Despite being a Tomb Raider aficionado – going back to the original PlayStation games – I never played the extra levels offered on the PC versions until now, almost thirty years later when they were added onto the remastered editions on PS5.

A few weeks back I attempted the ‘Unfinished Business’ levels at the end of the first Tomb Raider game, but it ended in disaster as I could no longer tolerate any more Atlantis stages – and quit in a rather un-Australian manner.

Besides the insane difficulty, my major gripe with the bonus levels in Tomb Raider was that the story carried on through the much-hated Atlantis scenery, and a change in location was desperately needed in my opinion. There would be no such problems with the sequel, for the main game ended at the Great Wall of China, and the new adventure kicked off in the Bering Sea – two very different settings indeed.

I did a little research on Google Maps, based on the design of the title screen, and learned that the place circled in red and named ‘Melnikov Island’ is actually called Amukta Island – and this is where the campaign was to begin!

That was enough to pique my interest, and I immediately jumped into the game – or rather into an icy lake occupied by a Great White Shark.

The opening level of the bonus stages is called ‘Cold War’ and takes place at a remote Soviet base, where mercenaries have seemingly taken over and set out to kill Lara at every opportunity. Despite these orders, most of the goons are unwilling to shoot through wide gaps in bars – even when you stand there like a sitting duck.

We also meet a new kind of ‘frenemy’ in the invisible, Predator-like entities that are first encountered below the base in an icy cavern. These guys operate in the same way as the Barkhang Monks from earlier in the game: – leave them alone and not only will they not attack you, but they will help fight the other bad guys!

Can you see the invisible man that I accidentally shot in the photo below?

‘Fool’s Gold’ is the name of the second stage, and is set primarily in a different section of the abandoned Soviet facility on the island. Once again, the mercenaries are everywhere and come at you with flame throwers and snowmobiles fitted with machine guns.

There are some great scenes here, and the remastered version brings out a lot of the detail. In particular, take note of the Soviet symbolism and propaganda all over the place.

Having shot through this level, the game progresses onto ‘Furnace of the Gods’ where the mystery behind the invisible entities is revealed. It turns out that these chaps are monk-like warriors who transform into humans during this stage, and do a great job helping Lara kill dozens of the heavily-armed thugs running about.

This level is more of a classic Tomb Raider challenge, moving away from the industrial setting of the Russian base, and into an underground area where a river of molten gold flows through cave systems and ancient temples.

The Golden Mask bonus levels are a roller-coaster of different settings – and climates – as we started with an icy tundra, then moved on to a volcanic underworld before emerging back outside into a tropical jungle for the final stage titled ‘Kingdom’.

The main enemies here are dozens of Sasquatches, which are versions of the Yetis we met in the Tibet stages of the main game, only without the white fur. They do attack in great numbers, but thanks to the daylight conditions they are fairly easy to spot and kill, as opposed to their cousins from earlier in the game who preferred to hide in the darkness.

The level does have a few areas where the use of flares are needed, and also features some temple settings where the ancient warriors and mercenaries come to blows once again.

The level concludes with the Golden Mask in Lara’s possession being placed into a mystical puzzle square, after which we get to meet a relative of another monster we fought earlier in the main story.

In WWE fashion, a different version of the bird creature from the Ice Palace in Tibet (with the impressive six-pack) makes a spectacular entrance by walking down a golden ramp and into battle with Lara.

I got a little closer to him this time – just to take a few screenshots – before backing off to a safe distance and shooting him dead with a machine gun to end the game.

Overall, these were pretty good levels and there was a fair mix of locations over a relatively short time span. The recycling of bad guys for the final stage was okay, I suppose – but it would have been better to meet some creatures that we had not seen before. However, to be fair – these were ‘bonus levels’.

To wrap things up, here are a series of split screenshots comparing the 2024 remastered version to the 1997 original – with new on top and old on the bottom.

I suppose the best way to measure my reaction to the Golden Mask bonus levels is to say that I played them all the way through, unlike the Unfinished Business stages in the previous game. There were some great scenes throughout, and some challenging areas to navigate – so I would recommend any Tomb Raider fan who missed out on these additions twenty-five years ago to give them a crack!

As I mentioned earlier, the extra levels for the first three Tomb Raider games come with the Remastered Trilogy that is available at the PlayStation store.

Screenshots courtesy of PlayStation, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr.