10 Brutally Difficult Opening Levels In Video Games

The Tomb Raider series was a whole new breed. The original adventure arrived in 1996, and it was instantly clear that players were in for an adventure larger than Ms. Croft’s terrifyingly angular breasts. At the time, gamers were accustomed to platformers and action titles consisting of a series of short levels, and Tomb Raider was far from that.

Vast, explorable levels filled with secrets were the order of the day here, and things became increasingly more elaborate as the series went on. 1998’s Tomb Raider III is particularly notorious, and the first level sets the bar extremely high on the difficulty front.

Set in an Indian jungle, this large and open environment is loaded with traps. Within half an hour or so, careless players could be impaled on spike traps, fall to their doom, be crushed by a boulder, mauled by a tiger or some grim combination of these things.

Deathtraps-amundo aside, It’s a long, winding level that is super easy to get lost in. If this was your first Tomb Raider game, you had no idea what you were letting yourself in for. Training in Lara’s mansion did not remotely prepare you.