Level reviews

"Great idea to bring to life a cancelled level from the original AOD game with visual inspiration from the concept art but obviously completely original gameplay. I loved the AOD style and vibes and the flyby camera revealing the main hall and its large obscure painting wow very good ! and so with great atmosphere and music this was certainly off to a promising start. Unfortunately for me I found the gameplay in this level just can’t compete with the superior aesthetic’s and although exploring around this creepy and haunted (judging by the ghost) castle was very intriguing the activities felt a bit lacklustre. There is very dark corners so make sure you have enough flares as you get stuck into some climbing, a couple of pushable object tasks and a strange mirror room which I couldn’t work out so had to use a walkthrough. Another time I had to use the walkthrough for was for where to use the laser sighted desert eagle?! only for a magic rope to appear when I did haha! Ok so I got over those but come on what was with that awful tightrope walk made 10x harder with a fixed camera making the directions prompts useless?! NOT FUN! For traps and enemies we have a spike and boulder trap and some spiders, skeletons and knights to face off. So overall despite my frustrations I feel this level has great potential especially if expanded with more variety in tasks and I do have to say I certainly enjoyed the story and reading through Lara’s diary to discover more interesting information about the castle and its former occupants, very enlightening indeed!" - John

"A beautiful interpretation of the cancelled Germany section of Angel of Darkness. A nice dark atmosphere as it could be contained in AOD. The only thing I struggled with is that I realised too late that you can kill the skeletons just like normal enemies and that their death is necessary to progress. And sometimes certain textures repeated themselves a little too often, but that didn't destroy the credibility of the atmosphere. Otherwise, in terms of puzzles, everything was revealed to me bit by bit without me racking my brains too much. It was also a good decision to place plenty of flares to light up the extremely dark corners. I read in the ReadMe that there were problems with the lift, which I don't blame the builder for, because I know what it's like to bite your teeth out for something that you really want to build and can't configure to your liking. I'm really looking forward to Part 2, highly recommended for anyone looking for a short dark adventure. :)" - Astraf

"Good first part of an aod sequel that surprised me in a lot of ways, though it does kind of feel more like a first level and less like a complete experience. Ruu seems to have grown a lot as a builder in the few years since this released so I think a part 2 or complete version could be pretty great. I hope they're still working on the next part. If you finished aod and are left wanting a bit more or just want a decent aod themed level this is one I'd recommend." - Lorax

