Completed this over the course of a rainy weekend with my partner and I don't think I could have asked for a better environment to experience the game in. Being the Watson to someone else's Holmes as they spend an oppressive autumn experiencing this genre is so bloody fun.
The Thinking Panel is the chief innovation here, and now all I want is for this game to somehow fall into the laps of Ace Attorney's design team. The Thinking Panel places the onus of investigation thoroughly on the player, but doesn't cast them adrift in a world of deductive overload - an incredibly brain-pleasing achievement that even the best mystery-focused detective fiction often fails to do well. Agatha Christie has been put on notice post-mortem; gone should be the days of Phoenix railroading us down conversational flowcharts that hurtle towards a linear, factual truth.
At one point during our playthrough, it was suggested that this gameplay could be imposed upon existing mysteries (e.g. a Hounds of the Baskervilles DLC pack), but I think the world that Andrejs Kļaviņš and Ernests Kļaviņš have created here is rich enough that we don't need to go raid our old pile of Ian Rankin novels for inspiration. The way each murder builds from a comedy to the singular tragedy of absolutist "virtue"-driven Modern England is just too deliciously timely to ignore. We are all coming down with a Case of the Golden Idol.
The Thinking Panel is the chief innovation here, and now all I want is for this game to somehow fall into the laps of Ace Attorney's design team. The Thinking Panel places the onus of investigation thoroughly on the player, but doesn't cast them adrift in a world of deductive overload - an incredibly brain-pleasing achievement that even the best mystery-focused detective fiction often fails to do well. Agatha Christie has been put on notice post-mortem; gone should be the days of Phoenix railroading us down conversational flowcharts that hurtle towards a linear, factual truth.
At one point during our playthrough, it was suggested that this gameplay could be imposed upon existing mysteries (e.g. a Hounds of the Baskervilles DLC pack), but I think the world that Andrejs Kļaviņš and Ernests Kļaviņš have created here is rich enough that we don't need to go raid our old pile of Ian Rankin novels for inspiration. The way each murder builds from a comedy to the singular tragedy of absolutist "virtue"-driven Modern England is just too deliciously timely to ignore. We are all coming down with a Case of the Golden Idol.
Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 6
This was... something different. Rather than the usual "investigating a murder after the fact" murder mystery, Case Of The Golden Idol presents a static scene to you, and it's up to you to point-and-click your way to the truth of what exactly is going on in the story.
Clicking highlighted areas of interest presents you with a series of words, and you use these words to fill in the gaps of an incomplete "scroll", giving you the story. Seems simple at first, but as the game progresses it can get fiendishly difficult as the story spirals and some parts left me genuinely stumped. If you're really struggling there's a hint system available, but I never used it.
The only real thing stopping me from giving this a higher mark is that the story kind of fizzles out by the end, and I was left slightly let down by it. However, there's a 1970s-set sequel on the way so I'll be looking into that.
An interesting concept done very well, I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a different kind of mystery game.
This was... something different. Rather than the usual "investigating a murder after the fact" murder mystery, Case Of The Golden Idol presents a static scene to you, and it's up to you to point-and-click your way to the truth of what exactly is going on in the story.
Clicking highlighted areas of interest presents you with a series of words, and you use these words to fill in the gaps of an incomplete "scroll", giving you the story. Seems simple at first, but as the game progresses it can get fiendishly difficult as the story spirals and some parts left me genuinely stumped. If you're really struggling there's a hint system available, but I never used it.
The only real thing stopping me from giving this a higher mark is that the story kind of fizzles out by the end, and I was left slightly let down by it. However, there's a 1970s-set sequel on the way so I'll be looking into that.
An interesting concept done very well, I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a different kind of mystery game.
This review contains spoilers
In a game of constant revelations and unexpected twists, maybe my favorite was the growing understanding that you aren’t really a detective, unraveling the mystery and bringing the guilty party to justice, but more just an observer, simply charting the flow of history and watching the chaos unfold. Especially as you get deeper and deeper in the game, the conspiracy’s generational scope and ever-expanding reach seems like it’s only been afforded by this unique position, but I do wonder if it’s an approach that explains some of the game’s weaknesses.
You’re meant to fill in a mad-libs style description of events with the names and phrases you find in the environment, and you get a notification if you're down to missing two clues or fewer, so once you know the basic shape of the mystery and feel out the one phrase that you’re missing, it’s easy to spend much of the game feeding data into the machine until it spits out the correct result, and not earnestly working on understanding the "who" and "why" of the case.
Less of a problem as the game goes on and each scenario gets has so many moving parts that it’s faster just to try and make sense out of everything, but it seems like the behavior that would be harder to get away with if you were a key figure in the story (Like, I doubt in most other mystery games you would let accuse everyone- and then every combination of names in the word pool- without reminding you of how graceless of a solution that is.)
On the other hand, this voyeuristic quality helps embrace another side of player behavior; as you progress through the game you end up building on so much of your prior knowledge that it’s often valuable to jump back to some older scenario and refresh yourself who’s related to who and the other bits of connective tissue in the world. Certainly wouldn't be disastrous if this was a non-diegetic action, but it comes far more naturally to a game that frames everything as part of the timeline of events- flipping back and forth between key points until you finally understand the connective tissue of the world.
