Levels listed...
TEN - 11
TR5 - 33
TR4 - 3194
TR3 - 183
TR2 - 141
TR1 - 69
74180 reviews (20.4/level)
3619 (99.7%) walkthroughs
460 Hall of Fame levels
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release date: |
01-Jul-2024 |
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# of downloads: |
330 |
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average rating: |
7.66 |
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review count: |
19 |
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review this level |
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file size: |
246.00 MB |
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file type: |
TR4 |
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class: |
Egypt |
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| Reviewer's comments |
"I'm trakking five obscura pain- no wait wrong level. Since raising the trapdoor bridge, only
load the game after you're through, otherwise RIP. In the first half of the level, you may
get frustrated with obscure puzzle hints. The jeep ride and organic canyon redeem a bit,
then the second half of the play is inferior so you may get disappointed the second time -
and third with the sudden ending. The game still stands quite good, but was my personal
least favourite of the pack (I even liked Amon Rat more despite of its sloppiness)." - DJ Full (01-Sep-2024) |
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| "This level and I did not get off to a very good start. After 30 minutes I was still
running around like a headless chicken in the (good looking) desert, wondering when I
could do something useful to progress other than just picking up things in the many nooks
and crannies along the way. When you finally find the right cracks and slanted or
triangular blocks to jump your way up, the game begins to flow, but until then it is
really quite frustrating. The more contained gameplay elements inside buildings are more
fun though and sometimes also challenging to master. When I originally played this, the
symbol puzzle was completely confusing and the builder had to give me the solution, so
hopefully this got amended and is more clear by now. This is the first competition level I
played that is using the Jeep and it was fun to ride it, although in the end it feels
almost a bit underused, only to drive up two hills to reach the next big area. Enemies
play a minor role and are easily dealt with when they show up. The two secrets I found
were fairly basic hides in crawlspaces. Towards the end you then get a brief encore in a
big cave with a Sphinx until you finally make your exit. The strongest suit of this
adventure were the solid use of platforming and traps (especially in the area after the
Jeep ride), but especially at the begining it lacks guidance for the player in the outside
areas, so if exploring a very large area for the one key step you need to take is not your
thing, be prepared that you will need some patience here. (130 min, 2/3 secrets found)" - MichaelP (01-Sep-2024) |
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| "With two levels left to play I ended up choosing this one for my next level, and I gotta say… I’m kind of glad it didn’t end up saving it for last. The story concerns Lara trying to stop “The Trinity” from getting their hands on a weirdly-unnamed artifact. I say weirdly, because Lara starts out with her trusty PDA, and the artifact is named there (the PDA is never used again after this). The story promises that Lara will face “sandstorms, underground labyrinths and more”, but only the “and more” part is actually true. I guess I’d have to be crazy to complain about the lack of labyrinths in this level, but a sandstorm wouldn’t have gone amiss. You spend the majority of the level in a valley, making short excursions into caves and temples. It’s a very large area, and it feels designed for the jeep, but the jeep gets stuck on the other side of a broken bridge really early on, and you can’t get it across until you’re about to leave the area, so you end up having to explore it all on foot. The valley looks very rough, with blocky cliffs that look very unnatural, patchy texturing and haphazard lighting. The surrounding temples, meanwhile, mostly consist of large square rooms with little in the way of breaking up the blockiness. They still end up looking okay, but I feel like the excellent BtB objects and textures are doing a lot of heavy lifting here. The simple geometry ends up being a blessing in disguise, though, as there are quite a few switches and shimmy cracks to find that would have been a lot harder to spot in more detailed environments. I did get really stuck once, and this level get the dubious honor of having my least favorite variation on the symbols puzzle that a lot of BtB levels have had their own take on. This particular puzzle requires you to find four symbols in the environment, and then step on the