is on the left, but also notice a shallow pit with ladders and closed trapdoor just to the right. Go down the stairs and through the open door. Enter the room with four stones. Pick up the REVOLVER from the pedestal and kill three bats that will appear. Then pick up the third GREEN SERPENT EYE from another pedestal and kill two snakes that will attack. These pick ups will cause two stones to raise and reveal the pits bellow. Drop into these two pits to pick up the first part of the second Key (Clef) and a SMP. Then climb the ladder to the left of the entrance (when facing it). Jump onto the central ledge and jump up to grab the monkey swing. Swing over to the JS and use it to raise another stone block from the pit. Swing over to the other side of the room and use another JS to raise the fourth stone block from the pit and open a trapdoor on top of the pyramid outside. Drop to the ground.

From the third open pit pick up the second part of the second Key (Clef) and enter the fourth pit. Crawl into the crawl space there and go down the stairs to another closed door. Kill a bat along the way, go into the small room to the left and combine the Revolver with the Laser Sight to shoot the small round artifact hanging inside the small opening in the wall. This will open that door nearby. Go there, kill one bat and pick up the second CODEX from the pedestal. Kill two more bats and exit through the door opposite the pedestal. Notice the closed blue door to the left and go right to emerge back in the corner of the temple courtyard. The Pyramid where you have just opened the trapdoor is on Lara's right. Go there and drop inside the pit with ladder. Combine two parts to get the KEY (CLEF) and use it in the receptacle to open the door nearby.

Enter in a small room with a central pillar and hanging skeletons. Around the pillar, there is a ladder. Use it to climb on top of the pillar where you'll find the fourth GREEN SERPENT EYE. This will also open the side room below. Drop down, kill another bat and enter the small side room with a stone hiding the opening (remember this) and shoot to break the red bench (from crouching position). This will lower the trapdoor back in the temple courtyard, on top of that long ladder you noticed some time ago.

Return outside and climb out of the pit. Go down the stairs then right into the corner of the courtyard with two long ladders. Climb the lefthand ladder almost to the top and jump off to land on the ledge with a JS. Use it to drop a trapdoor in the opening nearby. Climb down the ladder, go towards the pool, then right around the corner of the middle pyramid, and proceed towards the big pyramid. Climb on the lowest tier of the big pyramid and go right. The opening where you have just opened the trapdoor is right there. Drop in the water and swim into a flooded room with an underwater lever. Pull it to lower the second trapdoor at the top of the second long ladder back in the temple courtyard. Swim through the small opening to the right of the lever to emerge back in the pool. Climb out of the water and return to that corner where you have just climbed the lefthand ladder. This time climb the righthand ladder and on top of them climb to the right and drop on the ledge with another JS. Use it to raise that stone block back in that small room on top of the pyramid you have visited earlier. Jump diagonally to grab the ladder and climb down.

Return to the pyramid on the N side of the courtyard and drop in that opening you have visited earlier. Return to the room with hanging skeletons and enter the side room where the stone block has just been raised. Drop in the pit and crawl backwards through the small opening.

UNDERGROUND AREA: Keep going/crawling until you emerge in a reddish cave. Once there, find the opening in the far left corner and proceed to the spike pit. Jump over and enter the next cave. As soon as you enter, climb on the rocks to the left and use the JS above to open the door nearby. Drop to the lower path and climb on another rocks along the left wall and find the open doorway in the far right corner. Climb the ladder, follow the passage and safety drop in a small room. Pick up the third CODEX from pedestal and then the LMP from the floor to open the door ahead. Kill one bat and go up the stairs until you emerge back in the temple courtyard, behind the small pyramid on N side. Go forward, and if you haven't done it earlier, pick up an SMP from the higher rock in the corner before you turn right around the corner of the pyramid.

UNDERWATER MISSION: Now return once again to that opening with water at the first tier of the big pyramid (you were there before). Drop in the water and swim down and through the passage. This time a trapdoor at the bottom is open, so swim down and follow the passage to the stairs where you can surface. Enter the hallway with pillars, kill three bats and use the JS on the left wall between two pillars to open the door ahead. Kill one more bat and proceed to the next JS that opens a trapdoor nearby. Go there, jump into water and swim into a flooded room with a cage covering a pedestal.

Find an UW lever on the wall E and pull it to open the big door on the opposite wall. Swim there and once inside the small side room, swim to the right and into the alcove with the second UW lever. Pull it to open one of two trapdoors at the bottom of the big flooded room. Return for air if you need it, swim back into the room with the cage, and down towards the bottom. Beneath the opened trapdoor you can find yet another UW lever. This lever lowers the cage, so you can pick up the fourth CODEX. This pick-up will open the second trapdoor at the bottom of the flooded room. Before you swim down through this passage, return for air and take a deep breath.

Swim back into the room with cage then down through the second open trapdoor. When you enter the big octagonal underwater tunnel, swim to the left, pick up an LMP from the bottom and swim into a tunnel on the left. Follow it to another open trapdoor where you can climb out of the water. In this small room, pick up the second RED SERPENT EYE from the pedestal. Also, run jump into the alcove in the SW corner of the room, climb up the ladder and pick up the fourth Golden Skull (Secret #4). Return back to the underwater passage, swim back into the big octagonal tunnel and once there, swim left. At the end of the tunnel, swim upwards, then to the right, through a small tunnel leading to a long shaft. Once on the surface, climb out of the water and go through the passage, returning back to the Temple Courtyard, near those two long ladders and behind the smallest (middle) pyramid.

TEMPLE OF THE SUN: Now when you have collected two red Serpent Eyes, four Codices and three green Serpent Eyes, you are ready to explore the temple itself. So, go towards the pool with the waterfall, turn right and go to the big staircase of the pyramid with the Temple on top of it. Use two red Serpent Eyes in the receptacles to open the big gate at the entrance of the temple. Go up the stairs, and before you enter, make a small detour for a couple of pick ups. Go all the way around the temple to find an LMP and return to the front side. To the left of the temple doorway (when facing it) there are two high columns with faces. Go there and between the columns, take a running jump to grab the stone in the corner and climb up. Side flip to the left to land on a lower stone where you can find an SMP. Pick it up and immediately side flip to the right to the previous stone. You have to run away from the fire wraith now, so run jump back to the pyramid between two pillars and sprint down the stairs and back to the pool with waterfall. Once the wraith is dead, return to the Temple gate and go in.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not enter the Temple if you don't have four Codices and three green Serpent Eyes in your inventory, otherwise you will be stuck and unable to return to the courtyard.

Once inside the doorway go left and drop into the shaft with water. Follow the UW passage to a place where you can surface and climb out of the water. Enter the big room with hanging skeletons. As soon as the flyby is over, draw your pistols and kill the first flying skeleton. Go to the opposite side of the room and use the JS to lower the trapdoor that will enable you to climb on the upper ledges. This will trigger the second flying skeleton, so kill it as well. Place first two Codices at the pedestals to the left and right and climb up the ladder to the ledges above.

Approach the third pedestal and place the Codex on it. Kill another flying skeleton that appears, go around the perimeter and place the last Codex on the fourth pedestal. Kill yet another flying skeleton that will be triggered. Placing all four Codices will open the trapdoor at the ground level of the big room. Drop down, then drop into this opening and follow the hallway to the last receptacle. The credits will appear on the screen. Place the green Serpent Gem into the receptacle to open the last door, proceed through and pick up an SMP to end the level.

In Hamburg, January 2013.