The picture above does a good job of summing up the puzzling shenanigans involved in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Avoid any pitfalls or cockblocks with our detailed guide.
Temple of Light
Use the Left Analog Stick to move around.
Head up the stairs and go around the outskirts near the fence to collect some gems.
You need to open the door at the bottom of the stairs. Place a bomb on one of door wheels by pressing Y. Once you are outside of the blast radius, press Y again to detonate the bomb. You have infinite ammo with your twin pistols and bombs so don’t be afraid to use as many as you like.
Place a bomb on the other door wheel and detonate it to open the door so you can go after Xolotl.
Go up the stairs and into the room with the urns. Draw and aim your weapons using the Right Analog Stick and press RT to fire. You can also hold down RT to fire continuously.
Shoot urns to break them and collect hidden gems and red skulls but watch out for TNT barrels, they bear a striking resemblance to urns.
Go up the next set of stairs and use a bomb to blow up the arrow trap so you can make your way to the next area.
Walk into the room to trigger a small cutscene in which you are given Totec’s spear of light. Some minions will jump down and attack you after the cutscene so get ready to throw some spears to take them out.
Go up the stairs to the next area where there two arrow traps flanking a door with some gems on the side. Press X to quickly roll past the arrows and collect the gems on both sides. Alternatively, you can just blow up the traps using your bombs.
Step on the square to open the door.
In order to get to areas that are higher up, you need to use your spears as a step to jump off of. Throw a spear into the wall and then jump off of it to climb up to the higher level where there is a circle with green smoke coming out of it. This is a health shrine that can be used to recover your health. To use the health shrine, simply stand near it and your health will gradually recover. Keep in mind that all health shrines will eventually dry up if they are used for an extended period.
Go up the steps and kill the minions that attack you. You may notice that there are golden rings hanging in certain locations; these are golden grapple rings that you can latch on to with your grapple by pressing RB. Jump up and use the grapple to latch onto the ring in the area and then press the Left Analog Stick up or down to climb up or down the rope.
Step on the square next to the grapple ring to open the door on the other side. Climb down, go up the stairs and then roll under the arrow trap to collect the gems before you proceed through the door to the next area.
Some minions will burst out of the ground and jump up to attack you but, since you are in a narrow space, you can place a bomb and then detonate it at the right moment to take out multiple enemies.
ACHIEVEMENT: Three birds, one stone – Kill three enemies with one bomb.
Blow up the TNT barrels that are blocking the path and head up the stairs to the next area.
There are some med packs in the corner of the room. Walk over them to regain some health. Hold B to grab onto the golden handle that is sticking out of the wall and then move backwards to pull it out from the wall and open the door.
Some enemies will attack as soon as you pass through the door. You can use the spear to knock them into the arrow traps that are set up at the far side of the room. Once the enemies are cleared, destroy the arrow traps and then throw a spear into the wall to the north directly underneath the red skull. Use the spear to jump the gap and collect the skull.
There is another golden handle here. Pull it out of the wall and run through the door before it closes to get to the next area.
There are two squares, a healing shrine, and a ladder in the room. Climb the ladder and you’ll get to a room with two large balls a row of arrow traps. Go up to the closest ball and hold B to roll it around and use it to smash the arrow traps so you can get the skull in the corner. Some enemies will attack you as you do this so be prepared to take them out.
Roll both the balls off the ledge and climb back down the ladder. Move a ball onto each of the squares to open the door and get to the next area.
You will notice that there are a bunch of spider pots in this area as well as a grapple ring on wall.
Reward Challenge: Jump between 7 spider pots without touching the ground
ACHIEVEMENT: Overachiever – Complete any level-specific Reward Challenge.
Use the grapple ring to cross the gap to the other side where the door is. Remember, while you are connected to a grapple ring, you can wall run by pressing the Left Analog Stick from side to side. When you are ready to jump from the wall, press A to release the grapple.
Go through the door to reach Xolotl’s fire trap.
Reward Challenge: Disable Xolotl’s fire trap in under 30 seconds.
To disable Xolotl’s fire trap, you need to pull out the two golden handles that are guarded by fire. Follow the flame jet around until you get the ball. Roll the ball onto the square on the right side of the fire trap. This extinguishes the flames that are guarding the left handle, allowing you to quickly get over there and pull it out. After a minor explosion, the flame trap begins rotating in the opposite direction, and an additional flame jet erupts out. Avoid the flames and move the ball onto the square at the top of the fire trap. This will extinguish the flames that are guarding the handle at the bottom. Hurry over to the bottom handle and pull it out to create a bigger explosion and disable the trap.
Exit through the door to the left and step on the square to activate the timed bridge. Quickly jump across the bridge before it falls to reach the other side.
There is a red skull by the door in this room. Grab the ball in the corner and roll it over underneath the skull. Jump on top of the ball and then throw a spear into the wall and use it to jump up to the skull.
Go through the door to the next area.
Destroy the arrow traps in the room and use the grapple ring to scale the wall and collect a red skull on the way up. Higher up, there is also another grapple ring that you can use to get a health upgrade.
You will notice there is a new type of switch in the room. This is the impact switch. You activate it by shooting or bombing it and it is used to open/close doors and to change objects in the environment. Shoot the impact switch to open the first of the double doors and close the second one. Shoot the impact switch again when you are through the door to open the second door and close the first, allowing you to get to the next room.
After a short cutscene, it’s time for a fight. A rather large minion bursts through the walls and tries to crush you with stampeding attacks. An effective strategy is to lay bombs and then detonate them as he comes charging at you; keep in mind, however, that you also have to deal with lesser minions at the same time. Continue to lay bombs and throw spears at the large minion until he explodes, but don’t celebrate just yet — another one of them bursts through the ground and comes after you. Dodge its attacks by tapping X to roll out of the way, then use your bombs and spears to take him out. There is a door in the room that leads to an optional challenge area where you can find additional artifacts and bonuses.
Optional Challenge Area 1: Enter the room and shoot the impact switch to open the gate. Pass through the gate and throw a spear into the wall so you can climb up and get the health upgrade. Exit the challenge area.
Head up the stairs to the next area when you are ready.
Travel along the narrow walkway until another pair of large minions come up from the ground and surround you. Try to roll around them so you get them both on one side of the room, then use your bombs to stop them from stampeding towards you. The blast from your bombs should stun them long enough for you to get some good shots in with your guns or spears. There is another optional challenge area at the end of the walkway just past some stairs.
Optional Challenge Area 2: Shoot the impact target to open the first gate. Roll the first ball past the gate and rest it on the square to activate the bridge in front of the impact target. Cross the bridge and place a bomb on the impact target to open the second gate so you can roll the second ball in with the first ball. Cross back over the bridge and shoot the impact target to open the first gate so you can take one of the balls out and move it onto the other square, in order to activate a second bridge. Now all you need to do is jump the gap between the bridges to get to the other side and collect the ammo upgrade. Exit the area once you have collected the upgrade.
Head up the stairs and grab the Knife of Itzli relic. Relics are powerful items that can give you special abilities when your relic power meter is full.
Equip the Knife of Itzil and head to the next area.
Pull the gold handle out from the wall to bring up the gapped bridge. As soon as you release the handle, jump across the bridge as fast as you can. You only have a few seconds before it falls. Once you get to the other side, collect the red skull and as many gems as you can before the sections of the wall start rolling towards you.
ACHIEVEMENT: Seeing Red – Collect all 10 red skulls in any single level.
Jump up the ledges that come towards you and make sure that you have the spears equipped since you need to throw them into the wall in order to climb up the taller ledges. Use your grapple to get up the last and tallest ledge.
Get to the exit to complete the level.
Temple Grounds
You unlock the assault rifle at the beginning of the level. Press Select to equip it from the inventory menu but keep in mind that secondary weapons will drain your ammo bar (the blue bar located directly underneath the health bar). You will automatically switch back to your default weapon when the ammo bar is empty. You can also check your objectives and see the level map by pressing Select
Head down and to the east to find a red skull. There are some lizards in the area that will attack you, but they can be easily taken out with your twin pistols. Grab the skull and then go west to trigger a cutscene.
A new type of enemy appears that fires slow, seeking projectiles at you. Dodge the projectiles and rain down bullets on the enemy with your twin pistols. If you managed to take out the lizards from before without taking any damage, you should have a full relic power meter. Use the the power shot bonus that comes from your equipped Knife of Itzil. You can also take out the enemies by blowing up the nearby TNT barrels.
NOTE: Equipping different relics will grant you different abilities when your relic power meter is full.
Continue west and you’ll come to a bridge with the gap in it. Jump down to the other side and use a spear to climb back up to the bridge.
There is a statue on the side of the bridge with a red skull on its head. Use a spear to climb up and grab the skull.
