Rise of the Tomb Raider - Siberian Wilderness, Glacial Caverns, Skill Points, Grab and Go
Our complete guide to completing the Siberian Wilderness section of the game, and pick up some additional challenges along the way.
It's back to the cold as we get introduced to the final pieces of the gameplay puzzle - crafting, resource gathering, and upgrading. Hope you packed your thermals!
A Cold Welcome
Head along the path until you reach the old camp. You're tasked next with collecting some survival resources, so activate Survival Instincts to locate the materials - two small trees and a dead deer - then return to the camp and get cosy. You'll be prompted to upgrade your bow, and by now you should also have a Skill Point to use to learn a new skill.
Echoes of the Past
There are multiple routes you can take to reach the next objective, but whichever way you go, keep an eye out for crafting materials. Activating Survival Instincts will highlight them, and you're going to need plenty of stuff to survive the harsh environment. A map for the collectibles can be located on a platform in the trees. If you take the north-easterly route out of camp and follow the path, you'll find a wall you can scramble up, and then a rope you can climb along.
Once you've had a good explore of the area, head towards the objective. When the bear attacks, press B to dodge then make a run for it, steering clear of deep snow. Jump off the wagon and the fallen log to reach relative safety, then mash Y to melee the bear. When he breaks free, prepare for a QTE: hit B to dodge, then when prompted, hit Y to counter-attack.
Best Laid Plans
After the flashback you'll be gathering resources to heal yourself. Pick some berries, then head to the end of the path to find some bandages, before retracing your steps and following the objective markers to find the mushrooms and cloth you need. There's also a monolith next to the stash of cloth which will reveal Coin Cache locations. Next,return to base camp to craft your poison arrows.
After another cut-scene you'll find yourself in a tree with an enemy below you. Press Y to drop onto him and then Y again to finish him. Looting his corpse will unlock the Grab and Go challenge. Simply loot two more corpses as you play through this area to complete it.
You now have the choice of sneaking past the enemy or taking them out. The second enemy will be very close by, so he can easily be taken out if you remain in the bush and wait for him to approach. The third enemy is lurking around a corpse hanging from a tree and can also be taken out stealthily. As you approach the objective, a fourth enemy will be on patrol, and he can be taken out from behind cover. Killing any of the other enemies will put them on alert, though, so proceed with caution.
Once you've made it past the soldiers it's time to kick some bear ass! Head into the cave carefully and as soon as the bear spots you, run like crazy back out of the cave. Once you get back to the clearing turn and shoot the bear with a poisoned arrow, then back away and loose off some normal arrows. The bear will charge when the poison wears off, so hit it with another poisoned arrow, then another hail of ordinary ones. Once the bear is down, loot its corpse then head into the cave again. Gather all the items from the area, then knock down the broken wall to proceed.
At the end of the path you'll find an icy chamber. If you take a flying leap for the rough ice ahead of you, it'll collapse and you'll end up in a heap on the floor, so just drop down to the slope below.
Head down the hill into another icy chamber, loot the chest at the far left, then take a swim. The water will come to a fork, so head right to find some hidden loot, then go back in the water and head towards the objective to find a new campfire. Level up, upgrade your weapons, and craft items as required.
Head towards the objective marker and into a large chasm. Jump across the gap and grab the ice and climb into the tunnel. As it bears left you can jump across to a second platform which will lead to the first Optional Challenge Tomb: Ice Ship, or just carry on up the path to the main objective.
Before leaping across the gap at the top of the path, loot the treasure from the skeleton. Now follow the objective markers. There's a Coin Cache located just after the large pillar of ice, and a scroll to the right as you emerge from the swimming section. Keep following the path until you emerge into the daylight.
- Our walkthrough continues with a step-by-step guide to completing the Rise of the Tomb Raider: Soviet Installation, the next section of the game.
- You can find the rest of our Rise of the Tomb Raider guide from the first page of this article.