correct tiles using this clue: “remember that the answer lies in looking at the door following [the symbols’] direction.” This was and remains completely nonsensical to me, and I’m not kidding when I say that I spent an embarrassingly long time starting at this puzzle looking like that confused woman from the meme with the mathematical formulas swirling around her head. There’s also a switch puzzle where you have to rotate some statues, and you get a very clear clue… which then didn’t work? Instead, I had to solve it a different way and only then would it accept the obvious solution. I don’t know if I missed something – it’s possible! – but it was weird and made me annoyed. There’s another switch puzzle later on which also has a weirdly-worded hint, but at least there it’s actually possible to work out what to do and I quite liked that puzzle in the end. I don’t know if it’s a language barrier issue or if the hints are intentionally obtuse (or maybe I’m obtuse), but the puzzles needed some work. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty standard. There are some traps and a couple of timed runs. Every now and then, there’ll be a surprisingly tricky jump, which always ends up feeling out of place, since the platforming usually isn’t too difficult. It’s possible to get stuck on two occasions: first, if you save and load before bringing the jeep across the bridge. This isn’t a major issue, since it’s very obvious that you have to reload a savegame. The second time it’s possible to get stuck is right at the end, when you have to fight a dozen or so Trinity soldiers. Killing them is supposed to trigger dialogue from Lara, but I replayed this battle multiple times and usually nothing happened. This stumped me for quite a while, since there are several times throughout the level where you’ll pull a switch only for nothing to happen because there’s a second switch somewhere else, so I spent a really long time looking for another switch that didn’t exist. What an unfortunate end to the level. Things like this, along with some of the puzzles (which, in my opinion, could have used some editing) and the roughness of the environments makes me wonder if maybe the author didn’t have time to polish the level before release. To lend credence to that theory, the level ends with a “to be continued…” and no artifact in sight. Well, okay then. My net gaming time was about 75 minutes, but that doesn’t include the time I was stuck due to puzzles or bugs. Thanks, but I think I’m fine with letting this artifact stay buried. I’ve been pretty harsh on this level, but I do want to mention one thing that I liked: after you leave the valley, some time passes before Lara reaches the sphinx she’s looking for. This allows for night to fall, which makes for a more atmospheric finale. I thought that was a neat touch." - Magnus (31-Aug-2024) |
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| "This level had it's moments and potential for more, but was let down by some bugs (the loss
of bridge collision as noted by many, and for me a non-opening exit door despite resetting
the switch or re-pulling it down) and some puzzles/progression paths that were
counterintuitive in part. There were also a number of invisible force-fields blocking some
paths. The platforming I felt was good throughout. Found 4/3 secrets. The fourth was
visible on an invisible platform which was fair, but the previous level's hidden grenade
gun (not a secret) also required use of an invisible platform but this time was not
indicated in any way, was less so." - Adrian (28-Aug-2024) |
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| "I'm sorry to say that this one didn't quite click with me, neither aesthetically nor
gameplay-wise. It's not that it's a bad game, it just didn't meet my personal preferrences
and unfortunately a review is a personal opinion, the way a player perceives things. We are
given a jeep, but every two steps we have to stop to investigate, and the terrain is not
exactly vehicle-friendly. The traps were not interesting, they felt like fillers. Simple
jumps, made artificially difficult is not my cup of tea, even if I can easily perform them.
Those two puzzles were the icing on the cake. Also the lighting was flat, especially at the
huge outside areas. I liked the looks of the last area but it turned out to be a shooter.
Four hours in stats because I tried (unsuccessfully) to solve it by myself." - billie2001 (27-Aug-2024) |
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"Out of all of the BtB24 levels, this one made the biggest impression of being rushed and unfinished to me – which is unfortunate, because the builder’s ideas are promising and could have been expanded much further; The first level especially shows that the builder can create a suitable atmosphere and the map itself that encompasses a rather authentic looking vast desert area and various temple ruins is fun to explore.