At the end of the bridge there is a dais with three missing sun discs. You’ve got to locate the missing sun discs and bring them back to the dais to open the entrance to the spider temple.
Head south and eliminate any lizards that try to attack. You should come to an ammo upgrade on top of a pillar. Use the shorter pillars to jump up and grab the ammo upgrade before you leave.
Keep heading south but veer east and you’ll find an area with the bolt action rifle. Pick up the rifle and go through the small gap in the wall to get to the outside of the perimeter wall.
Make your way south and around the perimeter to get to the first missing sun disc.
Use the grapple ring to wall run and reach the ledge near the sun disc. From there, throw a spear into the wall so you can climb up to get the sun disc.
Grapple the ring again and wall run back over to the other side. Walk out into the open near the spiked ball that looks kind of like a big pine cone to prompt another reward challenge.
Reward Challenge: Find and defeat the giant demon lizard — walk around the area and the giant demon lizard should pop out of the ground and come after you. To make short work of him, just grab the spiked ball and ram it down his throat.
There is another health upgrade sitting atop a pillar that you can grab before leaving.
Time to find the second sun disc. Head west across the bridge and follow the walkway. At the end of the walkway, a large minion bursts out of the ground. Try to roll behind him and go back the way you came to put some distance between you and him, then drop a bomb so you can stop him from charging towards you. Let loose some spears to finish him off. Some lizards and minions will probably come out and attack you at the same time, so be prepared to take them out as well.
Just past the archway, there is a truck you can destroy. There is a reward challenge for destroying all 10 trucks.
As you enter the room, a large minion lumbers down the stairs towards you. Drop a bomb in front of the stairs and wait for him to walk over it before you detonate it. Kill the smaller minions that attack you, then take down the big one by continually dropping bombs in his path and throwing spears at him.
Go up the stairs to return to the area with the Spider Temple. Run around the west side of the temple and you should see a red skull in a small river near a spiked ball.
Continue north around the temple. You can grab the spiked ball and use it to take out enemies along the way if you want. Around the back of the temple, on the north side, there are some more stairs. As you start to ascend them, you trigger a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style trap with a spiked ball rolling down the stairs towards you.
Haul ass back down the stairs and roll out of the way of the ball. Some more demons and minions come out to attack you, so eliminate them and then head back up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs there is a truck to destroy and a door with light coming out of it. Blow up the truck and then go through the door to find the second sun disc encased within an iron cage with arrow traps.
In the room, there is a spiked ball sitting on top of a pillar, as well as a golden handle near the doorway. Jump up and push the ball off the pillar so you can use it to block the arrows that are shooting out of the cage at the golden handle. Once the ball is in place, you can run over to the handle and pull it out of the wall to raise the cage and get the sun disc.
Leave the room the same way you came in. Once outside, some enemies will pounce on you. Since you are in a confined area, it is a good time to bust out your assault rifle and quickly take them out before they can get too close. Be wary of the larger minions though. They can be trouble in small spaces.
You need to find the last sun disc to open the Spider Tomb. Head back down the stairs and go west to get to the broken bridge.
Reward Challenge: Cross the river without touching the water — head north along the river shore. You will come to a room with some health and an ammo upgrade inside. Take out the lizards that attack you, then climb up to grab the ammo upgrade. Just outside of the room, there is a disjointed bridge made out of what looks like marble slabs. Jump across them to complete the reward challenge and get a health upgrade.
Head south past the stairs to find a healing shrine and a red skull on top of a pillar. To get the skull, jump up on the smaller pillar and then throw a spear into the taller pillar. Use the spear to climb up and grab the skull.
Go up the stairs you just passed and move to the double bridge, but get ready to move. As you walk along the bridge, the ground beneath you begins to crumble, and you will have to jump between the sections in order to avoid falling off and dying. Make sure you are on the southern section as you approach the end, otherwise, you probably won’t make the final jump.
Go down the stairs and blow up the two trucks that are at the bottom by placing a bomb in between them.
There is another flight of stairs in front of you, but don’t climb them just yet. Instead, head north and you will find another two trucks to destroy as well as an optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 3: There are two balls in the room and the floor is full of long spikes. The item you want is behind bars on the north side of the room. You can raise and lower different sections of the spikes by putting weight on any of the 5 squares located on the floor. First, move one of the balls onto the only accessible square. This will open a path to two more squares – one against the east wall and one in the middle. Move the next ball onto the square that is against the east wall. This will open the path to the square that is near the west wall. Go around behind the first ball you placed and pull it onto the square near the west wall. This opens the path to the last square, which is in the far corner. Grab the second ball you placed and push it onto the corner square to open a path in middle. This will allow you to grab the other ball and roll it onto the middle square, which will raise the bars in front of the item. Now all you need to do is head over and grab the Arrow of Tezcatlipoca relic (gives you a scatter shot power up when your relic power meter is full). Once you’ve got the relic, you can exit the area.
Go south and climb the stairs. The final sun disc is at the top of the stairs behind a wall with two fists on it.
To your left, there is a shotgun and an ammo cache. Ammo caches completely refill your ammo supply, and can be found at various points throughout the game. Pick up the shotgun and equip it from the inventory menu.
To get the last sun disc, first, place a bomb next to the fist that is on the ground. Next, go stand on the square to partially separate the sections of the wall in front of the sun disc. Finally, detonate the bomb to permanently separate the sections and get the sun disc. Once the sun disc is collected, the large wooden door located to the south opens up.
After you head down the stairs and out the door, a bunch of lizards and some minions attack but, if you head back up the stairs, they should follow and you can then easily take them out one at a time.
Make your way south and jump down to the wooden ramp. At the corner, when the ramp turns east, you can grab an ammo upgrade by using a spear to climb the wall.
Continue east until you get to the pit of spikes. In order to bypass the pit of spikes, you need to throw a couple of spears into the north wall, so you can hop across them to the other side.
There is another truck nearby that needs exploding. Find it and then head across the bridge. Some magical minions get in your way on the bridge. Pull out your shotgun and blow them away before they have a change to start shooting their projectiles at you.
Keep going east to get to an area with a healing shrine. East of the healing shrine there is a small collapsed bridge. Jump across the bridge to find a platform with a red skull.
As soon as you jump on the platform, a bunch of magical minions will come out of the ground and start shooting projectiles at you. Try to take them out as fast as you can with the shotgun or you might find yourself in trouble.
Head back to the collapsed bridge, where you should notice that there is a doorway in the water to the north. Go through the door to get to a room with some large bars in your way. Hit the impact switch to your left to lower the bars in front of you and raise another set of bars. Drop a bomb next to the impact switch before you move forward past the holes into which the first row were retracted. Detonate the bomb to hit the impact switch again, and you can get past the second row of bars.
Head north and go up the stairs to get to the area where you found the second sun disc. Exit through the door on the right.
Go down the stairs and move south to the get to the dais at the front of the Spider Temple where you place the sun discs.
As you approach the dais, The Spider Temple opens up and a bunch of spiders come crawling down the steps straight for you. Drop some bombs in the spiders path and detonate them to take out a whole bunch of ‘em. Switch to your guns to clear out any that remain.
Some other minions will attack along with the spiders so have some spears ready to take them out.
As soon as the way is clear, you can head into the Spider Temple to complete the level.
Spider Tomb
Equip the Arrow of Tezcatlipoca if you have it. The scatter shot is effective for taking out large groups of spiders.
You need to take the shortcut through the path at the bottom of the tomb.
Head down the stairs to where the gold handle is but be cautious — a bunch of spiders will climb over the ledge in front of you and attack. Roll away and drop some bombs in their path. If you wait for the right moment to detonate it, you can take out five or six of them at a time.
When you attempt to pull the handle out from the wall, a few more spiders pop up. Roll back and blast them with one of your guns.
Completely pull the handle out of the wall to bring up a grapple ring on the other side of the gap. After you let go of the handle, quickly grapple onto the ring and swing to the other side.
Go through the archway and down the stairs. Kill the few spiders that appear near the urn, then continue on down.
At the bottom of the stairs you appear to have hit a dead end, but if you look on the back wall, you should be able to spot a grapple ring.
Use the grapple ring to wall-run over to the other side, where there is a small platform hanging from a crane-like structure. This is one of the hanging counter weights that is used to extend the bridge below you.
Jump off the west side of the counter weight to get to the next unexplored area.
Blast the pair of spiders that come at you and proceed along the path. Step on the square at the end to lower the gate and move into the room.
Be on your guard — this room is a spider trap. Once you enter, the gate closes behind you, and a lot of spiders fall from the ceiling into the room. Drop some bombs to take out the bulk of them and then pull out your shotgun to clean up the rest.
There is a red skull you can grab in the corner of the room, behind the spiked ball.
To the south, there is a doorway with flames shooting up from the ground. Grab the spiked ball and roll it onto the hole to plug the flame pit.
