The Moon Cathedral

Level By Nancy Barreira

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth (with assistance from Moonpooka for the final secret)

Lara begins her adventure swimming in a tunnel underneath a cistern. Head north down the channel and turn left into the partially blocked section when you reach the intersection (with a closed trapdoor in the ceiling). You get a fixed camera angle when you reach the end of this shorter tunnel, but move over to the left and hit the action key. You'll pick up the CROWBAR. Reverse roll, and you'll find that the trapdoor outside is now open. Swim up through the opening and surface for air in the cistern. Pull up onto the ledge and draw your pistols to shoot the BAT, then jump back into the water and swim south past the ledge barriers and the steam blowers. Pull up onto the right ledge and pick up the SMALL MEDI-PACK, then jump across to the other side to disturb and then kill another BAT.

There's a partially-blocked underwater opening at the south end of the cistern, but the current keeps you from swimming inside. However, there's a crawl space in the wall above it, so take a standing jump to it from either ledge and grab the edge. Pull up inside and crawl to the other end. Hit the space bar to bring Lara to a crouched position, then draw your pistols and shoot the barrier. Crawl up to the very edge and turn to the right to spy out another blocked crawl space in the adjacent wall. Bring Lara to a crouch again and draw your pistols to shoot out this barrier as well, then lower Lara into a small room with waist-high water.

Pull up into the crawl space in the west wall and crawl to the other end. Shoot at the barrier the same way you did earlier, and drop down to the block on the other side as the camera angle becomes fixed. You're in a partially submerged room with a number of columns poking out of the water. The problem is that most of the columns (the ones marked with a dark circle on the top) erupt into flames when you jump over to them. Your goal in this room is to pull a jump switch in the opposite corner, and your challenge is to get there without burning. Turn Lara to the left, standing in place, to face the nearest column. From there take a standing jump and grab the edge as flames shoot up. Shimmy to the right and around the corner, and pull up carefully onto the NE corner. Then turn slightly to the right and take a standing jump in a NW direction to the next column, which is one of the few safe ones. Then turn to the right and face the dark NE corner. Take a running jump (without grab) to the taller column in that corner, then jump up to grab the ceiling.

You need to make a circuitous route along the ceiling while monkey swinging across to the jump switch in the NW corner. If you happen to miss it when you release, simply jump back up and grab it. Then hop into the water (since all the inflammable columns are now lit) and swim back to the lower ledge near the SE corner. Pull out of the water, turn left and pull up onto the adjacent block, and use the crawl space to leave this area. The water in the previous room prevents you from shooting the barrier in front of the opening in the SE corner, so crawl back through the opening in the north wall to return to the cistern. Pull up beyond the second ledge barrier and dispose of another BAT, then shoot out the barrier in the darkened west wall. Pull up inside, bring Lara to a crouch and shoot the next barrier ahead. Lower Lara down the other side and use the ladder to climb down the long shaft.

Turn around when you reach the bottom and admire the doggie poster, then go through the tapestry down the short east corridor past the steam blowers. Draw your pistols as you go up the stairs and through another tapestry, as a couple of SAS lie in wait for you. What's more, a door closes behind the tapestry when you enter, preventing you from beating a hasty retreat. After disposing of the SAS, pick up the SMALL MEDI-PACK that one of them drops. There are three closed doors ahead; Lara kicks open the ones to her right and left, but opens the one ahead in lady-like fashion.

Let's go through the south doorway first. Go up the stairs and through another tapestry, and draw your pistols to eliminate the SAS waiting for you in a small library. Pick up his REVOLVER AMMO, then vault up onto the corner platform and pick up the LASER SIGHT. The upper levels of the bookshelves are climbable, although to what purpose is unclear. Go back down the stairs to the main room and use the east doorway. At the top of the stairs draw your pistols to take out yet another SAS lurking just beyond the tapestry. Pick up the FLARES and throw the floor lever, and you'll faintly hear the sound of that same door opening downstairs. Go back down to the main room and use the north doorway to enter another small library. No SAS here, but you need to use one of your flares to see in this darkened room. There's a tapestry ahead that partially obscures a crawl space, so use it and lower Lara down the other side.

Drop down a distance into some water. Swim forward and allow the current to carry you into an underwater room for SECRET #1. Pick up the SHOTGUN AMMO, then swim into the opening on the other side of the room and allow the current to carry you back to the cistern. Go back through the south crawl space, and when you drop down into the small room you find that all the water has been drained. So shoot the barrier in front of the SE opening and go on inside. Turn around at the end and pull up into an upper room. Ahead are three balls swinging slowly back and forth, and a closed trap door overhead. Shoot the ball on the right to open the trap doors. (Shooting the other two seems to do nothing but release a swarm of locusts.)

