Back in the present (15 years later), the opening FMV shows two camels and their riders ambling along slowly during a sandstorm. They are crossing the Egyptian desert exactly in this fashion when one of them points out to the other a slightly bizarre rock structure. They move over to it and dismount. One of them is woman, as we can hear her voice when she drops down from the camel. She sees something glowing amongst the rocks, but as she prepares to make a grab for it, a scorpion appears and she hesitates. Then more scorpions appear and she backs away. The man shows her some rocks and a handle. She approaches the handle and uses it. Suddenly the ground starts to shake and the sand slips away from beneath their feet. They start sliding through a tunnel before finally falling into a cave. When they both awake, the woman takes off her shawl and reveals herself. It is of course none other than Lara Croft, and she is ready for her adventure!

The cut scene shows a small part of the level's beginning and the guide lighting a torch (the guide is friendly - and that's why you can't kill him - and supposed to help you see clearly, lighting the torches as you move in the level).

Pick up the Flares on the left ahead and some more behind to the right. Go down the ramp to enter the alcoves and pick up the Shotgun from the pit. Continue down to the left and get the Large Medipack from the next pit. When you step in this one, a red scorpion appears. Jump forward to avoid it and turn around quickly to make the kill with your Pistols. It does not require that many shots. If the guide is close to you, he will burn the scorpion with his torch. Climb on the ramp to the left and pick up the Shotgun Normal Ammo at the top. Return back and continue down past the alcoves, killing a scorpion from the next pit.

The brief cut scene shows you that something is coming through a hallway in your general direction.

If you have your weapons drawn, Lara will aim at the dog that is coming; kill it. Again, the guide can kill the dog with his torch for you if it reaches him before you. The next pit and the bigger one on the right include one scorpion each. Make a play with them if you want all the kills. Continue down the alcoves. At the end, you can see a ramp with a Large Medipack at the top.

1st Secret (1-5\ total: 9-70) - Go to the right of the ramp and continue ahead. Climb on the right hand block and jump into the alcove. Pick up the Small Medipack and return back to the ramp. (This screenshot shows the location.)

If you have not done so already, get the Large Medipack from the ramp and one Small Medipack from the very dark corner to the right of the doorway (as shown in this screenshot).

Room with three niches - Go through the doorway and down the hallway from where the guide passed. When you reach the middle of the room, the door behind you closes and two scorpions appear. When you kill them, approach the block at the far left and it will lower, revealing a niche. Get the two sets of Flares from the room's corners: one from the bottom left and the other one from the far right. There are three niches in the room. The niche that is alone on the right contains a Large Medipack. From the two on the left, the left niche is not accessible, but the right one contains a mechanism. If you use it now, you will miss a Secret.

2nd Secret (2-5\ total 10-70) - Go through the opening on the right and down the ramp. Drop into the pit with the golden sand on the floor and enter the alcove to get the Shotgun Normal Ammo. Two scorpions appear from behind, so turn around and kill them. Exit and vault on the low block in the corner. Pick up the Small Medipack and climb back up. Return to the room where the guide is. (You may have noticed the opening in the ceiling above the ramp. You cannot climb through it because it is too high, but you will come from there later).

Now you can use the niche to activate the mechanism that fills the pit with more sand. So, go down the ramp again and cross the sand. Get the Small Medipack from the right pedestal and the Eye Piece #1 from the left one. Taking the Eye Piece, you also open the exit door of the room with the niches. Return back there and go through it.

Room with rope - In the next room you can see a rope hanging from the ceiling and a big door with an eye symbol on the right. For now, follow the guide to the other side of the room, behind the platform. Make sure you do not pass him!! When he enters the next room with the several huge blades on both sides, he kneels. Stand behind him and let him disable the blades. Now you can go up the steps and get the Eye Piece #2 from the pedestal. Return to the previous room with the platform.

3rd Secret (3-5\ total: 11-70) - To get the next Secret you need to use the rope. Climb on the central platform and stand beneath the rope facing the ledge with the alcove, opposite the door with the eye symbol. Jump up pressing Action to grab the rope. Swing across and jump to the opposite ledge (see the Rope Tips at the bottom of the page). Once you land on the ledge, you hear the chime signaling the Secret. This means that it has just been added to your total summary, but if you want all the pick-ups and kills, you have to proceed.

Area with slice dicer - Grab the right hand ledge but do not pull up. There is an extremely dangerous dicer above. Wait for it to pass, pull up on the right side of the ledge and press forward. When you cannot go further, take a standing jump over the slide to land on the flat ledge ahead. Crouch and wait for the dicer to pass again. Climb on the next ledge and get the Small Medipack. Once again, crouch, waiting for the dicer to pass. Climb on the block to the left, turn left and take a running jump to grab the opposite ledge - pull up. Now you are safe.

Climb to the top of the room and get the Flares from the left side. Continue to the other side of the structure and you will find a small flat ledge below. Drop onto it, wait for the dicer to pass, and take a standing jump to the block ahead. Immediately leave from the block or the dicer will come around again and cut you. A dog appears from around the corner and two more dogs when you turn around the corner. You can kill all the dogs from the top of the block you jumped onto before, but make sure you are standing as far as you can away from the path of the dicer. When you are done, go to the end of the hallway.

Slide down backwards pressing Action to grab the edge. Shimmy right if necessary and drop down. The pit with the two scorpions you see on the left does not include anything. Lara cannot aim at the scorpions if you stand outside the pit. If you are interested in all kills, you need to drop down. To kill the scorpions, roll and shoot at the same time. Then climb out and pick up the Uzi. Drop into the next hole in order to slide down and drop onto the ramp that connects the room you got the first Eye Piece and the room with the three niches. Go up the ramp and retrace your steps to the room with the rope.