Though even as I started to really get into the game, scribbling theories and notes about each of the cases, I also couldn’t help but think a lot about the one-off nature of these detective games as well. Know it was on the mind of because of a talk mentioned by CarbonCanine is his review of Tunic on his GOTY 2022 list, where designer Eriz Zimmerman questioned the legitimacy of the mysteries provided puzzle-box games, in comparison to the continual sense of systemic discovery provided by games such as Chess or Tennis.
While his framing of the point is kind of harsh, I generally agree with what he's saying, and it also seems like one of other limitations of this sort of puzzle-box design is that you also get very fragile mysteries- have a solution or the story spoiled for you, and it's likely you’d lose a tremendous reason to play through them. I know it was the reason I was so reluctant to look up hints and one of the reasons I’ve been so wary to discuss the plot in greater detail. I’m not even sure whether or not knowing that you’re going to really fully experience the game once is good or bad, certainly felt like it prompted a greater degree of engagement with it than if I knew I was going to revisit it again and again, but I also wonder about the enduring qualities of such games- which seem to fall by the wayside once everything is solved and filed away.
Hope that one day we get some mystery titles where those mechanical truths aren’t just limited to that first playthrough.
—
Extra thoughts:
- Great example of “perfect information” as well, similar to something like Into the Breach. Most scenarios only consist of a few screens, and the default setting highlights every interactable object in the environment, so you don’t have to engage in pixel-hunting or worry that you're stuck on some puzzle you don’t even have a full understanding of.
- Loses points for framing "overthrowing the monarchy” as villainous.
—
References:
CarbonCanine, The Thirty-Five Best Games I Played in 2022, Link
"...on the one hand, it seems like you are creating this wonderful palette for players to have these wonderful experiences of discovery and mystery...on the other hand, I also kept on thinking that it's almost like we're sort of coddling the player...You're designing this sort of baby crib for the player...like a special place for them to be able to crawl around and have these artificial experiences of discovery and mystery...and I was thinking about Meg Jayanth (who's a game writer), and she was writing and speaking about her experience with 80 Days and talking about this notion of 'player entitlement'; that as game designers often we are there to service the players and bring them pleasure, and as an alternative we have to kind of challenge them, to not put them at the center of the universe...and I don't know what the answer is, and one wonders what the alternative can be, but I think about what 'mystery and discovery' is if one is getting really deep into Tennis or Chess, like uncovering a system as you are in conversation with another player...or uncovering the way that other people are expressing themselves through the game, which is different than...finding the little trails of breadcrumbs that you've laid out for them."
You’re meant to fill in a mad-libs style description of events with the names and phrases you find in the environment, and you get a notification if you're down to missing two clues or fewer, so once you know the basic shape of the mystery and feel out the one phrase that you’re missing, it’s easy to spend much of the game feeding data into the machine until it spits out the correct result, and not earnestly working on understanding the "who" and "why" of the case.
Less of a problem as the game goes on and each scenario gets has so many moving parts that it’s faster just to try and make sense out of everything, but it seems like the behavior that would be harder to get away with if you were a key figure in the story (Like, I doubt in most other mystery games you would let accuse everyone- and then every combination of names in the word pool- without reminding you of how graceless of a solution that is.)
On the other hand, this voyeuristic quality helps embrace another side of player behavior; as you progress through the game you end up building on so much of your prior knowledge that it’s often valuable to jump back to some older scenario and refresh yourself who’s related to who and the other bits of connective tissue in the world. Certainly wouldn't be disastrous if this was a non-diegetic action, but it comes far more naturally to a game that frames everything as part of the timeline of events- flipping back and forth between key points until you finally understand the connective tissue of the world.
Though even as I started to really get into the game, scribbling theories and notes about each of the cases, I also couldn’t help but think a lot about the one-off nature of these detective games as well. Know it was on the mind of because of a talk mentioned by CarbonCanine is his review of Tunic on his GOTY 2022 list, where designer Eriz Zimmerman questioned the legitimacy of the mysteries provided puzzle-box games, in comparison to the continual sense of systemic discovery provided by games such as Chess or Tennis.
While his framing of the point is kind of harsh, I generally agree with what he's saying, and it also seems like one of other limitations of this sort of puzzle-box design is that you also get very fragile mysteries- have a solution or the story spoiled for you, and it's likely you’d lose a tremendous reason to play through them. I know it was the reason I was so reluctant to look up hints and one of the reasons I’ve been so wary to discuss the plot in greater detail. I’m not even sure whether or not knowing that you’re going to really fully experience the game once is good or bad, certainly felt like it prompted a greater degree of engagement with it than if I knew I was going to revisit it again and again, but I also wonder about the enduring qualities of such games- which seem to fall by the wayside once everything is solved and filed away.
Hope that one day we get some mystery titles where those mechanical truths aren’t just limited to that first playthrough.
