EGYPT RETURN

Level by Pablo David

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth, helped by Doggett TV's video walk

Turn around and see the flare garden that someone has planted up here on a sand dune. Go around to pick up 8 x flares, which should be sufficient for a level lasting no more than 10 minutes. Slide down SW (not all the way to the bottom) and make your way to the S opening in the wall. Run off without grab to land on a ledge. Hop or slide down S and take the large medipack from the central block. Go over to the E alcove for the SHOTGUN.

Pull up onto the SW block and lower Lara down the crawl space on the other side for shotgun ammo. The side walls here are climbable, but they lead nowhere, so return to the previous room and note the artifact beyond the nearby closed gate. Return to the N ledge, hop down into the trench separating the ledge from the wall, loop around right and pick up the GUARDIAN KEY (appearing, of course, as LOAD in your inventory). Go back, pull up onto the ledge and jump to grab the opening in the middle of the N wall. Pull up to the starting outdoor area and run forward toward the palm trees.

Don't slide down to the lower section, as there's nothing to do there. Circle around through the depleted flare garden to your right and climb a block NW to face a bridge. You can't get on the bridge because of the invisible low ceiling here, so slide down W and go N underneath the bridge. As you approach the screen doors near the N wall they open for you, so go inside and face a steep pit. Nowhere to go here, so turn around and head W toward the tall building. The textured part of the wall is climbable, so vault up and climb to the higher alcove. Place the Guardian Key in the receptacle on your right. Something must have just happened, but there's no clue to tell you what that might have been.

Climb back down and return all the way across the sand dunes to the S opening you explored earlier. The closed gate you noted earlier is now open, allowing you to step inside and pick up the GOLDEN VRAEUS (need I tell you how it shows up in your inventory?). The required receptacle is blessedly nearby in the W wall, so place it and wonder what might have just happened. Ah, the SE gate has silently opened, so go there and follow the passage to an intersection divided by a paper-thin wall.

Go right (N) and down the steps to a ladder on your left. Climb up, shift right and drop down onto the ledge. Pick up those flares you so desperately need (giving you 111 if you haven't used them all up by now) and drop back down to the steps. Go up and turn right into an outdoor area. Go through the SW passage and loop around right to find a ladder. Climb up N and run forward to grab more flares, just in case.

Go to the S edge of this ledge and jump the gap to the ledge against the S wall. Go left and climb down the ladder in the SE hole. At the bottom climb up S and pull up into an area with a closed door and marked floor tiles. The markings have no significance (they're all the same anyway), so run indiscriminately W and pick up THE TIMELESS SANDS (yes, I know, so I won't rub it in) in the left corner. Place it in the receptacle in the opposite corner, which looks like a reach-in switch, and the SE door opens. Flames have also appeared on some of the marked tiles, so save your game before gingerly making your way past them.

Go through the opened door into an outdoor area where the sun appears to be setting beyond the horizon. In the NW corner you'll find a large medipack. In the dark area against the N wall is a hole. If you drop down into it you'll be stuck, as the builder has cleverly caused the walls here not to be climbable, and he has also been sufficiently foresightful to have disabled the flycheat. Go to the SE corner and find a ladder in the W wall. Climb to near the top and back flip onto a column. Jump NE to the next column and pick up what is apparently intended as a SECRET.

Hop down, run to the NE corner for shotgun ammo (where are all the enemies?) and run S past the pillars to find another reach-in switch receptacle, where you can place the Secret and end the level.