Levels listed...
TR5 - 31
TR4 - 3141
TR3 - 177
TR2 - 133
TR1 - 61
72342 reviews (20.4/level)
3532 (99.7%) walkthroughs
445 Hall of Fame levels
1221 levels rated >= 8
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release date: |
02-Dec-2019 |
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# of downloads: |
121 |
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average rating: |
8.08 |
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review count: |
16 |
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review this level |
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file size: |
81.00 MB |
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file type: |
TR4 |
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class: |
nc |
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| Reviewer's comments |
"A tiring level even if you don't get stuck. The first pushblock is good and that's where I would end with them, since the next two are unnecessarily long. Fighting enemies is unneccessarily tough after picking up unnecessarily many arrows, it would be much better to reduce both HP and ammo count. Then we get all the way back... then we go all the way forward... really this is material for a 20-minute level yet it takes twice longer. If you can get over it you can admire some nice custom scenery together with nice custom characters and nice custom cutscenes - so there are some nice things indeed. To players: Recommended but please be patient. To Talos: make sure bridge_flat has the code to grab the ledge because TRNG doesn't do that by default." - DJ Full (22-Nov-2023) |
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"This level caught my attention as the protagonist is actually the Lara Croft from Rise of
the Tomb Raider(one of my favourite Tomb Raider games).
I want to start saying that I really love the armour outfit. Looks great!
The areas looks a bit simple but I like them so far anyway as the lighting is nice,
especially outside!
The main problem I have to point out is the gameplay: most of the choices I think were a
bit bad game-design or ideas:
-One key was on top of a Chandelier(so already not much visible at all), and to go there
you had to climb on top of an invisible ladder that is "indicated" by TR3 Tinnos Crystals.
I was stuck for a while, how was I supposed to know?
-Two very long pushable sequences: one where you have to unconveniently drag a pushable a
long a big swimming pool to the complete opposite side, and the other is a pushable you
have to bring all the way to another room. Maybe combined it's a total of 60 or more
pushes? It was too extreme.
-The Knight Enemies... I didn't have many issues, but you had to kill them just with
Explosive Arrows on your Bow. Yeah. Unconvenient and difficult, but still doable, at
least.
On the other hand, a big positive is that it has it's own storytelling and I like that!
Overall, I think it's a nice little winter game, with its own story, but with some
artificially-inflated playtime due to the giant amount of pushables and some hidden stuff.
Still a nice game overall.
Recommended? Yes.
Difficulty? Easy-Medium
Duration? Approx. 40-60 minutes." - TombExplorer (09-Oct-2022) |
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| "This level has A good build up with story and good tie in with rise of the tomb raider as well as the location and
setting there and with great visuals, sounds and atmosphere it would certainly fit well as a spin-off from that
game. Gameplay is a good mixture of platforming and exploring with some movable object tasks, a tile puzzle,
torch task, multiple enemy encounter and a couple of traps so there is variety here which is good! The only
negative for me was the environment I was playing in, it’s quite dark in theme which isn’t to my taste and the
simplicity and basic nature of a lot of the tasks themselves combined with the short length as well you barely feel
your getting your teeth into the level before it finishes but overall I have to say what a great ROTR inspired effort
we have here" - John (23-Jul-2022) |
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| "Another enjoyable story telling adventure from Talos. NOt very long at about 45 minutes
max and could in fact be even shorter if it were not for the rather typical style of
this builder to send you repeatedly back and forth between places to pad out the
duration a little more. There are a few push actions which are a tad bit too long also,
the occasional switch, but what stands out is how you progress the game through the
interactions with (static) characters - this sets a nice scene and I found to be working
quite well. The battle with the three remodeled tinmen using only bow and arrows is also
unnecessarily tedious , but not really difficult. All in all, a relaxing and
entertaining raid, very suitable for the season that is was created for." - MichaelP (07-Aug-2021) |
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| "Lara finds a powerful Cross, and immediately gives it away. How generous! There are a number of indoor and outdoor rooms to explore, and they look appealing, however they also tend to blend into each other and it would have been nice to have the areas be more visually distinct. There's also some texture warping on some walls, but that is a minor detail. In terms of gameplay Lara will dodge a spiketrap and a tricky boulder (dodged by bouncing off of the wall at the correct angle back to safety, which was certainly unique). She will also use a torch, solve a pressure pad puzzle, and some pushblock puzzles, which are nice but a bit long winded as both of them have to be pushed all the way around their respective rooms. With friendly characters to talk to and effective use of flybys there is certainly a lot of worldbuilding to enjoy in this advent adventure. 46 minutes." - JesseG (27-Dec-2020) |