Jump up into the space revealed by the trap door and use the climbable surface in the north face of the shaft. Climb up, avoiding the steam jets that blow intermittently, and pull up into an area with high-walled corridors. A high-pitched whirring sound assaults your eardrums until you move away down either corridor. To your left is a gated area, and when you come around to the other side you see a dead SAS lying on his stomach. Go into the corridor that he's partially blocking, and you'll soon alert another SAS who's very much alive. After shooting him, be sure to go over and take his REVOLVER.

Continue down the corridors in a northerly direction. The corridors soon start branching off. If you go down to the left, you'll find a closed door. Take the next parallel corridor and you'll see a floor switch beyond the gate. Continue along the gate until you reach the end, and in the alcove off to the right is a jump switch that's too high for you to reach. Reverse roll and start back the way you came. Take the first left and splash through some shallow water. Make a couple of turns past another doggie poster until you come to a floor switch in the water. Throw it to raise a block underneath the jump switch you just saw.

Reverse roll and run away from the floor switch. Note the hole in the corner. Go back to the alcove with the jump switch, climb up onto the block and activate the jump switch to open the closed door in the nearby parallel corridor. Go there, enter through the open doorway and wait patiently for the SAS to come to you. After blowing him away, you can go further inside what appears to be a maze-like area. You can see a small medi-pack ahead to your left, but resist the temptation to run forward and pick it up. It's guarded by a very attentive machine gun. Instead, take a right and follow the corridor until you reach the floor switch you saw earlier from the other side of the gate. Throw it to open a trap door elsewhere in this maze. Now go back, past the opening where you entered the maze, and follow the corridor to the left. Just keep your left shoulder against the wall and you can't go wrong. You'll soon reach the open trap door, and if you look just past it down the corridor you'll see part of another machine gun that's guarding this area.

Jump into the water and get ready to tackle what would really be a tough maze if you didn't have this walkthrough. But first, let's get the easy part out of the way. You start off facing north, so take the first right and swim east all the way to the end, ignoring all tempting openings along the way, and turn left. Locate the air hole just ahead and pull up into a torch-lit room for SECRET #2. Pick up the SMALL MEDI-PACK, REVOLVER AMMO and SHOTGUN AMMO, then jump back into the water. Swim until you reach the main east-west corridor, then make a hairpin turn to the right and swim back to the north. Make a slight dogleg to the right and keep heading north. Take a left at the next intersection and swim to the west. Take the second right, then turn left, and you'll come to one of those "La Lune" signs. Surface at the air hole and turn right to pull into a corridor. Run down the corridor and turn right. You'll need to take standing jumps and grabs over three pits with boiling oil at the bottom before you reach the other side. Jump up and grab the handle to pull down the trap door. Climb up inside and pay attention to the flyby that gives you an overview of the guarded cathedral area ahead.

Before moving away, look up in the distance to the east and locate the SAS who hasn't yet seen you. Combine the revolver with the laser sight. Draw a bead on him, and you can take him out before he ever knows what hit him. (The first time I played this level, the large doors to the north opened automatically when I ran up the stairs toward them. However, that hasn't happened since, so I assume I was the beneficiary of some kind of bug. So now we'll try to find out how to open these doors the old-fashioned way.)

Head into the small graveyard to the east. There are several ways to get there, one of which is to take a side flip into the gated enclosure in the SE corner, opposite from where you pulled up into this area. Follow the underground tunnel to the end, and pull up into the east graveyard. As soon as you do so, a WRAITH attacks, so hurry over to the SW corner and throw the floor switch to open a trap door in the west graveyard. Hop back twice to drop back into the hole, then follow the tunnel back to the original opening. Turn around and use the climbable surface to reach the upper balcony, then run along it to the other side and drop down into the west graveyard. Another SAS is probably taking shots at you by now, so jump into the water in the corner to douse the wraith. Pick up the REVOLVER AMMO as a reward.

Climb out of the water hole and use the ladder in the SE corner to climb back to the balcony. Locate the SAS high up on the north ledge and take him out. Now look in the same direction and note the four twin sets of swinging balls. The pair on the far right seem to be invulnerable, and the two shootable pairs on the left seem to do nothing but release locusts and wraiths. But when you shoot the pair just to the left of the invulnerable pair, the northern doors at the top of the stairs open.

