BHOGAVATI

Level and walkthrough by Zreen

PREFACE

Hello. I am the author of Bhogavati. While you have the ultimate freedom in choosing how to get around in my levels, what I provide here is a set of intended routes. It is not as flashy as other walkthroughs you might see, but I try to be minimalist in my approach. I only mention progression items such as keys or switches and optional secrets; medkits, ammo, and other items will rarely be highlighted. Please enjoy. Steps relating to secrets will also be colored as will the secrets themselves.

CONTEXT

Bhogavati was an entry for Mike Quahe’s Level Editor Revival. Using the TR2 engine, I made a demake of Tomb Raider Underworld’s Thailand levels with zero story relevance. In my level, Lara is after the Crystal Heart: a physical remnant of the god Brahma.

LEVEL 1: CLIFFSIDE CAVES

3 Secrets

CLIFFS

The Bay

You start off on a small yacht, modeled after the one Lara uses in Underworld. I’ve christened it “Uncharted Tombs” We’ll take this time to mark our compass since TR2 has none and will make directions a little easier at times during the walkthrough. The back of the boat faces North, the lip of the boat faces South. Take a look around. Above you past the boat’s spoiler is where you ultimately need to go –a cave entrance jutting out the side of this retracting cliff face. To your Left is some LADDERS and to your Right down the bay a bit is a couple of low platforms you can climb up on. For now, get on top of the boat. You can either use the LADDERS to your left or you can simply turn around and vault up through the small hole there in the boat itself. Go to the lip of the BOAT and turn Left to see a SECRET #1, a SILVER TRINKET.

Jump into the water and swim past the boat then turn left past the rock pillar. Keep swimming until you see a small dark room hidden within the cliffside, climb up. Be careful of the SPIKES below as you Drop+Grab to slide into the cubbyhole just above the SPIKES. Pull the LEVER to reveal a trapdoor has opened in the water near you. Carefully make your way back out. The rock pillar directly SE of the cave entrance is where the trapdoor opened. Go through and surface in the room under the glass pane. A pressure pad, when stood on, opens a door somewhere above you. Take note of how the pressure pad looks for future encounters. Swim back out.

The Pillars

Go back towards the boat area and continue East toward the low platforms you saw earlier. Climb up and jump onto the higher rocks to the right of that pull-up area. Take some distance on the rock, turn around and Run+Jump to reach the slope just beyond where you pulled up from the water. Let it slide you down to the edge, then Drop+Grab the ledge below and shimmy right. Pull up. Clamber to the top of this eroded rock pillar, listening to Lara’s narration along the way. At the grass, look left to see another path winding its way around what we’ll call the Eastern rock pillar. Head there and up around the corner. Hop the middle and take another running jump to reach the next rock pillar path.

The Western rock pillar in front of you as you reach the center rock pillar is where the door is that you opened underwater. Jump onto the rock slope then shimmy Left to pull up, turn, back-hop and grab then shimmy Left again (TR2 doesn’t allow you to shimmy around corners). Pull up at this next corner and vault up into the opened door. Pull the SWITCH to reveal a trapdoor has opened in a cavern elsewhere you likely haven’t been yet. The door has closed behind you. Hop over the spikes and take a running jump to the ladder. Climb up to the zipline platform and take the zipline back to the central rock pillar. Run+Jump to reach the cave entrance. Pick up any flares you find, you’re gonna need them.

CAVES

The Crevice and Large Cavern

Follow the caves. Take a right at the intersection and continue on. Be careful of a large drop at the end of the path; there’s a safe platform to the right of the exit. Take a diagonal running jump to reach a line of slopes. Grab the edge on the way down and shimmy right. Pull up when you can and clamber on up into the larger cavern. In front you’ll see a gray platform with a PUSHBLOCK locked behind a gate. To your right is a large rock pillar, move closer to it then turn Right. Using flares or guns, illuminate the crevice next to you; there is a single rock jutted up enough for you to safely land on. Jump past and behind the brick block and follow the rock ceiling until you see a hole in it next to more bricks. Climb up through the trapdoor you opened at the Bay's Western rock pillar.

