MOONLIGHT TEMPLE

Beyond the Basics Egypt (2024) – Level by illyaine

Walkthrough by Treeble

This is a non-linear level and there might more time-efficient ways to do things than described in this walkthrough. A couple of shortcuts are not necessary if you follow it from start to finish, but I'll try and document them as well.

As Lara slides into the first chamber, a boulder rolls after her, quickly move to the right and gun down two small scorpions coming in. Go through the doorway they were coming from and immediately take a left through the small opening to find a jump switch you can reach by bouncing off the slope. It opens the double doors leading to the main courtyard, just ahead.

After the flyby, you might want to deal with two harpies for some quiet exploration. From the stairway you arrived at, hop over the railing to the left and find an opening to the scale puzzle in the temple we just came out of — we'll be here later (you might want to go inside just to spot four effigies in the hallway you just crossed, only visible from this place). For now, jump over the next railing and go for that button you see behind another opening in the wall.

Back at the wall opening threshold, jump to an upper ledge on the right and find a small date branch. Backflip off the nearby slope to grab a crevice high up on the pillar, then jump backwards (tap backwards while hanging) to grab hold of a pole and swing your way to a tall plateau surrounding the courtyard. In the back corner there is a small date branch, then proceed hopping over the flat spots to a crevice in the other end of the courtyard, which you grab and shimmy your way to the top of the archway. There, you'll find SECRET #1: THE ATLAS. Facing south, slide and jump to grab another swing pole and jump off to a ledge ahead to lay your hands on the REVOLVER, then safety drop to the courtyard.

Shoot two small scorpions scuttling towards you and find a small date branch next to the tree where the sand is at its highest, then slide down to the depression in front of the pyramid, shooting another small scorpion there. Face the closed doorway on the left and throw the switch in the alcove you see on its left side, then go around to the alcove on the other side to arrive at a spike-filled pit.

Jump over the spikes to grab a ladder on the opposite wall and shimmy towards the other end of the room. Backflip to an opening there (a midair roll with grab might help you glide into the alcove safely) to find another switch; with both switches down, a door opens elsewhere. Jump back to the ladder but don't shimmy your way back just yet. Instead, climb to the top of the room and backflip to an opening just above the switch alcove, inside of this upper alcove you'll find SECRET #2: THE MATI ORB. Return to the ladder and then to the entrance opening.

Go up the stairs leading to the area you came from and this time jump over the other set of railings. Jump over the railing to grab the edge of the slope next to its corner, then shimmy all the way left to the wall above the spike pit doorway you just came out of. Pull up onto the slope and backflip with a midair roll while hard steering to the right in order to land on the plateau above. The first opening is blocked by a barrier, but don't go through the second opening just yet. Safely climb down into the dark pit instead.

Light a flare to locate revolver rounds behind one of the blocks, and on the other side there's a crawlspace which leads you to a switch. Climb back out of the pit and now enter the open doorway nearby, safety drop to the pit inside and claim a SCARAB, the first of three we need. Back at the main courtyard, run to the area beyond the pyramid.

Enter the tall archway to the right to a room with shiny reflective floor. Go up to the altar and find an opening in the left corner hiding a crawlspace, through which is a button to shift the sarcophagus and reveal a small nook beneath it, where you'll collect the SMALL WATERSKIN. On your way back out, a small scorpion shows up.

Run across the courtyard in a straight line to the opposite doorway. The broken stairs reveal a massive underground sphinx and a camera flyby, we'll get down there eventually. For now, take the side passage, shatter the vases for a small date branch and push open the sarcophagus to retrieve the LARGE WATERSKIN inside. No water puddles in sight though...

Back in the courtyard, go towards the stairs you came in and find the trapdoor you've opened much earlier halfway down. Use the ladder to go down safely and hop over the slope for a pack of yellow light sticks next to a boulder, then jump back across and through the opening in the wall to drop into a room with a central pit.

Push the block in the left hand wall as far as it will go but don't delve further in just yet. Return to the previous room and cross the pit by shimmying on the lower rim of the sloped edges, then pull up and open a sarcophagus there to find a first aid kit. Take the side passage and quickly run down, veering off to the right when possible to dodge the course of two rolling boulders, then approach a small library of sorts.

Loop around and enter the passage between the scroll cases to enter a mirrored room. In the back of which, find a crevice on the right hand wall that you can use as a means to vault up to the top, then grab the nearby rope and swing towards the mirror. The switch there makes a key slowly lower onto the central pillar, so get back to the previous ledge (there's a box of revolver rounds in the back corner) and then hop to the pillar in the center of the room to get that RUSTY KEY.

Back at the library, use the key at the top of the staircase. In the antechamber you come to, loop around to the right and go up the stairs to a set of doors you can push open. This brings you right back to the stairwell you pushed the block into, go up a few steps and find a switch just behind said block, it raises a block in the previous room with the pit but it doesn't serve us much of a purpose at this point.