"Well Well, another Debut from Ruu. This is his third debut level so download it while you can. We awaken with little to no context as to why Lara decided to have a slumber party at the front door of Castle Kriegler, but I'm certain it was a wild night out seeing as she's also accompaned by a pretty new armlet accessory that's bound to keep us focused on her looks for the duration of this journey. The ambience we are introduced to appears to be noon, but considering Lara's night out we can't be too picky as to what mess she's got herself into. The main hall is nicely made and certainly makes for a pleasent introduction to the level but perhaps a pleasent introduction isn't quite what I was looking for seeing as Lara has unknowingly woke up here, its a missed oppertunity to set some morbidity on the players mind. For fans of AoD this introduction may feel a bit too bright and not very foreboding, AoD being a game that usually put the player in a tense atmosphere. The main hall as said before is well made but it feels as though its not a completely finished vision with a lack of banisters at the stairs and the platforms just above them with the spikes it makes the whole room feel a little... Odd to say the least. I also feel like there wasn't much of a focused light source and instead was just large sources of light. For atmosphere I would say perhaps the Windows at the front of the stairs should have been the only sources of light not casting much either. I understand the ceiling as it was in the design Ruu was mimicking but if he was going for that look I think he could have went for something a bit more similiar in scale as the dimensions of the room seem rather different to me. We are introduced to Castle Krigler by the same ghost that taunted Lara back in the black isle only only to realize he hasn't recieved the same HD treatment Lara got, it makes this chance encounter a little awkward but alas it is a haunting and PS1 models are certainly dead so its fitting despite any lack of nuance. Despite time of day and a slightly creepy atmosphere its quite bright and pleasent throughout, its not until later that the ambience becomes more dark but never dark enough. I would say on a personal note I feel ambience wasn't quite Ruu's focus. In such a level in a secluded castle I'd like to imagine the bright area's we can see and feel safe in are a little more dim so that it makes it feel like we value the space. Instead most of the atmosphere around Kreigler seems like dark colours but its never really so dark that it feels remotly concerning, to some players this may be a positive but I do feel as though it hurt the aesthetic of the level. You can rest assured there aren't any shadows that let the mind wander and you'll always see whatever is ahead of you. Except for the Black Isle ghost that dashed into one of the few Shadows in Kriegler. The first secret had been hidden by a few obvious blocks, but one can't be too picky in an old engine where lighting would still expose the block anyhow, perhaps marking it with the Lux Vertatis symbol wasn't neccesary but its not quite a big deal. The bedrooms and studies in Kriegler are easily the best of the levels aesthetic qualities and Ruu certainly honed in on the lighting for these rooms. If you don't pay attention you may even miss a secret in one of these rooms and I'm pleased to say these rooms alone show Ruu does indeed know what he's doing. I only wish some of the clever non essential stuff he did was actually tied to finishing the level, but it feels to me as though he just didn't want to make the level too difficult either which is very considerate of him. There was a spring in my step everytime I had the pleasure to enter these rooms or explore them. One of the rooms featured a music queue for Lara being attacked by spiders which I felt may have been a bit excessive and perhaps a shorter simpler sting would have sufficed and fit more but aside from that the encounter was handled fine. Whilst progressing there comes a point where you begin to feel a bit spoiled by the handouts and it takes away from your sense of dread whilst exploring the castle hwoever. Overall the gameplay is pretty straight forward and fairly simple not a terrible or a horrible level it's just fine." - Be Nolee

"A very good project for the fans of angel of darkness. If you're looking for a Angel of Darkness sequel or cut content, play this, you will not regret it! I'm looking forward for more." - Allicya

"I rather enjoyed this apparently TRAoD-based short-ish mystery, especially for the atmosphere, the architecture and, I guess I have to mention, blowing all those skeletons to smithereens with my pistols. The gameplay isn't always very clear and neither are half the surroundings - pitch dark, jet black a lot of times. Something else I didn't like (I never do) but which seems to fit the TRAoD inspiration, are Lara's slow moves that can become rather annoying. And since I'm ranting, the third person view during the entire tightrope crossing is really rather annoying too. But it was a globally pleasant experience, that's undeniable. Looking forward to playing the possible continuation." - Jorge22

"One of the toughest levels to evaluate to be very honest. It was a nice experience though, to see so many elements revived and implemented from Angel of Darkness into this adventure. The castle itself had a stunning architecture, and so much effort was being put in order to increase the beauty of the whole atmosphere in general. Some places were too dark, but thanks to the update, it was easier for me to proceed in the level. Sad to see that this adventure eventually came to an end, but still waiting for the final release of this game. Thank you so much!" - Mehrbod

"the fixed camera on the tightrope was not mandatory because the meaning was reversed. And this level is overall too dark, i play in the dark (maybe we should have left the binoculars and put more flares for those who use a lot and are not thrifty). I do not like Lara's walk animation either, she's not natural, she skip off when she's running. Apart from these details it is correct and interesting to do. The horsemen are very beautiful and the knights in armor in this room. Wait for Part 2" - Drakan

"The biggest NO in my book is for sure that there are no binoculars and to ad insult to injury it is not a dark level, no it is pitch black. I understand a gloom environment but it doesn't pan out with this darkness and if there are not enough flares and also flares that give off poor light. Loose some of the fixed cameras while you are at it, they don't add anything apart from getting annoyed. Sorry to say that I cheated to get more flares or else I still would be stuck halfway through even then I hated the darkness. As for the reviewers who had no problem with the darkness, they probably cranked up their screen in order to play, so what does that tell you. Have no clue how most of the level looks like and this one went to the bin right after I finished it. All in all it is a shame as it felt like a good level but this way it isn't." - Gerty