When you go through the open doorway into what I'll call the vestibule, the doors close rudely behind you. Inside are another closed iron gate and a closed door to your left, so your only option is to kick open the door to your right. Run down the stairs to another closed door and open it. Draw weapons to take out the SAS who attacks from your left, then look around to find yourself in a room with a pool in the middle. Jump into the water and follow the tunnels in an easterly direction until you reach a partially submerged room with five shootable giant candles perched atop columns that jut out of the water. Pull up onto one of the near columns and ready your lasersight-assisted revolver. Shoot the candle in the SE corner and pick up the CAR-JACK (which turns out to have no use whatsoever). Shoot the candle next to it, against the east wall, for a SMALL MEDI-PACK. You can shoot the candle in the NE corner and see a large medi-pack that appears to be yours for the taking, but if you jump over to pick it up you'll erupt in flames. Shooting the NW candle will release a wraith, but since you have all that water around you it's quite easy to kill it. Finally, shoot the SW candle and jump over to pick up the NITROUS OXIDE FEEDER (which also has no later function in this level).

Swim back to the nearby pool room, and you'll find that some changes have taken place. The La Lune posters, formerly solid, now allow you to pass through them. Let's use the one in the north wall first. Pull up into the crawl space and crawl to the end. Lower Lara down the other side and drop down onto the ledge. Turn around and survey the room filled with submerged pyramids. Jump into the water and swim to the other side. Swim into the corner hole underneath the platform and emerge in a room with a bluish-green tint. Throw the nearby floor lever, then return to the room with the submerged pyramids. Swim across and pull up onto the south platform.

Three ropes have materialized in this room, so use them to swing over to the north platform. Throw the floor switch there, then jump into the water and swim over to the south platform, pull up and use the crawl space to get back to the pool room. Go across to the south wall poster and go inside. Pull up into the crawl space and crawl to the other side. An SAS awaits at the opening, so pull Lara up into a crouch, draw your revolver and blow him away. Keep that weapon poised, for when you stand up in the library another SAS comes up to challenge you.

Step onto the platform to your left. A cut scene shows the door across the library, in the NE corner, opening. It's not a timed door, but if you try simply to run across the library floor to reach it, you'll find it closed every time. That's because you're running across trigger tiles on the floor (and, as you'll discover, on the bookcases as well) that cause the door to slam shut. You need to get there by negotiating the tops of the bookcases around you in a clearly defined route. If you should ever hear the sound of a door closing along the way, you'll know you've stepped on a trigger and you'll need to get back to the platform and start over again.

But first, climb onto the bookcase to your left and run across to the other side to pick up the ROOF KEY (which has no apparent later use). Then turn to your right and take a standing jump and grab to the next bookcase. Note the trapdoor handle just ahead. Jump up and pull down the trapdoor. Grab the climbable surface and climb up to the second library floor for SECRET #3. You'll find some REVOLVER AMMO on top of one bookcase, and a giant candle to shoot on another bookcase that rewards you with a SMALL MEDI-PACK. Jump back down the hole to the top of the bookcase below and keep to the left side, where it's safe, and step forward to the next bookcase to the east. Take a standing jump and grab to it; but instead of pulling up, shimmy to the right around two corners until you're directly opposite the NE doorway. Then simply drop down, reverse roll and dash inside the next room. You can shoot the candle on the platform if you wish, but all you'll get is a horde of locusts. Throw the floor switch you'll find nearby, which opens a door elsewhere. Search the bookcase tops on your way out, if you wish, for some ammo, then use the crawl space to vacate this area.

Back in the pool room, go through the door on the right in the east wall. You emerge in what looks like a planetarium. Jump up to grab the ceiling, and begin a long monkey swing which takes you finally to a crawl space on the other side of the same wall you started from. Along the way, a WRAITH comes out to tickle Lara mercilessly as she gamely navigates the monkey bars. When you get to the crawl space, drop and grab, then pull your way inside. Throw the floor switch to open a door elsewhere, then step forward, drop down into the hole and allow Lara to slide down to the partially-submerged planetarium floor where the wraith will extinguish itself.

Pull up onto the central structure and throw the floor switch to open another door elsewhere. Jump back down, pull up onto the west platform and climb up to the opening through which you arrived in this room. Use the crawl space to return to the pool room. When Lara can stand, make a hairpin turn to the right and enter the left opening in the east wall. Duck down and crawl along the tunnel until you reach a steep shaft. Step forward and climb up the north face of the shaft. When you reach the top, and Lara sets her feet, release and grab again immediately. This time, before Lara can get her feet set, hit the crouch key and up arrow simultaneously so that Lara crawls into the small opening. Continue forward until you reach a room filled with deadly lava and sloping blocks. Your objective is the central structure off to your right.

