LEVEL 26: CITADEL
Secrets: 2*
BUG NOTE: In the PC version of the game, you may start this without the use of the F5, F6 and pause (P) keys. See the bug note in the walkthrough for the previous level, CITADEL GATE, for details. So far, the only way I've found to avoid it is to skip the final cut scene in that level altogether by using the level-skip cheat. If you want to see the cut scene, save your game before approaching Azizus. Watch the movie, then reload your save and skip the rest of the level from there. If the cheat doesn't work for you, download a saved game. Choose patched save (if you installed the TRLR patch) or unpatched save. For help with savegames and .zip files, see here.
HALLWAY: Go forward to trigger another cut scene.
Cut scene: Lara enters the CITADEL to find Jean-Yves tied to a pillar. She frees him and they exchange information. (A transcript of the dialogue appears at the bottom of the page.)
Go through the first room (where Jean-Yves was) to the similar looking room on the left. The camera malfunctions at this point, but do your best to get through and out the opposite side. Go up the stairs to a room with a lever and lit torches. Use the lever to open the gold doors down in the first room. Then pick up the WOODEN TORCH in one of the side alcoves, light it on the burning torch and return downstairs to the second room.
The lack of a Look button at this point makes it a little difficult, but take a standing jump into the raised alcove on the left side of the room. Walk under the rope that stretches from the corner of the alcove to the ceiling to set the rope on fire. It burns away, opening a section of floor out in the first room. Return there, pick up some Uzi clips in the small room behind the gold door and drop into the pit.
Follow the tunnel to an alcove on the left containing wideshot shells. Then continue to an opening high up inside a TALL ROOM WITH STAIRCASES AND POOL.
Cut scene: One of Von Croy's goons runs up the stairs to a room with a lever.
If you enter this area with weapons drawn, you may be able to take out the bad guy on the highest ledge on the opposite side of the room. If not, just keep going. You'll meet him again later.
Take a standing jump to the ledge to the left (west) of the entrance. From here you can see a large medipak in the hall ahead. This hallway is fire-trapped, so avoid it for now. Instead, take a running jump from the ledge to the bottom of the stairs that apparently lead up to nowhere (along the west wall). Go to the top of these stairs and jump to grab the ceiling. (This texture looks a little different from the usual ceiling bars, but it works.) Monkey swing to the small opening in the wall. Position Lara right up against the wall, then let go and quickly press Action again to grab the edge of the opening. Crawl inside for secret #1 (61/70), a large medipak and flash grenades. Climb out the way you came and drop into the pool below.
Swim through the underwater opening into the main room. Pick up some flash grenades on an underwater ledge. Climb out of the water on the long ledge and take a running jump to grab the block step (on the west side). From here you can climb to where you entered this room.
(NOTE: You can also do the above if you fall into the pool by accident at any time. The underwater tunnel leading from the bottom center of the main room takes you to a SMALL ROOM WITH ANGLED BLOCKS. You'll go through there later from a crawlspace above the water.)
Stand on the ledge between the entrance and the stairway to nowhere. Turn around to face the main room (east) and drop back to grab the edge of the ledge. Traverse to the left side of the ledge, let go and quickly press Action again to grab the diagonal crevice below. Traverse down the crevice to the right and around the corner. As soon as you round the corner, let go and grab the crevice below. Continue traversing to the right, around two corners, until you can pull up into a crawlspace on the north wall.
You might want to save your game before crawling out the other side and dropping onto the angled block below. When you drop, immediately jump to back flip onto another angled block, then jump again to grab a crack in the wall ahead. Traverse to the left, pull up into the alcove and take the small medipak. Turn around and take a running jump to grab the bottom of the stairs opposite. Immediately draw weapons to shoot the blue-robed baddie at the top of the stairs. Continue up the stairs to the top. You'll meet another bad guy on the landing if you didn't shoot him when you first entered the main room.
At the top of the stairs, go up the ramp to the right. Turn around when you reach the lever, because a third bad guy sneaks up behind you. Use the lever to deactivate the flame trap below in the hallway with the large medipak. Safety drop through the opening in the floor to the left of the lever. (Lara will lose about 1/4 health from this drop, so make sure you have enough. If not, you can jump down into the pool and climb back up.) Pick up the large medipak and continue along the hall (to the north) and down the stairs.
Cut scene: When you enter the next room, you see an aerial view of the floor, which resembles the face of a compass.
COMPASS ROOM: Walk around the perimeter of the room and pick up grenades, flash grenades and a small medipak in three of the corners. Save your game before starting the compass puzzle in case you encounter the bug described below. Now tackle the puzzle: First check the compass in your inventory. The stairs where you entered are due south. So, opposite that is north, and right and left are east and west, respectively. The top of each table has a letter representing one point of the compass (N, S, E and W). Move each table onto the circle at the appropriate point of the compass and all the doors open.
(BUG NOTE: Several things can go wrong here. First, some video cards don't display the textures on the tabletops, so players can't tell which is which. These screenshots show how the tabletops should look, as well as the aerial view with each table labeled and arrows showing where to move each one. Second, due to a bug, it is possible to arrange the tables correctly but still not open the doors. To avoid this, make sure you don't accidentally push any of the tables over the ending position for another table. For example, don't move the 'S' table across the north or west tile in the process of getting it to the south tile. Or, you may want to try moving the tables in a particular order. Some players have reported that arranging the tables in the order N, E, W, S prevented the bug. Or, if the tables have already been moved, rearranging them in the same order—N, E, W, S—fixed the bug. If you're stuck and didn't save your game before trying this puzzle, you can download a saved game. Choose patched save (if you installed the TRLR patch) or unpatched save. For help with savegames and .zip files, see here.)