"*Only Played the first version of this level* A great tribute to the great Tomb Raider: angel of darkness, you can feel it just when you enter the menu screen. I were waiting for this level for so long, and it was an excelent level, excepting one couple of details. The gameplay improved considerably since his previous level "Karels Manor", Lara can do the swan dive jump and continuing walking inmediatly, and there is a new movement that makes Lara roll when she ducks in order to go faster (it is not the only level that includes it, but it is always good to have this move, specially if you have to duck during the level). Excepting the part of the skeletons, there is no complain about puzzles. The music room puzzle is amazing. I only have to say that It was just frustating not knowing what to do because you don't see clearly that you have to kill the skeletoons in order to continue. One of the poorest parts of this level were the enemie encounters. There ir a couple of them, but there is not any boss battle or"epic battle" through the level. I kinda missed that. It is more like an atmosphere and exploration level. If there is something that this level has is atmosphere. It feels such a great sequel of AOD, that sequel that we never had... a bit short, but really good. I really liked walking through the castle, a dark atmosphere full of dark rooms that you had to walk through using flares if you want to see. If I have to complain about something, is that there are NOT ENOUGH FLARES. For what I think this is fixed in the update of this level, so, I have nothing to say about it now. Also, I really liked the fact of a new story of the habitants of the castle. It is always good to have that part of story in a custom level. In conclusion: It feels like a really good tribute to de original AOD game. Maybe too short, but really good and intense. Waiting for the second part!" - Danpls

"Again, a significant breakthrough from this builder. The rooms are very well textured and the lights hardly worked, the objects well placed and the best for me the appropriate use the cameras and sounds to get a splendid atmosphere. On the other hand, I think some rooms are too dark, there are not enough hints to get a fluid gameplay (climbable pillar in the room with the skeletons pit), could be a note in the readme to know the skeletons will drop important items (after the hard battle it's dificult to find the sword in a huge room so dark), the skeletons are very hard to kill, the flares were not enough for me, and the fixed camera to cross the pole rope was really annoying; also the fixed camera in the mirror room was an extra difficulty to look inside the mirror and see the hint if you don't have binoculars... We'll see the next release. Aínda así penso que fixeches un traballo moi meritorio. Parabéns!" - Jose

"This is an engaging two-parter taking about 30 minutes to finish. A lot of nice elements are put into this game, like animations, fixed cameras to show ghosts haunting through this place, diary entries supporting the storyline... it could be a really nice level but it goes downhill with gameplay and lighting. It's not that the gameplay is rather uninspired, no, there are a few creative attempts to do something different here, and I am thankful the builder at least tried to do something like this. But still, the omnipresent darkness in this game is a huge problem, even when there are enough flares to find it is very, very hard to orientate in some of the pitch black areas. Things are even worse in that room with the skeletons, as there is an almost impossible to see ladder (even if the room would not be so dark...) and I better do not speak about that tight rope, it is beyond annoying (after all the flare burned off halfway and I had to do the rest in almost complete darkness... ARRGH!). The textures are nicely chosen but not so perfectly placed; even in places where you can actually see textures like the main hall they look too "mirrored" or wallpapered and do not connect well with their neighbours. The lighting is at least "realistic" mostly but just making everything plainly dark is not an art. The enemies are nicely placed overall and the three secrets are well hidden. Sound and cameras are appropriate for such an atmospheric horror level, although some fixed cameras (even aside of the tight rope one) are not well placed. Anyway this level shows a lot of promise and good stuff is about to come if the builder also cares about playability." - manarch2