Our first major task is to bring a buggy across a gorge by collecting several keys and solving a special kind of exploration puzzle, which is an excellent idea but can in practice force you to backtrack because – minor spoiler alert: -, if the level tells you to look at something, you’re actually supposed to memorize it! One solution would have been to place the puzzle in a more accessible part of map; not having encountered the symbols beforehand could have prevented the impression of having to backtrack. Also, better translation of the clue – regrettably a very common problem in TRLEs that a non-native English speaker like me cannot stress enough – could have lessened frustration. ...In the end, it turns out that the puzzle itself is flawed as it doesn’t follow any apparent logic. Ofc mistakes can be made, but in this case, it’s really aggravating because the badly worded clue makes it appear as if you just didn’t understand. Given the otherwise very engaging gameplay around them, having several incomprehensible puzzles clues makes it seem rather neglectful on top of that.
My second big annoyance was the rather low effort geometry with it’s tendency to repeat certain shapes ad nauseam (i. e. the zig-zag shimmy crack) and it’s use of diagonal half-tile slopes at almost every jump that made platforming borderline intolerable for me. Aside from a low effort spider web curtain and a few bad textures and cracks visuals are pretty neat, but not too sublime. As good as the music selection is, there are also some rather unnecessarily long camera hints/tracking shots. Gameplay highlights like the elevator room that could have been expanded instead of stretching out the level(s) make the obligatory-boring secrets seem even more half-hearted – and, of course, the level set ends rather abrupt and with no story –
Conclusion: What could have been another exceptional release in the BtB24 competition may be it’s biggest disappointment due to untapped potential. Lack of time may be the only reasonable explanation, why the builder let some untested puzzles (btw, what happened, beta-testers?) turn their commendable level ideas into a tale of Hotshitsoup. – Play, after (at least) the puzzles where fixed, and you’re certainly gonna enjoy your time here!
Duration: long (ca. 3:15 h) | Difficulty: medium | Rating: 6 / 6.5 / 8 / 7" - evinaru_2 (26-Aug-2024) |
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| "What I liked about the level: 1) Enjoyed the pickup path at the top of the sand dunes area. 2) Enjoyed the trap gauntlet very much. 3) I liked the heat bar when too close to lava.
What I didn’t like or could be improved: 1) Forced health loss when using switches is not a fair way to design gameplay. 2) Would prefer more camera shots to show the effect of pulling switches. 3) Just a wishlist but perhaps some of the stationary platforms in the easy areas could have been set to auto rise and fall to make it a bit more interesting to get around. 4) There’s a pulley that required two pulls to open the door beside it which I only found out by accident. Normally a player would not pull a chain twice as this sometimes closes the door. The player could also be confused into thinking there’s 2nd switch for the door instead of pulling twice. Since it was a bit tricky to get to the pulley in the first place, this could also cause players frustration. 4) Just a wishlist but in vast areas such as this, a camera shot after picking up a key to show where it belongs would have been a nice reminder. 5) I think the exit door should not close behind the player preventing them from checking the important bird statue positions after entering the area. I had to go back to a previous savegame to check on the positions. 6) In the bird statue puzzle, the 1st statue is already facing the correct way but the door will not open until you rotate this one 4 times to go back to it’s original position. Would suggest the 1st statue face a different way so that the player is forced to move it. 7) Would suggest the camera shot after the blade corridor showing the opened door outside to be a wider shot so that the player would see and recognize where to go. 8) A serious problem pointed out by DJ_Full on the forums is that the platform bridge loses collision upon reload. So the player should keep a savegame BEFORE using the two keys to continue. 9) Not a big thing but a column looks like it is misplaced against a statue in a room with a trap door. 10) A very difficult task only for grenade gun ammo (which I don’t even have the gun) is not good design. The floor lever should have done more to advance progression. 11) Lara got stuck behind an object and had to reload. 12) One wall switch opened a door but when reusing the switch turned on spikes to tiles which didn’t seem to have a purpose.
