Level reviews

"Rare are the TRLEs that are breathtaking from the very first minutes. The entire TR4 engine has been modded to look like TR2 : pickups, weapons, enemies… Incredible modding work, so much technical effort could only mean that the experience was going to be worth it. Quickly you get the impression that you are playing an authentic Tomb Raider game (feels like a strange crossover between TR2 and TR5). Its difficulty increases gradually, the story is simple but well told, the game has cutscenes and even new enemies. So what can we say about the levels. They are big, sometimes even huge. That’s the trap : you feel like you are going to get lost (I was a little scared at first when I realized how big the second level was), but the game doesn’t let that happen, and most ot the time, you quickly find your way. The levels are consistent, and you’re happy to discover these environments. This is where we can understand the choice of the TR4 engine over the TR2 engine : the levels often take place outdoors and there are many landscapes and decorative elements, creating a successful immersive effect. Venice seems to serve as an introduction and demonstration of the game engine before really getting into the thick of things from the 4th level. Then, the levels are mainly set in cold environments, they still manage to differentiale themselves quite successfully. The gameplay religiously respects the spirit of the first TR games, with a well-balanced mix of combat, looting, key-door passages, traps to avoid, acrobatic moves and most important : observation. What if we nitpick ? And we often come back to them : pushables. There are a lot of them. It’s true that they are a central element of Tomb Raider’s puzzles, but pushing a block is so slow, so when there are a lot of them, it slows down the gameplay considerably. Another observation : the last few levels were a bit similar in terms of gameplay (same enemies, same traps, same gameplay elements), but not enough to be really annoying (the same complaint can be applied to some canon TRs). Another surprising point to note is that once the resurrected Bartoli is killed, the game ends abruptly, but actually why not ? It’s a good ending. In any case, congrat to the game’s author and the plugin developers : that’s what we call renewing the experience. And to conclude, a quick top 3 : - The Warehouse : It was probably not designed to be the Big Level, but this kind of level surrounded by forest and in the rain is comfy and has a certain charm. That’s probably where I get this impression of a crossover between TR2 and TR5. - Hall of the Slain : The sinister fortress in the rain, the atmospherer is heavy but sometimes difficult. - Gladsheimr Hall : It’s pretty and it reminds me of the Barkhang monastery, but this is where I felt that the gameplay was a bit repetitive at times. And shootout at Theatre House, SK-7, Sanctuary of Hildr and Snowy Cabins ! Time taken : 17 hours and 20 minutes Secrets : 22/45" - Nick21

"This is the best TRLE game I've ever played and I already consider it canon to the main series as it fits perfectly. Perfect level design with classic and completely new environments, great challenge and perfect length (I love big level sets). The original Resurrection game was already masterful but this one surpassed it and made me get completely immersed in the levels. Without wanting to spoil the level: the Venice levels of this entry make sense story-wise to be there rather than just reusing a location for the sake of it and make the original Venice levels from Tomb Raider 2 look like a tech demo in comparison (well, except Opera House which is still masterful). Obligatory level set to play and I don't get how it isn't rated higher, this is truly a fully new Tomb Raider game in the classic engine. The game has tons of enemies but honestly I don't mind it as they only get in your way and once defeated you have tons of exploration to do and the entire levels feel like giant puzzle rooms you have to figure out in the classic style so it's like a classic Tomb Raider game but with harder platforming and combat which is fitting for a sequel to Tomb Raider 2. Also, the cutscenes are just perfect and feel like they were designed by Core Design, the latter levels are very hard but very enjoyable and with great environments never before seen and the final boss fight was one of the hardest challenges I had to endure in a Tomb Raider game. Easy 10/10, best TRLE ever." - DG_777player

"This is one of the most epic level sets that I have played containing 16 level, most of which are fairly large and non-linear. It is a perfect mixture of exploration, traps, puzzles, battles against enemies from TR2, and cinematic storytelling with some of the best cutscenes that I have seen in custom levels. It is very difficult to find anything to criticize although I wouldn’t have minded if the progression had been slightly faster at times, since you do spend quite a lot of time running back and forth within the same environments. Even though the final boss battle is amazing, it is brutal if you haven’t saved plenty of ammo and found most of the weapons. I can also imagine that you are going to have very difficult time with the skeletons if missed a grenade launcher on fourth level, since only grenades can destroy skeletons. Apart from these very small complaints, it is an amazing custom TRLE adventure and feels like an official Tomb Raider game that was never released by Core Design. I very highly recommend this." - Samu

