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Mantua 2.0 - The Sacred Vessels by Traio

cheng 9 8 10 9
DJ Full 8 10 9 8
nad 8 10 10 10
Pablito_it 9 10 10 9
Phil 10 10 10 9
Roberto 10 10 10 10
Ryan 9 10 10 10
Simone 9 10 10 9
tuxraider 7 8 8 6
 
release date: 03-Nov-2025
# of downloads: 514

average rating: 9.22
review count: 9
 
review this level

file size: 364.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: City
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
tra-nton-io@virgilio.it

Reviewer's comments
"It take too much time to run around and I drive the motorbike into the castle and door close behind but I need the motor later and I have to replay this part. Music is excellent but maybe need more." - cheng (03-Dec-2025)
"I really appreciated Madonna of the Crown, the previous level by Traio, and here he had the chance to further enhance his potential, especially with secrets that require a bit of skill and therefore are not accessible to everyone. The bonus level is complete and gives credit to those who collect all 32. The vertical design also deserves mention; the fact that Lara starts from the ground and explores the rooftops is truly a unique feature of Traio's levels. The mastery in recreating real-life environments and putting them into play, along with the addition of levels with a life of their own such as Strange Castle, adds that extra touch to a noteworthy adventure created by a designer who demonstrates the full capability gained over time. I have even higher expectations for Traio in the next level he will give us. Thank you, and see you next time." - Simone (01-Dec-2025)
"

This game has many problems. The cathedral level is the best: It looks great, it has good gameplay, and I didn't notice any particularly bad bugs. The rest... you can give it a try, but prepare yourself for crudeness and bugs both in visuals and gameplay. I still found it enjoyable enough to play the entire game and to like it, but these issues were grating.

The first level actually looks pretty ugly, uglier than the other levels. But later levels get better. The most obvious visual problem that persists throughout most of the game, especially in the town areas, are the missing textures on the level borders. It's not about areas that are far away and normally unreachable, but areas that you have to visit for normal gameplay. It gives it a surrealist look, which is in bad contrast with the more realistic look of some of the levels. The construction site in particular has bad rendering problems, like parts of the crane just obviously bugging out.

A fatal problem is that the game has some possible softlocks. For example you can forget to grab a key after going through a challenge, return to the main area, and then can't get back to get the key. (This one happened to me in the Sordello Square level.) You can avoid this problem by being careful and having good savegame management. But it shouldn't happen in a released custom level. Some problems are obviously marked with warning signs in later levels, which is probably OK if you assume an experienced audience.

I didn't like much that the town squares were huge without much actual content. They were essentially huge, empty rooms. It's better on the roofs and inside. Visually, the town area also has this typical TRLE problem of using photos for textures, which make it look very odd and has a questionable effect on immersion, but it's common practice in custom levels and we're all used to it.

There are some rather odd gameplay choices, such as shooting a mirror opens a door. A lever on the back of an opened door? The bike randomly disappears or gets teleported back to Lara when changing levels. Some odd gameplay choices are just the builder's humor, like putting a bikini on a naked Lara statue. On the other hand, the game offers a lot of good gameplay besides these problems.

In summary, if you can look past some of the grating flaws, it can be an enjoyable game, with some highlights (the cathedral level) and lowlights (first level). It's definitely only for more experienced players (mostly because the possible softlocks will cause problems). The town squares may look either impressive or empty to you, or maybe both. It's probably subjective. I feel like some potential was squandered. I hope the builder continues and does away with the missing textures and perhaps tests the gameplay better to avoid softlocks.