"This builder isn't terribly prolific, but he's demonstrating a steep upward learning curve as witness the increasing scores of his three levels. Castle Kriegler is a joy to behold, or at least the parts you can see, as much of the surroundings are shrouded in almost pitch blackness. I suppose enough flares are provided, but I took no chances, manufacturing an unlimited number for myself in the early stages. There are many fresh touches here, some good and some not so good. Others have commented on the fact that Lara bounces around like an antelope when she's running, but there aren't that many running opportunities in the game so this didn't bother me all that much. The ghosts are more scared of Lara than she is of them. The enemies of note are the skeletons, which can and must be killed, as they drop important pickups. At the end you meet up with two knights who have consumed too much beer and pizza, as they succumb to your gunfire rather easily. I didn't like that fixed camera tightrope walk, but it's nice to know that in this game you can save at various steps along the way without falling upon reload. The trick for getting the Desert Eagle is rather devious; I saw no clues and but for DoggettTV's video I would never have found it. I spent about an hour here while writing a walkthrough. The main weakness in my mind is the oppressive and pervasive darkness, which hopefully the builder will fix for Part 2. Other than that, I can recommend this level wholeheartedly." - Phil

"I'm rather undecided about this level. On the one hand, the atmosphere is nicely executed, the textures are pleasing to the eye and the voiceover work/diary entries were nice touches. But on the other hand, it's also a rather aggravating level at times due to the extremely annoying fixed camera placements and the somewhat excessive darkness in spots (the worst offender of the former point being on a tightrope, although I was able to pause the game intermittently to figure out what direction key to press, and the latter being particularly annoying when trying to solve the block puzzle), plus a couple of odd dead end spots that may put some players off. I also found that the concept of unlocking the bonus content via zip files was excessively fiddly, as a whole other software was required to actually access them once they were decrypted. That said, being able to find the password yourself was a nice touch, and maybe next time simply using a password itself to unlock the files might be easier for most players. So basically, it has definite potential but any further parts may need tightening up." - Ryan

"May I just make a request to all builders – if you're going to make a gloomy level with not all that many flares provided, could you at least make sure Lara has binoculars in her inventory? Ok, that apart, this is an interesting level and, in the lighter parts of the castle, it looks extremely good. Gameplay can be confusing at times and I was in and out of the stuck threads a few times. Luckily, at the snail's pace I play there were already answers to the places where I was struggling. Whatever you do, do not neglect to study the readme – there are things in there you really need to know. I'm definitely looking forward to the continuation of this, but hope not to have to play large sections in Braille next time!" - Jay

"My opening statement for this level would be "Prepare to savescum for flares." because that is actually what I did, I savescrummed for flares because this level a ton of dark corners and not enough flares. However the first thing I noticed starting this level, was the odd way in which Lara bounces up and down while running. I'd love to say that you get used to it, but I didn't. That might be a petty issue to have though so I did not use it when calculating my points, which by the way are extra arbitrary here, because I don't know how to rate this. Personally I didn't really enjoy myself, eventhough this has beautiful stuff. The feature of finding hints lying around that Lara can double check and read about is great. And it has fully voice acted bookreadings by Lara. That is great. Everything else I found to be very lacklust.
Okay, so there is two overall issues I have with this level, the first being possibly the weaker point, but it is that it lacks in hints too often. Reading the ReadMe area I knew not to shoot the Skeletons down the hole, but otherwise I did not know what to do with them. None of my weapons reacted to them in a meaningful way, so I had to look up a guide to find out that I AM able to shoot them with my guns. It just takes a very very long time to defeat them all. And I mean a very long time. Another hint issue was then finding a way out of that room by using the hidden ladder. Because this broken pillar with vines is the only pillar with vines that is actually climbable. That could have been more obvious, or better, include more places with obvious vine ladders to make this more obvious early on, even if they just lead to chocolate bars.
My Second, way bigger point though, is the camera issues. Cameras in this level are absolutely horrible. Don't get wrong, I understand that you were going for spookiness. Having fixed camera angles that show you ghosts. Although they mostly just amount to little jump scares. They could have been used more effectively to set up hints, and then disappeared. Because the fixed camera angles are also very rigid in this, often making it really hard to traverse the area because the fixed camera hides your character. And while this was problematic for me constantly, like for the third secret that was hidden in an area I could not see in (even when using Look) and had to use a guide to then navigate blindly. And the biggest offender of the camera issues - the Tight Rope. I don't think I have ever gotten that salty over a movement challenge in Tomb Raider. Tight Ropes in itself are fine even if not the best element in Tomb Raider, but in this case there is a fixed camera angle in the middle of the rope. So at the start your controls are reversed in relation to the camera (meaning you will constantly press the wrong button to balance out Lara) and in the middle to camera is placed so that you cannot see which direction Lara is falling towards to balance her because her own body hides the view (imagine perfectly looking on someone's side, and then they are falling to the side). This was a horrible RNG section, for me that cost me so much frustration because there had to be a forced fixed camera angle in a place where it was paramount to have the camera behind Lara.
So this level, and the ones that might follow, definitely have potential, but the often highly obscured solutions to progress and the horrible fixed camera angles kinda ruined this level for me." - The Snarky Lesbian