Reach the purple rocks. Be careful of the water, you’ll be swept away in a current at a certain point under there (use the moving plants as an indicator). On your side of the small waterfall there’s more rocks you can jump to, then across to more rocks atop a damaged bridge. Jump across the gap to the structure in the water. You’ll have noticed by now we’re in the large waterfall top overlooking the Cliffs section you may have seen earlier. Back-hop off the structure next to the waterfall and shimmy Left. Drop+Grab the ledge below and pull up. Turn Left and carefully fall into the structure past the rubble (don’t drop down back into the Cliffs, you’ll have to climb up again. Pick up SECRET #2, a GOLD RELIC. Turn and jump over the slope onto another pressure pad opening the trapdoor next to you letting you get out. Return to the Large Cavern.

Facing the gray platform with the PUSHBLOCK puzzle. Return to the rock pillar to your Right and go past it to find a SWITCH that will give access to the PUSHBLOCK. Pull the PUSHBLOCK in a position where you can get above to the next area. Pull the SWITCH there to open a door and head through.

Fire Room, Campfire, and Boulders

Flames appear on pillars breaching the small pool here. Swim across to a control SWITCH under the exit platform to turn them off allowing you to parkour over them to the exit platform. Head through to the next area. After dropping into the Campfire area, turn right to pull a SWITCH, you’ll be directed toward a part of the Campfire area to investigate. A small hall has a DOOR opened you can pass through. Navigate the series of BOULDERS until you reach a wide-to-narrowing section, don’t go down it yet. Facing the narrowing end, turn Left and go inside the hole to find SECRET #3, the JADE DRAGON. Jump out and move out of the way of the approaching BOULDERS. Race the BOULDERS down to the water pool (or trick the BOULDERS in whichever way you see fit) and swim through to end the level…

LEVEL 2: TEMPLE APPROACH

3 Secrets

Forest Playground

This is a relatively short and simple level. Swim up through a hole to exit the pool and make your way outside. Hug the Left wall to a pile of rocks, behind that is SECRET #1, a SILVER TRINKET. Follow the Left wall all the way to the Eastern Tower. For the purposes of this level, the Temple Complex in general is to the South; on looking at the Temple Complex entrance from the road the tower on the Left is the Eastern Lookout Tower and the one on the Right is the Collapsed Western Tower. Follow the wall you were following to the center of the Eastern Tower. Pull out the PUSHBLOCK there until you get access inside. Notice the trapdoor beneath you as you go to stand on the pressure block that will open the door to the upper area of this Tower. Come back out. Skip to the last of the level’s paragraph if you’re not getting secrets.

Go to the Collapsed Western Tower. Use it to reach a low treetop. Follow the treetops North and Northwest until you reach a SWITCH you can pull that opens the trapdoor in the Eastern Tower. Drop back down and head back there. Drop down the open trapdoor and follow the path. Avoid the DISC TRAPS and SPIKES below as you transition to a room filled with bones. Use the slope to jump onto a rubble platform then take a running jump to reach a series of BOUNCE PADS. The last one you’ll likely miss the landing but just let Lara fall back down and she should jump back up again to reach the safe platform. Diagonally Left of you is a small hole you can hop into. Use the slopes there to reach another safe platform, then Run+Jump onto yet another platform. Using what you learned about BOUNCE PADS in the previous room, use this knowledge to make your way up the pile of bones until you reach the topmost platform. Position yourself on the GOLD RELIC so you can hop back and grab at a moment’s notice. On picking up SECRET #2, do exactly that to avoid the BOULDERS. Head back down and make your way outside again.

On exiting the Tower, turn Left (you are now facing North for reference) and go diagonally Left again through the trees until you reach a longer and higher root than the other trees have. Use this to climb up into the tree then turn around. Jump onto the large low treetop and turn Left. Jump across these treetops going NW until you reach inside a very tall tree (the ones that extend into the sky). From here the jumps get a bit more difficult. Take close looks at what treetops you can reach as you continue West from here to a small cave overlooking where you first entered the Forest. Inside the small upper cave is SECRET #3, a JADE DRAGON.

