Create a Classic 2019: ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

 

Level by LOTRKingLuis

 

Walkthrough by Mulf

 

Bronze Key

 

The game begins with several seconds of black screen while an FMV loads. Press ESC to terminate and start the game proper.

 

You begin in a nondescript backstreet with a closed gate ahead and another one in your back (you don’t get to open the latter). First, turn left and climb a stack of crates to pick up some Uzi ammo on the floor behind the last one. On your way back, you’ll find a gargoyle staring at you from a recess in the opposite wall. Ignore it for now and jump over to another row of crates. Press the Look key to break out of the fixed-camera view (this is something you will be doing very, very often in this game) and jump to another recess in the wall on your left.

 

There is a keyhole here for a key you don’t have. Turn around, jump across to the crack in the opposite wall and shimmy until you can pull up into a crawlspace. Behind it is a lever that causes the gargoyle to move backward along with the block to which it is attached. Move back out of the crawlspace (forward jump is implemented in this level), get back to the other stack of crates and jump across towards the recess with the gargoyle.

 

Moving the block has revealed a passage leading to a suite of small backyards and rooms, the last of which contains a searchable shelf (in this level, it is not necessary to take a step back in front of them) in which you find a Bronze Key. On your way back, shoot a small crate in one of the backyards to get more Uzi ammo. Return to the recess with the keyhole and find out you’re in luckthat key you picked up just happens to be the one that fits in this particular keyhole! It triggers a flyby that shows the gate ahead opening and, further on, a larger-than-life statue of some ancient Roman wielding a sword.

Medal of Caduceus

Go through the newly open gate; follow the suggestion of the flyby and turn right (on the left, there’s another keyhole for which you don’t have the key). Two Dobermans come at you as you approach the square with the giant statue; they’re a special breed that’s more bark than bite, but can be remarkably resilient.

When you look around the square, you’ll notice quite a few opportunities for you to do stufflater, but not now. One thing you can do is acquire a small medipack: it’s on top of a low wall near the giant statue, and you can get there with a running jump from the nearest (NW) of the three slightly raised blocks with a palm tree.

 

For a secret (1/4), line up a jump at an acute angle from the top of this wall towards the long and ugly row of slanted brown blocks across (press the Look key as needed) and shimmy left. When the fixed camera goes away by itself you’ve gone too far, so move back a bit until you regain it; then pull up and backflip with twist to grab the ledge behind you. Enter the crawlspace to pick up a “Cartagena Rose (Secret)”, then move back out and drop down into the street.

 

A bit further in N direction is another square with a wide staircase W leading to different area, but the main feature of which is a very large blue-striped awning. As before, there are clear indications of things to do around here, but apart from a revolver ammo pickup on a crate in the SE corner, shotgun ammo near the palm tree, and a big medipack at the back of the building with the torches N, they’re all high up and thus out of immediate reach, or else protected by spikes. (Ignore the odd construction with a double slant next to the crate with the ammo pickup. If you backflip onto it and jump forward, it seems like you could reach the edge of the roof ahead if you managed a pixel-perfect jump, but you’re not meant to do so.)

 

However, in the NE corner of this square is a cul-de-sac with some crates at the end, and if you look closely (break the fixed-camera view by using the Look key), you’ll find that two of them are floating slightly above the ground. Don’t think too hard about why this would be so; simply take it as an indication that they are interactive objects, because it turns out that indeed, they are pushables. Move the left crate along the greenish flagstone floor all the way W to the black cobblestone path.

 

If you want another secret (2/4), move the crate S once, then immediately pull it all the way back so you can get up onto it and in front of the other floating crate. Push the latter twice to reveal a small room with an “Antisana Valley Rose (Secret)”. Get out and pull the first crate all the way back to the cobblestone path. (As the passage is only two tiles wide, there’s no way of avoiding all this legwork.)

 

Move the crate along the cobblestone path as far as it will go, then get onto it and line up an angled jump towards the ladder up on the corner of the building with the torches. Climb around the corner, then backflip-with-twist to grab the blue-striped awning and pull up. You may want to save your game here, as the next jump (to the swingpole) might take a few attempts before you get it right (what worked best for me was a running jump with a mid-air curve, but you also need to take into account the point at which to jump off in order to avoid overshooting the swingpole). Use the swingpole to reach the recess in the wall ahead. From there, line up an angled running jump (no grab) to get you to the flat part of the roof.

 

Spot the jumpswitch at the back of the building, slide down to the block to which it is attached, and operate it. A flyby shows the spikes in the building with the torches pop out and retract, which means that the spike tiles are now safe; so circle around to the front of the building, go down the stairs and cross the spike tiles to emerge in an empty courtyard. Follow the stairs W to the upper story, then take a running jump to the swingpole to clear the gap and grab the edge of the opposite ledge. The Bocca della Verità on the wall yields shotgun ammo, but it also releases a flock of bats. Jump into the water ahead and wait for them to disperse before climbing out at the waterfall.