Go through the door and down the stairs to find a healing shrine and an optional challenge.
Optional Challenge Area 4: There is a flamethrower sitting on a square in the middle of the room. If you want the flamethrower, prepare to fight for it, because as soon as you grab it, you activate another spider trap. Tactically place bombs and use your guns to eliminate all the spiders. Exit the room when the area is clear.
Head down the stairs, past the healing shrine, to get to a room with a spiked ball rolling around in a circle. The ball is anchored to the middle of the floor and there is a flame pit blocking the east doorway.
You need to place and detonate a bomb on the peg that the ball is anchored to in order to free it. Once the ball is free, you can use it to plug the flame pit. There is a reward challenge you can complete if you detonate your bomb so that the ball rolls right onto the flame pit without you having to grab it.
A bunch of spiders and some big minions will attack once the flame pit is plugged. Drop some bombs to take out the smaller spiders, then switch to your guns to take out the minions and larger spiders.
Pass through the doorway and go down the stairs. Use your handguns to kill the few spiders that jump down from above and then move north to get to the next counterweight.
When you jump onto the counterweight, the bridge below you extends a little further, and the other counterweight lowers to your level.
Jump east across the counterweight to get to the other side. Blast the large spider that is in your way and go up the stairs to find two red skulls that are guarded by a triple trap.
The trap is just like the one you just disarmed with the spiked ball rolling around in a circle, only this time, there are three balls instead of just one. To get the skulls without getting mashed up by the spiked balls, you need to jump over the anchors as they come towards you. If you can jump over 12 in a row without getting hit, you will complete a reward challenge.
After you have collected the red skulls, head back down the stairs.
Go north and stand on the square to lower the gate to the next room.
There are some spikes and squares along with another red skull behind bars in this room. To get the red skull, you need to raise the bars by running across the three squares in sequence. Don’t linger on any of the squares for long because spikes will rise up after you step on them.
Grab the red skull and make your way down the stairs to the room full of spikes and squares.
There are four red skulls in the room and the pressure squares are all booby-trapped with spikes, just like the ones on the floor above.
Plan out the path you are going to take before you attempt to get the skulls, because once you step on the first square, you need to move fast without backtracking.
Collect all of the skulls, then step on the lighter-colored square in the middle to open the gate on the door to the west.
Go through the door and head down the stairs.
Jump the gap and shoot the spiders at the bottom of the stairs. There is a grapple ring here that you can use to lower yourself down and grab a health upgrade, but watch out for the spiders that follow you back up the wall.
Continue along the path to get to an area with a spiked, rotating pillar.
Kill the spiders in the area and stand on the square next to the pillar to stop it from rotating. Throw a spear into the pillar and then jump on the spear. Once you step off of the square, the pillar will start rotating again and bring you around to the other side.
Hop off the spear and get to the last counterweight.
Jump onto the counterweight to pull it down and fully extend the bridge.
Stand on the square next to the rotating pillar to lower the pillar down to your level, so you can get back across to the other side. As soon as you cross over, you will have to face the queen spider.
Pull out your flamethrower to torch the queen and the smaller spiders that attack you. Keep in mind that the flamethrower drains your ammo reserves a good deal faster than some of your other guns.
When the queen is dead, you can head down the steps to cross the extended bridge.
Heads up! As you approach the end of the bridge, a huge spiked roller prevents you from reaching the exit. Since the bridge is slowly retracting, you aren’t left with much time to react. Take out your pistols and aim for the explosive barrels above the roller. Blowing up the barrels will knock the roller off of its hinges and send it tumbling after you. Quickly run back and hang off of the bridge so that it rolls right over your head into the abyss below.
Climb back up and head for the exit to complete the level.
The Summoning
At the start of the level, head southwest to find a red skull near the water.
Cross the bridge to trigger a cutscene that shows Xolotl bringing a statue of a T-Rex to life.
After the cutscene, the reanimated dinosaur comes stomping towards you and the fight is on. Sadly, the T-Rex won’t take any damage from your weapons, so you need to find another way to hurt it.
There are pressure squares and impact targets located in the surrounding area that can be used to trigger three different spike traps. Activate the spike traps while the T-Rex is standing on them to inflict serious damage, but make sure to watch out for the other enemies that come out and attack you.
There are 22 columns in the area that will be destroyed if the T-Rex walks into them or breathes fire on them. Destroy all the columns to complete a reward challenge. Some of the columns even contain hidden red skulls that you can collect once destroyed.
Lure the T-Rex onto the three different spike traps and activate them at the right moment to bring him down.
After you take out the T-Rex, Totec shows up and you complete the level.
Forgotten Gate
Your objective is to find passage through the ancient tomb.
In the first room, there is a ball surrounded by eight pits. Moving the ball onto one of the pits will lower one of the eight bars on the door in front of you. You need to find more balls to place on the other pits so you can open up the gate.
Head up the stairs to the north and through the first doorway you come to. Have your flamethrower handy because some lizards will pop out of the ground and surround you.
There is a ball on the lower level of the room along with an impact switch that can raise and lower a column. Somehow, you need to get the ball from the lower level up to the higher level so you can get it back to one of the pits in the first room.
Drop down to the lower level and hit the impact switch to lower the column.
Roll the ball onto the column and place a bomb on the east side of it.
Raise the column by hitting the impact switch again and then detonate the bomb. If placed correctly, the bomb should blast the ball across the gap to the upper level.
Grab the ball and roll it back into the first room to place it in one of the pits.
Go back up the stairs and climb to the top. Jump the gap in the floor and you will come to a ball behind bars. Pass by the ball and continue east. Step on the pressure square to open the gate to the next room.
A trap springs soon after you enter the room and you are attacked by multiple enemies. Take out the magical minion first so that his projectiles don’t become a nuisance, then work on taking out the others.
There is a health upgrade behind bars and a red skull sitting on two spike squares against the west wall. To get both the red skull and raise the bars to the health upgrade, jump to the far spike square, pick up the skull, then roll away from the wall and touch the second spike square to raise the bars. Collect the health upgrade and then head north to get to an optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 5: In the room there is a spike pit with a column in the center. On the west side of the pit there is a grapple ring, and on the east side of the pit there is an impact target. Above the column there is the Stone Arrow artifact. In order to get the artifact, you need to hit the impact target and then quickly grapple onto the ring before the column raises and blocks your shot. If you can manage this, then all you need to do is jump to the column while grappled and climb up to grab the artifact. Exit the area once you have collected the artifact.
On the south side of the room, across from the optional challenge area door, there is a ladder. Climb down the ladder to find twin automatic pistols and another ladder. Grab the guns, then head down the second ladder to the floor.
Here you’ll find a ball behind bars, as well as an ammo upgrade in the middle of the room surrounded by spike squares. You need to step on each of the spike squares to get access to the ammo upgrade and lower the bars in front of the ball.
Jump over the first spike square so you will have an exit, then run around and step on each of the squares. If you can manage to do it without dying, you can get access to both the ammo upgrade and the ball.
Roll the ball through the door and onto a pressure square to raise part of the bridge that is directly above you. Once that’s done, roll the ball east and into the room with the other two balls you have collected so far. A good number of bad guys will attack you once you bring the ball into the room, so have your guns at the ready.
After the enemies have been taken care of, head back up to the top of the eastern staircase (where the you saw the first ball behind bars) and hang a right. Here you will find an impact switch underneath a spiked section of wall that can be hit to raise and lower a section of the floor.
Stand on the square with the circular symbol on it, then shoot the impact target to raise a column out of the ground. From the higher position, you can see a grapple ring at the top of the wall.
Use the grapple ring to wall run over to the other side.
Some minions attack you from behind when you get to the other side. Pull out one of your heavier weapons and shoot them down.
There is a square on the floor in the room that is used to lower the column with the ball on it. Step on the square to lower the column to the ground. As soon as you step off the square, the column rises, so you need to quickly run over and jump to grab on to it before it gets too high.
At the top there is a red skull. Climb on top of the ball and jump to the ledge to grab the red skull, then hop back over to the column and push the ball off.
It’s a pretty long drop off the column so, to make sure that you don’t die, hang off the side of the ledge and press B to drop down.
If you look over the east ledge near the urn, you can spot a red skull. Drop down to grab it and then throw a spear in the wall to get back up.
Push the ball back over the spiked section of wall and use the grapple ring to get down over the spikes. Remember to press A to jump to the wall, so you don’t accidentally get killed by the spikes.
Hit the impact switch to lower the column so you can roll the ball out. To your side, there is a golden archway with a small downward-sloping ramp. Push the ball off the ramp so it lands in the room with the other balls.
Reward Challenge: Bomb a ball onto the skull pedestal.
Behind the gold arch, there is still a ball in the cage.