Head back down and return to the long root tree North of the Eastern Tower (refer to the previous paragraph if you skipped down here). Climb up and jump to the sloped treetop West. Jump from there to a safe treetop and from there hopping across more until you reach a bridge extending to the upper area of the Eastern Tower. Listen to Lara’s warning of statues then pull the SWITCH opening the doors to the Temple Complex. You can test how the STATUE enemies come alive regarding Lara’s cryptic warning. “If you -approach- them”as in, if you go in front of them they transform. “Stay on their -good side-”as in, they won’t transform if you move beside them. Head back down and enter the Temple Complex…

LEVEL 3: BHOGAVATI

3 Secrets

Balcony

Nearly there. Run outside to the Balcony. You need two KEYS to open the trapdoor leading to the temple floor. As you stand between the stone statues facing the row of trapdoors you are facing South, as reference. The chambers to your East and West house a BALCONY KEY. Picking up the West BALCONY KEY activates a SPIKE WALL you can avoid by climbing the ladder until you’re above it. The East BALCONY KEY is in one of the SPIKE PITS you have to walk through to safely grab it. Return to the Balcony trapdoors and insert the KEYS. Go down the LADDER to reach the floor.

The Large Pool

If you somehow manage to get down without using the KEYS and need to return to the Balcony (there is no softlocking by skipping the Balcony), there is a SWITCH behind the LADDERS on the temple floor that will reopen them for you. Notice the puzzle in front of you, that’s the SUN PUZZLE we’ll need stuff for that later. We also have returning PUSHBLOCKS blocked by GATES. A small grate just before the center pillar teases the JADE DRAGON SECRET.

Facing opposite the LADDER, go into the hall to the Right, take another Right, and go down the stairs to reach a Large Pool area. To your left is a Blue-Roofed Tower and to your Right is a Red-Roofed Tower. Jump into the water and turn left. There’s an UNDERWATER SWITCH to pull that will open up a door on the Blue-Roofed Tower. Swim around the platform you jumped off to a smaller pillar jutting out of the pool with a pressure block on top. Surface onto it to open the door to the Red-Roofed Tower.

Notice the eroded towers to the sides of the Red-Roofed Tower. Go to the one closer to the pressure block and make your way up. There should be a spot where you can Run+Jump to grab and reach the door you just opened. Go in and grab the first SUN STONE; we will need two total. Go to the other collapsed tower and make your way past the green face. You see a corridor of COLLAPSING FLOOR and SPIKES, but the SPIKES don’t happen until later. Drop down to the floor of bones so you have some left for a full run when you come back up. When you reach the SPIKES walk over near the edge to find SECRET #1, a SILVER TRINKET. Music will swell but it was timed for the COLLAPSING FLOOR run so you can ignore it. Return to the beginning of the corridor to give yourself some breathing room or you can walk to the edge here and jump straight across to the last set of COLLAPSING FLOORS. Reach the SWITCH which opens the GATES next to you as well as a shortcut trapdoor from the lower Pool area.

Turn Left and follow the Side Tower path to the Blue-Roofed Tower which should still be opened from the UNDERWATER SWITCH earlier in the Pool. Go inside and pick up the second SUN STONE. Continue out to the other Side Tower and reach another SWITCH which will open a trapdoor elsewhere. Jump into the Pool. There’s a tunnel running under the Blue-Roofed Tower. Follow it through to the opened trapdoor.

The Sun Puzzle

We are now in the mid-upper area of the Temple Complex you saw from the Temple floor earlier. Turn Right and go up some stairs to throw a SWITCH that opens a GATE to a SUN STONE HOLE. There’s another SWITCH that does the same thing to the other GATE for the other SUN STONE HOLE on the other side of this mid-upper area. Insert both SUN STONES, each opening a gate beneath the Temple Floor. You can throw a SWITCH to the Right of the Right SUN STONE HOLE and down just a bit for a shortcut to this area. Or you can just use the center pillar on the Temple floor to reach this area again if needed. As another compass reference: the STATUE atop the SUN STONE HOLES is in the South of the Temple Complex.

Head down to the Temple floor. You can take each underground room in whichever order. Each one is a one or two-step PUSHBLOCK puzzle hiding a SWITCH that opens a corresponding GATE granting access to its PUSHBLOCK. The Eastern underground room has an extra PUSHABLE you can pull away to gain access to a second SWITCH that opens a door to SECRET #2, the JADE DRAGON you saw earlier. Return topside and move the PUSHBLOCKS underneath the SWITCHES. Pull each SWITCH to open the row of TRAPDOORS leading down.

