The Castello Visconteo Walkthrough

Walkthrough by Selene

Story: Locarno 2007, Lara is looking for an old treasure, hidden under the old walls of the Castello Visconteo.

In the 13th century, when the Visconti family (Milan) spread its influence as far as Lake Maggiore, they commissioned an architect to build a castle in Locarno. When it was built, the castle walls were well fortified with guard towers and the residents enjoyed their own private harbour. The castle also served as a barracks for elite soldiers, bestowing upon them enviable prestige and power. The Visconti family lived in this castle until 1513 when they were succeeded by bailiffs of the confederation who imposed their laws for the next 300 years. During this time, the castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but despite this, it was always considered the centre of city life. In 1803, when Ticino entered the Swiss confederation and the bailiffs left, the ruins of the castle became the property of Canton Ticino.

There are altogether 5 secrets in this level, all of them are listed in the below walkthrough.

Pickups: Revolver ammo, flares, large medipacks, Waterhole Key, crowbar, revolver, Golden Cross, Gate Key, normal shotgun ammo + 5 Secrets (shotgun + large medipack + small medipack + revolver ammo + normal shotgun ammo)

Enemies: Lionesses 

Locarno 2007

Our new adventure begins in the peaceful Castle Garden. First of all climb over the low wall ahead and in front of the closed door ahead and right you’ll find some revolver ammo. Head left (S) and near the end look up to the right to spot a small roof jutting out from the building. Standing below the lower part of the roof you can pull up onto it and retrieve Secret # 1: the shotgun. Drop down, turn around and go back to where you started. Climb up into the alcove in the wall at the far E end and pick up some flares. Head left across the wall and up there you’ll find a keyhole. Drop down into the passage below and move towards the closed gate N.

Notice the yellow flower nearby. In the W wall (left when facing the gate, next to the yellow flower) there’s a moveable block- push it in as far as it goes to uncover some stairs leading down to the right. Follow them down to the bottom and here you’ll need to be a bit careful. There are three dart traps in the room, the darts are toxic and Lara’s health will start decreasing if she’s hit. In that case either use a medipack or reload a savegame. Crawl under the first two dart emitters, this activates a spike trap over by the chain in the right corner.

Time a careful run past the spikes and pick up the large medipack in the corner. Run past the spikes again as they go down and locate the slightly elevated tile on the ground nearby. Stand on said tile, about a step back from the edge and facing the chain. As the spikes come up standjump forwards with a grab and as soon as Lara grabs hold of the chain start climbing upwards.

Turn her around until she’s hanging with her back against the nearby flat pillar and backflip. Notice that there’s a doorway nearby, but we’re not going there quite yet. There’s a monkeyswing running along the ceiling by the W wall, a single standjump + grab should be enough to reach it. Traverse along to the end, drop down onto the slope below and immediately press Action to grab the edge before she drops to the ground. Shimmy right, pull up onto the flat spot and hop over to the alcove right. Pick up Secret # 2: a large medipack and drop down to the ground.

Well worth it, but now you have to get past those spikes again- from the flat pillar turn around and hop over to the doorway. At the junction start by going left and follow the passage around to a new junction. The left path leads to a dead end by a closed gate, so go right instead and pick up the flares near the closed door. Go back where you came from and when Lara reaches the doorway where she first entered continue E along the passage and up a long ramp until you finally reach a hole in the ground. Drop down into the dark hole and climb up into the alcove S, pick up the Waterhole Key. Left of where you picked up the key there’s a hard-to-spot switch, pulling it opens the gate next to Lara so that she can leave this place and return to the Castle Garden.

Climb across the wall and use the newly found key in the keyhole here, causing the deep shaft in the middle of the garden to fill with water. Make your way over there and dive in, swimming along the tunnel and ignoring the first tunnel to the left (it leads to a dead end). Go to the far end, right around the corner and continue along the tunnel and up a long shaft until you can surface in a small courtyard.

Pull out of the water and two lionesses attack from the hallway W, kill them and have a look around. Another lioness attacks from the N, nearby you’ll find a closed gate and a receptacle where you’ll obviously need a cross to enter. Before moving on you can pull up onto the N/E pillar (standing at the raised section of the ground left of the pillar) and pick up Secret # 3: a small medipack.

Return to the waterhole and head down the W hallway ,at the end notice the closed gate to the right. Go left, step onto the small platform in front of the wooden door and the aforementioned gate at the other end of the hallway opens. Return there and follow to a ramp.

First of all go right and pick up the crowbar in the dark alcove. On top of the ramp there’s a boulder just waiting to be released. Position Lara with her back to the top, stand at the same level as the doorway you came through and hop backwards four times. After the fourth hop the boulder will drop so dash down and veer hard into the safe hallway right.     

Go up to the top of the ramp and move along until you reach a doorway overlooking a beautiful pool. There’s a ladder on the wall directly below where Lara stands, enabling her to climb down to the pool (or alternatively jump/dive/run off the edge to land in the water below). A narrow passage underneath the wall E leads to a dead end with a currently closed gate (if you followed the left-hand branch in the underwater tunnel earlier you probably recognize this place- you’re now on the other side of the glass windows). Before doing anything else climb onto the low block near the N/E corner and runjump into the wall alcove with the flares.

