Stella's Tomb Raider 2 Walkthrough - Updates for Tomb Raider 2 Remastered Coming Soon

Secrets: 3  Pickups: 14, including 3 secrets  Kills: 16

NOTE: The number of pickups includes the three dragon statuettes and the items awarded for finding all three secrets. Also, two of the regular pickups here will be the SHOTGUN and HARPOON GUN if you didn't get them earlier.

LEVEL MAP by VGCartography (used with permission)

40 Fathoms Video Walkthrough by Eldincy

OBJECTIVES: Swim into the wrecked ship and find air before Lara drowns. Once inside, navigate a tricky timed sequence to get past a series of burners into a new part of the ship. Continue through a flooded passage and a large room filled with dirt—each with its own challenges—to reach the level exit.

Cinematic: This level begins with a movie. Lara hitches a ride on the submersible as it dives. When the pilot notices Lara, he tries to dislodge her using the sub's mechanical claw but instead ends up ramming the sub into a rock formation. Lara lets go just in time. She's safe, for now, but stranded at the bottom of the sea without scuba gear. (Re-watch on my YouTube channel.)

UNDERWATER - SWIMMING INTO THE WRECKED SHIP: You had better find some air and fast! As soon as you regain control of Lara, roll to face away from the damaged sub. Swim forward, veering a little toward the left, and following the trail of junk on the sea floor toward a sunken ship. A great white shark swims in from the right. Ignore it for now. If you take the time to harpoon it, you'll most likely run out of air. Instead, head directly to the left end of the wreck. Swim to the top, which is actually the bottom of the ship, since it's positioned upside down. There you'll see a rusted anchor protruding from the hull. Behind it is an opening. Swim inside, straight down a vertical tunnel, then forward and up to surface in a room with an air pocket. (screenshots)

The first shark (1) will follow you in, along with a second shark (2) not far behind. If you want all the kills, draw your harpoon gun and kill each one as it enters. Otherwise, fill Lara's air meter and continue to the next safe area.

Go through the large underwater opening on the right (i.e., right if Lara's back is to the tunnel where she came in). In the next room, swim to the right then upward. At the top of the room, look to the left for a square opening just below the ceiling. Swim through. The next room has a low, curved ceiling—presumably the inner hull of the upside down ship. Swim straight across and exit through the square opening at the end of the left wall. The next room is almost a mirror image of the previous one, with the curved hull forming the ceiling. As you enter, turn left. Proceed to the end wall and look for a lever on the left wall in the corner. Pull the lever to open a trapdoor in the floor.

Roll and swim forward then down through the trapdoor. In the room below, turn left. Swim across the bottom of the room and exit through the opening on the left, which is the only other way out. There's a square hole in the ceiling of the next small room. Swim up through it to surface in a room with air to breathe and a number of wooden crates. (screenshots)

NOTE: If you've played the first Tomb Raider game, you'll recognize the creepy recycled Atlantis music.

FLOODED ROOM WITH WOODEN CRATES: Swim through the passageway behind the tall stack of crates to surface in another small room. Climb out of the water and follow the hall around to the right. Pull the switch to drain the water from the previous room. Return to the ledge where you climbed out of the water and drop down into the small room, which is now dry. Climb out on the other side and vault up onto the wooden crate on the right. Take a standing jump from the corner of this crate to grab the edge of the tall wooden box just ahead on the right; pull up. From here, you can reach the edge of the wide opening above. Grab it and climb up. Ahead you can see SECRET #1, the Silver Dragon (1), but don't just rush ahead or you'll fall into a trap. (screenshots)

ROOM WITH SILVER DRAGON AND LARGE TRAPDOOR: When you hop down into the next room, a goon with a shotgun (3) emerges on the right. As you fight him, avoiding the four dark squares in the middle of the floor, which are actually a trapdoor. If you fall through, you'll encounter more enemies below and miss your chance to get the silver dragon. When the goon is dead, take his shotgun shells (2) and the secret.

NOTE: If you didn't pick up the SHOTGUN earlier, you'll get it from this guy instead of the shells.

If you like, you can now fall through the trapdoor and take on the 2 thugs (4-5) in the room below. However, you may find it easier to kill them from up here. A glitch in the game allows you to shoot them through the closed trapdoor. The bad guy with the gun can also shoot at Lara, though. I found it easier to jump over one of the trapdoor's corners so it drops open. Then hold the Walk button to keep from accidentally stepping off the edge as you shoot through the opening into the room below. Then you can see the bad guys, and if the one with the gun starts shooting at Lara, you can move back out of the way until he stops. (screenshots)

When the coast is clear, safety drop onto the wooden block in the room below so Lara doesn't lose any health. Then pick up the small medi pack and harpoons (3-4) the bad guys dropped. Look for the exit from this room high on the wall in the corner below the railing on the ceiling. To reach it, take a running jump to grab the tall block to the right of it. Pull up, turn left and take a running jump to grab the edge of the opening. Then pull up once more and enter the hallway beyond.

