| Reviewer's comments |
"This level has a Great creeping dread soundtrack with adds to great atmosphere but interesting with bright and
original textures so it makes it an enjoyable and fresh experience when it comes to looking around and
exploring this castle/house. The problem is that the level starts to wear quite thin after a while because
unfortunately apart from the timed run at the beginning and the odd trap or two we have very boring gameplay
that mostly consists of running around corridors and mazes looking for items for progression and actually even
the pushable block puzzle was both tedious and boring as well and so ultimately I was disappointed in general
after I eventually found the ending here" - John (15-Jun-2022) |
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| "A very atmospheric level which sees you on a lenghty quest for a handful of items before you can make your escape. I followed Sutekh's detailed walkthrough so I never got lost or roamed around aimlessly through the vast hallways of this place, so keep that in mind. There were a few nice platforming sections (mostly for a secret) and three or so pushblock puzzles, none of which were particularly difficult. There was one puzzle which might have been a bit too obscure revolving simple math, I simply scrolled to the bottom for the solution but still went on and activated all possible outcomes for no reason (only one of which was fatal anyway). Worth checking out by the atmosphere alone, everything else is an added bonus. 60 minutes, 4 secrets. 04/21" - Treeble (04-Apr-2021) |
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| "The sweeping opening flyby, to the
accompaniment of haunting TR2 music, sets the
spooky overtone for this level. What stands out
here is the eclectic mixture of textures, which
shouldn't work together, but do...most of the
time. Rather dark too, especially in the
basement infested with spider webs. The
gameplay is relatively varied, consisting of a
couple if nifty block puzzles, buttons to
locate, a few artifacts to use and a button
puzzle (for which I found no definitive
solution). If you can withstand the occasional
dark spot, you'll have a fun time with this
level. I did." - Ryan (18-Oct-2016) |
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| "I found this level quite confusing at times - not knowing where to go and such. Some areas seems impossible to get through - for example the swingling blades (timing your jump right to fall through the gap below). Also, the sound of those blades remained throughout the rest of the level which was annoying. However, on the plus side, I did find most puzzles enjoyable and the architecture of the house quite stunning." - Necro (26-Jun-2012) |
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| "Someone neglected to pay the light bill for Hill House, as most of it was too dark for me to have much fun here. On the other hand, the gameplay is quite engaging, and a good deal of the activity is devoted to paving the way for the third and final secret. Sutekh, wherever she now may be, has provided a walkthrough in her typically exhaustive fashion, but even with its assistance I had a hard time near the end trying to remember the location of the pharos receptacle so I could open the exit door and finish the level. Along the way there are several block puzzles, each one a little more complicated than the one before. There's a timed run at the beginning that's fairly easy, but later on in a lava room there's a tricky curved running jump with grab that took me a number of tries to master. The darkness was an annoyance, even with artificially manufactured flares, but on balance this was a good level lasting about ninety minutes, with many interesting twists and turns." - Phil (22-Jul-2011) |
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| "Colourful, but scary castle. You never know, what is around the corner. Gloomy music and sounds make skin goose. However I was played it very pleasantly and I order it. Adrenaline will add from time to time." - Andzia9 (01-Nov-2009) |
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| This is a not usual house level because this time Lara explores a castle. Excellent atmosphere full of strange noises and terrific enemies. The settings are very well built and the puzzles are clever. The goal is to find the bone (Pharos Knot) and in the way Lara must find four secrets. Once more the only fault is the darkness that makes very difficult the gameplay. - Loupar (17-Jul-2005) |
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| "From a nice intro flyby this evolves into a very atmospheric house level, spooky at times and maybe a little too dark along the way with very few flare pickups around. The 'dark old house' with its scary noises and nicely added music is great to explore, as you need to find the four crystals, a guardian key, a portal guardian (for a secret) and the knot. Enemies are dogs, rats, big spiders and croc fish and a number of traps littered throughout the house. Several buttons to push and sometimes you might feel a little lost, but it's all well connected and you should not be halted for too long anywhere. Found three of the four secrets in the hour spent here and while I know where the fourth is, I did not bother to do the backtracking. Also, if there was any logic in the various numbers and symbols then it eluded me, but that did not really cause me any trouble. Enjoyable level, so give it a try." - Michael (12-Feb-2005) |