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| "If you've played previous levels from this author, you'll soon recognize the peculiar style: a good history, heroic musics, good use of the cameras, colourful texturization and not very clear hints to solve the puzzles. Not very long this new level but still worth to download and play. Good work." - Jose (17-Feb-2020) |
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| "As every end of the year, Talos gives us a little
storytelling adventure. This time very inspired from RotTR,
Immortal Guardian outfit and bow included. The gameplay is
quite simple, characters to interact with, small puzzles
and objects to collect with some obstacles from time to
time (timeruns, enemies or traps). The atmosphere and
lighting are excellent, I loved the contrast between the
warm/welcoming colors indoors and the blue/cold colors
outdoors, hats off for this. The textures are applied very
well, both indoors and outdoors (despite some stretched
snow textures on the floor, but nothing serious). 35
minutes of play in total, recommended!" - LoreRaider (01-Jan-2020) |
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| "A well looking little level with decent atmosphere and visuals and fitting usage of objects cameras and sounds. Well you know that I also like to see some actual gameplay in a level and the small amount of gameplay we have here (like a decent letter puzzle and some usages of the torch) is spoiled by backtracking and tedious pushable puzzles (both not quite of the "massive" kind, but considering the length of the level, simply too long/much). I still liked the storyline and there are several nice touches as you can expect from this builder. The final boss fight is more interesting, but it's easily possible to run out of ammo for it (I had about 5 explosive bolts left at the end). Sadly no secrets can be found here. Still, despite of the lack of involving gameplay, this is a charming and recommended effort that took me 15 minutes to finish." - manarch2 (23-Dec-2019) |
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| "This is very atmospheric, the settings look absolutely beautiful and the title music is wonderful. This may not be a Christmas level as such, but it evokes the spirit of winter very well. There’s a lot of backtracking, which can be a touch confusing at times, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable experience, even if Lara didn’t get to interact with the cute cats at all! Trying to kill off gladiators with the bow and arrow proved to be a laborious task, but more than sufficient explosive arrows were provided to achieve that eventually." - Jay (13-Dec-2019) |
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| "We can always depend on Talos to give us something fresh,
entertaining, and off the beaten track. The previous review
may have been somewhat over-analytical; I play these things
mainly to have fun without paying much attention to historical
or cultural accuracy. I did note the excessive backtracking
here, however, which did tarnish the fun factor for me
somewhat, but I spent close to an hour making my way through
the labyrinthine castle and enjoyed myself throughout the
process. I'm not sure why so many explosive arrows were
provided, as it seems to me that the same number of regular
arrows would have sufficed to deal with the retextured tinmen,
provided you were careful to shoot them while facing them
head-on. A nice diversion for the Advent season." - Phil (13-Dec-2019) |
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"It’s that time of year again where levels are being released that typically have little or no gameplay to offer, so let’s talk design first. Although both the wad and the textures of this level have been compiled from various sources—an approach that often results in the wildly incoherent ‘TRSearch grab-bag’ look—, the builder chose her sources with reasonable care and even managed to come up with a consistent colour scheme (a pale green for the outside; dark orange for the inside). In some cases the internal lighting of static objects could have been better adjusted (as in the first room, where a row of arches stands out for no particular reason due to its red tint); and a few of the objects don’t seem to fit in with the environment all that well—the giant crystals; the seasonal airport novels strewn about the floor; the static cats (wha–?); the cosmetics table, used several times in prominent places; one door, also used more than once, which isn’t tall enough for its opening; and, well, the Christmas trees. If you’re wondering why some of the courtyards (but not all) appear to be covered by sheets of ice, that’s because the level takes place in Kitezh, legendary sunken city of Russian folklore. Otherwise the level doesn’t look particularly wet, and considering it had been submerged for a few centuries, the place holds up remarkably well.