—
Extra thoughts:
- Great example of “perfect information” as well, similar to something like Into the Breach. Most scenarios only consist of a few screens, and the default setting highlights every interactable object in the environment, so you don’t have to engage in pixel-hunting or worry that you're stuck on some puzzle you don’t even have a full understanding of.
- Loses points for framing "overthrowing the monarchy” as villainous.
—
References:
CarbonCanine, The Thirty-Five Best Games I Played in 2022, Link
"...on the one hand, it seems like you are creating this wonderful palette for players to have these wonderful experiences of discovery and mystery...on the other hand, I also kept on thinking that it's almost like we're sort of coddling the player...You're designing this sort of baby crib for the player...like a special place for them to be able to crawl around and have these artificial experiences of discovery and mystery...and I was thinking about Meg Jayanth (who's a game writer), and she was writing and speaking about her experience with 80 Days and talking about this notion of 'player entitlement'; that as game designers often we are there to service the players and bring them pleasure, and as an alternative we have to kind of challenge them, to not put them at the center of the universe...and I don't know what the answer is, and one wonders what the alternative can be, but I think about what 'mystery and discovery' is if one is getting really deep into Tennis or Chess, like uncovering a system as you are in conversation with another player...or uncovering the way that other people are expressing themselves through the game, which is different than...finding the little trails of breadcrumbs that you've laid out for them."
The Case of the Golden Idol: A fun crime-solving adventure. Prepare to be engulfed in a uniquely ugly world while your cases get more and more complicated yet never manage to feel daunting.
This game is entirely its puzzles with the added challenge of keeping things organized in your bar of environmentally-scanned information. You'll peer through all the items and persons of a crime scene before having to fill in a chart that's similar to an absurd and deadly Mad Libs prompt.
The comparisons to Return of the Obra Dinn are rampant, so I may as well join in on the fun: I never finished Obra Dinn, I found it sort of overwhelming to have the entire ship and its crew right there, so many questions waiting for answers all at once. I think Golden Idol does a better job with its pacing, breaking everything up into the progressively-intricate scenes, it's a more bite-sized approach. What's interesting is both games go for a very distinct, acerbic art style, but I was not too fond of Obra Dinn's. I prefer Golden Idol's bizarre, hideous joggling to Obra Dinn's starkness; I found the former to be enjoyably enfolding rather quickly.
Golden Idol doesn't just give you what you need to fill in prompts. If you think you know what happened, you'll need to find the appropriate verb and noun somewhere in the scene. This is a pretty smart way to make the player take in all of their surroundings before getting into the nitty-gritty, and there's a counter on your information bar to let you know how many things you're still looking for. You likely won't use all of them, some are there as red herrings or obstructing clutter.
Every scene is its own story and there's a plot connecting all of them. Almost every scene (in the base game) plays the same except for one, the tribunal, and I think that was the worst one of the bunch. I liked solving murders, which up until the penultimate mission is what you're doing, when all of a sudden you're trying to find out how many merit points each category of infraction costs. It was the only level I eventually turned to a guide for help, I just didn't like trying to figure out the four virtues, their subcategories, and what each one was worth. Once you've got that, then the game has you doing math. It's not comically long division or anything, but still, talk about a speed bump in pacing; I'm here for the double-frame jobs, not homework.
Once you're through the missions, there's an epilogue as a final challenge, basically there to ask, “Do you know what happened?” I enjoyed going through that, it was a great way to cap things off.
There's a DLC chapter of three scenes, and I really only enjoyed the first one. It was more murder solving with a new added twist, exactly what I wanted to see there. The other two DLC scenes didn't really do it for me so I don't think the price is justified.
Overall, this is a pretty tight package. I don't know why I initially downloaded its demo, nothing about the Steam screenshots is too enthralling, but I'm really glad the demo was offered and that I partook. You get to feel like Sherlock Holmes without doing any real work, who doesn't love that?
I recommend this game, especially if you also share the baseless delusion that you'd make a great detective.
This game is entirely its puzzles with the added challenge of keeping things organized in your bar of environmentally-scanned information. You'll peer through all the items and persons of a crime scene before having to fill in a chart that's similar to an absurd and deadly Mad Libs prompt.
The comparisons to Return of the Obra Dinn are rampant, so I may as well join in on the fun: I never finished Obra Dinn, I found it sort of overwhelming to have the entire ship and its crew right there, so many questions waiting for answers all at once. I think Golden Idol does a better job with its pacing, breaking everything up into the progressively-intricate scenes, it's a more bite-sized approach. What's interesting is both games go for a very distinct, acerbic art style, but I was not too fond of Obra Dinn's. I prefer Golden Idol's bizarre, hideous joggling to Obra Dinn's starkness; I found the former to be enjoyably enfolding rather quickly.
Golden Idol doesn't just give you what you need to fill in prompts. If you think you know what happened, you'll need to find the appropriate verb and noun somewhere in the scene. This is a pretty smart way to make the player take in all of their surroundings before getting into the nitty-gritty, and there's a counter on your information bar to let you know how many things you're still looking for. You likely won't use all of them, some are there as red herrings or obstructing clutter.
