Tomb Raider 8: Underworld

LEVEL 2: COASTAL THAILAND - PART 4: PUPPET NO LONGER

Health Items: 0
Treasures: 2
Relics: 0
Keys/Puzzle Items: 0

FLOODED ROOM WITH BROKEN BRIDGE:

After leaving the HUGE ROOM WITH THE THOR STATUE AND CIRCULAR PLATFORM in the previous section, continue forward to the small, flooded room ahead. When you step out onto the broken bridge, spiders swarm out of crevices in the walls. Shoot them down before exploring further.

On the bottom of the murky pool, just to the right of the farther part of the broken bridge, there's a treasure (29/30). After getting it, swim back to the end of the bridge where you started. There's a small ledge where you can climb out of the water onto the bridge.

When Lara is facing across the broken bridge, the exit from this area is underwater on the left. The lever that opens it is high on the left wall on the other side of the broken bridge. Naturally the gap in the bridge is too wide to jump. To get across, begin by taking a running jump off the right corner of the ledge and grappling the metal ring on the wall. Alternately, stand at the right corner of the ledge, grapple the ring and jump toward the ring. If you just step off the edge, Lara may fall in the pool, releasing the cable. Then you'll have to climb back up and try again.

When you've done this first maneuver successfully and Lara is dangling from the ring, adjust the length of the cable if necessary. Her feet should be a little above water level (maybe two feet, Lara scale). Move the camera perpendicular to the wall and begin wall running back and forth. Try and keep the camera directly behind Lara as she runs, building up to a nice, long arc. When the back-and-forth motion takes Lara above the horizontal line on the wall between the light and dark colored areas, you'll know she's running high enough.

Keep this up, and when she runs all the way to the left, jump away from the wall (i.e., release the Left direction key and immediately press the Back key plus the Jump key; or, if you're using a controller, slide the stick from the left to the down position and press Jump). If you've set up the wall run correctly, Lara will spring from the wall and grab the end of the broken bridge behind her. Pull up and turn right.

EXIT DOOR MECHANISM:

Go to the back left corner of the room and climb the two stone slab handholds. Climb to the left and jump to grab the horizontal pole jutting out of the wall. Don't let go yet. Lara's weight pulls the pole down the track on the wall, operating the mechanism that opens the door. Once it's fully open, you can drop into the water and swim through.

BUG NOTE: Some players have reported reaching this area only to find the pole that opens the door is missing. This is a bug triggered by swimming into the underwater tunnel at the start of "The Remnants" chapter. As far as I know, the only solution is to reload a save from the start of the Coastal Thailand level (or earlier) and replay without swimming into that tunnel. Or, if you're playing the PC version, you can download my save file for this level (Puppet No Longer) with the exit already open. For additional details, see the Eidos Interactive support site.

UNDERWATER TUNNEL:

Swim forward through the tunnel. As long as you don't dawdle, you should have no trouble making it to the air pocket ahead on the ceiling, where Lara can surface and breathe. When you're ready to move on, dive down and continue swimming along the tunnel.

About halfway between the air pocket and the exit, there's a roughly circular depression on the bottom, where you'll find the last treasure (30/30) in the level. Just beyond this depression, the tunnel slopes up sharply. Grab the precious and continue straight on to the exit. To open the big, carved doors, swim close to the shiny wheel and press Interact to turn it. Swim through and head for the surface.

Hmm. . . this looks familiar. Swim toward Lara's boat to end the level.

Cinematic: Lara hauls herself back on board and grabs her laptop for a little conference with the boys back at home. She tells Zip and Alister about the map and her father's involvement. She says she's convinced he kept a record of the map's contents and that he found and hid the other gauntlet. . . well, right under their noses. We then see her motoring toward home.