LEVEL 26: CITADEL
Updated: 5/5/19(†)
Kills: 6 Items: 23 plus Torch Secrets: 2*
BUG NOTE: In the PC version of the game, you may start this level without the use of the F5, F6, and P (pause) keys. See the bug note at the end of the STREET BAZAAR walkthrough for details and possible fixes.
DARK HALLWAY: Don't bother lighting a flare. Just run forward to trigger another cutscene.
Cutscene: Lara enters the CITADEL to find Jean-Yves tied to a pillar. She frees him and he informs her that he has seen Von Croy, who has definitely been possessed by Seth. According to Jean, Von Croy is now digging beneath the Citadel in search of a ceremonial tablet containing Seth's binding incantations. We then see Von Croy, with creepy glowing eyes, unearthing the tablet and reanimating the skeletons of two long-dead crusaders. (A transcript is included in the Cinematics section.)
CONNECTED ROOMS WITH STRIPED PILLARS: From the first room, near the striped pillar where Jean-Yves was tied, go between the gray columns into another similar-looking room to the left (south). The camera shifts to draw your attention to a rope strung diagonally across the room. Continue straight through and out the other side. Turn left and climb the stairs. At the top, turn right into a room with a lever and flaming sconces. Use the lever to open the gold doors down in the first room. Then pick up the WOODEN TORCH in one of the side alcoves. Light it on the nearby sconce and return downstairs to the second room. (screenshots)
Stand on the left side of the room beneath the rope and jump up and down to set the rope on fire. If this doesn't work, jump up into the alcove to get closer to the rope. The flame travels along the rope into the first room and somehow destroys a section of floor there. Return to the first room and toss the torch into the shallow pit to free Lara's hands. Pick up the Uzi ammo in the small room behind the gold door. Then drop into the pit. (screenshots)
ROCKY TUNNEL: Follow the tunnel leading out of the pit. You can bring the torch along for light if you like. Near the end of the tunnel, on the left, is an alcove containing wideshot shells. Toss the torch away (you won't need it anymore) and pick up the ammo. Turn around and approach the doorway opposite the alcove. (screenshots)
Cutscene: In the next room, one of Von Croy's henchmen runs up the stairs to a lever.
TALL ROOM WITH STAIRCASES AND POOL: Don't worry about the lever. We'll get there a bit later. Take a standing jump onto the ledge to the left of the entrance (or run carefully across the gap at the left corner). From here you can see a large medipack in the hall leading off to the north. This hallway is fire-trapped, so avoid it for now. Instead, climb onto the ledge on the left (i.e., just above the stairs leading down). From there, take a running jump to the stairs along the west wall. Go to the top of these stairs, turn left, and jump to grab the ceiling. (This texture looks a little different from the usual ceiling bars, but it works.) Monkey swing over to the small opening in the south wall. Position Lara right up against the wall, then let go and quickly press Action again to grab the edge of the opening. Crawl inside for SECRET #1 (61/70), a large medipack and flash grenades. Climb out the way you came and drop into the pool below. (screenshots)
Roll and swim through the opening on the right into the pool below the entrance. Ignore the opening on the bottom of the pool for now. Instead, pick up some super grenades on one of the underwater ledges in the southeast corner. Then climb out of the water onto the long ledge along the east wall. Take a running jump across the pool to grab the block ledge on the west side and pull up. (screenshots)
NOTE: You can also climb back up to the entrance this way if you fall into the pool by accident while exploring.
ANGLED CREVICES AND LEDGES ABOVE THE POOLS: Climb back onto the ledge between the two pools. This time, don't jump across to the stairs on the west wall, like you did when you went after the secret. Instead, move to the right side of the ledge and turn around. Drop back and grab the edge. Then let go and quickly press Action again to grab the diagonal crevice below. Traverse along the crevice, downward and to the right. As soon as you round the first corner, let go and grab the crevice below. Continue traversing to the right, around two more corners, until you can pull up into a crawlspace on the north wall. Crawl through and drop into the shallow water on the other side. Turn around, wade forward, and pick up some Uzi ammo. Then pull up into the opening on the right. (screenshots)
You might want to save before crawling out the other side and dropping onto the angled block below. After you drop, hold Jump + Action so Lara will immediately backflip onto another angled block, then jump again and grab the crack in the wall ahead. Release Jump but continue holding Action as you traverse to the left until you can pull up into an alcove with a small medipack. (screenshots)
NOTE: If you fall into the pool while attempting these jumps, either reload and try again, or swim through the doorway in the southeast corner and follow the flooded passageway. You emerge through the hole in the floor of the pool below the entrance. Climb out on the ledge and return to the first angled crevice so you can try again.