"This game was really epic! This game should become a classic, a real amazing Tomb Raider adventure. Everything was perfect. The different chapters were lovely. I liked a lot those levels in the snow, but it is hard to chose a favorite part. Also amazing were the videos of the story. I enjoyed a lot this game. I want to play more games from this designer. Thank you very much!" - Juan Carlos

"This mammoth levelset easily rivals the original TR2 game, and definitely surpasses it in terms of complexity. The aesthetics and gameplay are so true to the original game that I wouldn't have guessed that the TR4 engine was used, had I not glanced at the documentation beforehand. You get a great variety of surroundings throughout the 17 levels, and the later sections boast some pretty stunning architecture. Progression is thought-provoking throughout and while there is an overreliance on block puzzles, I did appreciate the thought and planning that went into them. Combat is quite full- throttle and the enemy difficulty gradually builds up, but supplies are generously scattered around (do try and locate as many of the secrets as you can!). It's all meticulously constructed, and only a couple of things spoiled it very slightly for me: firstly, there were too many dark areas, and despite there being a veritable boatload of flares it still proved an annoyance. Also, the final battle was little more than a tedious slaughterhouse. I used more medipacks in that level than any other, and it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth afterwards. A bit of a downer ending to what was otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable set of levels. Still, I definitely recommend giving it a go if you're up for it." - Ryan

"I truly believe that this gargantuan release is more than a mere replacement game. For the first time in memory my game clock at the end told me that I'd invested more than a full day plus a couple of hours making my way through these 17 (including an inconsequential and rather unnecessary house level) separate but loosely connected adventures. And I have a suggestion for our faithful suppliers of video walks. Three for this game are available for use, but two of our regulars have provided a single clunky and unwieldy video that I found almost impossible to navigate. On the other hand, someone called TRGamer has provided a playlist of 17 separate videos that was so much more user-friendly. For these extra-long releases, I urge that the same practice be followed by all our video producers. As for the game itself, it faithfully follows the TR2 mold and provides a well-rounded raid in many different environments. My written walk turned out to have nearly 46,000 words, more than many paperback novels on my bookshelf. The builder has somehow found a way of thwarting all my standard cheating devices, so at the beginning I became nervous at the prospect of running out of certain indispensable supplies. However, the pickups to be found are plenteous, particularly if you take the time and effort necessary to acquire the three secrets to be found in each of the first 15 levels. The last level, however, is little more than an extended bloodbath whose sole objective seems to be to exhaust all the ammunition and healthpacks you've acquired up to this point. And by the way, I found the M16 to be almost worthless because it would operate only on a sporadic basis, and even then would fire only a few rounds at a time. In sum, this is a well-planned and executed release that must have consumed much creative effort on the builder's part, but by the time you've finished you'll probably have no thought of wanting to play it a second time." - Phil

"Fascinating, extremely long and (at least towards the end) difficult set of levels.

• In general it has large, good looking, competently designed and textured levels with interesting architecture and all types of gameplay. I don't know what much more I should write about this.
• Everything is kept in TR2 retro style. Even the game menu is modded to look like TR2. It still makes use of TR4 moves. Personally, I really appreciate the builder's choice to use the TR4 instead of TR2 engine and going through the effort to mod the game instead. The ancient TR2 engine causes even more technical problems than TR4 and should be avoided.
• I often found it difficult to find my path. If you get confused, you may have to backtrack a lot, or spend a lot of time trying to make progress. It's not that difficult, but the levels are large and full of tricky situations.
• The enemies are very strong. Conserving ammo and medipacks is advised. They're strong from the beginning, but later, I had so much trouble I frequently had to reload and redo encounters with them. The cost in ammo or medipacks was too high, or the enemies gunned Lara down in a second with their high damage. It got even worse when they got faster at running than Lara. In some situations I was about to give up. Only certain types of weapons saved me.
• How much ammo and medipacks you get seems to heavily depend on how many secrets or other hidden items you find.
• It's extremely long. I logged 20 hours on my statistics screen, and of course it actually took me even longer. It kept me entertained all the time, even if it got a bit exhausting in the final 1/3rd when it gets really difficult. I used a whopping 102 medipacks.
• The tough enemies, jumps, timed runs etc. required me to save and reload a lot. The modified TR2-style menu added quite a delay to these actions (you have to wait for the animation to finish). This was annoying, it's like half of the game was me waiting for the loading/saving menu animations to finish. The actual loading process is instant, much faster than usual for TRLE. It doesn't even show a loading bar, it just loads. It would have been perfect if F5/F6 didn't trigger the animation.
• More on the topic of the menu modification: I liked that the last used savegame slot was focused even across game restarts.
• There's a story and some cut-sequences throughout the game. Not much, but makes it a little bit fresher.

