ESCAPE FROM THE CAVE
Level by Alphonse
Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth
Turn around, slide down toward the cave as your friendly guide lights a wall torch to open one door, then he appears to become frustrated as he lights a second wall torch and the corresponding door fails to open. Grab the flares to your left and go around the pool to the opened E doorway. (There's a closed gate down in the water you'll return to later.) Make your way down to a lava pool, shooting a number of bats as you descend (I didn't bother to count them).
Stand right, slide down toward the lava and jump to land on the triangular ledge, attracting more bats. Hop to the SE corner, then to the NE corner, pull up into the N opening to trigger a boulder and hop back to grab the edge as it bounces over your head. Pull back up for the large medipack and turn right to find a pushblock. Push it two times to expose an overhead opening, pull up right to a fixed camera and run forward to restore a normal view. Turn to your right and enter the crawl space. Turn around to face E before picking up the shotgun ammo, as doing so will attract a baby spider. Get up on one knee and draw your pistols to kill it. Crawl N toward the small medipack and another baby spider will attack.
Exit this crawl space and go over to the SE corner to find a second crawl space. Enter and turn to face W before picking up the small medipack, as another baby spider will be awakened. Exit and go to the trunk of the SW tree. The N face is climbable, so jump up to grab it and take a rolling back flip to grab the opening in the S wall. Pull inside for SECRET #1 and crawl forward for the LASER SIGHT. Exit and find the pushblock in the S wall between the tree and the crawl space. Push it three times to reveal an opening to your right and beat a hasty retreat as a giant spider attacks. Run up the tree limb to your right where you'll be safe while you shoot at it. If the spider gets close enough to deliver a poisonous sting, you'll need to use a small medipack.
Enter the new area and find a reach-in switch that opens the door where the guide is waiting while the BLUE CRYSTAL is added to your inventory. Exit to the forest clearing, crawl out NW and take a step or two W to trigger another boulder in the short dark passage. Drop down to the corner ledge in the lava pool and hop the next three ledges on the S side. Side step right, jump straight up to grab the crack in the S wall and pull into the crawl space. You may or may not encounter more bats here. Crawl around right until you can stand up, then make your way up to the beginning area with the pool.
Follow the guide into the opened N doorway and hear the previous E door closing behind you. Go down the rough cobblestone path to where the guide is waiting in front of a closed gate. Go around past him and slide down right onto a ledge next to another lava pool. Crawl into the opening, hang from the edge and shimmy left until Lara's feet find a ladder surface at the corner. There's a crawl space you could pull up into, but you'll be coming back that way later. Instead, take a rolling back flip and grab the opening at the opposite NW corner.
Pull up into a crawl space, turn right and save your game in front of the breaktile. Crawl forward to make the breaktile start crumbling, stand up and jump forward to grab the slope. Pull up, slide down the other side and pull up right into another crawl space. Stand up, hop down to a lower passage, use the reach-in switch to your left and watch your guide walk forward to light another wall torch. In a few more seconds the gate behind you lifts, so reverse roll, pull up into the crawl space and hang from the edge over the lava pool. Shimmy right past the lava, pull up into the crawl space and crawl to your right. Jump S the slope and loop around left to meet the guide. As you follow behind him there's a brief earthquake.
The guide has stopped in front of another closed gate, and the rickety bridge is composed entirely of breaktiles. Therefore, don't try to walk across, but hang from the edge beside it, shimmy left around the corner onto the bridge and continue until you can shimmy around the corner on the other side. Pull up and use the reach-in switch in the alcove ahead to lift the gate in front of the guide. You don't need the bridge any more, so you can either stand left and run back across or shimmy back the same way you came.
The guide has moved on, so follow him down the steps to trigger a flyby of the perils ahead. Go around the corner to find the guide waiting in front of another closed gate. Face the lava pool and save your game for a tricky running jump E to grab the monkey bars. The way I found to do it reliably was to stand on the crack where the ledge starts to slope down to the lava, and from there I took a walking-running jump (shift and up arrow keys followed by the jump key) to grab the bars. Monkey swing to the N wall, turn right and release to drop onto a jutting ledge where a boulder is triggered. Hop back immediately to grab the edge and pull back up after the boulder has rolled by.
Walk to the end of the ledge and take a running jump SE to grab the opening. Pull up for SECRET #2 and run forward to the revolver ammo. Walk back to the opening, face a bit SW and stand jump to grab the opening in the S wall. Pull up in front of a reach-in switch that opens two gates, the one where the guide is standing and the one behind you across the lava pool. Don't try to get across with a direct jump. Instead, drop to the ledge below, stand jump from the apex to the NE corner and pull up in front of the opened gate. Shoot two raptors from the relative safety of the opening and enter their lair. Pull up into the N opening and use the reach-in switch to open the underwater gate back in the beginning area.
Exit the raptors' lair by taking a standing jump SW down to the triangular ledge next to the lava, pull up W and run to the other end of the ledge. Drop down and take a walking-running jump toward the S opening where the guide earlier lit another wall torch. Go back up past the SW opening to the beginning where the guide is now waiting and jump into the water. Locate the ceiling switch beyond the opened gate and pull it down to open the nearby S door. As you pull out S the N door closes, so approach the S opening carefully. The shotgun ammo ahead is trap-protected, so walk down with your shoulder against a wall so you won't be squashed when the boulder falls on top of it and rolls down the slope. Grab the ammo and go down after the boulder.
When you reach the floor hole at the bottom of the slope, stand jump over it with grab to glide into the alcove where you'll find the SHOTGUN. Turn around, stand jump to grab the ladder, climb down a bit, shift right and drop into the E passage. Run forward to trigger a brief flyby through the area ahead. Walk to the edge of the lava pool and take a running jump to grab the E ledge. Pull up to face another lava pool with a skeleton waiting on the other side. Take a running jump and grab to get across, draw your shotgun while pulling up and blast the skeleton over the edge.
Take another running jump N and take a standing jump down into the E opening. Use the reach-in switch to open the door to the lair of a T-Rex. If you're a sissy, you can stay here and kill it with persistent pistol fire, or you can jump across the lava and engage it at close quarters (but beware of debris falling from the ceiling). When it's dead, note that the area is surrounded by a lava-filled trench. Go to the S edge and stand jump to grab the higher opening in the wall. Pull into the crawl space, go forward to the receptacle and place the Blue Crystal to open the final door in this level.
Exit, hang from the crawl space and drop to the triangular ledge in the lava. Reverse roll, walk to the apex and pull up to the central area. For the final secret, go over to the E edge, dodge the falling debris and locate two wall openings, one higher and one lower. To reach the lower opening, look down into the lava for a triangular ledge and safety drop onto it. With your back to the wall, stand jump slightly SE to grab the opening. Pull into the crawl space for SECRET #3 and go forward for the REVOLVER. To get out, pull up left two times to reach the higher opening in the E wall. Stand jump out from the edge at an angle so you'll land on the higher portion of the central area and avoid taking damage.
Exit via the N opening, jump the first two ledges W and take a rather tricky running jump from the highest portion of the second ledge to the highest portion of the third ledge. Grab, pull up and take a running jump over the lava toward the SW exit. At the lava hole at the end of the passage, jump to grab the ladder, climb up and return to the beginning area (jumping as necessary to clear the slopes). Go though the open W doorway and head toward the bright outdoor sunshine and the small pool ahead to finish the level.