STAIRS LEADING UP TO THE LEVER: Turn around and take a running jump to grab the bottom of the stairs opposite the alcove. Pull up, turn left, and immediately draw weapons and kill the blue-robed baddie at the top of the stairs. Climb the first flight of stairs to the landing where he fell. Continue up a second flight of stairs. At the top, turn right, step out onto a ledge above the pool, turn right again, and shoot another bad guy on next landing. Continue to the top of the ramps, step into the room with the lever, then roll and deal with a third bad guy who tries to sneak up behind you. (screenshots)
FLAME TRAPPED HALWAY: Use the lever to deactivate the flame trap in the hallway below. You can safety drop directly into that hallway via the opening on the left, but Lara will lose a bit of health from the long drop. (screenshots)
NOTE: To conserve health, instead of dropping directly into the flame-trap room, return to the entrance to the lever room and drop into the pool. Climb out on either of the ledges, take a running jump across the pool to grab the block ledge, pull up, and climb into the hallway to the north. If you go this way, the flames may still be active when you enter the hallway, but as long as you used the lever, they should shut off as you approach.
Now that you've deactivated the flames, you can pick up the large medipack and continue along the hallway and down the stairs. (screenshot)
Cutscene: When you reach the foot of the stairs, the camera shifts to an aerial view of the next room. Its elaborately patterned floor resembles a compass rose, with golden glyphs at the cardinal points.
COMPASS ROOM: Move around the perimeter of the room and pick up grenades, super grenades, and a small medipack in three of the corners. Save the game before starting the compass puzzle in case you encounter the bug described below. Now tackle the puzzle: Position Lara with her back to the stairs where you entered the room. Now check the compass in your inventory and you'll see that Lara is facing north. The stairs, now behind her, are to the south. So, right is east, and left is west. Now examine the 4 movable pedestals. Each is decorated with a letter representing one point of the compass (N, S, E, and W). The goal is to move each pedestal onto the golden circle at the corresponding point of the compass. You'll probably want to move the 'S' pedestal first, from the far left corner down to the golden circle nearest the entrance. Then the other pedestals won't get in the way, and you won't have to slide the 'S' pedestal over the west circle, risking the bug described below. After that, you can move the others in any order. Once the pedestals are positioned correctly, all 3 doors leading out of the room should open. (screenshots)
BUG NOTE: Several things can go wrong here. First, certain video cards don't display the textures on the pedestals, so players can't tell which is which. The screenshots show how the pedestals should look and where to move each one. Second, due to a bug, it is possible to arrange the pedestals correctly but still not open the doors. To avoid this, make sure you don't accidentally push any of the pedestals over one of the golden circles where it doesn't belong. For example, don't move the 'S' pedestal across the north or west circle in the process of getting it to the south circle. Or, you may want to try moving the pedestals in a particular order. Some players have reported that arranging them in the order N, E, W, S prevented the bug. Or, if the pedestals have already been moved incorrectly, moving all of them off the golden circles, then placing them correctly in that order—N, E, W, S—fixed the bug. If you're stuck and didn't save before trying this puzzle, you can download a save file with the puzzle completed.
After solving the puzzle, go through the WEST DOOR. Follow the ramps down to a room with a stone ledge. Climb onto the ledge and hop down into the pit on the left side to get some flares. (The pit on the right is empty.) Climb back up and drop through the trapdoor into the pool. (screenshots)
FLOODED PASSAGEWAYS: This first flooded room has three tunnels leading out in different directions. The one to the west leads to a lever you can't use yet. There are also 2 trapdoors and a large pipe running along the floor. Follow the south tunnel to another flooded room with a handle on the ceiling. Position Lara below the handle and press Action to pull it, closing the trapdoor in the ceiling of the previous room. There's also a small medipack on the floor in the northwest corner. Grab it then swim back along the tunnel to the opening in the ceiling of the first room to breathe. (Even though the trapdoor is now closed, you can still get air there.) (screenshots)
Next, swim through the sloping tunnel at floor level on the north wall. This tunnel bends upward then around to the right. It eventually brings you to a room with blue star patterns on the ceiling, many narrow columns, and a chain. Lara can't pull the chain while it's half underwater. So climb out of the pool, pick up the revolver ammo in the southwest corner, and follow the twisting hallway back up to the COMPASS ROOM, where you emerge through the NORTH DOOR. (screenshots)
Now go through the EAST DOOR and follow the ramp down to a room with 2 henchmen guarding a lever. Kill the men and use the lever to lower the water level in the other rooms. (screenshots)
Go back up the ramps to the COMPASS ROOM. Return through the NORTH DOOR and down the twisting passageway to the room with the chain. You still can't use it. So jump in the pool beside the chain and swim through the tunnel to the room where the various tunnels converge. Climb out of the water into the west tunnel. Now that the water level is lower, you can pull the lever here. This opens the 2 trapdoors in the middle room, lowering the water level even further. (screenshots)
The trapdoor in the northwest corner contains some Uzi ammo. Grab it and follow the north tunnel back to the room with the chain. (You'll need to climb out of the water and walk partway.) There's a new bad guy lurking there. If you wait for him to come to the edge of the opening, you can kill him from below with Uzis or an explosive arrow. Now that the pit no longer has water in it, you can pull the chain. This opens the square door nearby. Climb out of the pit, pick up the small medipack the enemy dropped, and go through the door you just opened. (screenshots)
CRUSADERS' VAULTS: Follow the tunnel to a raised crawlspace. Crawl through and drop down in the next room.