 

In the corridor behind the waterfall you get a flyby view of what lies in wait for you: it’s a Floating Laser Head. It may give you pause that at this point you have yet to acquire a revolver and a lasersight in order to properly deal with this kind of threat, but never mind: you’ll get both soon enough. Enter the Floating Laser Head’s lair, drop down from the ledge to floor and take cover in a corner behind a pillar near the W wall. (There is no need to sprint or even jump, but try to keep on the move. Laser Head’s instant-death rays are directed not necessarily at the place where you actually are, but where you’ve been moments before. It’s ancient technology, and it takes a while to compute your position. Use this to your advantage.) There is another Bocca della Verità in the middle of the W wall; it opens the door at the other end of the room. Mind that activating it takes a second or two. Get away from it as soon as possible and run through the door it opened at the next opportunity.

 

In the room behind it you’ll find shotgun ammo and, more importantly, the Lasersight on the searchable shelves, more revolver ammo in a small shatterable crate, and the Revolver itself on top of the big red box. While you’re rummaging through the room, Laser Head entertains itself by zapping the walls of its lair (in addition to lagging a bit behind real time, it’s easily distracteda bit of a scatterbrain reallyand tends to forget that you’re there if it cannot see you. It will zap you, though, if you loiter around the entrance). Since you can’t get a clear shot from here, you’ll need to back to the W wall and finish the business from there. Once both its eyes are gone, Laser Head self-destructs, leaving behind the Medal of Caduceus.

Medal of Samnites (and Most of the Rest)

Retrace your steps to the outside and turn W towards the stairs flanked by two stone lions. At the top of the stairs, turn left (S) and operate another switch in the form of a Bocca della Verità. A camera shows a gate opening, allowing access to yet another switch of the same form elsewhere; press the Look button to make the camera go away.

Ignore this switch for now and turn your attention to the buildings further W, flanking a huge disc-shaped door. There are three doorways at ground level. The one S, next to a ledge with a Uzi ammo pickup, leads to a room containing only two shatterable crates with more Uzi ammo and a small medipack (a Doberman approaches in your back as you enter), while on the N side, the one on the left is blocked by pushables; so enter the one on the right.

There is a climbable pole in the middle of this room, and a gargoyle’s head on the wall intermittently spouting fire in its direction. Stand next to the pole facing E and wait for the flames to subside, then jump up to grab it, pull up three times in quick succession and backflip immediately onto the ledge in your back. Turn around and drop down into an adjoining room, which is the one that contains all the pushables. Push the one at the centre of the room out of the way, then pull the one at the entrance back once. Hop over this pushable and collect a Gold Key. (Don’t bother with any of the other pushables: there is nothing else to find here.)

Return to the pole guarded by the gargoyle and climb it again, this time jumping off towards an alcove higher up in the E wall. Pick up the shotgun ammo and jump over to the top of the wall S. Turn W and enter the room above the one with the pushables and press the big button on the wall there. This raises a trapdoor on the façade of the building across the street. Use the suspended metal walkway to cross over, jump to the trapdoor and enter the room it gives access to. Use the pulley three times to raise a little pillar out of the ground in the street below. Hop off the camera trigger, get back to ground level and takethe Turbine Circuit Board from the little pillar.

Go back E down the stairs and S towards the square with the giant statue. As you approach it, you are treated to a replay of a cutscene from TR5, in which Pierre and Larson are invisible half the time (and also caught in a loop that forces them to repeat this scene forever from now on). When it’s over, you find yourself having unwittingly placed the Medal of Caduceus in one of the three puzzle holes in the plinth of the giant statue, and also facing N, i.e. the way you just came. Turn right, and straight ahead you see the switch in the shape of a Bocca della Verità which you were shown earlier in a camera view. You don’t get one this time, but when you return to the square after using the switch, you’ll notice that a trapdoor on the façade of a building S has gone up. This will be useful shortly.

 

For a secret (3/4), go near the giant statue and use revolver + lasersight to shoot a bell high up on the wall W. This triggers a wraith. Quick, panic! Where’s the next pool of water? But wait: this is a rare case of a benign wraith. It will grant you a “Tiffany Rose (Secret)” if you allow it to touch you.

 

Go W over towards the large fan and insert the Turbine Circuit Board in its receptacle to turn it off. This, too, will be useful shortly. Go S now as far as you can. At the end of the street is a little square with a raised block where you can pick up flares, and a closed gate with a keyhole for the Gold Key you’ve acquired previously. Behind it is another little square with two doorways. In the one straight ahead (W) is a shatterable crate with Uzi ammo. Follow the other one (N) to a room with a settee and a carpet.