Every scene is its own story and there's a plot connecting all of them. Almost every scene (in the base game) plays the same except for one, the tribunal, and I think that was the worst one of the bunch. I liked solving murders, which up until the penultimate mission is what you're doing, when all of a sudden you're trying to find out how many merit points each category of infraction costs. It was the only level I eventually turned to a guide for help, I just didn't like trying to figure out the four virtues, their subcategories, and what each one was worth. Once you've got that, then the game has you doing math. It's not comically long division or anything, but still, talk about a speed bump in pacing; I'm here for the double-frame jobs, not homework.
Once you're through the missions, there's an epilogue as a final challenge, basically there to ask, “Do you know what happened?” I enjoyed going through that, it was a great way to cap things off.
There's a DLC chapter of three scenes, and I really only enjoyed the first one. It was more murder solving with a new added twist, exactly what I wanted to see there. The other two DLC scenes didn't really do it for me so I don't think the price is justified.
Overall, this is a pretty tight package. I don't know why I initially downloaded its demo, nothing about the Steam screenshots is too enthralling, but I'm really glad the demo was offered and that I partook. You get to feel like Sherlock Holmes without doing any real work, who doesn't love that?
I recommend this game, especially if you also share the baseless delusion that you'd make a great detective.
A superb detective game akin to Obra Dinn though on a much smaller, level-based scope. Unlike Obra Dinn, Golden Idol doesn’t have you play as an in-universe character, instead you’re given a full view of its crime scenes and tasked to identify people, identify the culprit, and uncover the events surrounding the murder in each level. All the levels tie into the overarching narrative of a mysterious golden idol and its story unfolds as you continue to solve each level. The investigation element is quite strong and logical, I figured the whole game out without using a single hint and very small amounts of guessing. There aren’t really any leaps of logic or genuine obtuseness, the game is skilled at giving you all the info that you need. The atmosphere is quite good is well; the art is kind of grotesque but in a good way that befits the slimy and cutthroat characters you have to deal with and the music befits the vibes of the late 1700’s setting that the game is set in. The Case of the Golden Idol is a definitely worthy to be among the detective game greats.
As someone who had a blast with Obra Dinn, this game was a no brainer for me and it didn't disappoint. It effortlessly tells a compelling story with its twists and turns through multiple murder mystery solving puzzles that grow in scope and complexity the more you progress.
Short game with a interwoven and engaging thread throughout revolving around the titular golden idol. Engages with a lot of themes and has good world building around it - expanded in the DLCs.
Visually it's kind of ugly - but in a sort of detailed way that works, one of the central premises is the greed and ambitions of people driving them to heinous lengths, so like maybe that's an intentional choice.
Gameplay is fun, though easily subject to brute forcing if you get stuck - though I guarantee anyone playing will have a moment where the solution (or indeed twists in the plot) will click and you'll feel like Neo seeing the code of the matrix - I honestly wish one could bottle that feeling and sell it. It's likened to the Obra Dinn, which to my understanding (having not played) has a narrative reason for your investigation, this does not - you're very much an outside perspective.
Ultimately, the game (and it's DLCs) provide a short but engaging narrative journey. It doesn't overstay it's welcome and I look forward to future work by these devs.
Visually it's kind of ugly - but in a sort of detailed way that works, one of the central premises is the greed and ambitions of people driving them to heinous lengths, so like maybe that's an intentional choice.
Gameplay is fun, though easily subject to brute forcing if you get stuck - though I guarantee anyone playing will have a moment where the solution (or indeed twists in the plot) will click and you'll feel like Neo seeing the code of the matrix - I honestly wish one could bottle that feeling and sell it. It's likened to the Obra Dinn, which to my understanding (having not played) has a narrative reason for your investigation, this does not - you're very much an outside perspective.
Ultimately, the game (and it's DLCs) provide a short but engaging narrative journey. It doesn't overstay it's welcome and I look forward to future work by these devs.
The Case of the Golden Idol is quite a treat for fans of puzzle/detective stories. You follow a story about a device that gives people strange powers, but as a "3rd person helicopter" observer. Being given clues about 12 different cases, you are tasked to chronologically put the story together.
The story in itself is quite interesting, and solving the cases can be quite challenging due the introduction of constant new characters and places. On the one hand, this makes the game that much more nuanced, but on the other, it also becomes quite convoluted when you approach the ending.
And that is my main gripe with this game: after a while, you are given so many clues that it becomes frustrating to keep an overview of all the clues you have collected so far. To be honest, I recommend people to keep a system (such as only collecting clues about people first, etc.) instead of collecting all the clues right away. It doesn't help that dragging and dropping clues is a bit wonky, either.
Next to the main story of The Case of the Golden Idol, I also played both DLC's and reviewed them separately. I do think the main story is much better than the DLC's. However, playing both DLC's does give a lot of context to the events of the main game, so they are defitinely worth checking out.
The story in itself is quite interesting, and solving the cases can be quite challenging due the introduction of constant new characters and places. On the one hand, this makes the game that much more nuanced, but on the other, it also becomes quite convoluted when you approach the ending.