From the front edge of the platform on which you're standing, take a standing jump forward to the sloping block ahead. Keep the jump key depressed so that Lara jumps off without sliding, then grab the edge of the next block. Pull up, allow Lara to slide down the other side, and as soon as the camera angle changes, jump up and grab the edge of the next sloping block. Pull up and slide down to the last safe surface you'll be seeing for a while. Turn to your right, facing east, and back up as far as you can. It would be a good idea to save your game here. Take a running jump forward and grab the edge of the sloped block ahead. Pull up, slide down the other side until you nearly reach the bottom, then jump off and grab the edge of the next sloped block ahead. (This is probably the most difficult jump in the entire sequence, for your timing needs to be near perfect in order for you to make the grab successfully.) Pull up, slide down the other side and jump off. Keep the jump key depressed so that Lara bounces off the slope headed south. Grab the edge of the next sloped block.

At this point I discovered a short cut perhaps not intended by the author. The textbook way to continue would be to shimmy all the way to your left to continue your clockwise trek around this room. However, if you'll instead shimmy to the right as far as you can go, you can pull up, slide down a bit, jump off with a swerve to the right in mid-air, jump off the next block, slide down the next block as far as you dare, then jump off it to bounce off a third block which brings you to the safety of the central structure. You'll breathe a sigh of relief, as I did, when you finally get there. Pull up onto the higher platform, where you'll feel a momentary sense of outrage when the only reward for your efforts turns out to be a SMALL MEDI-PACK. Swallow your pride and pick it up, then take a running jump ahead to the south.

Go through the crawl space and locate the floor switch. Throw it to open a door elsewhere, then continue forward and vault up into the tunnel. Follow the tunnel a short distance and drop down into the water below. Swim in a westerly direction and return to the pool room. An SAS is there to greet you, so make short work of him. Go through the doorway to the west and run up the stairs to the vestibule. Continue forward through the door you just opened and throw the floor switch at the end of the corridor. The iron gates behind you and to the right will open, allowing you to go through the tapestry and enter the Moon Cathedral.

There are crowbar doors to open on your right and left as you enter. An SAS guards the one to your right, and you'll find another one a little farther up to your left. When the coast is clear, enter the west doorway to your left. Go down the hall, shooting a BAT along the way, and note the closed floor grate near the far end. Nothing more to do here now, so reverse roll and cross over to the east doorway. Climb up the ladder to an upper alcove and open the crowbar door to your left. Follow the corridor until you reach yet another crowbar door. Open it to emerge into what looks like an indoor swimming pool, only the "water" is highly toxic.

Your goal is to get across to the open door on the other side in the NE corner. There are safe areas in this pool of toxic water. However, the deadly areas are very unforgiving if you should happen to wade out in the wrong direction in this waist-deep water. One of the main reasons we have walkthroughs is to take the guesswork out of perilous situations like this one. Here's the correct route to the other side: Run along the ledge to the north until you're lined up with a pinkish slab showing a human stick figure. Jump down into the water here and wade out to near the end of that slab. Then turn right and wade a short distance to the smaller adjacent slab. From here, keep going straight ahead in a southerly direction until you reach the next slab. Now turn left and wade in an easterly direction over the next three slabs until you reach the far ledge. Pull up, turn left and run to the open doorway.

You have some more wading to do, so head down the short canal until you reach the opening on your left. Pull up into the tunnel and run to the end where a SMALL MEDI-PACK lies on a "La Lune" tile. When you step on the tile to claim your prize, you hear the sound of mighty rushing waters. Go back to the pool, and you find that the water is now crystal clear and very safe. Wade across to the other side and go through the open door down the corridor until you return to the Moon Cathedral. Go across to the other side and enter the west doorway. You'll find that the grate at the end of the hall, which was closed when you first saw it, is now open.

Climb down the opening and run down the stairs. Open the crowbar door at the bottom, shoot out the barrier, and throw the floor lever. You hear the sound of a small explosion. Reverse roll and run back up the stairs. When you get to the top, turn around and jump up to grab the climbable surface. Climb back up to the hallway adjacent to the Moon Cathedral. Return to the cathedral and run down the central aisle. Climb up over the obstruction ahead and note the crawl space in front of you above the "La Lune" lettering. Crawl through the opening to an area with pyramids and surrealistic flashing blue lights. Run to the other end of this room and climb up onto the translucent block as Lara's theme music plays. Pick up the LEFT GAUNTLET and the RIGHT GAUNTLET.

Return to the Moon Cathedral through the crawl space. A grate has opened near the west crowbar door near the vestibule. Jump into the steep shaft and splash down into a cistern area that's on the other side of the gate from the area you explored earlier in this level. A dead SAS is sprawled out underneath a cryptic message written on the wall. Get on the motorcycle at the end of this ledge and drive it forward over the dead SAS and past the danger signs. Crash through the barriers ahead and keep going forward up the ramp until you hit the exit trigger, bringing an abrupt end to a fine level.