Stand in front of the door with the eye symbol, and if you have not already done so, combine the two Eye Pieces to get the Eye of Horus. Place it inside the eye receptacle to open the door.

(Note for the PC version - If Lara refuses to place the Eye on its place after combining the two pieces and says "No" when you press Action, press Enter instead. Eventually she will do it.)

When you enter the next room, two dogs appear from the left. Since they need to go down the ramp in order to reach you, you have time to kill them. If the guide is nearby, you can let them approach and deal with one while the guide deals with the other. Or, climb onto the platform beneath the rope and kill them from safety. Once you are done, go up the ramp to enter the Sphinx Room.

The cut scene gives you a brief overview of the area.

Sphinx Room - Do not try to jump over the railing to the ground because it is a long drop down and you will die. Besides, there are some pick-ups in the pits around you. Take the Uzi Clips from the pit on your right and the Small Medipack from the left one.

Follow the stairs on the left and go through the opening until you reach the next room where the guide enkindles the pool using his torch. This opens the gate at the other side of the room. Follow the guide by going through it and turn right at the T intersection. [If you go to the left, you will see the guide waiting in front of a closed gate (or running against it) that you need to open.] Get the Small Medipack from the pit and continue to the end of the greenish hallway. In the room with the pool, you can see the closed gate and the guide behind it on the left. Follow the right doorway and pass the two closed gates until you reach the next room with the chain.

Chain puzzle - Pull the chain once.

The cut scene shows that this action opens the gate in the room with the pool. The guide enters the room and enkindles the pool using his torch, making some of the symbols on the floor glow.

To exit the room, you need to open the gate at the other side by solving the puzzle. In order to do so, you need to step only on the glowing symbols and not on any of the other parts of the floor. Before doing anything, turn around. You will see that the way you came from (the left one) is now blocked by a gate and another way (the right one) has opened up for you. Follow it to reach a small room with a chain and a Shotgun. The chain here resets the puzzle if you make a mistake. Use it though to open a gate that leads back to the puzzle.

Jumping on the glowing symbols - To get from one symbol to the next, simply take standing jumps, except from the first one that is in front of the chain. You can just walk onto this one. The order of the symbols you need to jump on is obvious.

Every time you make a successful jump, a torch on the opposite wall lights up and the previous symbol generates a fire. Be careful however to step only in the middle of each symbol and not on its light brown square border. If you accidentally step on the border of a glowing symbol, you will not be able to solve the puzzle and open the gate. In that case, you have to reset the puzzle as described above. Instead, you can save your game just before, or right after, pulling the chain, so you can reload in the event of needing to repeat the process (better save in a different slot in case you activate a bug where the puzzle does not get re-set).

Once you make it, pick up The Timeless Sands. When you do that, the second gate opens. Go through the exit at the other side to return back to the Sphinx Room. Go to the left side of the room until you reach a passageway.

4th Secret (4-5\ total: 12-70) - Do not enter. Continue ahead and climb up the block. You can see the closed gate on the right, but you need to open it first. Climb the ladder right up to the top and pull the lever to open the gate. Climb back down the ladder and pick up the Shotgun Normal and Wideshot Ammo's from the alcove.

5th Secret (5-5\ total: 13-70) - Climb that same ladder back to the top again. Reach the right side of the platform and drop onto the flat ledge of the black and yellow part of the Sphinx. From there you need to jump almost to the front side of the Sphinx. Use the Binoculars to locate the ledge. Stand on the right side and take a standing jump (see this screenshot to get oriented). Head to the other side and jump on the flat black and yellow ledge on the left. Pick up the Shotgun Normal Ammo and the Large Medipack from the right, dark corner of the platform. Slide down backwards pressing Action to grab the edge of the slopes. Make your way back to the middle of the room performing standing jumps in order to clear the angled ledges.

(Note about the last two Secrets - Since you are at the top of the ladder in order to pull the lever for the 4th Secret, you can first get the 5th one and then get the 4th Secret on your way back to avoid climbing up and down the ladder twice.)

Sand Statue - Go to the left side of the Sphinx Room and now follow the passage on the left. The guide is waiting for you, but if you happen to get there before him, just wait a bit and he will eventually appear. When the gate ahead opens, the guide gets scared and leaves. Go through the gate and kill the three red scorpions that come scuttling towards you. Head down the ramp and drop onto the ground. Pick up the Shotgun Normal Ammo and the Small Medipack from the centrally raised platform and climb onto the ledge ahead where the Sand Statue is.

Place the Timeless Sands in the Statue's hands. This will transfer the sand that was in front of the Sphinx, into this room, revealing Sphinx's mouth, which is a crawlspace. There is a red scorpion on the ground that you can kill or totally avoid. Follow the either left or right part of the sand hill, performing standing jumps in order to clear the angled ledges. Climb onto the opening from where you came and make your way back to the Sphinx Room. Climb through its mouth (whilst hanging, press Duck and Up) and slide down the ramp to end the level.

Rope Tips - Always make sure that you swing whilst being at the bottom of the rope. This will allow you to gain more momentum. If you grab the rope and you need to turn in order to swing towards your target, climb to the top of the rope to stop moving and then slide down to the bottom. Press the Sprint button to swing and wait for Lara to grasp the rope with her legs. When you see her at the side of the screen that is closest to you, press the Sprint button again and Lara will gain a higher momentum. The timing is perfect. When you see her swinging to the opposite side (away from you) and whilst being at the highest point, press the Jump button to leap from the rope. Note though that in some systems, you have to press the opposite direction key in order to make Lara turn, that is, press the left arrow key to make her turn right, and the right arrow key to make her turn left.