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| "The opening flyby shows an extremely dark and spooky old house. It was difficult to see things in this flyby so I'd recommend watching it (and most of the level) at night or in a dark room. Lara appears to start near the top of this old house and the first thing I encountered were four of those emaciated dogs. Actually apart from three giant spiders, two giant fish, a few rats and the odd bat, these dogs are the only enemies I encountered. This is basically a mansion level with an enormous underground network of waterways and corridors, and that's where we spend most of our time, and mostly in the dark. I'm really not sure if I was annoyed or accepted this as being appropriate. At least there are enough flares available, but I'd still recommend using them only when necessary. Right at the start it's obvious you need a Pharos pillar and a Hathor head and stand. So off you go on a long and sometimes confusing journey underground. There are some nice little trick places like a swinging bag corridor that looks absolutely impossible to negotiate, but it's actually cleverly simple. Then there's a lava room which I got half way around before I realised I just needed to do a slightly tricky single jump and then monkeyswing. There are symbols over doors that were hints of what to do, but it was lost on me, and I just carried on regardless, sometimes revisiting places three and four times. So there could be a lot of backtracking if the player tries this without the walkthrough. I did have a look at the walkthrough afterwards and saw how it all could be done a lot more simply. I really liked all the block pushing puzzles, the timed run, and the way the level opened up so that it was possible to retrace your steps in any direction you liked as door after door opened. But never at any time was I bored, and that says a lot about the way a level is designed. I was able to find all four secrets myself which was great. Highly recommended level." - CC (11-Feb-2005) |
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| "Great level! It missed some outside areas to complete a perfect full ambience. I don't like house levels, I don't like dark levels, but the design of gameplay and architecture are excellent. Good puzzles, well applied textures, secrets not very hard, etc. A level that everybody should like to play." - Jose (11-Feb-2005) |
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| "A dark, spooky house with mouldering dogs, giant spiders, rats and eerie noises - excellent atmosphere for lovers of creepy levels (and yes, I am one). I wonder if the builder had Shirley Jackson's classic book in mind when naming this level. Be prepared for a certain amount of confusion as you explore the maze-like corridors and underwater passages to find gems, pillars, guardian keys and a portal guardian. I just hope you've got a better sense of direction and memory than I have or you'll be in for a lot of backtracking. There are one or two block puzzles, but they're straightforward; the main challenge really is one of exploration. All that running around paid off though because for once I found all (four) secrets. This has rather a different feel and unless you really don't care for dark levels I think you'll enjoy it." - Jay (07-Feb-2005) |
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| "An excellent 'spooky house' level, heavy on puzzles and research (let's say more 'adventure' than 'action'), with only one pure agility part, which you may as well skip if you don't feel like tricky jumping. There's a lot of atmosphere, thanks to an excellent design of texture/lighting/sound with the enemies themselves adding to the weird, almost ghastly feeling. Very, very immersive." - Sutekh (04-Feb-2005) |
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| "Hell house more like it! But only in the best possible sense of course as this house was just brimming with atmosphere suspense (where is that next giant spider gonna pop out from) and loads of fun. For me this house was very Oxy-esque a definite compliment with the brilliant way the maze like quality of the rooms slowly opened up so that by the end you could access them via different faster routes and like Oxy's levels although they seem overwhelming with so many doors and things to open the gaming seems to flow without any real stopping and before you know it what seemed like a huge task at the beginning now seems at the end like nothing to have worried about. Puzzling itself was on the whole pretty easy with some obvious movable block puzzles and a button pushing puzzle that has a numerical solution I suppose but I took the just random button pushing tact and seemed to have no trouble doing what had to be done this said though I never felt like the level was missing anything in this category. When I finished after 65 minutes I had found all 4 secrets with the last being the most involved and fun to collect and was thoroughly satisfied with the entire experience. I hope more of these levels are on this author's agenda." - Sash (26-Jan-2005) |
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| "We are adventuring in a dark mysterious mountain castle on this level. Our enemies are demonic dogs giant spiders crocodiles and rats. We have to walk through mysterious places. We have to find even twice 2-2 Crystals and the Bone to finish the level. Meanwhile we have to push and pull blocks on the level which is not linear at all. If you want to find the secrets too you'll need a key combined from the Wooden Stick and the Head Part. Anyway finding the secrets is also a separate task. According to the creator there are four secrets on the level but I could only find 3 of them although I played the level four times. The textures are wonderful the painted glasses amazing and the paintings of the rooms and the added sounds are also fantastic. Play it! You can find a Hungarian walkthrough (as we don't have English version) savegames and pictures here: http://www.treditor.hu/15/hill_house.htm " - Obig (18-Jan-2005) |
