I played 1600 custom levels and still needed a week of research for this blog. That’s how big the custom level world really is. It’s huge, it’s vast, it’s immense, it’s enormous, it’s gigantic. It’s big. Yes… yes, it’s very big. Anyway, since TR25 has left Bouchard’s new premises and focused on LAU in the recent months, we also streamed some corresponding custom levels. Below is an extended list.

CROFT MANOR

It is usually a synthesis taking the best bits of LAU manors, just like it happens with TR1-3, and sometimes even all six manors are combined for the ultimate experience.

Skyler Ortega – Abbingdon Estate

tombraiderxii – Croftmas Manor

Titak – Mists of Avalon – The Lost Realm

Jesus C.Croft – The Scarf Story

LEGEND – JAPAN

Skyscraper parkouring and penthouse infiltration isn’t a common topic in custom levels, but there are some which have it and stand out.

TrentKurtis – Quirks of Time – Part 1: The Building

Naxheel – The Turin Incident

LEGEND – GHANA

Tomb Raider is packed with jungles, but the African one adds might and majesty opposing lightweight and ornate India – just like a big, wild savanna elephant would challenge a cute tamed tractor one. Crude blocks even tropical flora has a trouble to conceal speak loud when uncovered, becoming a good foundation for adventures that depict civilizations stronger and more advanced than those we commonly know – so while these levels vary in details, if you check them for Legend influence, it’s Ghana be there. And now I wonder if we got two elephant artists, Asian and African, which one would paint a better picture.

Aza – The Skull Island

Lakota – The Lost World

Maati – Crystal of Life

rufierto – Dutchy’s Rescue

Taras – Kor

Wasp – The Tempest Keep

EseGee – Congo Mountains – Man vs Beast

LEGEND – KAZAKHSTAN

The series had hidden bases since TR3, but Kazakhstan added that eerie feeling of an experiment going wrong in a cold, remote, hi-tech facility. We have a lot of such infiltration and exfiltration levels since Lara can never resist being nosey.

Clara, Masha, Sponge – Svalbard

Max – Brijett Lab Escape

Mulf – The Lost Mountains of Heroic Madness

sonnyd83 – 1943: The Black Diamond – Part 1

LEGEND – ENGLAND

Nodding to civilizations built on remnants of older civilizations (or to Monty Python’s Society For Putting Things On Top of Other Things), it might happen you take a casual refreshing dip into a sewer and, as soon as you resurface, you will see something rooted in Cornwall.

Lakota – Braveheart’s Sword

Wasp – The Templar Archives

Skyler Ortega – The Angel Within

Lara_Fox_Croft – Inside Valek Ruins

LEGEND – NEPAL

Supporting a level plot with this asset, polarized by dominant ice, is harder than a winter ascent to Nanga Parbat. I actually don’t know a builder who tried and didn’t fail, and Zolee’s expedition got stuck in the base camp, waiting for the weather change. Still, attempts were made, this territory is yet to explore, and maybe you can grab your climbing gear and go. Unless you pick humble trekking and see cold defenses turn into warm welcome, as Nepal reveals its more frequent face – a friend and enhancer of Tibet, often essential in making a unified story.

WayneScales – The Secrets of Nepal

Astraf – Lost Spirit of the Cavemen – Remake

Zolee – ORC21 – Himalaya

PhryneCroft – Tomb Raider – The Discovery  

LEGEND-ANNIVERSARY PERU

I list this long group together since resource packs are mostly collaged of assets from multiple games. But even if unmerged, this topic is widely represented: constantly resurrected by independednt builders, picked for a Back to Basics competition, incarnated in post-BtB levels, and let’s not forget whoever tries to remake TR1, he usually gets to Peru.

LaraCablara – Tomb Raider Expedition

Dutchy – BtB2008 – Sweet Memories

Horus – BtB2008 – Etalocohcilihc

Isis – The Last Resting Place of Chikas Pupanqui

Jonson – BtB2008 – In Cuzco

Raymond – The Copacahuana Idol

Roli – BtB2008 – Pachacutec Inca’s Valley

stranger1992 – Spectrum

TC14 – BtB2008 – The Riddle of Pacha Camac

Seilion – The Middle of Nowhere

ANNIVERSARY – GREECE

Greek mythology and history is a cornucopia of ideas. It attracted even more competition builders than Peru, and from the works in progress it seems it’s never gonna end.