And that is my main gripe with this game: after a while, you are given so many clues that it becomes frustrating to keep an overview of all the clues you have collected so far. To be honest, I recommend people to keep a system (such as only collecting clues about people first, etc.) instead of collecting all the clues right away. It doesn't help that dragging and dropping clues is a bit wonky, either.
Next to the main story of The Case of the Golden Idol, I also played both DLC's and reviewed them separately. I do think the main story is much better than the DLC's. However, playing both DLC's does give a lot of context to the events of the main game, so they are defitinely worth checking out.
Lazarus Herst? More like Lazarus worst
I voted for Lazarus Herst. What's your excuse?
Following in the footsteps of RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN with a graceful and exciting macro-narrative told across a bunch of discrete mini-mysteries. Manages a pretty good ending, but I feel like it maybe could have been a bit longer. Also a couple of the "levels" are a bit too focused on calculation to be as much fun as the big murder whodunits.
That's it for gripes, though - this is great. I really like that we're getting good new detective games now.
That's it for gripes, though - this is great. I really like that we're getting good new detective games now.
one of the most unique detective games i've ever played. the bizarre art really adds to the experience and the music is really really good (sorry for breaking the third virtue).
something i really liked was how all the scenes were interconnected, and being able to jump from scene from scene so quickly made it very enjoyable to follow all the different characters across the story.
something i really liked was how all the scenes were interconnected, and being able to jump from scene from scene so quickly made it very enjoyable to follow all the different characters across the story.
Incredible game. Picks up where Obra Dinn left off in terms of ease of navigation but is significantly easier. Breezed through it in one sitting in a day using a single hint (which I immediately felt dumb for not figuring out myself.)
Unfortunately, it is extraordinarily short, and the overall narrative, while not outright bad, isn't as incredible as the typical Sierra point-and-click adventure game. It's just kind of there to pad out the (very well thought out) whodunnit scenes.
Also has hideous box art for a generally great looking game which is unfortunate lol
Unfortunately, it is extraordinarily short, and the overall narrative, while not outright bad, isn't as incredible as the typical Sierra point-and-click adventure game. It's just kind of there to pad out the (very well thought out) whodunnit scenes.
Also has hideous box art for a generally great looking game which is unfortunate lol
really clever detective puzzle that reminds me a lot of obra dinn! also there's a character who wins over a woman by drawing her a picture of him fighting a tiger and i just can't get over how funny that bit is
Critica social foda
Banger ass banger game, top to bottom. Every day I hope to have the chance to solve many fun puzzles such as this.
What a turn from "haha rich bastards do be killing each other over the pettiest things" to "generational consolidation of power assuredly leads to the raise of fascism"
Stellar point and click detective game where you’re left to try and solve various murders, freely gathering evidence through 12 cases and deducing how they connect together to form a compelling overarching mystery
Each case doesn’t take a ton of time on their own, but they were clever in how they gradually ramp up in complexity without feeling too unfair or obtuse to figure out, and it was really satisfying when I reached the end and everything clicked together
Each case doesn’t take a ton of time on their own, but they were clever in how they gradually ramp up in complexity without feeling too unfair or obtuse to figure out, and it was really satisfying when I reached the end and everything clicked together
Charming, crude art direction and ludicrous situations carry this further than expected. The deduction gameplay builds on Obra Dinn in a way that is a little more focused in its structure, progressing linearly through puzzles, so it doesn’t quite suffer from the slight meandering final third of Dinn (that was a little too freeform for its own good).
I do think the more heightened, fantastic scenarios lose their lustre quite quickly, and I did prefer the earlier, more ‘grounded’ puzzles. A mystery needs gaps, intrigue, momentum, and I found most of the later scenes convoluted in a profoundly absurd way, though really funny.
The reliance on discovering words to describe the scenarios also leads to a lot of studying crucial documents to solve logic puzzles, and Obra Dinn’s minimalist focus on studying the scenes (faces, poses, props), without any documents to provide exposition, was felt missing here.
I do think the more heightened, fantastic scenarios lose their lustre quite quickly, and I did prefer the earlier, more ‘grounded’ puzzles. A mystery needs gaps, intrigue, momentum, and I found most of the later scenes convoluted in a profoundly absurd way, though really funny.
The reliance on discovering words to describe the scenarios also leads to a lot of studying crucial documents to solve logic puzzles, and Obra Dinn’s minimalist focus on studying the scenes (faces, poses, props), without any documents to provide exposition, was felt missing here.
A brilliantly addictive detective game which makes you feel like a genius. Methodically going through each scenario and deducing exactly what happened was so delightful. Every single case in the game (especially including the DLCs) sunk their mystery hooks into me, and I was more than happy to be reeled in for the 10 hours-and-change it took to complete.
I don't rave that often, but, if you have any passing interest in detective games, I would press this into your hands immediately, no question. And, to those of you who played Obra Dinn and wondered, "Why don't they make more games like this?" THIS GAME IS ONE OF THOSE GAMES THAT THEY DON'T MAKE MORE OF LIKE THIS! A MUST PLAY!
