THE UNKNOWN ARTIFACT OF THE UNKNOWN TEMPLE

Level by Osvaldo

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth, with much help from Doggett D. McDog's video walk

Begin facing a long walkway flanked by a shallow trench. Shoot the jug to your left for flares. Go E along the walkway and detour around the side passage on your left to step on a trigger tile.  Continue around the corner and shoot a flying crystal. Turn left (E) at the intersection and shoot another flying crystal. Continue to the wall and note four knot receptacles in front of the closed door. Step on another trigger tile in the NE corner and get a screen shot of a door opening.

Go back W, turn left and find the opened door at the end to your right (another closed door to your left). Go down the ramp into a lava room and shoot the flying crystal. Take a running jump N to grab the ledge, pull up and run forward. Hop over to the next ledge at the corner and two more of those irritating flying crystals attack. Hang from the edge and shimmy around several corners past a flame blower until you can pull up. Pull down the wall switch to bring out a block from the wall somewhere.

Stand at the NE corner of the ledge and take a running jump to grab the E crack. Shimmy right, timing your way past a flame blower, and pull up in the corner. Take a running jump N to grab the ledge in the corner. Pull up for a small medipack and jump W to the next ledge. Hang from the edge and shimmy right until you can pull up in front of a wall switch. Pull it down to open an underwater trap door somewhere. You can't make it to the S tile in the lava, so don't even try. Shimmy back left and pull up in the corner. Turn around and take a running jump slightly SE to grab a ledge in front of a wall switch. Pull up and activate the switch to lift a gate somewhere.

Sidestep right or left, pull up onto the block and take a running jump W onto the tile in the lava. Hop up SW onto the block and take several jumps S to get back to the ledge where you entered this area. Walk to the E edge, hop back and wait for the flames ahead to subside. Stand jump onto the block and continue with a running jump to the E ledge. Pull down the wall switch there to open the gate you saw back in the main area. Return to the SW opening and run up the ramp to the trenches. Continue across into the opened E doorway and follow the passage to a large room where a flying crystal immediately attacks.

If there are clues indicating the proper order of things to be done in this room, they're obscure in the extreme, so pay attention. manarch2, to his undying credit, has determined that this entire sequence is one monstrous timed run. You have five minutes to accomplish the tasks spelled out in the next five paragraphs and grab the Unknown Pillar. If you fail to do so Lara will become engulfed in flames. Having been so forewarned, save your game before you enter the room and trigger the music track, which launches the five-minute timer.

In the S wall is a row of five push buttons. Beyond this is a SE side room with four floor levers (and a flying crystal). Facing the floor levers and counting from left to right, push #1, #2 and #4. Each time you push one, you get a cut scene showing platforms rising and dropping in the main room. Now return to the main room and face the push buttons. Again counting from left to right, push #5 and wait for a spike ball to be released and roll down the ramps until it drops into a floor hole with a trigger tile (a nearby platform is raised).

Return to the side room with the floor levers. Push #2 back to its original position, push #3, and push #4 back to its original position. Go to the face buttons and push #4. Another spike ball is released and takes a different route down the ramps to drop into another floor hole with a trigger tile (another platform is raised).

Return to the floor levers. Now that all have been pushed at least once, I'll refer only to their numbers from now on. Push #1, #2 and #4, then go out and push face button #3. A third spike ball goes through the drill, but this time you hear the sound of a trap door opening.

Return to the floor levers and push #2 and then #1. Go out and push face button #2, and this time the spike ball comes to rest with no auditory or visual evidence that anything has happened.

Finally, push floor levers #2, #3 and #4, then face button #1. A door opens in the NE corner. Enter and take the UNKNOWN PILLAR (1 of 4) from the plinth. If you accomplished all this within the five-minute deadline and avoided being set ablaze, you can continue without further worries.

Exit this room, turn left and follow the passage past a row of spike balls for flares. Return to the main room and make your way to the top. Begin at a ramp near the middle of the N wall with a face tile. Pull up right and follow around to pull up onto a block. Take a running jump S over the gap into the opening. Step forward, turn around, pull up higher and hop W onto the ramp. Run up and near the top turn right and save your game. Take a tricky running jump S to grab the next ledge. To give yourself an extra boost, hang from the S edge, pull up and reverse roll before initiating the running jump. Pull up and loop around left to pull up higher. Run N up the ramp, into the opening and follow (light a flare) to a wall switch. Pull it down to open a door somewhere.

Go back the way you came and use the ramps to get down to the floor of the main room. Exit SW to the area with the water trenches. Turn right (S) and continue past the opened door to the wall. Turn left (W) and take the first opening on your right (S). Follow to the opened trap door and jump into the water. Follow the passage and swim down into a room with four closed doors. Pull the SE underwater lever (high above the closed doors) to open the N door.  Return for air if needed and follow the N passage to a room with one of those glass mazes. Turn right, then make left turns at the corners until you're headed E and see an opening to your left. There's a ceiling air hole along the way. Swim inside and continue counterclockwise until you see the next opening to your left as you're swimming N. . Swim inside and continue in like fashion (counterclockwise) until you reach the next opening. Swim inside and repeat until you reach the opening that leads to the central section. Swim up for air and pull the underwater lever on the E face tile to open an underwater door.

Get more air, then swim out N and return in clockwise fashion (i.e. by making right turns at each opening). Turn left (S) to the hub room and surface for air. Go back down to find that the W door is now open. Enter and come to a room with five underwater levers arranged in a row and a nearby air hole. Again, the clues here are obscure if they exist at all, so pull UL #2 (counting from left to right), flip turn and return E to the hub room.  Turn left and enter the opened S doorway.