Drop down to the cage — you will notice that the ground is imbalanced. Use your body weight to roll the ball through the hole in the center of the cage, causing it to drop down to the room below.
Head around the cage to get to the area where you raised the section of the bridge and jump to the other side.
At the top of some stairs, there are some arrow traps that fire in a pattern. Take a few seconds to recognize the pattern, then quickly move up the stairs and dodge the arrows so you can get behind them and blow them up with a bomb.
Move to the end of the path until you come to a gap. Throw a spear into the wall on the other side and use it to cross the gap.
Jump up, climb the ladder, and go through the door with the blue flames to get to a room with another ball sitting atop a column. There is also a circular pit like the ones in the first room that can be used to raise a second column out of the ground; however, you will need to get another ball to place there in order to do so.
In the far corner of the room there are two ladders. Climb them to get to the upper area, where there is another optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 6: This challenge area is combat-oriented. The room is divided by a gap. On the other side of the gap, a row of magical minions will pop up and start sending magic bolt projectiles your way. Roll around constantly to dodge the bolts and throw a spear or two in between rolls. Eventually you will thin their numbers and it will be easier to get clear shots at the ones remaining. Once the minions are taken care of, jump the gap to the other side and grab the Scepter of Huitzilopochtli relic (This is a powerful relic that automatically regains your health when the relic power meter is full). Exit the area after getting the relic.
Turn and head west when you leave the optional challenge area to get to a room with a ball sitting on a bed of spikes with a health upgrade hovering over it. There is also a gold handle on the north wall, but you need to fight off a bunch of enemies before you can use it. Take out your assault rifle and clear the room of all the minions and lizards.
Pull the handle out from the wall to briefly lower the spikes that the ball is sitting on. Before you move the ball, climb on top of it to grab the health upgrade.
Stay on top of the ball until the spikes pop back up, then jump off and pull the handle out of the wall again. This time, when the spikes lower, just grab the ball and quickly move it off.
Push the ball to the corner of the room, where there is a tube with a golden ring. This will drop the ball down to the other room with the ball still perched atop the column.
Head out of the room and back down the ladders. Place the ball in the pit to raise the column out of the ground so you can get to the other ball.
A large minion attacks as soon as you push the ball off the column. Take him out, then move each of the balls out of the room and push them down the tube located just to the west of the doorway. A magical minion attacks you from across a gap, but he’s not much of a threat. The tube will drop the balls down into the cage that sits on the imbalanced circle
After you have sent the balls down the tube, jump the gap to where you just killed the minion.
Just past the stairs leading down, there are some stairs that lead up to a red skull. The ground the skull is sitting on is weak and will fall to the floor so be quick to move off of it right after you grab the skull.
At the bottom of the stairs leading down, there is a red skull sitting on some spike squares. Kill the three minions that come up from the ground, then collect the red skull by jumping on the spike square and quickly rolling off of it.
Throw a spear into the wall behind the spike squares so you can climb up and take the stairs that go past another ball tube and lead to the cage.
Go through the door with blue flames to get to the room with the last ball in it. Climb up the two large wooden steps and use the grapple ring to swing across the spikes to the other side of the room where the ball is.
Push the ball onto the square to make a path in the spikes and lower the bars on an ammo upgrade.
Move the ball off the square, through the path of spikes. The last square of spikes will block the path, so you need to place a bomb at the back of the ball so that when you stand on the square to lower the spikes, you can detonate the bomb to blast the ball forward.
Push the ball down the stairs and through the tube to drop it into the cage below.
Make your way back down to the cage and kill any minions you come across along the way.
Use your body weight to roll the three balls in the cage through the hole in the center, so that they drop down into the starting room with the other balls.
Reward Challenge: Get all the balls to the main room.
Head back to the starting room with all the balls but be on your guard — some large minions will surround you on the staircase. Try to get past them and then lay bombs on the stairs as you shoot up at them.
Once you’re back in the starting area, move all the balls into the pits to open up the gate and pass through it to the next area.
You enter a long hallway with some tombs on the side. Blow up the tombs with you bombs to find a red skull.
As you progress through the hall, you quickly discover that its nothing but one big trap. First, the sides of the walls smash together to try and crush you.
Run like hell to keep ahead of the sections that are smashing together, then perform a roll to dodge and narrowly escape the last section.
Next, you’re on weak ground that crumbles beneath your feet, so step lightly and hurry to the next part of the hallway where the sections of the wall start opening up to let you in. Here, the sections are set to close back up and, if you don’t remember to backtrack, you could wind up squished.
The final section of the trap hall has more weak ground that you need to traverse, only this time, there are boulders falling from the ceiling. Look for the shadows cast by the falling boulders so you know where the safe places are for you to step and keep moving forward. At the end of the hall, a huge, spiked boulder falls that nearly takes up the entire width of the hallway. Make sure you stay to the far right side of the hall in order to dodge it.
Go through the door at the end of the hallway to complete the level.
Toxic Swamp
It’s raining and the area is full of dangerous plant life that explodes when you get too close to it. You need to explore the toxic swamp and chase Xolotl to his island tomb.
Head down the stairs. There are some exploding pods blocking your path, but if you head to the western wall, you can jump up to the ledge and find your way around them, even picking up some extra gems to boot.
Drop down on the other side and watch a couple of lizards get blown to bits by some exploding pods along the path. Learn from their mistake and always try to keep a safe distance from the pods as you move around the environment.
Some lizards will surround and attack you as you move up the path. Pull out your assault rifle and shoot them in their tracks.
Go up the stairs and get the red skull by shooting the pods and then hurrying in to collect it before they regrow.
You now have a choice between two paths. Take the east path first to get to a small pyramid with an optional challenge area. There is a red skull on top of the pyramid that you can grab by climbing the ladder to the north and jumping onto the pyramid. Watch out for the pods at the foot of the ladder — they can take your health down to zero in no time. When you are ready, you can enter the pyramid and attempt the optional challenge.
Go back and take the west path across the wood bridge to trigger a short cutscene with Xolotl after which a bunch of poisonous minions and lizards attack.
After dealing with the enemies you come to the first of three large gateways that you need to open. Go south and up the stairs to find a crypt. Kill the enemies in your way and then head inside.
Inside the crypt, you find the grenade launcher and an ammo cache.
NOTE: You can use the grenade launcher to destroy objects from a distance.
Equip the grenade launcher and use it to destroy the jams are holding up the bars on the first gateway.
Exit the crypt and make your way back to the first gateway. Some enemies will stream out of the gate towards you, so have a gun ready to blow them away.
Pass through the gate and climb up the pillars to grab a few gems. Continue west and then head south at the fork in the road. This path will lead you to the second gateway, where there is a cloud of poison covering some of the ground.
As you approach the gateway, a very large minion bursts out of the ground and leaps down the stairs towards you. Bust out the grenade launcher and hit him dead center with a few shots to make him explode. clear out any other enemies that attack you with either your handguns or assault rifle. After you’ve killed the big guy, the poison fog in the area will lift, and you will be able to access the crypt to the north.
Head down the stairs inside the crypt to get to a maze.
Reward Challenge: Clear the maze without taking any poison damage.
There are a lot of poison pods in the maze, so be careful where you step. Some enemies will come after you, so it’s a good a idea to leave some bombs behind you to help take them out.
At the start of the maze, move as far as you can to the east before turning south — the easiest way to get through the maze is by going around the perimeter.
Exit the maze at the south end and shoot any enemies trailing behind you. There are two squares to the north that can be used to lower the wood barricade and give you a clear shot a the log jams. First, stand on the closer square and shoot out the log jam that is diagonally across from you with the grenade launcher. Next, stand on the farther square and do the same thing to the other log jam. Exit the crypt once both log jams are destroyed.
Kill the minions that greet you as you leave the crypt and head through the second gateway.
Go up the stairs and throw a spear into the wall so you can use it to cross the gap.
Kill the poisonous minions that attack you , then go west to find a red skull sitting on a pedestal. Watch out after you grab the orb, because another huge minion drops down out of the sky. Quickly take out your grenade launcher and eliminate him before he can do too much damage.
To the north, there is a broken bridge with a gap that is too big to cross. Throw a spear into the large pillar to the west so you can climb up and use the grapple ring to wall-run over to the other side. If your wall running skills are good enough, you might be able to grab the health upgrade along the way without getting blasted by the poison pods on the wall.
Once on the other side, run along the thin wooden planks to get to the next area. You will need to be quick and nimble to avoid all of the closely-grouped poison pods. If you set one off, you could start a deadly chain explosion.
At the end of the path, there are two sets of stairs that both lead to a wider staircase. As you reach the top of the wider staircase, a set of spikes shoot up from ground and block your way back.
A herd of minions starts coming towards you, but you don’t really need to worry about them because they get crushed when the bridge starts to crumble beneath your feet.
