Tomb Raider 2 Remastered - New Game+

Recently, I finally completed New Game+ for Tomb Raider 2 Remastered. Now I didn't do it for fun or because I really wanted to, in fact I don't have an interest in running challenges like no loads, no meds, but I did it simply because we are trying to get all the trophies for the Remastered games (yes, we are trophy collectors). It was one of those trophies - along with pistols only - that I was putting off until it was one of the last few but I thought that I would compile my list of tips and tricks to help those who are thinking of giving this trophy and this particular challenge a go.

I did find a couple of parts tricky but overall, I didn't find the challenge that bad. I think it is a little more difficult than Tomb Raider 1 but for me, the one thing I was concerned about was the amount of human shooting enemies. I took this game and challenge slowly, tackling one level at a time once I had passed level 3, as I didn't want to end up getting frustrated.  So here are my list of tips:
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Make multiple saves and do not care for the number of saves
This is a good thing to do regardless, in case you accidentally soft-lock yourself. But having multiple save slots will give you a chance to go a step back and see if you can do a battle better to save on health or ammo. Home Sweet Home does not have any medipack pickups, so keep a save for the start of the level as you may need to retry the level again.


Watch and learn a few tricks from speedrunners. 
​I'm not necessarily referring to the glitches but there are a few shortcuts that you can take to reduce the level and get through the run faster, and to also avoid enemies, health loss and save ammo. Some will take a bit of practise to pull off but they might just really help. No loads/no meds challenge runs are also helpful to view; players are also trying to save as much health as possible and can show off some nifty tricks and what doors/ buttons you might not even need to use. And if nothing else, watching these runs will help you familiarise yourself with each level and enemy placement. 

Below are the little skips that I used. You can click the images and gifs for bigger versions too.

Level 02 - Venice ~ Don't Use the First Boat
So don't fetch the boat house key, you don't need this boat; you can swim and climb and jump your way up to the canals, without even raising the water level.
-- But I will mention, if you want the automatic pistols, the trick above will skip them. To get them, you have to get the key and use the key to trigger the enemy who drops them.

Level 02 - Venice ~ Use a trigger skip to avoid setting off the timed doors
Once you've reached the upper canals of Venice, head left to destroy the bombs. After that, pass under the metal gate down the small corridor and go straight to the button with the wooden ramp. Once you press the button that opens the door to the end of the level, swim under the door, don't use the exit ramp. This misses the tile that will close the door after a certain amount of time. Pass back down through the small corridor and that's this level completed.

Level 03 - Bartoli's Hideout ~ Keep running back to this platform
Naturally, the enemies cannot reach you here, so bait them back here and you can shoot from a distance. They will turn and run away so just hop back over to get them back.

Level 03 - Bartoli's Hideout ~ Don't move the chandeliers
Every lever that you need and every item that you need, you can reach from the chandeliers original set-up. After getting the key, drop to the floor and repeat step 1 and 2 and head out the window.

Level 03 - Bartoli's Hideout ~ Don't blow up the house
You can actually climb up the house and complete the level, thus meaning that you don't have to run around, finding the detonator key. 

Level 04 - Opera House ~ Fake grab down from here.
This takes you down to where you need to be without faffing with doors and levers and will lead you on nicely to another skip...

Level 04 - Opera House ~ Banana jump here
To avoid 95% of the rest of the level. All that's left then is to enter the crate storage room. Angle Lara to face the crate, leap up when the box has swung back and pull yourself up. Then you just have to press the button and charge towards the exit!

*banana jump advice:: I always found that I could manoeuvre Lara in the air more freely when I didn't hold down the jump button. Give that a go.

Level 05 - Offshore Rig - this platform is your safety
The enemies cannot stand up here and cannot attack you. When you trigger an enemy, dash back here quickly to take them on. If they begin to leave the area, step down to get them to turn around. Then hop back.

Level 06 - Diving Area - Tricky banana jump incoming!!
If you can pull off this banana jump around this corner (after killing all the enemies), you can cut off the last bit of the level.

Level 08 - Wreck of the Maria Doria - Do this to save as much life from this drop as possible.
​After surfacing, make a save! Then have Lara slide down the slope backwards, hold grab and then shimmy up to the wall. Let go of action to let her drop, press the roll button and then quickly press the jump and the direction button to have Lara cross to the tile beside her. This gives you a bit of time to run forward but press the action button to hopefully grab the tile in front. This tile will not drop because you haven't climbed up. This is when you can drop to the floor below.

Level 09 - Living Quarters- This will take you straight to end of level
​You'll never even see the theatre! It's a hard jump but leave grabbing until right at the last second.

Level 10 - The Deck - Not too many skips in this level
​But setting these boxes up and jumping over from here to here can take you quickly to the stern key.

Level 11 - Tibetan Foothills - Trigger skip to bypass several enemies
​And that means that you'll only meet the 3 guys in this particular area when you enter the hut later on in the level.

Level 11 - Tibetan Foothills - Park the skidoo near to the key, next tile along and then try to pull off this 'blind' jump
And then you won't have to go around finding the drawbridge key.  You'll get up on top, trigger a mini avalanche but the ice will be broken. Face the skidoo as you grab that key, then run to the skidoo and go out the way you came in.