In summary, it's very good. But you may want to save this for later if you're a beginner. It's probably not for players who just want to relax." - tuxraider

"Just managed to finish this after its release ! Found around 35 secrets because i was quite tired towards the last levels . Kudos to Larahcroft91 , big effort and and care for the levels . my advice is take and find as many ammo you can or you will regret it . my least favourite levels were the ice ones personally .See you in another 10 years xd" - Petaludas

"It spoiled me with great maps and amazing novelty then slapped me with gameplay - too much filler and usual activity, which is okay in the first custom games you play, but this one won't be the first. Then the goal, most hidden places got the most regular and predictable approach inducing more fatigue. If you don't mind slow pace then absolutely play it though." - DJ Full

"This a giant seventeen level set (although one is a home level, so it's sixteen as far as the main story goes). While predominately set in snowy environments after the starting Venice levels, there's a lot of setting variety here, and it does a good job varying between modern, ancient and mostly natural environments. There are all kinds of grand environments and architecture supporting the themes, and giving each part a distinct style. The texture and lighting are also great throughout, with a lot of variety, as well as supporting parts of the story well, and the author's previous issues with overuse of ambient lighting are almost entirely resolved now. Object use is also standout with plenty of original interactions and animations. This includes several in-game cutscenes, which are both well animated and don't bloat the filesize like the FMV's of the previous sets did (although it amused me how many involved Lara being terrible at stealth). Voice acting also seems to be fully Human this time and is much improved over the original Resurrection. It uses plugins that make most aspects of the game feel near identical to Tomb Raider 2 despite being a TR4 set with newer moves, and it's well executed to the point I'd have a hard time telling what engine it was on if the documentation didn't say. It also stuck out how many varieties of individual enemies there are, with Humans having many different model/texture tweaks. Everything about the presentation here is exceptional.
Having just got done with another ~seventeen level set in Folklorist Diary 2, which nonetheless mostly had relatively short individual maps, this is a different beast entirely, and very much lives up to it's map number, with many of the levels here being hour+ behemoths that provide whole new areas just when it seems like they're winding down. There's a wide range of tasks to support the length, as well as many of the new interactions also providing original puzzle and trap ideas. There's also a few shorter levels to mix it up (including two in a row that felt like they could be a single map by this pack's standards, but I guess there was a technical reason) and break a little from the giant ones. It also follows TR2 in making combat a big aspect, with corpse persistence resulting in some areas ending up a total bloodbath by the end, although you also get a massive quantity of health and ammo (even more if you find a decent amount of secrets), along with a ton of duration-boosted flares for when it is dark, and I never came close to running low. Given a lot of ammo was provided for other weapons I did find it odd I didn't get anything but the Shotgun until after Venice, but I guess I missed some earlier weapons? Despite the amount of combat it's tailored to the nature of each level, and there are still multiple that mix up the pacing by minimising encounters to focus on a more lonely atmosphere instead. There's also a couple of twists like enemies that can only be killed by Grenades. The final boss to cap things off is also well-executed, although one aspect of it could be communicated a bit better. Like Resurrection 1 the TR2 secret system is here, and it's executed even better here, with many of secrets having their own interesting mini-adventures in themselves (to the point I'm curious about some of the ones I missed). I did find it odd how many secret-like hidden nooks and crannies there are which only provide items; I almost feel like there should have been some "normal" secrets counted on top of the TR2-style artifacts.
On the negative side there's a few too many block puzzles, although I liked some of them, as they're some of the rare ones that made me stop and think about how to execute them, and they did get less common later on. There's also a bit of a habit of semi-hidden switches and objects needed for progression, and I ran across a couple basically by accident or as a last resort after trying everything else, although there are generally clues, or you are locked inside areas where this is a thing. All the new interactions do also result in one or two slightly unintuitive ones, although I was able to work them out with a little experimentation. I was also stuck for ages on the cabins level because I missed a key an enemy dropped and their corpse made it invisible; this is partially my fault for not being careful with every corpse, but this level also has a ton of unintended backtracking if you miss it so I feel it could be handled a bit better. I also ran into a bug where when multiple enemies need to die to open a door if you save and load between killing them all the trigger doesn't work; this lost me a bit of progress at one point. I found a couple of shortcuts by accident but there was always a locked door or other obstacle that required the "intended" route to open so it didn't break progression much. Despite those issues they make up a small part of the overall adventure, and another thing I really liked past the Venice intro is that each section almost directly leads into the next (including finding a means of travel at times), which really gives the feel of going on a long journey. While occasionally dragged down by some of the authors worst previous habits showing up, this is another masterpiece of a mod that provides a full adventure and feels like a true pseudo-sequel to TR2 itself." - Mman