Trials of Shiva / The Bridge of Doom

Slide down. Use your choice of illumination to see the small army of SHIVA STATUES waiting in the darkness. Remember Lara’s words from Temple Approach and stick between the rows of STATUES to keep any of them from waking. There’s a pressure plate on the far corner that opens the door out of there. There’s a SHIVA STATUE seemingly blocking the doorway but you can just run past him without activating him.

A trio of WALL BLADES are here to meet you, be careful of SPIDERS and low ceilings causing nuisance as you avoid the BLADES. The COLLAPSIBLE BRIDGE is a treacherous callback to the similar trap back in the Large Pool, with the added dangers of DISC SHOOTERS, a super deep hole, and BATS coming your way.

The Crystal Heart Chamber

The CRYSTAL HEART is in a cage at the center of this final Chamber. Go to the Left wall and climb up the rubble to shimmy along the ledge and climb up. When you can, jump into the cage and pick up the CRYSTAL HEART. You’ll be pushed out into the perimeter of the Chamber. (BUG: Players have reported that ACTION has been disabled after being pushed back –do not fall into the pit). The wall opposite of where you came in with the Bridge is your exit. Drop into the water and swim through, avoiding FALLING ROCKS along the way. When you reach a set of plants and coral, fight against the current as you move into the hole to the Right where you’ll find the final SECRET #3, a GOLD RELIC. Return to the current and let it take you to the end of the game.

THE END

BONUS LEVEL: The Passage

0 Secrets

If you elect to play the unfinished Bonus Level provided by the author upon request, here is a walkthrough for that level.

Small Cave

Turn Left and head up the climbable blocks hugging the Left wall until you reach a SWITCH. This opens a DOOR on the other side of a BOULDER ramp with SPIKES at the end. Run+Jump towards this DOOR while leaning Right so you can slide along the ramp and avoid the BOULDERS as you jump up and lean Left to catch solid ground. Follow the path up to get out of the cave.

Small Waterfall

It’s not apparent right now but there are two main routes through the level, both requiring a driveable version of the “Uncharted Tombs” yacht. The optimal path for both has shared steps between them so I will be repeating myself at times. This split will happen once we reach the Small Waterfall so let’s head there. Also, there are water current-surrounded water pits linked to a network of tunnels leading back to the Small Cave.

Hop onto the rock outcrop in front of you. Notice the MINES scattered around the water below you, that is a hazard for the “Uncharted Tombs”later on but not you physically. Jump down onto a safe bit of rock on the rock pillar there. There’s another safe rock just to the Left and above right past the slope there. Use this second safe bit to jump onto the ladder. Shimmy right and move up a few steps so you can Backflip+Grab the rock behind you.

Don’t head down right now, just note that the SWITCH below you resets all ZIPLINES in the level in case you need to reuse one. One such as the one you can get to from here. Use it to reach a hole in the cliff face where another ZIPLINE awaits. This one is at an odd angle so Lara will advise you to move around a bit to grab it correctly. Use it to reach behind the Small Waterfall. Here we split routes.

ROUTE ONE: THE HIGH WAY

The High Way requires turning off the Large Waterfall so the “Uncharted Tombs”can reach a mined off section of the Upper Pool and through that access to the corridor that ends the level.

Shiva Surprise

Slide down the slope going further into the Small Waterfall to reach the Shiva Surprise. The way out is a trio of trapdoors to your right leading up. To close (they are currently open and unusable) them you need to find and throw three SWITCHES gaining access to three more SWITCHES which then one-by-one close the trapdoors for you. Use what you learned about SHIVA STATUES to avoid getting overrun. There’s a fourth GATE here you can’t open just yet but will need to for the High Way so take note of it.

Large Waterfall

Climb up the trapdoors and then a ladder up to the Upper Pool. Traverse along the perimeter to the Large Waterfall where Lara tells you about the two routes we have to choose from. Ignore the KEY HOLES here, we won’t need them on the High Way. Drop back from the KEY HOLES to shimmy along the lower part of the Large Waterfall until you can pull back up. Jump across to the pit and throw the SWITCH there opening that fourth gate back in Shiva Surprise. We’re not heading there just yet. Head out of the pit and turn Right. Run+Jump to reach a bit of ground there then turn around and enter another small cave system. Ignore the area on your Right and go Left just a bit then turn around and head back to the entrance to avoid the BOULDERS. Head out where the BOULDERS came from.

