Lara's Mansion
Once again, Lara's mansion is home to a training course designed to get the player acquainted with the controls of the game. This time training takes place outdoors on an expanded assault course and inside a thornbush maze. The player can still move in and around Lara's house, and is followed by her loyal butler Winston. An infamous glitch within the Tomb Raider games causes Lara to switch platforms when standing nearby high objects and jumping while the player is looking down. In Lara's mansion, this enables the player to travel across the roof of her house. The house is also home to many secrets, most famously the hedge maze concealing a switch to open the basement of the mansion.

China
The game begins at the Great Wall of China. Lara has come to search for the Dagger of Xian. Her searches take her through many traps. At the end of the level, Lara learns of a cult dedicated also to finding the Dagger of Xian. The cult led by Marco Bartoli, consists of dangerous gangsters who would rather shoot first, and ask questions later. The first level is easy to start with, but it becomes much harder as the level progresses.

Venice
Lara has tracked down Marco Bartoli to his hideout in a dangerous part of Venice that has been taken over by his cult. Lara must infiltrate the hideout in an effort to find Bartoli himself. Behind the hideout complex lies an abandoned opera house. A golden opportunity to explore and uncover more about Bartoli's operations. The levels in Venice range from easy to an average difficulty.

The Wreck of the Maria Doria
Hiding on board Bartoli's plane as a stowaway, Lara is knocked unconscious by one of Bartoli's henchmen. When she wakes up, she finds herself stripped of all her weapons and trapped on an oil rig surrounded by a huge ocean. Lara's main priority in this levels is to recover her weapons and escape from the rig. After she manages to do so, the game continues underwater, into the remains of the wreck of the Maria Doria, a luxury ship that sank decades ago. On board is a mystical artifact called the Seraph. Bartoli's crew has begun to excavate treasures at this site, and Lara is closely on their tail. The levels of this ocean segment range from average to hard difficulty.

Tibet
With the Seraph safely in Lara's backpack, Tomb Raider II continues in the snowy foothills of Tibet. After encountering a remote monastery, she must delve deeper underground, through icy caverns to uncover the mysteries that the Seraph has unlocked. The levels in Tibet range from average to hard difficulty.

Return to China
Lara returns to China and enters into the Temple of Xian. This is where the mystical dagger is kept. Bartoli has already infiltrated the temple and has begun to cause mayhem. It is time for Lara to deal with this menace once and for all. The levels in China are extremely difficult.

England - Return to Lara's Mansion
Upon returning home, Lara examines the dagger of Xian that she has acquired. After marveling its beauty, the alarms sound. The remains of Bartoli's cult have broken into the mansion, looking for revenge. Your final task is to find the shotgun and kill all of the intruders to finish the game.