Still, a compilation from various sources can’t replace full customisation. Case in point, despite the setting we don’t get so see any Orthodox crosses (all crosses, whether statics, pushables or pickups, are good Catholic ones), presumably because there weren’t any ready to download; and in addition to the customary cultural mishmash, we also get to see low-res and high-res textures from various sources intermingled (goes for both room and object textures). The builder wastes four room textures on one blurry picture, of which a simple image search would have turned up better versions in an instant (Vladimir Blinov’s Vision of the City of Kitezh; actually a miniature dating from 1991, but rendered in pseudo-late medieval / Renaissance style). There are also some distorted textures; they are few, but noticeable in a small and otherwise conscientiously textured level like this.
Then there is the bizarre mixture of historical and Final Fantasy-style design, which is fully intentional, part and parcel of the plot. You get emperor Justinian right next to a white-haired FF-type character, who has usurped a fresco of military saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki. Lara looks like an FF character too when she has that bow made from antlers on her back (overly stylised and spectacularly impractical weaponry seems to be a defining feature of the style). The Lara model itself looks excellent, although her hands could use a bit more work, as they look like paralysed when she grabs a jumpswitch; the altered backflip animation appears to be slow-motion; the SFX make her sound like a chipmunk at times; there’s something wrong with the Lara cam; and of course you can’t but wonder how she could possibly perform her acrobatics with that amount of metal about her body.
Not that she needs to perform a lot of those, though: various issues notwithstanding, much care went into the design side of things, but gameplay clearly drew the short straw, and what little there is of it tends towards the obscure. At first it looks like the level does pushables and jumpswitches, and that’ll be it (the destinations of these pushables are indicated obliquely; a much clearer hint is this: push them on the tile that requires you to take the longest possible route, i. e. to the opposite end of the courtyard; all around the pool). It diversifies thereafter, but not much. There’s a step-on-the-right-tiles puzzle, and you have to recognise iron grates as shatterable, but most of the level is a fetch quest for a number of puzzle items and keys, which attempts to incorporate RPG elements by having Lara ‘use’ people—who don’t move but are exceedingly talkative—as puzzle holes (default animation). Climbable walls are usually indicated only in part, egregiously so in one instance that also involves hiding a key in a particularly implausible location.
It’s only near the end that you get an answer to the question why you’ve been lugging 70 explosive arrows or thereabouts all the way through a level that doesn’t sport a single enemy. That’s when you are confronted by three knights (these, too, look excellent) who are called ‘The Deathless Ones’ in-game. That being the case, and considering the fact that they are ridiculously overpowered, you may well conclude that you can’t kill them, but you can and indeed you must; although it’s not entirely unlikely that you run out of ammo when trying to do so (they are remeshed Horsemen, so any arrow that doesn’t hit them directly in front is wasted; there is additional ammo in the room where you meet them, but it’s well-nigh impossible to spot). Any vestige of gameplay ceases to exist thereafter, and the rest of the level consists in an awkward back-and-forth that merely serves to bring the story to a conclusion: eventually you get to meet the FF-type character whose image is displayed throughout the level, but his only function is to hand you a key and demand that you bring him the MacGuffin. (So all the time he had that key, but he preferred not to confront the Deathless Ones? Some warrior, he. And now that they’re gone, Lara is supposed to serve as his errand boy? Get that cross yourself, you pansy.)