I don't rave that often, but, if you have any passing interest in detective games, I would press this into your hands immediately, no question. And, to those of you who played Obra Dinn and wondered, "Why don't they make more games like this?" THIS GAME IS ONE OF THOSE GAMES THAT THEY DON'T MAKE MORE OF LIKE THIS! A MUST PLAY!
If you are insufferable like me and occasionally try to get people outside of the medium into video games then this might be the best one to get them genuinely interested.
Solving a well-thought-out 17th-century murder case by gathering evidence, understanding contextual clues, and identifying suspects, all behind the accessible comfort of using only a mouse, makes true-crime jennys giddy.
The way some of these vignettes tell a story, pieces scattered across the scene with the right amount of context missing is brilliantly executed, rewarding to put together and sometimes genuinely beautiful.
The pixilated art style toes the perfect line between readable and crude, almost mad magazine-esque adult cartoon. The pixels look like they all stink.
Tbh while playing I wasn't sure if the ending and the main plot are trying to say something specific because the only message I got felt pretty dumb. So I kinda just chalked it up to gameplay ideas informing the story. Then after finishing the game, I read Epiglottis review who said it better than I ever could when they called the place the story ends up in "soft-brained 'tyranny of forced equality' territory". And yea, I got the same vibe.
One of the things Obra Dinn undeniably has above the golden idol is its interesting use of audio and sound design (hearing the victim's last moment). You can play the golden idol with the sound muted and it wouldn't make a difference (except atmospherically of course). That felt a bit disappointing to me, but I also have to admit that I don't see a good possibility to further implement sound without just ripping off obra dinn ideas or changing how the game feels in general. So maybe it's good they didn't.
Next time you want to get your adult friends or family members into video games pull out this one and play a chapter with them.
Solving a well-thought-out 17th-century murder case by gathering evidence, understanding contextual clues, and identifying suspects, all behind the accessible comfort of using only a mouse, makes true-crime jennys giddy.
The way some of these vignettes tell a story, pieces scattered across the scene with the right amount of context missing is brilliantly executed, rewarding to put together and sometimes genuinely beautiful.
The pixilated art style toes the perfect line between readable and crude, almost mad magazine-esque adult cartoon. The pixels look like they all stink.
Tbh while playing I wasn't sure if the ending and the main plot are trying to say something specific because the only message I got felt pretty dumb. So I kinda just chalked it up to gameplay ideas informing the story. Then after finishing the game, I read Epiglottis review who said it better than I ever could when they called the place the story ends up in "soft-brained 'tyranny of forced equality' territory". And yea, I got the same vibe.
One of the things Obra Dinn undeniably has above the golden idol is its interesting use of audio and sound design (hearing the victim's last moment). You can play the golden idol with the sound muted and it wouldn't make a difference (except atmospherically of course). That felt a bit disappointing to me, but I also have to admit that I don't see a good possibility to further implement sound without just ripping off obra dinn ideas or changing how the game feels in general. So maybe it's good they didn't.
Next time you want to get your adult friends or family members into video games pull out this one and play a chapter with them.
the core gameplay isn’t particularly distinct from your run-of-the-mill point-and-click mystery game and does become tedious when playing for awhile. however, the story is super compelling and well-constructed without taking itself too seriously—a whimsical exploration of aristocratic control, desire, paranoia, and ruthlessness borne out by the enigmatic power of the titular idol. there was an incredible moment of clarity between the final level and epilogue that will stay with me long-term. loved the grimey and exaggerated aesthetic too
An ancient idol with murderous powers, a sinister cult poised to transform 18th century England into a life-stealing orwellian dystopia, a proletarian revolution brewing. Murder, betrayal, assassins, spontaneous combustion, love triangles, ritualistic poisoning and magic spells. All of this and more is what constitutes the grand conspiracy behind the curtain of this Latvian investigation game made by two brothers.
Overtly inspired by Lucas Pope's modern classic Return of the Obra Dinn, this game puts you in the shoes of an omniscient detective tasked with solving the central mystery in each of the shocking multilayered tableaux that compose its non-linear overarching narrative. The challenge is not in finding the clues (the game even advises turning hotspot highlights on so nothing is missed), rather to piece them together using deductive reasoning in order to figure out who's who, what they have done and why, which is easier said than done. You might have to sift through love letters to find the first name of who was sitting next to whom at a dinner party, then consult delivery receipts to dig up a last name, then cross-reference information from other rooms and characters to understand motivations, so you can fill out a report of exactly what happened.
Unlike Obra Dinn, which to an extent sacrificed complexity in the name of multilanguage accessibility, limiting itself to [First and Last name] was [Fate] by [Perpetrator], The Case of the Golden Idol is made for the English language alone, as such manages to present a far more elaborate syntax: it's not uncommon to have to fill out sentences structured as follows: [First name] [Last name] [Verb] [First name] [Last name] in the [Place] because [First name] [Last name] wanted to [Verb] the [Object]. It even color codes categories of words as to make the incomplete report sheets less confusing at a glance: brown for people's names, yellow for objetcs, blue for actions and grey for places and ranks.
