Return to the Lost Library

Level by The Plumber

Walkthrough by DJ Full

PART I - READ BEFORE YOU START

If you played TR4, you remember most of things from this place very well. However, this level can be finished many ways. I tried to describe them all and that's why the whole game is divided in sections of an "IF you are here, THEN go EITHER here, OR there" guide. So treat the main chapters like an areas description in rather NO chronological order (as this one is in separate section, just in the beginning). In the main description, the only things in chronological order are that the prologue is in the beginning and the wet part is described before the dry one (because the main gameplay objective is to pass the underwater rooms to get to the dry area).

Also, there are two endings of this level.

All the portals in the main hall are described with or without the word "DRY". It means some of them are underwater, and some of them are placed above the water line.

PART II - CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERS:

1. THE FASTEST WAY TO FINISH THIS LEVEL IS: PROLOGUE -> S passage -> 3rd way out -> DRY AREA FINALE -> ENDING 2. I think you can complete the game in 2 minutes following this way.

2. HOWEVER, THE FASTEST "ALL PICKUPS AND PUZZLES" WAY IS: PROLOGUE -> S passage -> 3rd exit for the Pharos Pillar -> LION CHAMBER -> DRY AREA FINALE -> S DRY passage -> backtrack through the S DRY -> DRY AREA FINALE again -> NW DRY PASSAGE -> backtrack thru the NW DRY PASSAGE -> the rest of the DRY AREA FINALE -> ENDING 1

PART III - DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ALL AREAS

PROLOGUE

Swim through the corridor to enter the main hall of the lost library. Ignore the W passage normally leading to the Temple of Poseidon, as there is nothing to find. There are two floors to explore, and only swimming through the underwater area can lead you to the upper dry one.

UNDERWATER AREA

THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES CONTAIN NOTHING IMPORTANT:

NW passage
leads to the place where two underwater horsemen roam. If you wanna see them, you can choose this corridor, but there's nothing else you can find.

N passage
leads to the holes filled with rotating saws circling around poles. But you can't descend through the first hole normal way, as there's no portal to the lower rooms (which are dry). If you really want to check this place, you need to dozy down there. Then you can climb the 2nd pole, avoiding the next circular saw, but there's nothing you can find up there, as the whole Golden Stars section has been removed.

NE passage,
if you go right on the junction, guides you into the sunken planetary. You can swim across it to enter the new passage and return to the main hall through the SE door.

SE passage
- reverse the path described above. Turning left on the junction just before exitting to the main hall is not recommended (you will die).

THE PASSAGES BELOW CAN MOVE YOU TO THE DRY AREA

S passage
leads you downstairs. You can watch the fire wraiths' suicide in the following chamber. Now, you have three options, and you get nothing by choosing the first two:
1. Swim E and through the passage to reach the fountain room (you can't hop into the fountain, and the scientists have found a similar place at the bottom of some oceanic basin - a methane lake that creates a liquid surface deep below the water line). Resurface in the hole by the E wall. Then, exit the fountain room through the unexplored portal to get back to the wraith chamber.
2. Swim into the NW corridor and reverse the path described above.
3. Swim E and up into the hole to get to the Pharos Pillar room (described some lines below, in the DRY AREA 1).

NE passage,
if you go ahead on the junction, leads you to the snake levers chamber. You can't pull the levers, but you also don't need to raise the central blocks - you can just swim up to the hole in the ceiling to get on the dry surface. If you choose this way of getting to the upper floor, refer to the DRY AREA 2 chapter now.

SW passage
brings you to the Music Scroll chamber. Grab the item from the bottom and swim up to the hole in the ceiling (keep away from the triangular parts to avoid being stuck). Pull up into the DRY AREA 3.

DRY AREA

1
Pick up the Pharos Pillar. You can't use it in this level, so treat it like a quest item. Now either exit the room through the portal on the W to emerge in the SE DRY door (in this case refer to the DRY AREA FINALE) or enter the S portal, hop into the hole and refer to the LION CHAMBER.

2
Go upstairs to find the room full of scrolls and with a ladder. Climb it to shatter the vase on the upper shelf. Descend back to the floor and enter the right passage on the S. Destroy one more vase to find uzi clips and pass another room full of scrolls. Go downstairs and through the next corridor to emerge in the DRY NW portal in the main hall. Now refer to the DRY AREA FINALE section.

3
Either choose the hole in the E wall to find out the DRY S portal is closed and you can't exit, or go into the S passage to find a torch on your right (no need to pick it up). Continue through the corridor to the junction. Now you can either enter the left chamber to get the Pharos Pillar and go back to the dry part of main hall through the DRY SE door (in this case then refer to the DRY AREA FINALE), or hop into the hole on your right. If you choose the latter option, fall down into the lion's mouth and swim out to refer to the LION CHAMBER chapter.

LION CHAMBER
You are in the flooded dungeon. Watch out for the horseman and the ball rolling down the slope. Find SECRET#1 on the W bank (a large medi and 10 normal arrows). Pull up on the S bank and enter the hole in the wall next to it. Climb the blocks and runjump on the lion's head to pick up the Music Scroll. Swim through the E lion's mouth to find the pole. Climb up to the junction and refer hop ahead into the Pharos Pillar chamber. If you have already collected the item, just exit through the W passage to get back to the main hall through the DRY SE door. Now refer to the DRY AREA FINALE.

DRY AREA FINALE
The SE DRY, S DRY and NW DRY passages are already described. Through the SW DRY one you can get in another pit and slide down to the lion chamber to collect the 2nd scroll if you haven't collected the other one or if you want to grab all the pickups. In this case, refer to the LION CHAMBER part. But if you are ready to finish the level, go around the shelf and choose one of the 2 endings:
1. Choose the farthest door on the N to enter the music room, place one of the scrolls on the pedestal and play the harp to reveal the secret passage leading to the finish trigger.
2. Go to the very end of the shelf and hop over the balustrade to land on the shelf with the chain. Pull the chain to see the door "open". Now you can go through the passage behind the chain to end the level.