NOTE: Combat strategy is based on the Medium difficulty setting, so your experience may vary slightly. In addition to the walkthroughs for each level, there are separate pages for Controls & Gameplay Tips, Skill & Weapon Upgrades, and Collectible Items.
SAVING AND CHECKPOINTS: Like the last several games, TOMB RAIDER uses autosave checkpoints. Whenever you pass a checkpoint, the game is saved automatically. Then, if Lara dies or you quit the game and restart, the game reloads at the last checkpoint. If you only rely on one autosave, you may run into trouble if you get stuck in the game, encounter a bug, or if your autosave file becomes corrupted. To avoid problems, I highly recommend changing your save slot at least once each level. You may also want to periodically back up your autosaves on a memory card (consoles) or into a separate folder (PC). See the controls page for details.
AREA 16: CAVERN ENTRANCE
Updated: 5/1/13(†)
NOTE: This short, transitional area has only one pickup and no camps or significant collectibles. I only included it for the sake of completeness.
After emerging from the flooded tunnel into a candle-lit cave, follow the passageway forward. Soon it widens into a small room with a statue. You receive 100 XP and a mission update.
OBJECTIVE: Rescue the Captured Endurance Crew
Follow the passage to the left to a dead end with an edible plant somehow managing to grow in the feeble light filtering in from above. Return to the cave with the statue. There are a few rats here you can kill and butcher if you've got a craving for rat. Then continue up the stairs and on through the tunnel until a cut scene kicks in.
Lara sneaks into a cavern where Mathias and a group of his followers are conducting the fire ritual. As Mathias inspires his filthy flock, Lara stealthily makes her way forward. She peers around a corner and sees Sam lashed to a post with firewood piled at her feet. As Mathias gives the signal to light the fire, Lara emerges from hiding and shoots the man carrying the torch. She tries to get off another shot, but a pair of burly men grab her and start pummeling her. Mathias stops them, calling them by name—Dmitri and Nikolai—and orders Lara brought to him. The two Russians disarm her and then hold her while Mathias starts the blaze. Lara apologizes to Sam and tries to comfort her as Mathias calls for Himiko to speak to them. Surprisingly, the Sun Queen appears to do so. A fierce wind whips through the cavern, extinguishing the flames. Mathias is triumphant. Soon, he tells the assembled Solarii, soon, they will be reborn. He then orders Dmitri to take Sam to the throne room, while Nikolai and another man haul Lara away.
We next see the men escorting Lara across a stone bridge in another cavern. She manages to break free, steal back her bow and jump off the edge of the bridge into a pool red with gore. Nikolai and his helper don't seem too keen on jumping in after her. They give a halfhearted look over the edge and decide that Lara probably didn't survive the fall. They mention heading down some other way. Lara surfaces, poking just her eyes and nose above the bloody water, then moves quietly away.
When you regain control, wade through the pool to a path leading up into the next area.
†UPDATE HISTORY: 5/1/13 - First draft of walkthrough posted online.
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