Conclusion: Because jumping to places is rather tricky and the tough spike jump to pole is quite difficult, would say not suitable for beginner players." - Lizard Queen (25-Aug-2024) |
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| "Builder: thank you for participating in this BtB! Congratulations on your level. The story is very promising, yet fails to deliver fully. Most of my time with the levels was frustrating, because the traversal was often so cumbersome and based on tricky jumps I had to retry over and over. The wide open spaces felt mostly empty or random, even if conveying an adequate Egyptian feel to the volume and dimensions. Unfortunately, the geometry wasn't always the best. The puzzles didn't work very well (walkthroughs were needed to keep up), and the use of the jeep was not without game breaking bugs. I'm still looking forward to the follow up level(s) and enjoyed the last section (after the jeep) thoroughly!" - MigMarado (21-Aug-2024) |
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"This level doesn't have the fancy effects of some of the other BTB entries I've played, but it makes good use of the package features for strong visuals, with it mostly set in a series of canyons with various ruins around the side of it. The natural organic style is well-executed, and the interiors also look good, with some nice effects like visible wind particles in the tunnels. While it mostly keeps to the base TR4 gameplay there are still a few scripted moments and original interactions to add a little spice. The lighting is also good throughout; the canyon lighting isn't especially varied but the desert setting means the flatter lighting there is fitting.
This is two levels, but the second is essentially a short epilogue and boss-type encounter so most of the gameplay is in the first map. The main level is quite a large and complex one, with the large canyon providing a semi-linear style of finding the main landmarks that you need to explore; there is also a vehicle, but it gets blocked off for most of the level so it's more for scene-setting. There's also some decent puzzles and trap/agility challenges in the side-areas with a decent amount of challenge, although I felt the main canyon could have done with an extra clue or two because it's easy to miss needed progression. The puzzles layer on some memory challenges without getting too obnoxious, although I found a puzzle of stepping on the right symbols a bit unintuitive in how you apply the clues. I also thought a wall-switch combo puzzle was handled in an interesting way later, with the overt solution being hidden but just enough of a clue provided that it's not just randomly throwing switch combos. Given the complexity and relatively high challenge level the secrets were oddly simple and I found them much easier than the actual way (there was also a thing in the second map that felt like it should be a secret, but doesn't seem to be counted as such, even if the walkthrough treats it as one...). It also essentially ends part-way through on a "to be continued" message which makes it hard not to find the end anti-climatic despite there being a final challenge. A good level that provides some solid fundamentals-based TR4 gameplay between more experimental releases, but it doesn't quite have enough to truly stand out." - Mman (18-Aug-2024) |
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| "The initial area involves rather a lot of backtracking that can be a touch frustrating, but
there’s plenty of entertaining stuff going on as well so overall I found it to be a good
game. There are some very precise jumps along the way, some of which took me a while to
achieve and enemies can come in mob handed at times – at one point I almost ran out of
medipacks but luckily found enough subsequent goodies to get through the game comfortably.
It’s a good looking level, especially in the second part, but the final section seemed a
bit grafted on and the ‘to be continued’ message felt odd." - Jay (16-Aug-2024) |
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| "I wish I'd enjoyed this more than I actually did, but the beginning was a bit rough and caused a bit of a misleading first impression. As you've grown to expect out of BtB-Egypt, it's a series of massive areas strung together for you to zoom through with the jeep, except of course the bridge is out (no idea how the enemies get there before you raise it again) so you explore these massive areas on foot. Always looking out for a sneakily hidden crevice or opening. It took me about 20 minutes to cover everything I believed I could, at which point I checked the walkthrough and learned I had missed one entire ledge. From that point onwards things unfolded in a bit of a more orderly fashion, but still with a tricky jump now and then. When you finally raise the bridge to drive the jeep around it has the potential to get even more confusing, but at that point I guess I lucked out as I stumbled upon the one slope I could drive upwards and then into the oasis courtyard shortly thereafter. The challenge rooms were fun, nice trap settings, and some of the puzzles were clever (while others were too clever for their own good, particularly the two which relied on the hieroglyphs. For one I looked up at Phil's walkthrough, and for the other one I just brute forced the lever combinations). 1h50min, 3 secrets. 08/24" - Treeble (11-Aug-2024) |
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| "This one doesn't really have the high
enjoyment factor or pizazz of most of the
other BtB entries. Maybe I'm just a bit
jaded, but I felt that this left a bit to be
desired although it is competently made.