CORRIDORS WITH PIPES: The next area is made up of several interconnecting passageways. After obtaining a secret, you'll need to do a fairly complicated timed run through these corridors. The map below shows the general layout of the area, with the various doors and switches marked with letters and numbers, and the paths between them indicated in various colors. You can probably manage without the map, but it may help.

First, go after the secret in the water outside: After climbing into the hallway from the room below, turn around to find a switch (1) beside the doorway. This switch opens a door elsewhere (A). It's on a timer, so you'll need to hustle to get there before it closes. So pull the switch, press Look to regain Lara's perspective, roll and run along the passage, jumping over the silver pipes at floor level as you go. If you time it right, so Lara pulls the switch, rolls, runs 2 steps and then jumps, you can then just hold the Forward and Jump buttons down and she'll do a smooth series of running leaps over the pipes. At the end of the hallway, turn left, jump over one more pipe and jump or vault up into the doorway before the door closes. Or, if you're having trouble cornering and clearing that last pipe, instead run to the end of the hallway so Lara runs into the porthole directly ahead. Then take 2 side flips to the left to land in the doorway. Once you're inside the door, it'll stay open. (The path from the switch to the door is indicated by the PINK line on the map. It's also shown in this series of screenshots.)

At the end of this short passageway is a hole leading to the outside. Drop into the flooded passageway and follow it outside to an open area. SECRET #2, the Jade Dragon (5), rests on the sea floor to the left. (You can also see it through the portholes from inside the wreck.) A shark and 3 barracudas (6-9) patrol this enclosed area. They move in on Lara as soon as she enters the water. You could try and harpoon them, but it's difficult to do without wasting both harpoons and medi packs. It's easier to just swim fast and avoid them as much as possible. When you've grabbed the dragon, return through the tunnel the way you came. (It's at the right end of the hull with the portholes when facing the wreck from the pool.) screenshots.

SERIES OF SWITCHES, DOORS AND TIMED BURNERS: In order to exit, you'll need to get past the 4 burners blocking the corridor at the opposite end of this area. (This sequence is shown in both screenshots and a short video walkthrough.)

After returning inside from getting the Jade Dragon, hop down from the doorway (A) into the area with the wet floor (blue area on map). Notice the raised door on the right (C). You will return here later. For now, jump over the pipe just ahead, turn right and jump over the next pipe into the wide corridor where you first entered this area, then left into the narrow, dark hallway. (This path is indicated by the SOLID GREEN line on the map.) At the bend in the hallway, climb up through the opening in the ceiling and pull the switch (2) to open a door elsewhere (B). Door B is not timed, so you don't need to hurry.

To get there, drop down (or, after pulling the switch, side flip to the left) and continue to the end of the narrow, dark hallway (still following the SOLID GREEN line on the map). Turn right and follow this wide corridor past the narrow hallway with the burners, jump over another pipe and then turn right again. Continue to the end of the hallway and turn right again to find the door you just opened (B). Inside is another small room with a switch (3).

Save the game here if you like. Then flip the switch (3) to turn off the first pair of burners. This switch is timed so as soon as you pull it, press Look to regain Lara's perspective, roll, and run like mad to the burners (YELLOW path on map and screenshots part 2). Flip the switch (4) on the left wall above the second burner to open door (C) back where you started. Press Look and then side flip to the left 3 times to get off the burners before they reignite.

You can now slow down again, since door C is not timed. After side-flipping out of the burner corridor, continue straight ahead along the wide corridor. Jump over another pipe, turn left and follow the corridor with the portholes to the area with the wet floor. Hop over the pipe and climb into the doorway on the left (C) to find another switch (5).

Switch 5 shuts off the second pair of burners and it is timed. So from the moment you pull this switch until you clear all 4 burners to reach the exit, you will need to hurry. Here's the sequence:

Save the game. Then if you mess up, you can reload without having to replay any more than is necessary. Flip switch (5) to turn off the second set of burners, press Look, roll and race back to the other door (B) as follows: Take a running jump into the doorway, hop down into the wet area and turn right. Jump over the pipe and continue straight on through the hallway with the portholes on the left (following the path marked with the DARK GREEN broken line). Take running jumps along the straightaway to go faster. Turn right at the corner and leap over another pipe. Run straight on past the corridor with the burners, leap over the next pipe and turn right. Follow the hallway to the end, taking running jumps to cover the ground faster. As you turn right at the end of the corridor, take a running jump into the doorway (B).