Hop onto that block you've pushed and grab the spiral crevice on the wall, shimmying all the way to the top of the shaft until you can vault to the room behind the barrier where you'd found a waterskin moments before. The vases are hiding two small scorpions. Move the obelisk into the marked corner in the tile and a boulder rolls down the stairwell, hitting that gong at the bottom. The nearby door opens for a shortcut but we're not ready to leave yet, so shimmy all the way down the spiral shaft (note that everytime you shift around a corner, you need to let go and hold action again so Lara lines up with the ledge properly).

Go down to the bottom of the stairwell and enter the library again, this time go downstairs to that statue at the bottom. The gong broke a barrier there, enabling you to throw a switch which floods a fair share of the level. As you step back out, watch out for a mummy — it's not afraid of water and just might push you off the ledge...

Head upstairs and now cross that antechamber, going straight to the room in the back, and go up either of the staircases you find there. Hop over a gap, get yellow light sticks in the alcove on the left and on the opposite side you can pull up through a narrow crawl space leading you to SECRET #3: a GOLDEN KHOPESH. Crawl back out and notice a keyhole behind the pillar at the top of the small flights of stairs, but right now all you can do is use the ladder in the alcove to reach a jump switch up above.

It disarms spikes back in the gong stairwell, so go there (through the stairs on the antechamber) and enter the small room at the top of the stairs to find a small date branch next to the now safe-to-get PYRAMID KEY. Return to the previous area with the jump switch and use the key at the top to lower a block just behind the gap. Go back there to find another SCARAB. Two down, one to go.

Get back to the surface by shimmying all the way up that spiral shaft again. As you step into the courtyard, enter the open doors behind the small waterfalls to the left and get the DJED PILLAR, for which you will see the receptacle on the back side of the pyramid. It destroys a barrier elsewhere in the temple, but we're still short of one scarab.

Time to get to that scale puzzle. If you'd entered that room before, you might have noticed through the barriers that there are four effigies which you can only see from inside, so let's take that as our hint and bring 4 liters of water on our waterskin. There's a water puddle at the bottom of the pyramid.

(Fill the large waterskin and combine it with the small waterskin, then proceed to empty the small waterskin. Move the remaining 2 liters from the large waterskin to the small one. Fill up the large waterskin again and combine it with the small one, resulting in 4 liters in the large waterskin.)

Hop over the railing and to that entrance and pour the 4 liters of water into the scale jar. The newly risen block enables you to throw a switch, which opens the doors into the pyramid back. Get back there and take that final SCARAB, but watch out as two mummies are now on the prowl. With all three scarabs in our possession, it's time to explore that other wing of the temple. Head upstairs and run past the level entrance, where the boulder lies, and down the other hallway.

A crocodile has been eagerly expecting you all along. The side passage is collapsed, so go straight ahead and deal with two small scorpions before slotting your three scarabs into the wall. As you run up the massive staircase, stay as close as possible to the left side wall to avoid two incoming boulders. Get the HORUS CANOPIC JAR from the plinth and run through the opening doors straight ahead.

Climb down the ladder and quickly dispatch the approaching harpy before it pushes you off the sphinx. While on top of the sphinx, find a bridge of sorts leading straight into the south wall and cross it to jump into a small triangular opening in the wall. Crawl towards the end of this passage where you'll find the SEAL OF ANUBIS on a pedestal. Slide backwards off the ledge right next to it to land on a closed trapdoor on the sphinx.

Enter through the opening on the sphinx neck, as it were, and monkey swing to a jump lever on the north wall. It lowers the trapdoor you just saw, and you land right on top of a small date branch. You hear mummies hissing from below. On the other end of this ledge is a crawlspace leading to aligned slopes which you can use to safely climb down, but also note this is your way up should you need it. There's a bridge of sorts linking the sphinx to the north wall so that you can jump onto the sphinx' back, and inside that trapdoor is a switch to trigger a raising block to get back to the top of the sphinx.

At the bottom of the area, enter the small room with a fountain to find revolver rounds. Behind the sphinx is another mummy, which you might want to dispatch before placing the canopic jar on the pedestal beneath the waterfall. If you need to return to the courtyard for whatever reason, there are flat spots in the sand in the SE corner of the room and a couple of switches along the way.

After placing the canopic jar, enter the next room and get a small date branch right in front of you, then cross the tightrope (if you fall into the water, there's an underwater passage leading you right back outside the sphinx) and place the seal into that statue in the back. Go back to the previous room and jump to the newly revealed opening in the wall and slide down to a massive area.

Get a small date branch to your left then cross the room to push the two buttons flanking the doors to unleash Setha. That revolver comes in handy now. When the enemy is done for, THE BOOK OF AMUN RA spawns on the pedestal just outside. Pick it up and climb up the ladder to ledges surrounding the room, then run around the perimeter to another button in the back. Quickly hop backwards as two boulders fall down into nearby niches, raising a trapdoor just past the last ladder, so run back around the perimeter and jump to the ramp beyond the gap. Run upwards to the surface and this adventure comes to an end.