The result might be something like "John Smith drugged Jack Jones in the garden, then stole the diamond from the study and planted it in Jack Jones' pocket to frame Jack Jones for the murder of Tom Brown." It's all very satisfying when everything finally clicks and you manage to figure out what transpired. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to suss out who sleeps in which bedchamber from their belongings, or who was where at which time based on their bar tab and winnings at the cards. One scenario requires you to figure out the hierarchy and rituals of the secret cult, while another entails understanding the intricacies of the orwellian party's judicial system based on the rules of virtues (how bad do they consider a lie vs being drunk or lustful?).
To keep things flowing there are a number of assists designed to aid you in your deductive process: aside from the aforementioned hotspot highlights and color coding, the game's deduction board is segmented into multiple panels, of which only the main one is required to solve each scenario. The game informs you when you have made two mistakes or fewer, to let you know you are close to solving a panel. This cuts both ways, because while this helps you realize you are on the right track, it also opens the way for trial and error: there were one of two cases where I did not figure out someone's motive at all, and simply replaced words until the panel turned green. It's an unfortunate byproduct of accessibility, to prevent the player from getting too stuck and frustrated, since many of the cases can get very complex.
The game also places many, many red herrings in your way to try and veer you off course: sure, that suspicious man carrying a sack on his shoulder might draw your eye, but he might not even be involved in the case in at all. That mysterious half-empty vial under someone's pillow might be the poison you need... or not at all. On that subject, it would have been good to be able to draw the wrong conclusion and accuse the wrong person, much like in Frogware's Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, which featured a comparable deduction board which didn't shy away from leading you towards the incorrect conclusion if you were too hasty or sloppy. Golden Idol doesn't do that unfortunately, as there is only one solution to each scenario and no real penalty for getting it wrong. Maybe an idea for a sequel.
It would also have been nice to have a summary sheet listing all the characters you have correctly identified, accessible from any scenario: there were certain characters whose identity was difficult to remember from one case to the next. You can quit out and revisit completed cases to check who's who, but it's that extra step that makes it cumbersome.
These are small quibbles, however, and that such are the only points of criticism to be moved against this title shows how we really have something special here: there are so precious few of these games around, where you need to actually think about the clues you have, as opposed to just clicking around until an automatic dialogue option unlocks like in most so-called detective games, that it's impossible not to highly recommend The Case of the Golden Idol to anyone even remotely invested in detective fiction.
Overtly inspired by Lucas Pope's modern classic Return of the Obra Dinn, this game puts you in the shoes of an omniscient detective tasked with solving the central mystery in each of the shocking multilayered tableaux that compose its non-linear overarching narrative. The challenge is not in finding the clues (the game even advises turning hotspot highlights on so nothing is missed), rather to piece them together using deductive reasoning in order to figure out who's who, what they have done and why, which is easier said than done. You might have to sift through love letters to find the first name of who was sitting next to whom at a dinner party, then consult delivery receipts to dig up a last name, then cross-reference information from other rooms and characters to understand motivations, so you can fill out a report of exactly what happened.
Unlike Obra Dinn, which to an extent sacrificed complexity in the name of multilanguage accessibility, limiting itself to [First and Last name] was [Fate] by [Perpetrator], The Case of the Golden Idol is made for the English language alone, as such manages to present a far more elaborate syntax: it's not uncommon to have to fill out sentences structured as follows: [First name] [Last name] [Verb] [First name] [Last name] in the [Place] because [First name] [Last name] wanted to [Verb] the [Object]. It even color codes categories of words as to make the incomplete report sheets less confusing at a glance: brown for people's names, yellow for objetcs, blue for actions and grey for places and ranks.
The result might be something like "John Smith drugged Jack Jones in the garden, then stole the diamond from the study and planted it in Jack Jones' pocket to frame Jack Jones for the murder of Tom Brown." It's all very satisfying when everything finally clicks and you manage to figure out what transpired. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to suss out who sleeps in which bedchamber from their belongings, or who was where at which time based on their bar tab and winnings at the cards. One scenario requires you to figure out the hierarchy and rituals of the secret cult, while another entails understanding the intricacies of the orwellian party's judicial system based on the rules of virtues (how bad do they consider a lie vs being drunk or lustful?).
To keep things flowing there are a number of assists designed to aid you in your deductive process: aside from the aforementioned hotspot highlights and color coding, the game's deduction board is segmented into multiple panels, of which only the main one is required to solve each scenario. The game informs you when you have made two mistakes or fewer, to let you know you are close to solving a panel. This cuts both ways, because while this helps you realize you are on the right track, it also opens the way for trial and error: there were one of two cases where I did not figure out someone's motive at all, and simply replaced words until the panel turned green. It's an unfortunate byproduct of accessibility, to prevent the player from getting too stuck and frustrated, since many of the cases can get very complex.