End Gate

Look Right to see an area with a PUSHBLOCK, that’s our next destination. Jump across the water slope to the safe rock and from there to the orange platform and another Run+Jump to the PUSHBLOCK area. Move the PUSHBLOCK as far as it can go and move toward the SWITCH. Surprise, you’re dropped into a…harmless hallway. Trapdoor closes behind you as you climb up further down the hall to the Right. Pull the SWITCH there to open the END GATES. Hop across the lower hall and pull another SWITCH letting you out as well as opening another gate in the vertical shaft between Shiva Surprise and the Upper Pool.

To Uncharted Tombs and Beyond

On the way out, Lara warns you that once you enter the boat you cannot exit. Make sure you’ve decided what you want to do before getting in. Make your way back to the vertical shaft above the Shiva Surprise but don’t go through the opened gate just yet. Head back down and throw the SWITCH you gained access to back in the pit next to the Large Waterfall. This will dam up the Large Waterfall granting boat access from the lower area. Return to the shaft and reach the ladder to the opened gate. Traverse the COLLAPSING FLOOR and reach the ZIPLINE. Use it to reach your boat. Climb on board and take the Left path going downward. Avoid the MINES as you skirt around the rock pillar. Use the Fallen Rock Pillar as a booster to reach the waterfall ramp up to the Upper Pool. Turn Left and follow the water into the End Tunnel to end the level.

ROUTE TWO: THE SCENIC ROUTE

The Scenic Route bypasses turning off the Large Waterfall by instead opening an Upper Passage Gate allowing the boat access to the Perimeter Pools surrounding the opposite side of the valley from the Waterfalls which then lead to access to the corridor that ends the level.

Small Waterfall

Hug along the path to the Right, avoid the slide down, and soon reach a SWITCH. Throw it, then return to the start of the slide but don’t slide down yet. Run+Jump over to the next rock past the other slopes. Use this to Run+Jump over to the Fallen Rock Pillar. Use this to Run+Jump over to another safe spot on the other side of the Ramp within the same Small Waterfall. Make another running jump to reach a safe spot and go through the open door to pick up the first UPPER PASSAGE KEY. Return to where you first landed behind the Small Waterfall from the ZIPLINE.

Shiva Surprise

Large Waterfall

Climb up the trapdoors and then a ladder up to the Upper Pool. Traverse along the perimeter to the Large Waterfall where Lara tells you about the two routes we have to choose from. Take note of the KEY HOLES here, we will need a second UPPER PASSAGE KEY for this. Drop back from the KEY HOLES to shimmy along the lower part of the Large Waterfall until you can pull back up. Jump across just before a pit; there’s a SWITCH down there but you can ignore it, that’s for the other route. Turn Right and take a running jump to reach a bit of ground there then turn around and enter another small cave system. Jump to the COLLAPSIBLE FLOOR above the SPIKES there and head over to grab the second UPPER PASSAGE KEY. Take a running jump to reach safe haven past the SPIKES. Go forward just a bit then turn around and head back to the small cave entrance to avoid the BOULDERS. Head out where the BOULDERS came from, not back to the Large Waterfall KEY HOLES just yet, we have to open the End Gates first.

End Gate

To Uncharted Tombs and Beyond

On the way out, Lara warns you that once you enter the boat you cannot exit. Make sure you’ve decided what you want to do before getting in. On your way back to the vertical shaft above the Shiva Surprise, place both UPPER PASSAGE KEYS into the KEY HOLES under the Large Waterfall. This will open the dual gates to your Right allowing boat access. Return to the vertical shaft and jump to the ladder to the opened gate. Traverse the COLLAPSING FLOOR and reach the ZIPLINE. Use it to reach your boat. Climb on board and take the Right path going upward. Take a sharp Right to avoid the MINES and head up the newly opened gates. Follow the water path, up a bridge jump, then around the Perimeter Pools as Lara bonks her head on every rock possible. Eventually you’ll reach a small series of water drops, take these down to the into the End Tunnel and follow the water path (don’t turn Right) to end the level.

THE END AGAIN