Level 11 - Tibetan Foothills - Drive the black skidoo over the ramped edge of the gap and then sit here and wait.
When the two skidoo enemies come up the hill, open fire. Lara will target them and dispose of them as quickly as she can. This is also very helpful in a standard playthrough.

Level 12 - Barkhang Monastery - Don't wait around!
​Remember, even the monks will want to kill you. As you run around the first wall towards the ladder, a monk will be coming straight for you. Carry on running and jump over the rocks ahead. That will get you to safety to let the monks and the Fiamma Nera fight it out.

Level 12 - Barkhang Monastery - From the skip above...
​Rather than heading back into the fight, you can climb up the rocks and complete a jump that will get you very close to the monastery. Be warned, it can be a bit of a tricky jump. 

Level 12 - Barkhang Monastery - A glitch
​If you don't want to do glitches, then don't do this one. This glitch will mean that you can complete the level after grabbing only one prayer wheel. Once you have a wheel, go to the receptacles. Make a save because if you do this wrong, you can't continue with the glitch, you'll have to find all remaining prayer wheels.
- Stand in front of the receptacle.
- Press the inventory button - DO NOT PRESS ACTION
- Select and use the prayer wheel
- Stand in front of next receptacle, press the inventory button and select the Seraph. It will act like a prayer wheel. Do this for the remaining empty receptacles.

Level 15 - Temple of Xian - A tricky set of jumps but it'll turn this level into a 5 minute level
​Rather than heading back into the fight, you can climb up the rocks and complete a jump that will get you very close to the monastery. Be warned, it can be a bit of a tricky jump. 

Level 16 - Floating Islands - Drop to the bridge below
After putting the two seals and opening the gate (and after killing a statue), drop to the bridge below. This will cut out the two boulders and the first zipline usage.

Level 16 - Floating Islands - Don't pull the lever to not open up the gateway; this will give you somewhere safe to stand
What this means is that when you drop down into the cage below, you will have to climb up the wall next to the slope that you came down. This little section can be a bit tricky but if you can run around to the front of the cage, you can stand on a certain two platforms and the jade statues cannot reach you and attack you. They will run up through the entrance ahead so just step off the platform, bait them and then hop back.

Level 17 - Dragon's Lair - Bait the enemy out into the first arena
Take a step into the second arena to trigger two enemies, then head back into the first arena. They should come in and stand in the room with you. Do that until you kill all the 6 enemies from this room.

Level 17 - Dragon's Lair - You don't need to pull all levers in the first arena
I actually discovered this afterwards but when you walk into the arena, that will trigger a statue. Kill him and then turn and look for a lever on the side of a pillar. Do not pull any from where the guards are in waiting. This pillar lever will trigger two statues but that is all you need to do; the door into the next arena is open.

Level 18 - Home Sweet Home - Don't forget to keep a save from right at the start of this level
Lara will not pick up any medipacks in this level. Here are a few tips from me:
- Pick up the shotgun and another ammo pickup, and then head out and go onto the balcony to remove this shooter.
- Head then to the doorway of Lara's room and bait the enemies to you, using the wall to hide around and roll behind the shooter enemies. You'll probably encounter two batsman first, followed by one dog and then two shooters.
- Go down to the front door and bait the enemies into the entrance here. 
- Go right and head towards the assault course. There will be a dog and a shooter.  
- Turn back around and return to where the assault ends and the garden begins. If all enemies have been killed, you will now face off against the boss. Circle around him to stop him from taking aim.

Get as many pickups as possible in the early/ easy levels
This might sound silly but remember that the enemies have double health and will take a whole lot more ammo to take down. If you've just killed an enemy and he drops something, pick it up. If there is a safe route to some grenades, go get them. The more you can have for near end game, the better.


Conserve ammo in the early levels
Try and use pistols as much as possible in the early levels, or, don't kill enemies if you can just run past them. For the Venice levels, I tried to use just pistols and the shotgun; the shotgun worked for the melee enemies. After that, I would use automatic pistols and the pistols if I was safe from enemy attacks. For Floating Islands onwards, it was Uzis and M16 and the grenade gun was then used on the dragon.

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​Get the secrets for the early/ easy levels
Collecting all secrets in a level is the only way to get medipacks, and the usual rewards were 2 large and 2 small medipacks. I actually found that it was easy to collect quite a lot of secrets throughout the game. I've included most of my stats screens too, to show my progress. You can also see which levels had the biggest shortcuts. I avoided grabbing any in Barkhang Monastery as all NPCs are out to get you and I didn't feel it worth facing unnecessary enemies. The same also applied to those in the Great Wall; although it is an easy-ish level, I didn't want to face the T-Rexs.​

Manipulate the enemy animations to your benefit / learn strats for certain enemies
You can watch challenge runners for this one. Stand around corners and wait for human enemies to come to you.
- Shooter enemies take a little while to get into their shooting animation so you have a small window to get 1 shot into them. Then do a roll and get behind them. They take a while to swap between their running and shooting animations. 
- It's harder to roll around the melee enemies; they have a quicker attack than shooting enemies. I found it better to keep my distance and keep flipping around. But when it comes to that one room in Wreck of the Maria Doria (the end of the level with the shotgun and melee enemy), I found it better to deal with the shotgun guy first and then run around the outside of the room to deal with the melee enemy.

I hope these tips help; you may even find them useful when trying to complete the less than 5 hours achievement or the pistols only achievement. Good luck!!