" - tuxraider (23-Nov-2025)
"The start of v.2 broke to me even easier, but I got out thanks to easy gameplay. The second map is the opposite, less softlocky but cryptic so beginners would struggle in some places. The road is littered with bugs: every type of visual issue, some sound issues, scripting issues and even more softlocks but if you learnt from the first maps you can avoid them - still maybe not forever, so better keep the savegames separate. I usually take imperfections but not when the level doesn't allow me to forget about them at every step, that's why despite of seriously impressive moments I couldn't get immersed for a couple of hours. Then it gets better but it's too late, many players would have binned the project this far in. Of course it's all fixable with some community advice - I think Traio took on a gigantic work in a quite small environment so he didn't get enough feedback. I call this game feature complete but absolutely not tested enough. Paired with promising vistas and positive reviews, it's one of those projects which may make fresh players get scorched and never try TRLE again - but in the current state I can't recommend it to anybody else either, because your reception will be damaged even if you're a TRLE veteran. Please reupload it after fixing it for real - I don't mind a plainly bad level, but all those great levels plagued and crippled by fixable mistakes make me wanna flip the table." - DJ Full (20-Nov-2025)
"What a tour de force, truly a richly rewarding raid. I have fond memories of enjoying this builder's previous Mantua's Squares, and if possible this was even better. The environments are a bit less crude this time round (apart from the rather surreal looking first level and some minor horizon issues), and great effort has been taken to replicate some real Italian locations, with some pretty impressive architecture and textures. With the settings being so vast, exploration does take up rather a lot of time, but there's also some great puzzle sequences, springboard exercises (always a highlight), exciting timed runs and even some challenging motorbike rides for good measure. The secret quest was also a nice touch, some even requiring a bit of preparation beforehand and if you manage to locate all 32 (quite a task in itself), you gain access to a relatively brief bonus level which contains some quite challenging tasks in itself. The enemies have been imaginatively remeshed to fit the surreal theme and the gameplay overall is noticeably more logical than previously. My favourite level, looks-wise was the Gothic castle which had a spooky yet pretty appearance, although the church segment was gorgeous too. Wonderful, engaging raiding." - Ryan (16-Nov-2025)
"I haven't done much reviewing lately due to the current shortage of TR4 releases, but this epic compilation has drawn me out of the doldrums. The rough graphics typical of this builder's work product don't provide the eye candy that we often see in other levels, but the gameplay here is so rich and diverse that my full attention was devoted to the tasks at hand and any evaluation of the surrounding views necessarily took a back seat. Even so, great pains have been taken to create a realistic duplication of Mantua's squares, and version 2.0 is a worthy sequel to that great adventure from two decades past. The builder provided me with some helpful insights as I was preparing a written walk, so hopefully players that follow the text won't become stuck by some of the few glitches that may be encountered along the way. Some of the enemies here are imaginatively retextured, adding to the surreal flavor of the game. I was worried early on by the lack of flare pickups, but as it turned out I never really needed one. Getting through while acquiring all 32 secrets (so that the bonus level can be played) is quite challenging at times, but not to the extent employed by other sadistic builders who I'll leave unnamed. The hardest part for me was that motorbike ride in the bonus level where you have to jump a wide gap and immediately slam on the brakes to avoid falling into the lava. I debated placing a savegame in the walk but thought better of it. Otherwise, everything here is quite accessible to players of all skill levels, and I highly recommend this uniquely entertaining raid." - Phil (15-Nov-2025)
"I want to congratulate and give a huge round of applause to Traio and his collaborators, both for the overall story itself and for creating a series of excellent levels with impressive technical solutions, peppered with a series of 32 secrets with an extra bonus ending that greatly enriched the game. The main features of Mantua 2.0 are the beautiful roof and environmental textures and the ability to wander around the rooftops at great heights to admire fascinating views. The cameras and images are excellent, helping the player understand what to do. In the ducal palace, I moved the colored cubes without saving and I didn't encounter any bugs. I enjoyed all the levels, especially: The Cathedral, The Construction Site, and the Strange Castle.The enemies were omnipresent, varied in nature and level style, and in the right places, sometimes tough to kill.A couple of horror-style levels are welcome, given the Halloween release date.The collection of health packs and ammo before the toughest battles was more than satisfying. Waiting for the next level, given the technical progress of TRAIO, I expect something special." - Roberto (12-Nov-2025)
"The game consists of 10 levels, some of which (1-6-7-9-10) are short. After a brief start at the lake, the game unfolds in the beautiful atmosphere of Piazza Erbe, the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea (very beautiful), Piazza Broletto, and Piazza Sordello in Mantua, wonderfully recreated by the author. The 8th level, "Strange Castle," is also very original. The game's actions are all fun, sometimes even original, and of the 32 secrets (+1 in the bonus level), all are well-conceived, some requiring careful observation. The gameplay is always very fluid and at times very fun, with excellent views and visuals. Overall, a great job, thanks TRAIO." - Pablito_it (07-Nov-2025)
"What a great level. Except for the first part, which in my opinion didn’t quite fit the whole game, I found the other parts very well designed. Especially the city levels which are built almost perfectly according to the original locations. In the game, I thought the squares were simply too large, but after looking them up on Google, I had to realize that these squares are actually that big. Mantua is simply a city with very large squares. The actions mainly take place inside some of the buildings and over the rooftops of the city, which I really liked. For the interiors, the level builder placed more emphasis on the design of the walls, floors, and ceilings than on the furniture, which made the gameplay flow easier. What fascinated me most was the Basilica di Sant'Andrea, which is reconstructed very accurately. Even the pulpit where the preacher can be seen is exactly like the original. Here the level builder put a lot of effort into recreating everything as precisely as possible. In Strange Castle, the mood of the level changes to a rather dark and mystical atmosphere. The level was released on November 1, 2025, quite exactly around Halloween time. The horror atmosphere fit perfectly there. Here too, the castle is reconstructed based on original locations. The Castle of Saint George actually exists. The creepy mood doesn't change until the final level, which I found quite unnecessary. There, you only have to collect the two vessels, combine them, and use them. Then the game is over, or you can complete a time challenge against a ball to get the last secret. There are some puzzles to solve, with the sliding block puzzle being my favorite. There are many enemies, but they are easy to deal with since you find enough ammunition. The secrets are sometimes very well hidden, but sometimes also quite visible; you just have to find a way to reach them. If you have found all 32 secrets, you can play a bonus level, which I found quite challenging for a bonus level. But that's purely a matter of taste. All in all, I found the game very good and playable for everyone. I had no problems in the game. This game should definitely not be missed. Highly recommended." - nad (06-Nov-2025)