"Pretty interesting level that has interesting puzzles,a gameplay that is mixed.I mean the camera work is flawed to the core at some sections(especially the one at the "balance lara on the rope" section).Atmosphere was great and one spesific part even spooked me a little.Some of the key items dropped from the enemies and sometimes they magiacly dissappear cousing me to replay theese sections 2nd time. Overall even with the flaws it was fun and enjoyable experince. Will be patiently waiting for Part 2 ^^" - Bloggy

"Creating two entire levels out of a few early Angel of Darkness alpha build pics from 19 years ago, is no small feat. But somehow Ruben manages to create a ton of content out of so little(with some excellent texture placement, enemy/object use, background details and an effective atmospheric presence combining to create a very solid presentation). However, I found the gameplay to be a little too aggravating for my liking(with the excessive darkness within the maps proving to be much more of a hassle than it really needed to be, considering the lack of necessary flares required to see where you're even going or what to do next on a puzzle in pitch-black areas most of the time). Another serious problem is the easy chance of getting stuck in spots you can't get out of without reloading an earlier savefile(the broken staircase leading to the jumpswitch that you require a lasersight-equipped revolver for or the already used elevator in the library after jumping off from the higher floor accidentally with no way to get back up), especially proving to be quite the serious design oversight. The secrets were all incredibly easy to find thankfully on my part, so I was able to access the extras folder and extract the contents. But aside from a few intriguing behind-the-scenes elements, you aren't really missing out on too much here in my honest opinion if you inexplicably miss any of the secrets somehow whilst playing. Overall, an above-average release that is well-worth going through in spite of some serious game design flaws. Here's to hoping the builder takes into account what to fix for Part 2." - Ceamonks890

"Really a beautiful job, well built atmosphere, great textures and beautiful lighting. The gameplay works well and is fun but I had problems with the skeletons, I think you should have explained that it would be possible to kill them using the pistols, the player's tendency is to throw them in the hole using the shotgun "using the TR4 strategy" but they leave important items. Some players may get stuck in that part because of this. Congrats on the job!" - Dark Sheep

"I needed a hint with the invisible ladder and I was seriously confused by the rope room because there was that crate looking like pushable and ledges looking like standable (invisible wall preventing doing so is always a bad thing), but otherwise I had a cool time here. Not a fan of pitch black rooms, I would throw in 20 more flares, but there were dozens provided so I see the try was there. Cameras are sometimes more disturbing than helpful and lighting is often missing a complementary breaker (like, you know, some locations are exclusively in shades of green, other ones exclusively in shades of brown) but rooms are often very defined, some of them being unique. So it's visually not a bad effort as for the first level produced, gameplay is interesting as well save from that one long pushblock and an undefined ending, and the diary providing additional info is - well - additional info which gives the game even more spirit. I would recommend this level to play in the middle of the night, for extra mystery." - DJ Full