Lyric's Tomb

Lyric's Tomb is the first level in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. It is a dense forest area on an island, littered with ruins originating from the Ancients and the location of the tomb where Lyric the Last Ancient was imprisoned in for a millennia. It serves as the tutorial level for the game.

A thousand years ago, Lyric the Last Ancient was imprisoned in this location and turned into a statue. In the present, Team Sonic came to Lyric's Tomb during their chase after Dr. Eggman, but got trapped inside the tomb. In their attempt to escape however, they accidently freed Lyric.

Overview
Lyric's Tomb is separated into two main areas: the outside of the tomb where Lyric was imprisoned within and the inside. The outside of the tomb is a large and very dense forest area in a slightly mountainous region, filled with lush, tropical and often colossal trees, some of which are as a tall as skyscrapers. The forest's bottom is a rocky field of dirt and enormous roots, covered in green flora, vines, rock pillars and chasms, and features as a few rivers and waterfalls. Amongst the raw nature, there are some ancient ruins of stone foundations originating from the Ancients and a giant statue.

In the center of the jungle lies the tomb containing Lyric which is presented as an old, cylinder-shaped building with large gates depicting Sonic and Tails, and a lock only Sonic can open.

The inside of Lyric's tomb is a dark, ancient and smelly stone structure (with a few metallic components) heavily affected by the hands of time, with grass growing out of the floor and thick vines coming out of the walls. It contains five rooms in total: one large room in the center where Lyric was contained and four surrounding it. In each of the surrounding rooms is a device shooting a light beam into a receptacle in Lyric's room that emits a light that kept Lyric petrified.

Gameplay
As a tutorial level, the gameplay in Lyric's Tomb focuses mainly on obligatory sections where the player gets to test out the basic aspects of the game and the unique skills of the playable characters. As such, all of the playable characters are available to the player.

In Lyric's Tomb, the player passes through the forest, enters and escapes the tomb where Lyric is imprisoned and then pursues Lyric when he escapes. Like other levels in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Lyric's Tomb includes speed level sections, where the player automatically runs down a long path with speed-enhancing gimmicks while avoiding hazardous obstacles, and as well slower-paced areas for exploration and combat. The latter half of the level features different puzzles that must be completed in order to progress, which mainly involves the Button gimmick. Sometimes, rows of Rings also appear to show the path that the player should follow.

Lyric's Tomb introduces nearly all of the gimmicks for the specific character actions to the player (most of which is introduced in the latter half of the game). This includes Spin Ramps for Sonic, Climbable Walls and Ceilings for Knuckles and pink, grabable ledges for Amy. Near the end, the player is also introduced to the EnerBeam, where it is used for combat, and an Ener-Rail.

Because it is a beginner level, Lyric's Tomb has few and fairly easy enemies. It also features nearly no environmental hazards, except for bottomless pits.

Description
Lyric's Tomb begins in the forest on a speed section, where the player must avoid obstacles, falling objects and missiles from Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic. When reaching the end of the speed section, the player takes control of Sonic and Tails where they have to defeat a group of Destruction Troops. The player then has to follow the path to the tomb where another wave of Destruction Troops must be defeated. Here, the player automatically take control of Knuckles.

Once inside the tomb, the player has to pass through four sections for each of the playable characters; first Sonic, then Tails, then Amy and finally Knuckles. Each section focuses on the character's unique abilities and skills to pass through it. At the end of each section, the player has to hit a Button on a light beam-device that opens up the path to the next section. After awaking Lyric, the player has to fight more Destruction Troops until they can throw one into an unstable statue and unlock an Ener-Rail. The player must then ride the Ener-Rail out of the tomb and reach another speed section while avoiding Lyric's attacks, until the player reaches the end and gets to Cliff's Excavation Site.