Go through the WEST DOOR (left when Lara's back is to the entrance). Follow the ramp down to a room with a stone ledge. Climb onto the ledge and hop down into the pit on the left side to get some flares. Climb back up and drop through the trapdoor into the pool. Three underwater tunnels lead out of this room, and there are a pipe and two trapdoors in the floor. Of the two raised tunnels, the right (west) one leads to a lever you can't use yet. Follow the tunnel on the left (south) to an underwater room with a switch on the ceiling. Position Lara below it, then press Action to pull the switch, closing the trapdoor back in the previous room. There's also a small medipak on the floor in one corner. You may need to go back for air before getting it.
From the room below the trapdoor, swim through the lowest (north) tunnel to a room with columns and a chain. Climb out of the water, pick up the revolver ammo in the corner and follow the ramp back up to the COMPASS ROOM, emerging through the NORTH DOOR.
Go through the EAST DOOR from the COMPASS ROOM. Follow the ramp down to a room with 2 henchmen guarding a lever. Kill the guys and use the lever to lower the water level in the other rooms. Go back up to the COMPASS ROOM, through the NORTH DOOR down to the room with the chain. Jump into the pool and swim through the tunnel to the room where the various tunnels converge. Surface and climb out of the water into the west tunnel. Now that the water level is lower, you can pull the lever. This opens the two trapdoors in the previous room, lowering the water level even further. Go back there, pick up some Uzi clips from below one of the trapdoors, and follow the north tunnel back to the room with the chain. (You'll need to climb out of the water and walk partway.) Kill a new bad guy waiting here and take his small medipak. Now that the pit no longer has water in it, you can pull the chain. This opens the square door nearby.
CRUSADERS' VAULTS: Enter and follow the tunnel to a crawlspace. Crawl through to the next room.
Cut scene: The 2 undead knights Von Croy/Set reanimated now come after Lara.
These guys cannot be destroyed. They can, however, be used to open the exit. Either roll, jump forward and climb up onto the wooden platform, or run to the top using the ramp in the corner. (And be sure to watch out for the deep pits.) When you reach the top, position Lara in front of the wooden beams nailed across the exit. Wait for the knights to come up the ramp and when they swing at Lara, they'll break the beams. Run through the exit and climb up into the room above.
(NOTE: I found it helped to stand facing the boards, right up next to them and wait. If one of the knights takes a swing at point-blank range, Lara will take a little damage, but the beams will definitely break. If you jump out of the way too soon, the knights may not swing.)
Pick up the Uzi clips and flares inside the next room on the left. Hop down into the pit. Go to the left side and look for a deep hole in the ground. On the left side of this hole is a small opening a little way down. Drop and hang from that edge, let go and quickly press Action again to grab the edge of the opening. Crawl inside and follow the tunnel to secret #2 (62/70). This small room contains a small armory—explosive arrows, flash grenades, revolver ammo, wideshot shells and a large medipak—guarded by 2 more undead knights. You can get the items one or two at a time, dropping back down into the hole between pick-ups until the knights move away from your next target. When you've got everything, slide down the ramp in the corner of the secret room to return to the big room.
Hop back down into the pit and head to the north to finish the level.
Cut scene: Lara stumbles upon Von Croy/Set and a few of his charming puppies. His glowing red eyes and ashen skin give her a start and she gasps.
Von Croy (whispers): Come in, Lara. I have been expecting you. Come to me, child. Do not fear your old colleague. I merely require the armor that you hold in your possession.
Lara: And in return. . . ?
Von Croy: I will grant you vigor as those around you fall. You shall command the ultimate power: that of life or death over those you choose at your side. And in return they will bow at your feet and give worship.
Lara: Got my fair share of that already. (She begins to back out.) And besides. . . give a jackal your hand and he'll bite off the whole arm.
She runs to the receptacle and removes the amulet, sealing Von Croy/Set and his dogs behind the big door.
Lara: Barking mad.
She climbs out a window and dives into the water below.
Cut scene in the first part of this level:
Lara enters the CITADEL to find Jean-Yves tied to a pillar. She frees him and they exchange information.
Jean-Yves: Thank God you made it! Von Croy. . . I saw it myself. I would not have believed such a thing. He is possessed of Set!
Lara: Get out of here, Jean. I have a feeling that things may turn nasty.
Jean-Yves: He is digging under the Citadel into the Crusaders' vaults in search of the ceremonial tablet. The tablet which contains Set's binding incantations. Be careful, Lara. (He hugs her.) I fear there are things in the vaults man was not meant to see.
Lara: I am not a man, Jean, and I am always very, very careful.
Cut to Von Croy crouching on the ground, then brushing the dirt away from a stone tablet.
Von Croy (whispers): We have it. The ancient Ceremonial tablet. (He hands it to one of his assasssins.) Take it and prepare it. . . and see if the Croft woman has arrived with our armor.
Von Croy uses the Amulet of Horus to open a nearby door. He enters and uses his newly acquired godlike powers to resurrect a couple of long-dead knights.
*NOTE: There are 70 secrets in the entire game. These are marked "(x/70)" in this walkthrough. To check your progress in-game, press Pause and choose Statistics.
Copyright © 2000 - Stellalune (e-mail stella@tombraiders.net). Special thanks are given to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, without whom some parts of this walkthrough couldn't have been written. Thanks also to Dale F. for help on this level. Feel free to copy, distribute and quote this walkthrough, but please include this credit line so people can send me their corrections, comments and suggestions. Also, if you'd like to offer this on your own web site, please read and follow the instructions here.
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