Run to the other side of the bridge before the pillar falls on top of you and try to keep ahead of the crumbling bridge. As you move, watch out for lighting strikes and other attacking enemies.
The third and final gateway is located on the other side of the bridge, but you will first need to take the stairs down so you can get to the crypt. A bunch of guys will attack you at the bottom of the stair; try to take them out by setting off a chain explosion with the surrounding poison pods.
Inside the third crypt there are two golden handles, each of which lowers a corresponding barricade on the other side of the room.
Pull out the first handle and then run and jump like mad to get to the other side of the room so you can destroy the log jam with the grenade launcher before the barricade flips back up.
Go back and pull out the second handle and do the same thing to destroy the second log jam. Once both the jams are destroyed the gate on the final gateway lowers and you are given access to the tomb in the lake.
Before leaving the crypt, there is an ammo upgrade sitting on some spike squares that is easy to grab as long as you run all the way up one side of squares and then back down on the other side.
Once you have destroyed both jams and collected the ammo upgrade, you can exit the crypt and head back up the stairs to pass through the last gateway.
There is a ball trap in the new area. Blast the ball free and roll it down the stairs.
Use bombs to blast the ball over the spike squares and around poison pods as you continue moving it down the stairs.
When you get the ball to the bottom of the stairs, place it in the doorway to plug the flame pit so you can pass through to the next area.
Go up the stairs, but stay on guard — some exploding poison pods will bring down an archway on top of you. Back down the stairs a bit to avoid the falling debris and then go back up with guns blazing to take out the minions that came out of the pods.
Head around the broken stone walls to get to the final door. If you step on the square to open the door you discover that it’s being held closed by two stone blocks at the top.
Run up the ridge and pull out the gold handles on each side of the door then head back down and stand on the square to open the door.
Poison pods then start sprouting up all over the place and temporarily block the door from opening, run up around to where you pulled out the gold handles to avoid getting blown to bits, then jump down when the stone slab on the door flips out.
Head through the door to complete the level.
Flooded Passage
You need to pursue Xolotl through a number of deadly traps to escape the flooded passage.
Jump the gap and head up the stairs.
Grab the ball and roll it down the hallway, using it as a shield to block the arrows coming from the traps. When you get to the arrow traps, destroy them with the ball.
Reward Challenge: Destroy all 37 arrow traps on the level to get a health upgrade.
Leave the ball behind and go up the stairs where there is a gold handle and grapple ring on the wall. The way in front of you is blocked by a gate so you need to pull the handle out of the wall so you can shift the gate to the other side of the gap.
A new type of minion rises from the ground to challenge you. This breed of minion is persistent and has the annoying ability to reform its body after being killed (kind of like the dry bones koopa guys you always find in the Super Mario castle levels). They can, however, be exploded so be sure to use poison pods to your advantage when they attack you later on in the game.
Knock the skeleton down and detonate a bomb on his bones to kill him.
Pull the handle out from the wall so you can use the grapple ring to swing to the other side.
At the bottom of some stairs there are a lot of arrow traps set up. Luckily, there is another ball you can roll around and use for protection.
The flying arrows will set off some poison pods in the area. Quickly roll over and snatch the health upgrade that is lying amidst the pods before they get a chance to reform.
Get behind the ball and use it to smash the arrow traps but watch out for the poison pods. You need to carefully navigate the ball around to avoid getting hit by arrows and exploding pods.
There are two ways you can go here. The south path leads to an optional challenge area and the north path continues on with the level.
Optional Challenge Area 7: Your first instinct here is to place the ball on the square on the floor. You need to think a little outside the box for this one, however. Instead of placing the ball on the square, put it in front of the spiked gates and drop a bomb beside it. Next, stand on the square and detonate the bomb when the gates open. The ball will bounce between the two sections of the the door so that when you step of the square it will jam the door. Now all you need to do is hop up on the ball and use a spear to reach the top to collect the Eye of Cipactli relic.
Exit the area and head north. There is a grapple ring you need to use so you can wall run over top of an impact target. The impact target can be used to lower the gate in front of you.
Drop a bomb on top of the impact target and detonate it to lower the gate and proceed along the path.
Reward Challenge: Destroy the 3 hidden urns on the level to get an ammo upgrade.
Go around the corner and throw a couple spears into the wall so you can jump the gap to the other side.
Kill the minion that attacks you, then use the grapple ring to lower yourself down to collect a red skull sitting on a poison pod.
Head past the TNT barrels to get to an ammo cache, where you can pick up a high powered assault rifle. Equip the high powered assault rifle in place of your regular assault rifle.
Pass through the door to get to the next area.
A lot of minions and lizards attack you when you enter the room. Drop some bombs to blow up the groups of lizards and then use the high powered assault rifle to take care of the rest. The exploding poison pods can also be used to your advantage to take out the enemies here.
When the room is clear, use the ball in the corner to block the arrows streaming past the gold handle.
Pull the handle out of the wall to open the gate and move to the next room.
There is an impact target here that is used to raise and lower three gates. Place a bomb next to the impact target and then shoot the target to get past the first gate. Shoot the target a second time to get past the next gate and then detonate the bomb to hit the impact a third time and get past the final gate. Along the path there is another optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 8: In the room there is an impact target on the other side of a gap. The target is blocked by a concrete slab, so you don’t have a clear shot at it. In order to hit the target, take out your grenade launcher and bank a grenade off the wall so that it explodes and hits the impact target. This will open the gate and allow you to collect the Gold Feather artifact. Exit the area once you’ve got the artifact.
Jump the gap along the path and you will hear some lizards coming down the stairs ahead of you. Drop a bomb near the stairs to take out a first ones and then clear out the other lizards with the HP assault rifle.
Go up the stairs and step on the square at the top to lower the gate. A giant poison minion and some smaller minions come out and attack so get your grenade launcher ready to take down the big guy. When you’ve taken care of the minions, head north to where there is a gold handle and pull it out to lower the gate on the other side
Pass through the gate and step on the square to get past the second gate where there are some more big minions that burst out of the ground. Take out the minions with the grenade launcher and then destroy all of the arrow traps in the room with bombs.
On the east side of the room, there is an impact target that you can hit to open the next gate and continue along the path.
Kill the minions that get in your way and proceed north to trigger a small cutscene that shows Xolotl running through a door ahead of you.
Jump the small gap and climb the stairs to the west. Be on the lookout for minions and spiked balls rolling down the steps — there’s not much room to maneuver here.
At the top of the staircase there is a giant spiked ball sitting on top of a mechanical hand with a square in front of it. Stand on the square to tilt the hand and send the ball tumbling after you.
Haul ass back down the stairs and try to avoid the minions. Try not to get crushed and get to the bottom of the stairs, so you can duck down the path and let the ball roll past you and smash through the wall.
Pass the broken wall into the room where you last saw Xolotl and head through the door to complete the level.
The Jaws of Death
Enter the area and kill the minions that emerge near the golden circle on the ground. You can find a red skull behind one of the pillars near the circle.
Head north along the path and take out the two minions shooting at you from the sidelines. Once you pass them, a cutscene triggers and Xolotl sends a massive fish-like demon with a huge mouth out to gobble you up. Run like hell to escape the giant fish demon.
You come across a few red skulls along the way, try to roll past poison pods and pick up as many as you can along the way.
Stay as far ahead as you can. At the first gap that looks like it’s too big to jump, look for a impact target. Shoot the target to bring up a bridge so you can jump across.
Keep running and don’t bother to stop to fight any minions that attack. Instead, just roll under their attacks and continue on so you don’t get crushed by debris and falling columns.
At the next gap there is a grapple ring. Use it to get to the other side and keep moving.
Try to avoid getting hit by the arrow traps and jump across the broken sections of the bridge. At the end of the path, there is a closed door that has a square to the left of it and a golden wheel to the right. First, step on the square to bring up the timed bridge that will give you access to the wheel. Next, quickly run over to the wheel and pull it out of the wall. This slams together two giant grinders that mash up the fish’s face real good and prevent him from pursuing you any further.
Go through the door to complete the level
Twisting Bridge
In order to get to the tomb at the end of the level, you need to create a path across the canyon. Press Select and check your map to find the locations of certain objects that can be rotated to form a bridge.
Head down the stairs to the east. You will come to a dead end, and some minions will attack you, but there is a red skull to grab.
Head north down the steps to get to a few TNT barrels that you can use to kill the minions that jump out at you.
To your right there is a grapple ring. Use it to lower yourself down and collect the red skull.
Climb back up and move north to get to an intersection with a rotating corner. Shoot the impact target to rotate the corner clockwise so you can get across and head to the eastern part of the map.
At the bottom of some stairs there is a high powered single shot rifle. Grab the gun and then kill the minions that jump out.
Go up the stairs and stand on the square to open the door to the next area.
