Level reviews

"Upon booting this level, in a lot of ways I got reminded of the original TR Conversion Project back from the earliest of earliest days — I'll chalk it up to the lighting effects on Lara contrasting with the lo-rez TR1 textures. TR1 is still easily the best out of all Core Design games so this hit the right notes, actually, with the setting and even houses a smaller version of the St. Francis' Folly shaft. Good and simple fun. 20 minutes, 3 secrets. 12/25" - Treeble

"Opaque's second level bring us in a TR1-style cave that is an huge improvement lighting-wise from his previous level. In fact, the caves managed to give a feel of cold on me, and that is certainly a plus. The main enemies are our beloved TR1 wolves that aren't that much of a pain to dispose of and give enough distraction from the adventure, that is always needed. The secrets are not that bad hidden either. The last hub area of the level is clearly inspired by Francis Folly, and there are 3 side rooms, sadly none of them has a strong puzzle in it. The worst one is the pushing block room, that gets boring pretty easily. Another problem that also afflicted the author's debut level(Temple of Danger) is the fact that the level finish abruptly, giving you false hope for a next area or level. Overall, an interesting level that focuses on atmosphere way more than gameplay. Puzzles could be worked on a bit more, but we are on the right track. Recommended? Yes Difficulty? Easy Duration? Approx 20-30 minutes" - TombExplorer

"A good level but a bit short clocking around 25 minutes. It is a bit too easy too, the time for the only timed task is generous you can even shoot vases and pick up goodies on your way for the timed door. The secrets also are easy to find. The last section ressembles St Francis folly for the hub high room. Everything is well made , the flybys , the triggering of the audios, the setting , even if the latter has a rather simple architecture. The builder's 2nd level was solidly made and suitable for beginners." - eRIC

"I describe this level as the black-sheep of Opaque79's levels, I mean it's the level of his with the lowest rating, even if it shows some great improvement in terms of atmosphere and texturing, especially in the first part of it. Yet I can effectively say that the gameplay is not that better, despite including a pushable blocks sequence! A quite underrated tr1 styled level that was worth checking. Wolfy Regards." - Wolf7

"This 30 min walk down memory lane borrows heavily from the TR1 caves Level, with the to be expected bats and wolves and darts along the way. I quite liked the fast and easy pace, some nice audio choices at the right time and the well thought out high room with the quest for the three guardian keys. There is even a small push block puzzle and a very generous timed run included. Nothing difficult and no surprises here, but good clean raiding fun." - MichaelP

"I quite liked this charming and enjoyable return to TR1 territory. There's nothing at all difficult in the gameplay section, but a couple of areas require you to stop and think how to progress for a little bit. The architecture and layout is mostly quite small scale, but the atmosphere of the original game has been caught rather well and the environments are attractive. If you feel like about 30 minutes of generally simple, but nonetheless enjoyable raiding, give it a try." - Ryan

"Another pleasant level to play through. I liked it, not too hard but also not too easy as in "run through and hit the finishing trigger" type. There are puzzles to solve, traps to conquer and artefacts to gather. I hate shooting wolves but hey it is either them or Lara. Enough flyby's to figure things out and that in my book is a good thing. Keep building and I will keep playing." - Gerty

"A little bit better in audiovisual overlay than the author's previous attempt, this one has something I always admire, which is backtrack reduction. Since the entire scenery is enclosed some open-space breaker would be a godsend, likely the most fitting between the challenge rooms which now occur in uninterrupted succession. Also I'm not fond of the final room being another Folly revamp - just seen this too many times, and when I was done with this, prepared for something serious, it was another game which ended instead... Can't stress enough how worth a bit of extra effort a proper conclusion really is." - DJ Full

"This is a pleasant and fairly immersive little adventure,with just enough variety and challenge contained within to entertain the player and make them regret reaching the Finish Trigger after only 40 minutes or so. The gameplay contains nothing that most players won't already have experienced many times before,but that doesn't mean you'll never need to stop and think.The 'pad puzzle' wasn't perhaps as well achieved as it could have been (it took several attempts for me to get the door to trigger properly);and the block pushing wasn't really set up to be anything more than a minor chore - but the various blade and fire traps gave it a decent pace;the timed run was doable on its first go;the enemies attacked frequently;and the exploration occasionally involved returning to areas you'd have thought you'd left behind (which is always pleasing).While the actual 'rooms' looked a little uninspired,the cave systems themselves were well crafted,with texturing and lighting which was always up to standard.The flyby's were smoothly done,and the cave atmosphere was well caught. It's not the sort of level that will leap to the top of anyone's Favourites list;but what it does,it does pleasingly.Worth a go." - Orbit Dream

"Short, simple but somehow rather satisfying, this solidly made level moves along at a brisk pace. There's not a lot of backtracking and you shouldn't get stuck at any point, but it's a pleasant experience. There are a few wolves and bats to shoot and initially it's just exploring the caves, but once into the building it culminates in a nicely devised multi-level room where there are various tasks to achieve in pursuit of three guardian keys. There's nothing difficult about the gameplay, which makes it ideal for players of all abilities, and I can think of far worse ways to spend approximately half an hour." - Jay

"If you're looking for a short, visually attractive, low stress level, this is the one for you. I played while writing a walkthrough, encountering no real obstacles along the way, and even though this usually stretches out my playing time I was able to finish with all secrets in less than 40 minutes. Others have grumbled about the gameplay, but easy raids such as this one have their place, especially among those who are relatively new to Tomb Raider. Everything was well lit, there were no obvious textural flaws (to my untrained eye), and I enjoyed this change of pace." - Phil