tombraider1703 – 20x20x20 Challenge – Palace of Himeros

Jesus C.Croft – BtB2015 – The Greek Files

Loch – BtB2015 – Myth

Mr XY – BtB2015 – To Atlantis

OverRaider – BtB2015 – Stairway to Hell

Roli – Tomb Raider Revelations IV

TheMark – The Heroes Hammer  

ANNIVERSARY – EGYPT

Remember the meme where Godzilla fights King Kong but Rinny’s doggo bonks them both with a baseball bat? Yes, it looks like no matter how hard Peru and Greece compete for dominance, there will always be an Egyptian level shoving hectolitres of rude sandstorm into the level editor scene. I covered some of these maps in previous chapters, since the sand is coarse, and rough, and irritating, and gets everywhere – so in fact this time I could just skip them, right? NO. Nooo!…

Vinraider – Another Business Day

Compass – Egypt Artefact

Adriel – Tomb Raider Stigmas (Beta)

Adriel – Oasis of the Primordials

Ader – Feather of Ma’at

Raider99 – 20x20x20 Challenge – Ankh Curse  

ANNIVERSARY – ATLANTIS

How did I even get here? I’m still blinded by the Egypt sun. Thankfully, Natla turned the lights on, making it visible why Atlantis is one of the hardest chapters to take inspiration from, because of its inherent pre-baked mood of plot finale which first needs to be un-finaled in order to allow any storyline progression whatsoever. This is why there are almost no good Atlantis levels and I HaVe ThE RiGhT tO My OpIniOn. But I found two which match the Anniversary standard… If it’s not surprising enough one of them comes from a Wild West project, then both of those levels are by no one else than…

EssGee – Natla Rising

EssGee – Aquatlantis  

UNDERWORLD – MEDITERRANEAN

I remember when Codo gave Lara infinite breath, turned her into a mermaid and sent her off to search for Christmas gifts at the bottom of the sea. After a while, a custom aqualung caused a boom on underwater levels. What we got now is a specific niche range for marine life enthusiasts, missing only a giant octopus from Mike McCracken.

Luke – Bayou

Francesco Venco – Prometheus Legacy

Gabriel Oliveira – Into the Depths

Cowboy – The Abyss  

UNDERWORLD – THAILAND

When Lara resurfaces from the depths of Mediterranean, Natla points her to the 7th parallel on the West coast of Thailand. I looked it up and I found out there is indeed an island with matching biome… however, it is untouched by civilization. Instead, the game pastes a temple from a remote site, what feels familiar yet overlooked by every archeologist in the world. In 2014, custom levels returned this temple to where it historically belongs – Cambodia. And so, it came to pass there is no “Thailand” category on trle.net, but almost entire legacy of this chapter lives in levels from Back to Basics: Khmer Empire.

EseGee – Sri Lanka: The Trail of Power

Tombraider95 – BtB2014 – Submersion of Angkor

Amethyste – BtB2014 – An Unexpected Adventure Phimai

Titak – ORC18 – Xumongkh  

UNDERWORLD – MEXICO

I wondered for several days and I still don’t know why this chapter of Underworld is the least represented in custom levels. Maybe it’s just… protected by the dead, bahahah-

Matie – Protected by the Dead (WIP – link points to old version)

Roli – Chiapas, Mexico  

UNDERWORLD – SHIP

Due to Lara being more interested in shipwrecks rather than in ships staying afloat before she makes them shipwrecks, we’re short on levels with ships staying afloat. However we got a couple of levels which went there. The last concept is a WIP and I normally don’t post them, but it’s so good I made an exception, so please, dear builder, for the love of Thor, finish this level…

Daffy – Escape in the Pacific

mugs – A Summer Adventure  

UNDERWORLD – JAN MAYEN

This one is peculiar. The location was too specific to be reused in custom levels, but the Viking trope was proposed for a building contest one edition before Khmer. Back to Basics: Northern Legends took several Underworld objects for starters and combined them with fresh Celtic overtone. The outcome felt like TRU Gold – a universe extension which, if included, would fit the game like a glove.

m.julien – BtB2013 – Ultimate Challenge of the Northern Gods

kurtisandlara – BtB2013 – Jormungr

UNDERWORLD – ARCTIC SEA

Again because of the location being very specific, Arctic maps are rarely made. Some from the aforementioned Northern pack might be treated as such or not. But one thing often shared between the last segment of Underworld and custom levels is the idea of breaking through the surface ice and discovering things below.

Clara – Icy Christmas

Piper – Somewhere in the Ice 2

Codo – Deep Down Below

Before I wrap up for today: do you remember that line about mysterious wheels supposedly in motion, implying a disaster which cannot be stopped? It was speculated for long what they might be, but one author chose not to dispute and filled the gap instead.

PH – Wheels of Kathar

That’s all for now! :))

– DJ

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