Inside pull switch (3) again to turn off the first pair of burners. All the burners should be off now, but they won't stay off for long. So quickly press Look and Roll. Take a running jump into the doorway, hop down on the other side, turn left and run like mad to the burners. Be sure to jump over that last pipe just before turning into the burner hallway (YELLOW path on the map). As soon as you've cleared all 4 burners, you can stop and breathe. Lara is safe here. Pull the last switch (6) to open the exit. Whew!

ALTERNATE METHOD FOR BURNERS: If you have medi packs to spare, you can skip the timed sequence by running across all 4 burners to the second switch. (Ignore the first one.) Lara will of course catch fire. So you'll need to use medi packs to heal her as you pull the switch, run through the exit, and drop into the pool beyond to extinguish the flames. (This strategy is included in the video walkthrough as well.)

NOTE: If you just can't manage the fancy finger work, you can download a Windows or Macintosh savegame file with Lara on the other side of the burners. Save files can be found here; instructions for using them are here. Or use the level skip cheat code.

STACKED UNDERWATER ROOMS: The room beyond the burners contains a pool. Take a dip to draw out a barracuda (10), then climb out of the water and shoot it from above. Now comes yet another test of your patience. Save the game before starting out. Swim down then up through a square hole in the ceiling. Swim up through two more small, stacked rooms, each of which has a square hole in its ceiling. In the third room, there's a lever just above the hole. Pull it to open a door in the bottom room and simultaneously close the way back to the room where you started, so there's now no way to get air. Roll to face away from the lever and swim down through the two square holes. Swim through the door you just opened and pull a second lever to open the trapdoor at the very top. (screenshots)

In an alcove near the lever is SECRET #3, the Gold Dragon (6), with a bonus of 4 bundles of harpoons (7-10) if you've found all the secrets. If you have enough air, you can grab it now. Otherwise, swim to the top to breathe. Then swim back down for the statuette. When you take it, 3 more barracudas (11-13) appear, so quickly return to the top, climb out of the water and either shoot the fish or move on.

BIG ROOMS FILLED WITH DIRT: Follow the passage from the water and drop down into a big room full of reddish dirt. If you safety drop from the right side of the opening (left side when hanging), Lara will land on the dirt pile below without losing any health. (screenshot) Follow the wall around to an opening in the floor and drop down into an even bigger dirt-filled room below.

Find the movable crate in the corner below the rectangular opening high on the wall. (screenshot) Pull the crate twice and use it to climb into the opening above. Pull the switch here to open the trapdoor in the ceiling and dump a lot of dirt from the upper room into the lower one.

Hop down from the alcove and then climb up the dirt pile to the two small openings in the ceiling along the left wall. (There are ladders painted on the wall below them.) Climb up through the one on the left by standing below the opening and jumping straight up to grab the edge. (screenshot) In the upper room, climb the dirt pile and pull up through the square opening in the ceiling. (screenshot) Throw the switch here to flood a large room elsewhere. Return to the lowest dirt-filled room and climb up through the right opening of the two next to each other. (screenshot) Go around the left side of the dirt pile in this room and climb up to the large, rectangular opening near the ceiling. (screenshot) Flip another switch here to open a door in the room you just flooded.

Return again to the lowest dirt-filled room and climb over to the dirt pile to stand beneath the open trapdoors. Beyond them is a square opening in the wall. (screenshot) Enter and follow the winding passageway to the end.

LARGE POOL AND PASSAGE TO LEVEL EXIT: Jump in the water and head for the small door you opened a minute ago. A scuba diver (14) lies in wait. Harpoon him or climb out into the doorway overlooking the pool to shoot him. Then swim through the passageway he came from. At the end, climb out of the water to find yourself under attack by 2 goons (15-16), one with a gun and one with a wrench. When they're dead, lift a large medi pack and shotgun shells, plus 2 bundles of harpoons (11-14) lying on the floor.

NOTE: If you don't already have the HARPOON GUN, you'll get it here instead of one of the bunches of harpoons.

Pull the switch to open the door and exit the level.

†UPDATE HISTORY: 12/29/10 - First major update since this walkthrough was created in 1998. This revision includes many new screenshots as well as various other corrections and clarifications.
5/5/12 - Added links to cinematics on YouTube.
12/1/13 - Added "objectives" section for each level.
2/5/24 - Added VGCartography's level maps, with permission. Visit VGCartography on DeviantArt for high-res versions, and follow on Twitter/X and YouTube for more fantastic game maps.
4/26/24 - Added sequential kill and item counts, which will hopefully be helpful for both the classic and remastered versions. More remaster updates coming eventually. Thanks for your patience.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, without whom some parts of this walkthrough could not have been written. Thanks also to Helen, Rachael and crow for their suggestions for this level.

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