"A simple level by Opaque with only a slight improvement in comparison to his previous level released two months ago. Right at the beginning I have to point out the good work in terms of geometry and architecture on the caves. Very good work ! Other parts of the level were very similar to his last project. The room design was mostly very basic, simple and unoriginal. Again, except the nice cave design I really can't praise the architectural design of other rooms. The author tries to work with the light, but still it doesn't' look realistic ( ˝Oh, that's a red light bulb in the corner˝). There is need for more work on ˝melting˝ or combining the room light, light bulbs, shadow bulbs and sun together with objects to make it look much better, otherwise the levels will always stay in the area of a beginner-ish level. The caves had their standard non-color room light, but only combined with shadow bulbs placed in the corner that made it look too dark. It would look majestic with some fog objects, plants and etc. Object use is was for some reason very limted making the rooms ( especially the big tall ones ) look very empty and dead. The gameplay was very simple, straightforward and easy with not much creativity. Atmosphere was fair with nice flybys and triggered audio effects. For my taste a little bit too many enemies. Not to forget to mention – there is a lack of camera hints ! Often making me very frustrating and annoying. If you have a big room with four doors in it, please put a camera hint. Overall, a good level, but doesn't offer anything new or good to remember. Opaque must change something in his approach in level building to swim out of this beginner like level area. Recommended for a quick and relaxing play." - Gorty

"I firstly want to say that this is the second level this builder has released, so its expected to have a few flaws here and there. Gameplay was very linear and a bit bland, compared to the builders first level. It was mostly pulling levers and looking for a key or two. Objects were from TR1 and enemies were as usual when it comes to this style of game, wolves and bats. The wolves growls sound as if a demon is coming after you, and I found that most times they would get stuck and run into walls. There is another time were they just lay there untriggered, until you return back with an item, which I thought was very flawed enemy layout. There are also times, most times, the doors make no sound when activating them, which left me confused as to what was activated after using a lever. Secrets seemed as if the builder just couldn't think of any place to put them, so they were just put wherever. Atmosphere was great, it felt as if it was a continence of 'Caves' at some points and the builders use of music and flyby cameras were great. The lighting and texturing were my favorite aspects of this level. The builder used TR1 textures very nicely and the lighting was done fairly well, though at times it was a bit too dark, but was alright since the builder gives us plenty of flares. All in all, I feel as if the builder needed to brainstorm a bit more to figure out what they wanted to do and also take the time to make sure everything is sounding okay, like doors, enemies, etc. I definitely see better levels coming from Opaque79 in the future." - Lara

"I've not played their debut level yet so have nothing to compare this to. However, I really enjoyed this level which was set in a TR1 caves style setting, with all texturss, audio and objects basd on the TR1 game. The gameplay was pretty good, you have to find your way into an ancient structure via some caves, there's a few easy timed runs to get through, there are a lot of wolves and bats to give you a hard time, but the shotgun comes in handy. The main structure in this game is the deep pit with some sort of structure you have to climb through. There are 3 guardian keys and each of those is hidden in a side room, flame traps, pad puzzles and block puzzles await you. This kind of reminds me of St Francis Folly a little bit. The game looks good all textured as it should be, the lighting and shadows make it feel good to play. I enjoyed the numerous flyby's each with the classic audio track. It took me 35 minutes from start to finish." - sonnyd83

"To be the first time this author builts caves I think there's a good work. The level is solid and easy to play, with only animals as enemies; the secrets are not very hidden; correct use of cameras and sounds and good texturization. But still I didn't find fresh ideas to create good puzzles; there are some traps to avoid and another classic tasks, but nothing really innovative; I also missed more objects here and there to ornate the rooms. Anyway, not a remake but a nice level without bugs and worth to play. Good work." - Jose

"Set in TR1-styled Peru this time around and while I do recall enjoying Ryan's previous Egyptian-themed level for what it was, I do feel like this is a step back from that release in this case. Despite the textures, music, lighting & enemy placement all being handled okay, environments are pretty barren with next to no objects whatsoever and as relaxing as the gameplay was for me personally, tasks on offer aren't particularly taxing on the mind, coming off a little uninspired in general execution(giving an impression that the ideas bucket was running pretty low for the builder during production). I understand that coming up with compelling concepts for a level can be difficult for anyone(never mind the pros!), but nothing really stood out to me here. And I know that the builder can do better. So overall, not a terrible experience. But not a particularly memorable one either. Hopefully some good inspiration will strike Ryan again soon for his next level, whenever that ends up coming out." - Ceamonks890

"Another quite short offering of this builder and actually this does not feel like a large improvement over his debut. The gameplay is quite basic with a lot of levers to be used and the few traps aren't that inspired or tricky to overcome at all, as well as the very straightforward block puzzle (except of the secret). At least a few parts like the timed run are more fun and generally the fast pace of the level and the rather varied tasks are at least preventing tedium here. The overall design is inspired by the TR 1 levels "Caves" and "St. Francis Folly", but thankfully it's not a remake at all. Still, the rooms are rather boxy (while the caves are decently designed) and there are some problems with the sound (sometimes, as stated by the builder, the door sounds are missing, while at other times the action sound doesn't cease after a fight nor after saving/reloading and thus is quite enerving as it plays on quite some time afterwards. Texturing and lighting are handled fairly well and this is definately the builder's strengh. A few rooms lack some more contrast but most of the areas are quite believable and the colouring is apt. A few enemies don't pose much of a threat here and there's not much variety either. The level is also a bit empty in that not much decorative objects are used. The three secrets are very easy to find (but better than in the builder's debut). Overall a decent level but not exactly one that tears you from the chair. 15 minutes." - manarch2