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

LEVEL MAP by VGCartography (used with permission)

Croft Manor Video Walkthrough by Eldincy

To access the training level, choose the polaroid snapshot labeled "Lara's Home" in the first menu ring.

Taking Lara's tour through the training level is a good way to learn all the moves in a safe setting. If you've never played Tomb Raider before, you may want to review the Controls Page. Then take a run through the assault course (try and beat your previous best time) and a nice swim in Lara's indoor pool to cool off.

In the bedroom upstairs, you may notice a locked door with no key. You'll return here in the final level of the game, at which time you'll have the key. For now, you might want to familiarize yourself with the layout of the house and grounds so you'll have an easier time at the end of the game. There are also a few little secrets to be ferreted out even at this early stage.

Note that you can't save the game in the training level.

Lara's Treasure Room

Lara stores the treasures she's collected during her many adventures in the basement of her mansion. Here's what you need to do to check it out:

1. You start the training level near the assault course. Go around to the opposite side of the mansion and press the button on the wall to open the front door.
   
   
2. Now head for the entrance to the hedge maze, to the right when facing the front door.
   
   
3. Go into the maze and make your way to the tunnel opening. (The blue line on the map below shows the quickest route from the maze entrance to the tunnel.)
   
   
4. Drop into the tunnel and follow it to the secret enclosure in the middle of the maze. Pick up the flares, since you'll be needing them soon.
   
   
5. The button here opens a door inside the mansion. A brief cut scene shows its location. You have about 74 seconds to through that door before it closes. So immediately after pressing the button, tap Look (to bypass the cut scene of the door), then Roll. Run forward and fall into the tunnel. Keep running forward then right and climb out at the other end. Now run back through the maze as quickly as you can. (Again, the blue line on the map shows the quickest route.)
   
   
6. Continue across the courtyard and in through the front door. Use running jumps here to cover ground more quickly. The secret door is just ahead, on the right side of the main hall.
   
   
7. Once you make it inside, light a flare, go down the stairs and explore. The button on the wall at the top of the stairs opens the door again when you want to leave.
   
   

NOTE: If Winston, the butler, keeps tripping you up, you can get him out of the way for a while by trapping him in the freezer. Enter the mansion, go into the kitchen and wait for him to appear. Open the freezer and go inside, all the way to the back. He should then follow. Jump over him, run out and quickly press the button to shut the freezer door. Now you can explore in peace.

CHEATER'S ALTERNATIVE: If you just can't make it in time, you can cheat your way into the treasure room using the Tomb Raider PC Flight Patch. Download the patch, and follow the instructions included in the file. Start the training level and open the front door of the mansion. Then go to the button inside the maze (either as described above or by flying). Press the button and fly into the mansion instead of running. You should be able to get there well before the secret door closes.

Corner Bug

You can also use the Corner Bug, or "Jump Trick" to get to some hard-to-reach places in the training level, including the roof and outside the main gate. For detailed instructions on this and other helpful glitches, visit my Useful Bugs page. Here's one possible route:

Use the corner bug on the right side of the front door to get onto the roof. Cross over to the back right edge, above the glass-roofed swimming pool. Step back off the edge where it's lowest and press Action to grab, as though you were going to do a safety drop. Lara won't actually grab the edge, but dropping this way will enable her to survive the fall. Jump from the swimming pool roof onto the hedge maze. Run along the top of the hedge toward the front of the mansion. Climb onto the exterior wall and head to the right, toward the front gate, where you can then drop down outside. To get back in, use the corner bug on the left side of the gate. (If you need a visual beyond the screenshots below, check out this video walkthrough.)

If you don't want to go on the roof, you can get outside the gate more quickly by using the corner bug on one of the structures near the end of the assault course (last 2 screenshots below) then following the wall around to the front of the manor. (Thanks to Megachristopher1 for reminding me about this.)

Another fun glitch is a window bug, which enables you to get inside the manor quickly, leaving the butler outside so he doesn't bother you as you explore. See the screenshots below, and this short video walkthrough for details. If you haven't mastered the corner bug yet, you can still use this glitch by following the assault course in the usual way and then jumping to grab the windowsill as shown. (Thanks to EldinSuper for sharing this info.)

Return to the TR2 intro | On to Level 1

†UPDATE HISTORY: 7/18/10 - First major update since this walkthrough was created in 1998. Previous minor changes were not tracked.
7/20/10 - Added last 2 screenshots and link to Eldin's video.
12/29/10 - Eldin's YouTube account was hacked and his videos deleted. So today I replaced his window bug video and added screenshots for that section.
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.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks to Jason McAllister, who originally discovered the corner bug, and to Theresa Jenne, whose site (tombraiders.com) is no more, but who was known as the queen of the Expert Challenge. Theresa inspired many diligent bug-finders over the years. Thanks also to Jeff Reid, Connell, Ferret, EldinSuper and Megachristopher1 for a few of the tips/refinements used here.

WAS THIS WALKTHROUGH HELPFUL? If not, I apologize and invite you to contact me with any questions. If you need help right away, I recommend the r/TombRaider subreddit. Other fan-run forums are listed at tombraiders.net/stella/community.html. If this site was useful, please consider supporting it financially or in other ways. For details, visit tombraiders.net/stella/support.html. As always, I welcome your corrections/suggestions. Thank you!

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