After you walk into the room, a shield demon busts out of the ground and tries to flatten you.
Reward Challenge: Knock the shield off a shield demon — You can accomplish this by first luring him over to one of the explosive crates, and then, blowing up the crate. The blast will knock the shield from his hand and make him an easy target for bullets.
A second shield demon comes out after you take down the first. If there aren’t any explosive crates left lying around, you might have to use your grenade launcher to get rid of his shield or roll around to try and get a clear shot at him. Other minions will pop up and attack at the same time so its a good idea to clear some of them out before taking out the shield demon.
Pull the golden handle out of the wall to bring up some steps that allow you reach the higher area where there are some pillars and an impact target.
Run south behind the corner pillar to reach a ledge where there are some gems and an ammo upgrade.
Hit the impact target to bring up two bridges that you can use to get across to a gold handle. Pull out the handle to open the door next to the impact target. Quickly run to make it through the door before it closes.
Head up the stairs and kill the skeletons by shooting them with your assault rifle and then blowing them up with a bomb before they reform.
At the top of the steps, jump across the gaps and then stand on the square to rasise the wooden door. Standing on the square will also rotate the bridge above your head.
A bunch of minions and another shield demon attack soon after you go through the door. Use your grenade laucher to blow off the demon’s shield and then switch to you assault rifle to take him down, along with any other enemies.
Go up the small set of stairs to the west to get to the next area.
Jump across the wooden platforms and kill any enemies that pop up.
To the north, there is an impact switch that will raise a bridge, enabling you to cross to the other side and grab a red skull.
Backtrack south — you should see another impact target off to the side. This one is a little trickier to hit, but it’s manageable if you use the gold dot sighting from your spear. Hit the impact target to bring up the bridge.
NOTE: When the impact switch is hit, some bridges rise while others fall. Falling bridges will stay up for moment before dropping after the switch is hit.
As soon as you get to the other side you get attacked. Kill the enemies and hit the impact switch again to bring up the next bridge, which is directly across from the switch.
Jump to the bridge.
To get to the next platform, you need to hit the impact switch and jump to the bridge that comes up before the one you’re standing on falls.
Use a spear to climb up and grab a red skull before moving to the platform on the west side of the impact target. Hit the target once more to bring up a bridge that will let you hop across to the stairs on the other side.
Use some spears to take out the enemies in your way and then continue up the broken stairs to the next area.
Take out the minion on the platform, then jump to the platform to get to an optional challenge area with a red skull sitting on top of the doorway.
Optional Challenge Area 9: This area is another hallway full of wall traps. Watch the shaking of the walls so you have an idea of when they are going to smash together and try to make it to the end of the hall to get the Gold Lizard artifact. Exit the area once you have collected the artifact.
Move east to get across the bridge you rotated earlier.
Step on the square at the end of the path to open the door and rotate the bridge to complete the way across the canyon.
Now you need to make your way up to the bridge to get to the tomb. Head through the door and down the steps to get to the next area.
Jump across the wood platforms and stand on the one with the impact switch.
Hit the switch and jump across the newly raised platforms to grab a red skull and move south.
Get to the last platform you can jump to and then hit the switch one more time. You need to jump from a falling platform again here so be quick about making it to the next one.
Hop down to the ground and fight off the minions and shield demons that attack you, before heading up the stairs to the south.
Once you’re back outside, kill the skeletons and head back to the impact switch at the rotating corner.
Hit the impact switch twice so that one arm of the bridge is facing west while the other arm is facing north. The west route will take you to another optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 10: There are two squares in the room. The first one opens the gate to the relic, while the second one raises a platform to give you a clear shot at an impact target. Use the grapple ring on the northern wall to wall run across to the other side where you can grab a ball to place on the second square. Stand on the platform that rises up and cross over so you can place a bomb next to the impact target. Make sure the taget is red when you leave it, then go back and grab the ball and push it back to where you found it. Once you detonate the bomb and hit the impact switch again, you can push ball through the second gate, enabling you to place it on the first square that opens the gate to the relic. All you need to do now is use the grapple ring to wall-run back over to the other side and collect the Golden Knife of Itzli relic. Exit the area once you get the relic.
Get back on the rotating corner and head north. Some minions will jump on the bridge, so get ready for some close-quarters combat. Use bombs and the HP assault rifle to take them out.
At the end of the bridge, there is a giant staircase — once you start up it, balls of fire start rolling down and setting off the TNT barrels.
You need to make it past all the rolling balls and up the steps without getting blown up from behind. You can place bombs to blow up some of the rolling balls to clear a path.
Reward Challenge: Bomb 3 of the rolling fire balls to get a health upgrade.
Get to the top of the steps before they completely crumble and go through the door to complete the level.
Fiery Depths
The tomb you enter is alive with volcanic activity. In a cutscene, Totec tells you to pursue Xolotl through the fiery depths, into the belly of the beast.
Jump across the broken sections to get to a wall that shoots flames out of it every few seconds. To get past the wall, you need to throw three spears into it. One on the close side, another in between the flames, and a third on the far side. Time your jumps so that you don’t get burned by the flames and hop across your spears to reach the other side. There is also a red skull that you can reach by using the grapple ring on top of the wall.
Follow the broken bridge to the stairs. There is a golden handle along the way that you can pull to lower the flames on a door to an optional challenge area just below you. You need to haul ass if you want to make it through the door before the flames return.
Optional Challenge Area 10: There are flames circling the room, and in order to get the relic, you need to move the three balls onto the three pits located on the sides of the room. The easiest strategy is to just follow as closely behind the flames as you can and place one ball at a time. Once all the balls are on the holders, you can grab the Mask of Ehecatl relic from the center of the room. Exit the area once you have collected the relic.
Go down the steps and jump across the spider platforms.
Reward Challenge: Jump to all 6 of the spider platforms. To accomplish this, just time your jumps, so you don’t get hit by any of the flame jets.
Leap across the spider platforms and down the stairs. Make sure to keep moving and avoid getting roasted by the flames along the wall.
Jump across the bridge but don’t linger on the blocks for too long, since they’re rotatating and you could end up falling into the lava below.
Down the stairs, there is a circling wall of flames guarding a chaingun on a pedestal. As soon as you approach the flame circle, two large minions burst through the ground and try to smash you. Roll back behind them towards the stairs so you’ve go some space to unload on them with your HP assault rifle or HP single shot rifle.
Avoid the circling flame wall and grab the chaingun before you move down the stairs to the next part of the path.
Jump across the blocks to get to the next room, where you will be attacked by fire demons that shoot firebolts at you.
Roll under the firebolts and then blast the fire demons with your HP assault rifle when you have the chance.
A whole bunch of enemies will attack you after you fight off the first fire demons. Don’t worry too much about conserving ammo, because there are a lot of ammo boxes to be found around the room. Kill all the baddies, then head down the stairs to the next area.
At the bottom of the stairs, there is a pool of molten rock and a wall with flames shooting out from it. As the flames slowly move across the wall, get between them and and use a spear to climb up.
At the top of the wall there are four circular platforms, an impact target, and two rotating pillars that shoot flames.
Jump across the first two platforms, then hit the impact target to reverse the rotation of the flame pillars, so you can cross the other two platforms to get to the other side.
Go down the steps to get to a grapple ring with with a ladder below it. When the flames shooting up from the grate have died down, use the grapple ring to lower yourself down the ladder. Drop a bomb on the impact target below you to turn off the flames so you can get down. There is also a red skull and an ammo upgrade you can grab by wall-running from side to side.
Go east and you’ll see some arrows being fired from traps and some more fire grates on the floor. Take a second to study the arrow pattern and how the fire moves across the grates. When you think you’ve go the timing down, move across the fire grates and dodge the arrows. You can destroy the arrow traps once you get past the fire grates.
Head south down the broken staircase to get to another area with circular platforms and rotating flame jets. Just like before, you need to jump across the first two and then hit the impact target to reverse the rotation of the flame jets.
You can now continue south through the level, or head west to get to another optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 11: The room contains a rotating corner, a gold handle, an impact target, and a relic behind bars. Jump to the rotating corner and hit the impact target until the corner looks like a “7″ with one arm facing south and one arm facing west. Hop west, so you can drop a bomb by the impact target, then go back and hop south to pull the handle out from the wall. Once the handle is out from the wall, the bars on the gate will briefly lower. Quickly jump back to the corner and detonate the bomb so you don’t waste time aiming at the impact switch. You should have just enough time to make it to the north side and collect the War Drum artifact. Exit the area after you get the artifact.
Jump south across the circular platforms to reach the next area but watch your step, the rotating flame jets don’t make it easy for you to cross.
In the next room you get attacked by some skeletons and a shield demon. Use the grenade launcher to rid the demon of his shield so you can unload on him with your HP assault rifle.
