Cistern
The Cistern is the eighth level in Tomb Raider. It is a large system of sewers and drains that run underneath the Palace Midas and the Colosseum. While in the original Tomb Raider it was a stand-alone level, it was fused with the Tomb of Tihocan into just one.
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Original Version
Lara enters from a shaft at the end of the Palace Midas, where she must maneouvre a block in order to open a hatch to the next part of the level. From here she enters the main area of the level; a large cavernous room filled with a central pool and various broken walkways.
Around the room are various siderooms which can be accessed by finding various keys. These may once have been rooms for various types of mechanism to raise, lower or flush the water in the cistern but are now devoid of any such equipment. Some were definitely used as storage tanks as we can see algae and moss denoting water marks on their walls. The rooms do, with Lara's intervention, lead back to the main pool by way of underwater channels.
While some mechanisms may have rottened away, others have remained undamaged. Lara can raise and lower the water level of the main cistern as she requires. This is necessary so that she may gather more keys to leave the main cistern itself and progress to the entrance of the Tomb of Tihocan. By using the keys she has found, Lara will find the shaft which will lead to the subterranean caves of the tomb and leave the level.
Anniversary Version - Cistern Area
Essentially only the main room of the Cistern was used in Anniversary. Although the layout remains similar, all the side rooms are removed and only the central pool remains. Some of the siderooms are replaced with alcoves on the wall to Lara's left when she first enters the Cistern.
Mechanisms that once were held in the siderooms are now located on the floor of the Cistern and in one of the alcoves. The area designed is much more streamlined and concentrates much more on the cistern itself - although because the siderooms have disappeared it is considered less challenging.
In order to reach the balcony from which Tihocan's tomb can be accessed, Lara must use a buoyant wooden platform.
Links
Notes
Although the Greeks and particularly the Minoans were familiar with the science of hydraulics and water management, it was the Romans who truly revolutionised the water systems of Classical Europe. Remains of some of their greatest works, such as Roman Pont du Gard in France, have survived for over two thousand years.
Enemies
- Rats
- Crocodiles
- Lions (Tomb Raider only)
- Gorillas (Tomb Raider only)
- Pierre Dupont (Combated in Tomb Raider, heard in Anniversary)