Hop back to the same block as before and locate the jump switch on the E wall- runjump to grab it and you’ll see a fly-by showing the gate in the underwater passage opening. Dive into the water, swim through the gate and surface in a small room. Pull up onto the pillar N/E and there’s a switch here, pulling it causes the water to drain from the pool.

Drop down and return to the dry pool, you can now pull up into the alcove in the E wall and retrieve the revolver. Drop down, climb up in the S alcove and the Golden Cross off the wall to the right. You’re done in the pool room now so return to the ladder underneath the doorway you came from and climb back up to the top. Now you have the cross you can retrace your steps back to the courtyard where you killed the lionesses earlier.

Use the cross in the receptacle here to open the gate so that you can enter the Chapel. The fixed camera angle makes it a bit hard to look around the moment you enter, but it will return to normal as you proceed further into the room. Approach the altar and notice the lionesses trapped behind the gates to the left and right. You’ll be letting them out in a moment, but first move ahead towards the pews.

Turn left and look for a crawlspace in the S wall (next to the pillar). Climb up there, crawl through and drop down on the other side. Follow the passage to the end, pull up into the alcove and pick up Secret # 4: revolver ammo. Return to the Chapel the same way you came.

This time climb up onto the low pillar by the N wall. Ignore the pillar with the crack running around the side, it’s just there for show and doesn’t actually lead anywhere. Instead runjump with a grab to the pillar opposite (next to the crawlspace you were just in). There’s a monkeyswing running along the ceiling, follow it towards the entrance (you might want to save the game before starting in case you miss and she loses her grip on the bars). The camera angle is a bit troublesome, but once you reach the two pillars near the entrance look for a jump switch on the right-hand one. Drop and grab- now immediately draw guns and prepare to take on the two lionesses that have been released from their prisons.

Kill them (climbing onto the low pillar for cover if you like) and you now have two open passages to explore (where the lionesses were trapped). The S one is a dead end, so follow along the N passage until you reach a fly-by showing what you have ahead of you: a sloped trap gauntlet!

Stand on the left-hand side and standjump over to the second slope. Slide for a bit, then jump forwards with a sharp right angle to land on a safe spot at the centre of the slope. There’s a crawlspace in the S wall, but you’ll get back to that later. Standjump over the hole to land on the next slope, another forwards jump will land her safely on the other side. Head through the doorway and at the junction go left (right is a dead end) to reach a lovely pool room.

Dive into the water and swim behind the pillar by the far wall to find a large medipack. Climb out of the water and locate the jump switch in the N/W corner, this turns off the fire at the S/E end of the ledge. Vault up onto the block there and pull the switch- now dive into the water, climb out onto the central pillar and retrieve the Gate Key.

It’s time to leave this room so return to the slope of death and hop back to the flat tile at the far left side of the last slope (left when facing away from the doorway you just came from). Standjump up to the flat centre tile where you landed earlier and face the crawlspace in the right wall. Do a standing jump towards it, grabbing the edge above the fire pit and crawling through to the depression in the middle. Continue by climbing up to the ladder and go up all the way to the top.

You’re now standing in a room with slanted floor tiles and ledges going up along the walls. In the S/W corner you’ll find another ladder- climb up until Lara is about five rungs from the top, backflip/roll and grab the ledge behind. First of all a small detour for a pickup: face the small alcove between the two pillars over by the S wall. Do a running jump with a right angle to land in that alcove and pick up the normal shotgun ammo.

Drop down to the ground and return to the long ledge by climbing the ladder again. This time runjump to grab the angled ledge E, jump over to the S alcove and around the corner you’ll find a switch that can be used to lower a rope in the middle of the room. Return to the angled ledge and line Lara up so that she’s facing the rope square on. Do a running jump to grab it and swing up to the block ahead. Turn left and runjump to the red-tiled roof, then use the key here to open a gate at the other side of the room.  

Climb onto the block to the left, turn around and pull up onto the bridge where you can pick up some normal shotgun ammo before returning back down. Save the game and grab the zip line, but let go about half a split second before she reaches the open doorway. This way she should land right inside the doorway- and a good thing is that: the hallway ahead is riddled with fire traps. Hop down to the next tile and follow the passage on the left to Secret # 5: two boxes of normal shotgun ammo.

Return to the fire passage and continue to the far end by jumping over the fires. At some point you’ll reach a spike trap- a simple sideflip should be enough to get past. When you get to the end you’ll find Lara overlooking a small courtyard. Drop down and go right, climb onto the wall and pick up the flares. Now hop down onto the longer wall and follow it to the yellow flower, behind it there’s a crawlspace.

Follow through the next two rooms, nothing of particular interest in there so just go on until you reach a second crawlspace at the far end. At the end further progress is blocked by a spider web, shoot it and continue through. Pick up the large medipack to the left and head along the right passage until you reach a small room guarded by three lionesses. Dispose of the unwanted company, then use the switch left of the gate to open it. Congratulations: you have found the Visconteo treasure and as you head through the gate a fly-by takes you back to the Castle Garden to end this fabulous little level.

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