There's nothing wrong with the surroundings
or textures (although they are noticeably
grainier than usual), atmosphere etc. The
main problem lies in the gameplay. I'm all
for an exhilarating challenge, but some of
the platforming sequences are far too
difficult to be enjoyable, bordering on
unfair even. A couple of trial and error
puzzles were too vague as well and the jeep
ride can be fatally glitchy. All of which
would seem to suggest that the builder ran
out of time to polish things up properly.
Still, on the positive side, you get a
decent mix of gameplay, a couple of neat
puzzles and some fun enemy battles. Some
parts just failed to click with me." - Ryan (01-Aug-2024) |
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| "Maybe I've just been spoiled, but I didn't feel that this BtB entry had the professional
polish I'd seen in the first two I'd played and reviewed. To be sure, there's plenty going
on here with puzzles and traps galore, but it seemed to be missing that special something.
One of the reviews called it "very hard," but nothing here presented any particular
difficulties until I came to that sequence where you have to jump off a spear-trapped
platform to grab a swingpole and clear another spear-trapped platform just ahead. Just
getting to the first platform was an ordeal for me, and I fear the builder was being
unfair to the player at this point. I relish a challenge as much as the next raider, but
the starting alcove should have been a little bigger to give the player more running room.
Any time I feel forced to use someone else's savegame to progress in a level, at least one
point will come off gameplay by default. But in all other respects you get a healthy mix
of platforming, puzzles and enemy encounters, along with ample supplies to deal with all
exigencies. A second nighttime level, which is little more than an hors d'oeuvre, rounds
out the game with the promise of a continuation, and I suspect the builder just ran out of
time and had to submit whatever had been completed by the deadline. Anyway, this is a fine
raid, just a notch or two below the more sophisticated submissions." - Phil (31-Jul-2024) |
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| "A level that didn't really appeal to me at the beginning, but which got better and better as
the game progressed. The level can be divided into three parts.
The first part was all about driving up platforms to get the jeep across a ravine to get to
the second part. This first part was characterized by countless jumps from triangular rocks,
which didn't exactly make the game any easier. The tasks were not quite difficult, but they
were cleverly thought out. The only thing I didn't fully understand was the puzzle with the
signs you had to jump on.
The second part was about opening three doors and solving three tasks to clear the way to
the third part, which was quite short.
With this level, I had the feeling that much more was to be built than time allowed. There
were several areas that looked like you could continue playing there. However, it's a great
level with varied areas and tasks that I really enjoyed." - nad (26-Jul-2024) |
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"Bugs/Functional Issues
- After raising a trapdoor bridge, saving and reloading makes it lose collision. Make sure to drive the jeep over the bridge as soon as it is raised before saving your progress.
Disliked
- The floor tile puzzle could have been a great addition, but I simply didn't understand the solution. I found the four necessary clues out and about, and even wrote down the compass directions for each in case that was relevant, but I don't see the connection to the four correct tiles. It almost seems as if Lara is meant to turn 90 degrees between each correct tile, but that isn't communicated anywhere. I also don't know how a player would figure out the starting point.
- It's a minor point, but I would prefer the story be self-contained instead of ending with a "to be continued", it takes some satisfaction out of the adventure.
Neutral
- This entry has the most difficult platforming I've seen so far in the competition. I'll go as far as to say some pixel-perfect jumps are involved. This may be a turn-off for some raiders.
Liked
- There are a large amount of traps combined together for some challenging and enjoyable gauntlets.
- Aside from the above mentioned puzzle, there were two others that I appreciated. One is a rotation puzzle with a hint players will need to find and make a note of elsewhere. The other is a lever puzzle where the player must deduce which lever corresponds to which ancient entity in order to access three different areas. (I figured this out just fine via trial and error, although maybe there is also a hint somewhere.)
- Although there is some blockiness in some outdoor areas, the architecture is pretty strong overall, and I also appreciate the shift in mood lighting between the two levels.