Cutscene: The 2 undead knights Von Croy/Seth reanimated now come after Lara.
These ancient enemies cannot be destroyed, so they don't count as "kills." They can, however, be used to open the exit. There are no pick-ups here, but if you decide to explore anyway, watch out for the deep pits in the middle and northeast corner of the room. To reach the exit, immediately after the cutscene finishes, side flip to the left, roll, and run up the ramp along the right wall. The knights follow but slowly, moaning and groaning as they come. (You'd be stiff and achy too if you'd been dead for centuries.) Continue around the corner to the left and up the next ramp. When you reach the top, position Lara in front of the petrified wooden barrier nailed across the exit. Wait for the knights to come up the ramp and when they swing their swords at Lara, they'll break the beams. Run forward and quickly pull up into the room above. (screenshots)
NOTE: Once you reach the doorway with the beams, you can turn around and watch for the knights to approach. When they get close, roll and step forward so Lara is right up against the beams and ready to move. If one of the knights takes a swing at point-blank range, Lara will take a little damage, but the beams will definitely break. If you stand too far away from the barrier or jump aside as the knights attack, they may not swing.
DARK ROOM WITH TORCHES: Follow the rocky passageway around to a cavernous room with reddish stone walls and torches burning in wall sconces. Pick up Uzi ammo just inside on the right and flares in the alcove to the north of the ammo. Once you have the flares, drop down off the ledge and cross the big room to the west side, where you'll find a deep hole near the wall. Move around to the left side of the hole, drop and hang from the edge, let go, and quickly press Action again to grab the edge of the opening. Crawl inside and follow the tunnel to SECRET #2 (62/70). (screenshots)
The room above contains a small armory—flash grenades, revolver ammo, a large medipack, explosive arrows, and wideshot shells—guarded by another pair of undead knights. The page with screenshots includes one possible sequence for picking up the items, but you can also retrieve them one or two at a time by luring the knights away and then running or jumping to the next pick-up, or by dropping back into the hole between pick-ups, waiting for the knights to move away from your next target, and then climbing up for the next item. Don't worry if Lara takes a little damage. The end of the level is near, and her health will be restored. When you've got everything, slide down the ramp in the southeast corner.
The ramp deposits Lara in the southwest corner of the cavernous room, near where you first entered. Run forward and turn left. (screenshot) Hop down off the ledge and head for the doorway to the north, with the flashing light, to finish the level. (screenshot)
Cutscene: Lara stumbles upon Von Croy/Seth and a few of his charming puppies. He offers her fame and long life in exchange for the armor of Horus, but she declines. Before he can sic the jackals on her, she runs through the exit and removes the amulet from its receptacle, sealing the door behind her. She then climbs out a window and dives into the water below. (The Cinematics section includes a transcript of the dialogue.)
*NOTE ON SECRETS: There are 70 secrets in the entire game. These are marked "(x/70)" in this walkthrough. To check your progress in-game, press Pause (P on keyboard, Start on PlayStation or Dreamcast controller) then choose Statistics. At the end of this level, you should have 62/70.
†UPDATE HISTORY: 6/10/00 - Previous edit, details not available.
5/5/19 - First major update since this walkthrough was created in 1999. This revision includes many new screenshots as well as various other corrections and clarifications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup and the old tombraiders.com forum, without whom parts of this walkthrough could not have been written, and to Dale F., Ruud, and Sturm for their tips and corrections for this level, and to the many players who pointed out the Uzi ammo I forgot to note in the passageway just beyond the angled crevices.
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