Pull out of the pool and shoot two flying crystals. The SW jug hides a small medipack. Note the gem receptacle in the N wall and exit E to a lava room. Jump up to grab the ceiling and monkey swing forward. Turn right at the intersection and time your way past a flame blower. Take the next right and drop down to activate a wall switch. Get back on the monkey bars, turn right and get past another flame blower. Follow around the corner and drop down in front of another wall switch. Pull it down and monkey swing back the way you came. This time continue past the first flame blower and turn right at the S wall. Follow the winding ceiling path past a third flame blower and drop down to activate a third wall switch. You hear the faint sound of a door opening. 

Monkey swing back the way you came and continue past the intersection to the W wall. Turn right and drop down onto a ledge. Follow around past the opened door to a small room with the UNKNOWN GEM on a plinth. Monkey swing back to the entrance to this area, drop down and enter the W pool room. Pull up onto the N ledge and place the Unknown Gem in the receptacle. Hop into the pool and swim N to the hub room. As you might expect, the final door E is open. Swim inside and take the UNKNOWN PILLAR (2 of 4) from the plinth.

Exit to the hub room, swim up through the ceiling hole and return to the area with the water-filled trenches. Turn right at the intersection, run to the closed doors in the W wall, look left and hop onto the block next to the wall torch. Pull up into the W opening and follow around past the opening on your right (later) into a room with three closed doors, three wall switches and a different colored jug above each one.  Pull down the left (red) wall switch and return to the water-filled trench area.  Go back the other way to the E wall, turn right and loop around into the opened W doorway you bypassed earlier.

Climb the ladder and follow the passage into a room. A door slams shut behind you and corkscrews start descending from the ceiling, so quickly run left to the NE corner and push the face button. Run around to the NW corner and push the companion face tile, reverse roll and exit SW past the opened door. Follow around to a small room where you'll find an UNKNOWN KNOT (3 of 4) on a plinth. When you pick it up the W door opens, leading to another small room with a push button. But first, climb the ladder through the opened trap door into a room with flares, a large medipack, a small medipack and a GOLDEN SKULL for SECRET #1. Get back down and push the face button, which operates an elevator that brings you down to the water-filled trench area.

Run forward and hop onto the block to the left of the wall torch, the same one you used earlier. Pull up into the passage and follow to the room with three wall switches. Pull down the middle (green) one and the right (blue) one, so that all three switches are down, and the W door to your right should open. Go there to find a room with multiple spike tiles. The colored objects in the ceiling appear to be clues. Go left to the N wall and hop W over the first spike tile. Stand jump SW to the second tile from the corner against the W wall, and jump S to the tile with the GOLDEN STAR. Pry it off the wall with your crowbar and return the same way you came to the room with the three wall switches.

Pull up the middle (green) switch and the E door to your left should open. Enter and follow around to a crawl space. Crawl through to a room where a flying crystal awaits. Vault up onto a corner of the corner tile, where you'll be safe from the flames, turn around and stand jump to grab the higher ledge. Pull up, note the ladder and closed trap door and jump to the SW corner ledge. Jump up to grab the crack in the S wall and shimmy right to the corner. Pull up into the crawl space and follow to a crowbar lever that opens the trap door you saw earlier. Go back, shimmy left to drop down to the corner ledge and jump across N to the ladder. Climb up, shift left and drop onto the ledge.

Jump to the ledge with the pole when the flame blower subsides. Face N, jump up to grab the pole, climb up a bit and back flip onto an upper ledge. Take a running jump NW to the next ledge and pry the second GOLDEN STAR off the wall. Shoot a flying crystal and make your way down to the floor with three safety drops. Exit S and return to the room with the three wall switches. Pull the middle (green) one down and the N door should open. Enter the next room and shoot the inevitable flying crystal.

You're in an obvious puzzle room with three pushpieces against the W wall. Before doing anything here, however, enter the SW opening and follow to a small room on your right with a GOLDEN SKULL for SECRET #2. Exit, turn right and enter the N room (the door to this room opened when you found the secret, but I believe it was the builder's intention that it remain closed) to find a third GOLDEN STAR on the wall. You could pry it off the wall now, thus eliminating the need to go through the exercise that follows. Your choice. Note the closed door to your left in the E passage and return to the pushpiece puzzle room.

Move the middle pushpiece NE and place it in the slot next to the face tile on the far right in the E wall.  Turn right and find a pushblock in the N wall (second from the left). Push it two times past a closed door. Go back and move the pushpiece on the right into the left hand slot behind you. Finally, move the remaining pushpiece into the only available slot. The door in the N passage opens (only if you didn't take the Golden Star earlier), so go there and follow to the GOLDEN STAR that was available earlier.

Return to the room with the three wall switches and enter the S passage. Turn left into the room you bypassed earlier and place the three Golden Stars in their receptacles. A trap door drops in the middle of the room to reveal a ladder. Climb down and drop to find an UNKNOWN KNOT on a plinth.

Jump to grab the ladder, climb up and exit to the corridor. Turn left and follow to the area with the water-filled trenches. Go E, turn right, then left and follow to the closed door with four receptacles. Insert the pillars and the knots to open the E door, enter and take the UNKNOWN SYMBOL from the plinth. The S door to your left opens, so follow the winding passage up. As you approach the ladder the level ends with the closing credits.