Time: 1 hour 46 minutes | Difficulty: Very Hard | Rating: 7.75/10 - Good" - JesseG (26-Jul-2024) |
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| "There is a lot of potential to be seen in this level but sadly this didn't work all too well at the end. It felt like the builder tried to prolong the playtime here artificially with many long paths accessible right at the start that just lead to closed doors, providing a shortcut once you've completed them would be so much better. The puzzles are creative, no doubt about that, but they are also quite flawed: in the rotating statues puzzle it's a mystery why one statue had to be turned even if the starting position was already correct; also, the clue about the puzzle is not accessible when you reach the puzzle (though there was a clear hint earlier on); saving should be disabled before you do the jeep ride over the bridge; the tile puzzle is also a creative ideas but effectively requires exploring half of the map and noting down things you can only know when you've already visited the puzzle; there is a dead end in the room with spikes and poles as you can reach the chamber with the floor lever without the pole, but there's no way for a return; in the second level re-using that lever is totally obscure. Large parts of the first level are a hunt for non-necessary items you don't really need if you find one or two of the extra weapons (even if there is a crowd of enemies at the very end). Despite all this you can certainly enjoy the level, the jeep ride, the traps and even the puzzles; the platforming in this one is actually quite refreshing at times with some not too hard jumps but some that require some planning. The outside areas are rather atmospheric and looks are of a decent standard, despite some wallpaper effects in the texturing. This level definately could've benefited from some more polishment but of course the time constraints are present... Found 4 of 3 (!) secrets (more placed like an afterthought though) in 55 minutes." - manarch2 (24-Jul-2024) |
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| "Another solid BtB entry consisting of 1 longer and 1 shorter level. The gameplay is very
entartaining and there are some really clever puzzles included. The one with the four
symbols was a bit confusing at the beginning but I think it actually made sense after
solving it with the help of a walkthrough. Besides, there is a lot of exploration, parkour,
traps, combat and we even get to drive a jeep which is cool. Unfortunately, there is a game-
breaking glitch in the game: if you load the game after using the two keys, the bridge loses
its collision and you cannot drive across it with the jeep. In this case you need to load
the game to the moment before you used the keys. The design is, overall, solid. The textures
are properly applied although they could be more varied. The lighting is quite immersive but
also monochromatic which might be a bit monotonous at times. The architecture is well-done.
My favourite room from the game is probably the last area of the first level which looks
really nice. Also, the ending of the game is pretty abrupt and we are meant to see a
continuation of this game someday in the future. All in all, this game is very enjoyable,
not very difficult and has some clever ideas in it. Recommended." - BlackWolfTR (20-Jul-2024) |
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| "Very good level containing engaging and varied gameplay. I thoroughly enjoyed the
platforming challenges and timed runs, some of which are quite tricky although I believe
that most of the players will complete them with reasonable number of tries. There are three
major puzzles in the game. The first puzzle is good but it requires you to remember a clue
which you won’t be able to access anymore after entering the puzzle area. I think it would
be better to let players access the clue at any moment. The second puzzle was very cryptic
to me and thus, I had to check the solution in the forums. In contrast, I liked the third
puzzle a lot. Environment is architecturally somewhat crude but texturing and lighting are
well done. Overall, the level is skillfully crafted and surely worth playing." - Samu (16-Jul-2024) |
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| "Another aesthetically pleasing level to be found here although I am a sucker for an Egyptian
setting so this years BtB theme is right up my alley! With gameplay I found this level quite
challenging some awkward platforming providing most the challenge as well as a puzzle that
really could have done with more direction. Maybe its me being dumb but had to consult TR
View to see what pads to jump on and the symbols above the door were a complete red herring
and distracted me away from the answer rather than guiding me to it, like in most TRLE's. I
also found quite a few illegal slopes while trying to traverse the landscape, managed to get
out of most but there was a few where I was stuck and had to reload. But with all that said
I did have a good time playing this level set and I am actually looking forward to and will
definitely play the sequel! #spoilers" - Feats (06-Jul-2024) |
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