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9 Tomb Raider Puzzles That Had Us All Stumped
Apr 15, 2024
Lara Croft has squared off with Atlantean gods, paramilitary groups, and hungry mythological beasts, but her greatest tests are certainly the riddles she has had to solve when exploring ancient tombs.
Here are nine puzzles that tested our wit... and maybe made us cry a little.
A Little Game of Senet
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation
Hidden inside the Tomb of Semerkhet in Karnak, players discover that ancient Egyptians were also gamers when she comes across a life-sized Senet board – one of the oldest known board games played 5,000 years ago. To proceed deeper into the tomb she’ll have to play the game, but the difficulty of the route she takes is determined by whether players win or lose. This puzzle was a tricky one! (Especially considering that the instructions tablet is protected by a wall of flamethrowers.)
Ropes and Pulleys
Rise of the Tomb Raider: Baba Yaga DLC
One of the hardest puzzles in the Survivor Trilogy lives in the Wicked Vale – a valley allegedly haunted by the titular Slavic witch. At one point, Lara encounters a decrepit ropes and pulleys system, which she deduces the Remnant used to lift construction materials up the mountain. But in true Tomb Raider fashion, the lifts are broken. To proceed up the mountain, players will need to use their rope arrows and conquer a timed run. Absolutely devious, this one.
The Hall of Ascension
Tomb Raider (2013)
While exploring Yamatai, Lara discovers a lone temple constructed in the gut of a windy chasm. Solving this puzzle requires players to harness this wind to ride a hanging platform up to the treasure room... but doing so requires a devious timed jump that feels like a design ripped straight from Lara’s classic adventures.
Too Hot to Handle
Tomb Raider II
As if starting the level on the sea floor with a depleting oxygen meter and sharks circling nearby weren’t challenging enough, Tomb Raider II’s 40 Fathoms level throws another hardball at Lara. It’s a timed door puzzle inside a capsized ship in which players need to navigate over light fixtures and twisting corridors to make it over a series of burners before the timer runs out. (Whose idea was it to put burners on the ceiling anyways?!)
Mystery of The White Queen
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
In a flashback sequence, a young Lara explores the Croft family’s private antiquities gallery to find the White Queen (tragically, a hidden chamber where Richard Croft hid belongings from his late wife Amelia). Solving the puzzle requires players to use a series of clues that detail how to manipulate quirky contraptions in the chamber that, when positioned correctly, open the final doorway to the White Queen’s resting place.
The Breath of Hades
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Don’t go into the Louvre at night, because you might stumble across this absolutely devious platforming puzzle. Inside one of the Hall of Seasons’ trap rooms is a chamber that’s missing quite a bit of floor. Conquering the room requires players to hop across a series of pillars rising up from the abyss and avoiding a giant wind tunnel... because why not. Only those who’ve mastered Lara’s nuanced jumping mechanics can claim the Air Crystal at the end (before turning around and doing it all over again).
Purchasing the Train Ticket
Tomb Raider III
Possibly the most relatable puzzle in a Tomb Raider game is figuring out public transit in the shuttered Aldwych Station. At one point in your spelunking adventure through London’s Underground, Lara comes across a gate that needs a ticket to pass. (She could hop over, but apparently Lara wanted to be a law-abiding Brit in this instance.) Getting your ticket requires quite a bit of “minding the gap” to track down an Old Coin that you can cash in for your ticket at the booth near the level’s start. If only transit were still so cheap.
Kuwaq Yaku Door
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Fiery pits? Crumbling balance beams? Snakes? This tomb brings everything and the kitchen sink! After Lara learns that Trinity is interested in a dig site near the town Kuwaq Yaku, her adventure takes her into the ruins where she has to solve a puzzle using Mayan numerals to delve deeper. Mess up the code though and you’re snake food!
The Ancient Cistern
Rise of the Tomb Raider
This one will give a trauma response to anyone who remembers The Cistern from the original Tomb Raider, because it’s just as spicy. Lara’s prize is at the top of a tower inside an ancient cistern, but – gasp! – the bridge has collapsed. To reach the top, players need to open the water gates by strategically placing explosive barrels and using some fine archery skills to detonate them at just the right moment.
Experience classic Tomb Raider head-scratchers all over again with Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, available now on all platforms.
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