 

Turn E to an opening in the wall and take a slightly curved running jump to the top of the suspended walkway on your left. (On your right is a ledge with a lever that you can ignore for now.) Take another running jump from the walkway over to the trapdoor around the corner which you raised earlier. Take one more running jump to the swingpole further W, use it to jump towards the far end of the sloped roof below, and immediately take a curved jump from there to the left so you land on top of the pillar next to the roof. Take a running jump (no grab) to the central pillar and use the monkeyswing to continue to the pillar in the NW corner. From there, take a curved running jump to the lower section of the roof ahead. Grab its edge and shimmy left until you can pull up to the top of the pillar to collect your Silver Key.

 

Drop down to the floor and retrace your steps to the small room with the settee (back through the Gold Key door S). This time, go up left (W) to enter a little square with a swimming pool and pull up to the top of the wall N. Pick up the shotgun ammo and perform a standing jump to the swingpole to get across to the roof on the other side. Shimmy right until you reach the middle of the last tile, then pull up and backflip-with-twist to grab the jumpswitch. This opens up a tunnel in the swimming pool. Follow the tunnel until you can pull out of the water.

You find yourself in a large cage. Go through the doorway E into a yard. In its SE corner is another doorway leading to a room with two large barrels and a keyhole for the Silver Key. Search the shelves behind the door for a Crowbar and return to the yard.

 

Jump up to the crack in the W wall, shimmy to the right and pull up. Turn left, shoot a window and line up a running jump towards the steel construction on your right. From there, jump over to the roof of the cage and then up to a switch on a pillar at the W wall. The switch raises a block back in the yard. Drop down to the ground and go N, then E until you reach another doorway on your right. Jump up to a crawlspace above the doorway to pick up revolver ammo. As you re-enter the yard, two Dobermans come up from behind. Jump up to the block raised by the switch, shoot the nearby window and jump through it into a room in which you can pick up the Medal of Samnites and, in the SW corner, Uzi ammo.

 

This room also contains the last secret (4/4), a “Butterscotch Rose (Secret)” in a crawlspace behind the bookshelves on the S wall.

 

Leave through the door that opened when you picked up the Medal. You’re on top of another large blue-striped awning. There’s a small medipack in the NE corner, and, towards the W, a row of several swingpoles that lead to pillar on top which is a pedestal with a Shotgun. (The jump to the first swingpole is slightly trickier than usual. From the edge, hop back once, then take an extra step back before doing a running jump to the pole.) Return inside the cage and go back through the water tunnel.

 

Medal of Talaria

 

When you get out of the water, turn E and follow through until you reach the opening in the wall from which you jumped to the roof of the suspended walkway before. Do it again, and from there jump across to the ledge with the lever. This lever opens the grate by the swimming pool which you just climbed out of, and it is timed.

 

When you’ve made it, you find yourself somewhat unexpectedly in an industrial area. Go to an alcove in the N wall, shoot the lock off the wooden door (pistols do just fine) and use your crowbar on the switch behind it. A rope is triggered into existence; climb the crate near it and jump from the middle of that crate to grab the rope. Turn S and swing towards the suspended ledge. Push and pull the pushable around the corner of the ledge so that you can use it for a standing jump-grab towards the higher ledge.

 

On this higher ledge, pick up revolver ammo in the SE corner; then in the opposite corner, at the foot of the sloped block, line up a running jump-grab towards the far ledge N. Go W and use the ledges to make your way around the large pool, then jump over to the area with the palm trees. The gate with the torches appears significant but it won’t open, and you can pry the object of your desirethe Medal of Talariaoff a nondescript wall straight ahead, and also get the Uzis from a pedestal near it.

 

Go back the way you came (you can take a dive if you wish, but there’s nothing of interest in the pool) and jump over the railing down to the ledge with the big medipack (losing a bit of health; or you could do another rope swing for it, if you’re into that sort of thing). Now return with your treasures to the square with the giant statue and place the remaining two Medals.

 

There now ensues a cutscene which shows the giant statue coming to life, teleporting itself to the huge disc-shaped door at the other end of the map and using its magic to open it for you. It then almost literally goes ‘Arrrgh!’, collapses and shatters into a thousand pieces, apparently all worn out by the exertion. What a guy!

 

If you now go N, then up the stairs W to the newly accessible area, two Dobermans come charging at you. Open the door marked Pericolo at your peril. If you didn’t open the door, continue N and press the two big buttons to open the double doors ahead. In between the next two cutscenes (preliminaries to the upcoming shootout and its inevitable outcome, respectively), pump Pierre and Larson full of lead as best as you can, taking medipacks as needed.

 

Having presided disinterestedly over these proceedings, the evil twin of the self-sacrificing giant statue comes to life as well as soon as Pierre and Larson have run off, and it eats bullets for breakfast. The strategy I recommend is this: hop up onto the block from which it came down and from there, throw everything you have in its general direction. This block is a safe spot because the statue can’t aim high (possibly indicative of arthritis). It’s dead when Lara no longer targets it (though it takes a few moments to realise the fact itself), and it leaves behind your prize (the Philosophers’ Stone) floating in mid-air. Grab it to end the level.