Just up some steps, there is a Scorpion Crest on the ground.
Reward Challenge: Lure three skeletons and kill them on top of the Scorpion Crest to earn a health upgrade.
Go east and down the stairs to get to another bridge with rotating blocks. The sections rotate at different speeds, so you will need to use your judgement when making jumps. If you choose the right sections to jump to, you can even pick up a few red skulls along the way.
Continue down the step,s and you will notice the ground starts shaking. Hurry across the broken ground to avoid getting hit by the exploding rocks that fall from the ceiling.
Make your way up the stairs through the dragon’s mouth to complete the level.
Belly of the Beast
Run across the wood-pannel bridge and don’t fall in the lava when it starts to collapse behind you.
Pick up the rocket launcher on the other side. The rocket launcher inflicts massive damage but has an ammo consumption to match, so use it sparringly.
Stepping on the large square up ahead will spin the wood pannel bridge so you can use it to run to the ammo cache and get to the other side of the area.
NOTE: There are three other large squares on the level that can rotate the bridge, so you can access the ammo cache from different sides of the room. You will need a lot of ammo to take down your next opponent.
West of the large square there are two spider tiles that you can jump across to get to the platform rather than taking the stairs.
As soon as you step on the platform, a giant, flaming T-Rex makes a firey entrance. Looks like it’s time for you to break in that rocket launcher.
The T-Rex will charge at you when you are close and spit fire at you when you are at a distance. Run around it to the north side of the platform where there are three more spider tiles that you can jump across.
Try to get some space between you and the T-Rex and then fire some rockets to deal it damage.
Keep to the outskirts of the area. You will get to another set of three spider tiles that you can jump across to grab some ammo boxes.
Fire more rockets at the T-Rex and head west along the outsirts to get to the last set of spider tiles that will take you back to the spot where you first picked up the rocket launcher.
Reward Challenge: Step on all the spider tiles to obtain the White Drum artifact.
An effective strategy for defeating the T-Rex is to keep running around the spider tiles on the edge of the level to avoid its attacks and then blast it with rockets whenever you are at a safe distance. Remember to make use fo the ammo cache at the center of the level whenever your ammo bar gets low.
When you’ve taken the T-Rex down to about half of its health, some cute little baby T-Rex’s will come out to bite your legs off. Switch to the HP assault rifle or chaingun to deal with the babies.
Continue running around and shooting the flaming T-Rex with the rocket launcher whenever you have a clear shot, but watch out for the fire minions that appear on some of the spider tiles. They can easily mess up your relic power meter bonus.
Once you get the flaming T-Rex’s health bar down to nothing, it explodes and you complete the level.
Stronghold Passage
In order to find passage through the ancient tomb, you first need to find six rolling balls to extinguish the flame pits and open the gate.
A large fire demon will burst out of the ground and start chucking flaming rocks at you when you enter the room. Pull out your chaingun or another strong weapon to take him out quickly.
Go up the stairs. You will come to a ball that is sitting on top of a high column that is almost completely surrounded by flames save for one square.
Step on the flameless square and place a bomb on it.
Go around to the north side of the pillar to find a pressure square that you can stand on to lower the column with the ball and raise a new column from the square that you just placed the bomb on.
When the two columns are at equal height, detonate the bomb to knock the ball off the column so you can drag it down the stairs and place it in one of the flame pits to enxtinguish it.
Head up the next set of stairs and use the grapple ring to lower yourself down and pick up a health upgrade.
Jump the gap to get to a room with a ball and a cylinder structure with a hole in it. You need to blast the ball up and through the hole by first moving it next to the structure and then placing a bomb behind it. Once it goes through the hole it will drop down to the starting room.
Go up the stairs to the north and pass the gold handle that is used to widen the door ahead of you.
Through the door is a room with two columns and another gold handle on the wall in the corner. Between the two columns, there is a platform of fire with a ball on it.
To get the ball, first throw a spear into the column that is closest to the handle, then pull the handle out from the wall to bring up platforms on the column so you can jump across them.
Use the spear you placed to climb up the column and drop a bomb onto the ball as you jump across to the other column.
Detonate the bomb to move the ball off the platform. Some fire demons might try to attack you as you do this, but they’re not much of a threat.
Move the ball to the door and place a bomb behind it. You can blast the ball through the door by using the gold handle on the outside to widen the entrance, then detonating your bomb.
Push the ball down the steps and blast it up onto the cylinder and through the hole to send it down to the starting area.
Turn east and jump the gap to get to a corner with a rotating flame jet. Wait for the flames to pass, then leap south and head up the stairs.
Throw a spear in the wall and use it to reach the higher area. After you climb up, some skeletons will appear and attack. Scatter their bones and then blow them up with a bomb before you head up the ladder.
Watch out for the falling fire rocks and pick up the dual SMG’s that are sitting on the pedestal.
When you get to the top of the next set of stairs, you activate a switch that simultaneously flips a gate up behind you, drops two fists on a wall, and sends a ball rolling down the stairs on your left.
There is a pit in the center of the room, but you cannot yet place the ball on it, because there are fire rocks shooting from the wall.
Go up the stairs that the ball rolled down and you’ll come to a row of gems that are sitting on flame traps. Grab the gems, but don’t linger on the traps or you might get roasted.
Jump across the column to the other side where there is a ball and an impact target that can be used to raise and lower the column.
To get the ball across the lava and back over to the other side, you need to set some stuff up. First, move the ball to the edge so that it’s in front of the column. Next, make sure the column is lowered, then place a bomb behind the ball. Back up so that you are out of the bomb’s blast radius, then aim at the target with a gun. Finally, try to simultaneously shoot the target and detonate the bomb so that the column rises just as the ball passes over it. If you perform this correctly, the ball will get bumped up by the column and have enough height to reach the other side when it falls.
Hit the target again to lower the column so you can cross over and take the ball down to the room with the other ball and the fire rocks shooting out of the wall.
Up the stairs to the east, there is an impact target sitting in front of a wall of fire. Hit the impact target to shift the flames from the front of the wall to the top of the wall. Next, place a bomb beside the target and throw a spear into the wall. You need to detonate the bomb and then quickly jump up to get to the top of the wall without getting killed by the flames.
Pass the skull pedestal and go to the next room, where there is an ammo upgrade sitting on a platform with a fire wall moving across it. You are unable to cross the platform due to the fire wall so you need to find another way to get to the ball that is on the other side.
Grab the ammo upgrade and then get to the golden handle on the north wall. Pull out the handle to lower the flames on the squares next to you so you can jump across the lava to the other side.
Move the ball near the platform with the fire wall and dtonate a bomb behind it so that it gets shot across to the other side.
Pull out the other gold handle so you can get back across the squares.
When the flames pass, hop to the platform, move the ball to the edge, and then place a bomb behind it to blow it across the gap. You might need to hop back and forth onto the platform a couple of times in order to avoid the flames while you do this.
Take the ball into the room with the skull pedestal and push it down the tube with the gold ring. Another fire demon attacks you as soon as you do this so watch your back and take him out.
Head back down the stairs to where the fire rocks are being shot at the circle. The ball you just sent down the tube will now be in the room with the other two balls.
You now need to use the balls to raise the fists so that they block the fire rocks from shooting out of the wall.
First, Place a bomb next to one of the fists, then grab one of the balls. Second, line the ball up with the fist that has the bomb next to it and push it towards it. Lastly, detonate the bomb just before you enter the blast radius to send the fist flying upward, leaving space for you to jam the ball underneath it as it comes back down. This will prop the fist up high enough to block the fire rocks. Do the same thing for the other fist with the second ball.
Once the flame rocks have been stopped, you can take the third ball and place it in the pit to get access to a golden handle.
Pull out the handle to lower the gate so you can take the three balls down the steps and push them through the tube at the bottom. Some skeletons and fire demons appear and try to stop you so be ready to take them out.
The tube sends the balls down to the room with the cylinder with the hole in it. Blast the balls onto the cylinder and through the hole to send them down to the starting area.
Head back down the steps to the starting area and kill the minions and fire demons that attack you along the way.
You should now have all six balls in the room with you. Place the remaining balls on the fire pits to extinguish the flames and open the gate.
Pass through the gate to get to the next area where there is an optional challenge.
Optional Challenge Area 12: In this room, there is an artifact behind bars and an impact target that will raise and lower a ledge around the edge. There is also a wooden pillar in the center of the room that will have spikes pointing out of it whenenever the ledge is raised. Hit the impact target to raise the ledge and then place a bomb next to the target. Run around to the side with the artifact and throw a spear into the pillar. Jump on the spear, detonate your bomb and then quickly jump across to grab the Mask of Tezcatlipoca relic. Hit the target again from where you are standing to bring the ledge back up so you can exit the area.