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| "What a great level this was indeed I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful adventure. There's lots to do and find before retrieving the Pharos Knot/Bone which had me running around in this level quite a bit and sometimes getting lost in the process. The timed run at the beginning had me stumped for some time though but they always do. In this adventure you need to find 4 gems and the portal guardian along your way and your enemies are fighting off bats demon dogs big spiders & crocs. You also have some block pushing to do which was fairly straight forward. But each step of the way helped you to progress further into this level by opening up all these many doors and also trying to remember where those doors were when they were opened as I am not the most observant person and I tend to forget where I have been. The cut-scenes were very well done and this helped me a lot throughout this level in finding my way back to the correct place/door to collect the next important item to proceed further into this adventure. The textures and layouts were just brilliantly done but I must say it was a bit dark in places which does give you a nice spooky atmosphere in this old house. I certainly would recommend playing this level to most raiders as I thought it was great fun and most enjoyable in game-play. It had some good puzzles to solve which kept me on my toes throughout this level. Although I did managed to find only 4 secrets but I am not sure where they were as I did not hear the secret sound when picking them up. On the whole a nice and well laid out level so d/load this now and give this wonderful adventure a bash you won't be disappointed I know I wasn't. Thanks bne Lara for a great Lara adventure." - Gill (06-Jan-2005) |
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| "This was a nice surprise. A house level with a different twist. Finding all kinds of artifact (loved the naming of the Hathor Effigy). There are four secrets to find and they aren't that hard just be sure to visit every nook or cranny. The basement is dark but it adds to the overall spooky feeling this levels gives you. Nasty spiders one can find here. The pushing button puzzle was beyond me so I started to push the lower numbers first (after a hint) and finally saw a cut scene of a spider and then the falling of those boulders. Still not sure what they did though as the room was empty apart from the holes in the floor. I like the style of this builder. 28-12-2004" - Gerty (04-Jan-2005) |
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| "I liked the creepy atmosphere in this level intensified by the gloomy background music with bells and all. That having been said the quality of the textures is so-so so-so in this case not meaning 'as the average' but a little above the average. And even though one can tell everything's connected (how else would it be anyway?) the game can become quite confusing at times and there are a couple of places of which I fail to see the use such as the small room where the spike balls were. Also in the numbered buttons puzzle there doesn't seem to be any visible logic behind which buttons one should or shouldn't push and in which order. Now you're looking at me and frowning saying 'Was that such a bad game?'. No and I never said it was. As I started out by saying the atmosphere is well achieved and the fact is I found this game more interesting than most of those I've played lately. It didn't keep me awake hooked to the screen but it was nevertheless a pleasant experience. Ok maybe there was some lack of suspense and tension in the game but maybe that's the way it is with most of them. Forget my words if you think I'm downrating the level and download it anyway - I'm sure it'll be an above-most raiding experience. (December 29 2004)" - Jorge22 (01-Jan-2005) |
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| "This may be named Hill House but don't expect an ordinary house level. It's much more of a castle - many rooms that can be confusing but don't give up. The textures are rich; stained glass and masses of textures that shouldn't go together but somehow do. I would rate the atmosphere higher but as it's in the same category with Sound/Cameras I could not give it a 9 as I thought it deserved. Cameras were (IM0) too quick and the irritating sound of the blades followed Lara around to the point I could not even hear the secret sound as I had to set the sound very low. I got 3 out of 4 (I think) secrets. I would encourage everyone to download and play this. Interesting fun with lots of exploring. Thanks bne lara for a great adventure." - Bene (01-Jan-2005) |
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| "A level as good as the author's previous one but this time Lara will be exploring some kind of a mansion not the usual one so don't expect this to be boring at all. There is something in the author's gameplay that I like very much I can't put my finger on it but I definitely enjoyed it. There are items to find in the various areas inside the house but also at the dark basement like areas. The hints and cameras are very well placed so as to not get lost but the traps especially the one with the blades and spike bags give an extra point to this level. I have a feeling the author has won one more fan. I expect the next level to be more challenging and if not better at least up to standards of the previous two. I found three of the four secrets. I wouldn't miss this one if I were you." - Kristina (28-Dec-2004) |
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| "Although the house is allegedly on a hill Lara spends most of her time in the basement (which is too dark regardless). Lara looking very much like she came from a James Bond movie premiere is stuck inside and trying to get out. There are some enemies but mostly the level is a maze. The author has thoughtfully left clues to the many doors that have to be opened and it's easy to get confused if you don't pay attention to these. Gameplay is not that difficult unless you want to get all the secrets. The author is showing again good improvement in authoring skills. I would like to point out that the texturing wasn't always appropriate with carpets on the ceiling and stained glass windows on the floor. If you like mazes and don't mind spiders you will enjoy this level." - Duncan (28-Dec-2004) |
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