I must confess that I found it impossible to follow the plot; partly because it attempts to tie in with the latest TR reboot; partly because the level is itself a sequel to an earlier level by this builder; partly because of the overly stylised font that makes the on-screen rendition of the characters’ speechifying almost impossible to read; but mostly because I cannot bring myself to care about this kind of storytelling. Fans of anime or avid readers of fan fiction may not have that problem, but I’m not going to vouch for it." - Mulf (11-Dec-2019) |
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| "Here's a pleasant jaunt to commence this
year's Advent Calendar. The settings here
seem to be less colourful and possibly
more mature than Talos' previous works,
but the austere appearance actually works
in its favour and certainly the atmosphere
is good. Nothing too difficult to
complete, although one sneaky trap and the
somewhat surprising appearance of a few
resilient gladiators might have you vexed
for a bit (and might possibly be a bit too
tedious to take down). The use of the
pickaxe was a nice hark back to the Rise
of the Tomb Raider installment, though. A
very pleasant experience." - Ryan (10-Dec-2019) |
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| "I'm currently trying to review all TR3 levels before moving my routines to the next level, but upon seeing the trailer for this level, as one of the six people who loved the armor outfits in Rise of the Tomb Raider, I just had to play it right away. And I'm glad I did. Talos has managed to capture perfectly the atmosphere from said game, even down to the use of music, and although gameplay can get a bit too obscure at times (such as the hidden key on the chandelier near the beginning), it's generally a simple and straightforward raid as you go back and forth opening new paths. At first I wasn't sure I was actually doing any damage to the Deathless Ones, but they take about 15+ crossbow bolts. I think this is inherent to the engine, however, as I personally never thought the explosive weapons were particularly effective against the Lost Library tin men. Anyway, I digress. Great fun here, don't miss out! 60 minutes. 12/19" - Treeble (09-Dec-2019) |
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| "Erika's levels are always entertaining and filled to the brim with customized objects and unique touches. The design of this level proves that she does keep getting better and better with each new release. Puzzles were entertaining to solve and require a bit of back and forth to pick up and use everything. The custom character models were nicely done, as were the enemies. I was kind of annoyed that we couldn't light the torch on the nearby fireplace, as it made no sense to me why ever not. As another reviewer mentioned, the only design 'boo-boo' involves the water pool near the archives, in which Lara falls within before breaking the surface of the water 6 feet below where the surface actually is. Having not played the new Tomb Raider games beyond the first reboot that was released a few years ago, I had no frame of reference for this story, but I enjoyed the raid nonetheless and look forward to more levels from Erika and more Christmas levels in general! Merry Christmas!!!" - Chel (06-Dec-2019) |
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| "Next generation trle based on the new Lara Croft with a
mixture of Classic Tomb Raider. It was an enjoyable gaming
experience. Love the Lara model. It was kinda difficult to
deal with those knights with the new bow, but I got around
that. Either way I enjoyed myself. That's the main reason
why I play trle. Get that ole Tomb Raider Vibe even if its
base on newer Lara. Tomb Raiding is Tomb Raiding. Many may
not like or enjoy this trle due its not all classic Lara.
It really didn't matter to me. It's creative idea & I enjoy
playing the level. I'm hoping for another level like this,
but a bit more longer with good story as well. So far good
start." - ShadowZia (05-Dec-2019) |
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| "Rather clever and nice not-exactly-Christmassy level
(excepting the Christmas trees at the start). One can see
Talos' craftswomanship has been getting better and
better, less colourful but better designed with just one
small mistake made with the water surface, which comes
deeper than it actually is when she dives into the sunken
dungeons. The abundance of explosives there makes the
final fight visually more interesting even though it
would have been exactly the same with normal arrows.
Still, it's a really interesting, puzzle-based level in
which Lara has to go on quite a few errands that do keep
you entertained. I found it interesting that she couldn't
get to the sunken dungeons before she had the entire axe
because there was a much too excited boulder there that
lost the necessary part of its attitude once Lara was in
power of the axe. I found the ending quite anti-climatic
but then again I know nothing of the story in which the
level must have been based on... Cool, I say." - Jorge22 (02-Dec-2019) |
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