You now need to escape the temple. In front of you are numerous flame circles that you will need to carefully traverse to get to the other side. Luckily, you can see the fire start to come up from the circles so you have a pretty good idea where the safe spots to step are.
After the flame circles, there is a section of weak ground that falls away beneath your feet if you stand on it for too long. As long as you don’t stop moving forward, you should be OK.
Cross the weak ground to come to another section of flame circles — you will really need to move if you want to stay ahead of the flames. Try rolling forward to avoid getting torched.
Once you get past the second section of flame circles, you get to the final section that has giant flaming rocks smashing through the weak ground. Avoid the rocks by looking for their shadows and choosing the safest path.
Get to the end of the hallway and go through the door to complete the level.
The Mirror’s Wake
You need to make it through the wastelands to get to Xolotl’s stronghold.
Grab the ball from the pedestal and take it with you, so you can use it as a weapon.
Cross the bridge to the squared-off section of land and use the ball to run over the minions and the baby T-Rex that attack. You may want to switch to a gun to take down the larger fire demon that shows up.
Push the ball off the ledge through the south exit, then drop down. There is a high-powered shotgun next to a flame jet that you can pick up and use to kill the fire demon that comes at you.
Take the ball and and place it on top of the flame pit to obtain a health upgrade
Go up the stairs to the south and take the path to the west since the eastern path is blocked by a wall of flames. A cutscene will trigger and Xolotl summons three gatekeepers that you will need to defeat in order to gain access to his stronghold.
The gatekeepers are really just beefed-up shield demons. You need to take them down one by one in order to steal their gate keys.
The first gatekeeper attacks you right away. Use your rocket launcher to blow off his shield, then switch to your HP shotgun to finish him off. Be careful not to get mauled by the swarm of baby T-Rex that sneak out from the surrounding area.
Pick up the key from the fallen gatekeeper, then head west to get to an ancient crypt.
Within the crypt, you need to progress through a maze by finding balls to place on the flame pits that block the doorways. The first ball is attached to a ball trap, so you need to free it using a bomb. Be on the lookout for enemies here; there will likely be a steady stream of fire demons and baby T-Rex to keep you on your toes, in addition to the flaming rocks that continuously fall from overhead. Once detached, you can roll the ball through the maze and onto the first flame pit.
The second ball can be found in the middle of the room, next to a square. Place the ball on the square to lower the bars in front of an ammo upgrade just north of you. Quickly run around and grab the ammo upgrade before the falling fire rocks hit the ball and move it off the square, causing the bars to raise.
After you get the ammo upgrade, take the ball and move it west through the maze to place it on the second flame pit.
Go into the next room and head southwest to find the Dark Drum artifact sitting on a pressure square. This is also the room where you find the second gatekeeper.
Get out your rocket launcher to take out the gatekeeper’s shield and make him drop his key. A bunch of baby T-Rex accompany the gatekeeper, so use your assault rifle to take them out and boost your relic power meter so you can really stick it to the gatekeeper.
Once you’ve killed all the enemies and collected the second key, head back and exit the crypt.
Go out past the gate to Xolotl’s stronghold. The wall of flames has now disappeared, so you are free to take the east path.
Take out the fire demons in your way and get to the end of the path, where there is an optional challenge area and some stairs leading down.
Optional Challenge 12: In the room there is a ball, a column, a pressure square and an artifact beind bars on the upper level. First, move the ball onto the pressure square to lower the column and reveal a grapple ring. Next, place a bomb beside the ball and walk over in front of the lowered column to hook onto the grapple ring. Finally, detonate the bomb to move the ball off the square and raise the column. As long as you remain attached to the grapple ring, you can scale the column and hop over to collect the Clay Serpent artifact. Exit the area once you have picked up the artifact.
Go down the stairs next to the optional challenge area and take out the two shield demons that stand in your way.
Head north to find the third and final gatekeeper in an area full of flame traps and fireballs.
As you enter the area, a wall of flames appears behind you and prevents you from escaping. Use your rocket laucher to get rid of the gatekeeper’s shield, then switch to the HP shotgun to conserve a little ammo. If the gatekeeper charges you, dodge around to the edges of the area, so you don’t accidentally get torched by one of the rotating flame traps in the middle.
Blast any baby T-Rex that come at you, then finish off the gatekeeper with whatever ammo you have left.
After you pick up the last key, head north past the rotating flame traps — you should spot a grapple ring up on the ridge. Jump up and hook on to the grapple ring to climb up and reach an optional challenge area.
Optional Challenge Area 13: Step on the square to open the gate into a room full of fire circles like the ones you had to run across at the end of the last level. In order to lower the bars in front of the relic, you need to first free the ball from the ball trap in the middle of the room, then place it in the flame pit. This might seem easy, if it weren’t for the fire demon that shows up and starts harassing you. The easiest thing to do here is try and get the ball onto the flame pit as quickly as possible and then grab the Mask of Cipactli relic. Once you have the artifact, the flame circles get deactivated and all you need to worry about is taking out the fire demon. Exit the area once you have collected the relic.
Use the grapple ring to lower yourself back down, then head south to get to an area with a broken bridge above your head.
Across from the broken bridge, up on a wall, there is another grapple ring, Use the grapple ring to scale the wall and jump onto the bridge.
Jump across the small gap to get to the other side of the bridge, where there is another gap that looks too large to jump across. The gap only looks this way because you are on a higher level, and you will find that you can easily make the jump down to the ground.
Head up the stairs to the south to get back to Xolotl’s stronghold gate. As you approach the gate, it swings open. Follow the path to trigger a cutscene and complete the level.
Xolotl’s Stronghold
It’s time to face Xolotl. Jump to the platform that looks like a giant peg board and get ready for the final showdown.
NOTE: There is a giant grinder that prevents you from leaving the platform.
As Xolotl teleports between the pedestals at the sides of the platform, blue circles appear on the gound to indicate where spikes are going to come up. Move around to avoid getting skewered and unload on Xolotl whenever you have a clear shot. Every now and again, Xolotl shoots a wave of magic at you but it is fairly easy to dodge.
When you get Xolotl’s first health bar down to nothing, he retreats and sends a bunch of spiders in to get you. Contininue to avoid the spikes and exterminate the spiders using the HP assault rifle.
After you take care of the spiders, Xolotl returns with a full life bar and starts teleporting and shooting magic again. This time you need to worry about spikes and spiders as you run around trying to get a good shot at him.
When you get his second health bar down to nothing, Xolotl uses his magic to imbue the grinder and send it rolling towards you. Get to one of the sides, let the grinder pass you, then quickly roll to the center to the platform to avoid getting killed by the spikes.
With the grinder gone, you can now exit the platform and head north to an area containing a healing shrine and an ammo cache.
Make your way through the ruins of the stronghold to get to an area with some poison pods. Here, Xolotl attemps to smash you by leaping high into the air and coming down right on top of you.
Move around continuously and try not to get too close to the poison pods, because they explode whenver Xolotl lands near them. Look for traces of black smoke to identify where Xoloft is going to land next and open fire on him after he hits the gound.
After you get his health bar to zero, Xolotl sends a bunch of lizards and skeletons and one giant poison demon out after you. Dispose of them to see Xoloft return with a another full health bar. Avoid being crushed by him and pump him full of lead each time he lands from a jump. You’ll also have attacking lizards to deal with now so watch out for them as you dodge Xolotl’s attacks.
When you get Xolotl’s health bar down to zero again, he runs away through the door to the north.
Follow Xolotl to get to the next area where there is a healing shrine and ammo cache.
Jump down the broken staircase to get to a platform where you have your next and final encounter with Xolotl.
As fire rocks start falling from above, Xolotl appears across the lava to the west and starts hurling fire rocks of his own at you straight from the lava. Dodge the rocks and return fire at Xolotl with your HP assault rifle whever you have a clear shot at him.
When his health gets to zero, Xolot summons some larger fire demons out from the surrounding lava.
Switch to your HP shotgun to effectively deal with the fire demons.
After the fire demons are all gone, a hail of fire rocks bombards the platform, and Xolotl returns with his last bar of health.
This time, instead of shooting magic at you from across the lava, he tries to smash you by jumping around like he did in the previous encounter.
Look for the black smoke to dodge his attacks, then give him a quick burst from your HP assault rifle before he jumps away again.
When his health bar is nearly depleted, Xolotl remains stationary and radiates magic from his chest in all directions. Continuously fire on him with your HP assault rifle and strafe in between the bolts of magic to bring him to his knees.
Once Xoloft’s last health bar is reduced to zero, you defeat him and beat the game. Sit back and watch the closing cutscene as Lara returns the Mirror of Smoke to its resting place before sunrise and saves the world from entering etenal darkness.
Like female heroines, platforming, and environment puzzles? Planning to pick up Metroid: Other M? Check out our step-by-step walktrough!
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