The game also places many, many red herrings in your way to try and veer you off course: sure, that suspicious man carrying a sack on his shoulder might draw your eye, but he might not even be involved in the case in at all. That mysterious half-empty vial under someone's pillow might be the poison you need... or not at all. On that subject, it would have been good to be able to draw the wrong conclusion and accuse the wrong person, much like in Frogware's Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, which featured a comparable deduction board which didn't shy away from leading you towards the incorrect conclusion if you were too hasty or sloppy. Golden Idol doesn't do that unfortunately, as there is only one solution to each scenario and no real penalty for getting it wrong. Maybe an idea for a sequel.
It would also have been nice to have a summary sheet listing all the characters you have correctly identified, accessible from any scenario: there were certain characters whose identity was difficult to remember from one case to the next. You can quit out and revisit completed cases to check who's who, but it's that extra step that makes it cumbersome.
These are small quibbles, however, and that such are the only points of criticism to be moved against this title shows how we really have something special here: there are so precious few of these games around, where you need to actually think about the clues you have, as opposed to just clicking around until an automatic dialogue option unlocks like in most so-called detective games, that it's impossible not to highly recommend The Case of the Golden Idol to anyone even remotely invested in detective fiction.
The difficulty is consummately balanced and each puzzle is more satisfying than the one it follows. Story ends up in some pretty soft-brained "tyranny of forced equality" territory but I appreciate the attempt at mounting depth and scope while keeping the exposition almost entirely within the gameplay. The influence of Obra Dinn is established and obvious but what I really responded to was the twist of Chzo Mythos: violent offputting cartooniness, dark humor, the weakness of humanity when confronted with the occult.
A cozy rainy-day treat. ♥
A cozy rainy-day treat. ♥
Do you like the Chzo Mythos? Do you like Return of the Obra Dinn? Can I interest you in the Case of the Golden Idol?
Love games with a mystical power dropping into an unready society and falling into the worst person's hands. Captures that same "holy shit that's gnarly" gruesomeness from Obra Dinn with even more initially inexplicable situations to try and piece together the meaning of. Short but not too short, happy with where it went and where it ended. And what art direction! Never seen anything like it.
Love games with a mystical power dropping into an unready society and falling into the worst person's hands. Captures that same "holy shit that's gnarly" gruesomeness from Obra Dinn with even more initially inexplicable situations to try and piece together the meaning of. Short but not too short, happy with where it went and where it ended. And what art direction! Never seen anything like it.
A great deduction game that continually made me feel like a true brain genius, and wrapped in a lovely horrible artstyle. An easy 5 stars.
There is nothing quite like staring at all the info in front of you, convinced it's correct, but being told something isn't right... And then you see it! Swap those around because you forgot what happened a few cases back! That's it! YOUR INVITE TO MENSA IS IN THE MAIL!
There is nothing quite like staring at all the info in front of you, convinced it's correct, but being told something isn't right... And then you see it! Swap those around because you forgot what happened a few cases back! That's it! YOUR INVITE TO MENSA IS IN THE MAIL!
A really solid iteration on the Obra Dinn detective mechanics. Rewards a rich understanding of individual character details, and continuity between scenes.
If you enjoy deductive reasoning games then this is your jam. Anyone who's played Obra Dinn would love this game, and it comes as no surprise that Lucas Pope himself gave this one a hearty recommendation on his twitter. It takes the death vignettes of Obra Dinn and word magnet mad libs, and slaps them together to create a short, engaging, and unique experience.
The gameplay is really a shine here. Each chapter gets more and more complex, adding new characters to the overarching plotline, involving more word 'types,' and just generally increasing the number of clues and words necessary to deduce the happenings of the events taking place.
Personally, I found the narrative to be a bit silly but for the purposes of the game, well used. The world building didn't give me the feel of being very fleshed out, but I'm not sure it needed to be. Probably, too much world building information would have interceded the large number of clues particularly dedicated to solving each chapter, in which there are already many red herrings. Id say the experience of the story feels very theatrical, and the pace of the story is quite well balanced in terms of the intensity. The music does a great job at enhancing the atmosphere as well.
My main criticism would be that I'm a very stubborn person so I didn't want to use the hint system - and in turn ended up needing to rely heavily on the "Two or less correct" message to clean up some of my mad libs panels. A few times its easy to get some small details just barely wrong and it becomes a little trial and error-ry (if you refuse to use hints). I will say I do appreciate the little help screen that comes up when you press the hint button that reminds you of some deductive reasoning skills before you commit to actually reading any of the hints. At the very least, for any of the mad libs solving, 80-90% is going to be good perception and reading comprehension. Furthermore, even Obra Dinn suffers for a bit of that trial and errory-ness too, so I don't judge it too harshly. Until someone proves otherwise, as creators try to make more games like this, I think it is just going to be a pitfall of games of this type.
The gameplay is really a shine here. Each chapter gets more and more complex, adding new characters to the overarching plotline, involving more word 'types,' and just generally increasing the number of clues and words necessary to deduce the happenings of the events taking place.
Personally, I found the narrative to be a bit silly but for the purposes of the game, well used. The world building didn't give me the feel of being very fleshed out, but I'm not sure it needed to be. Probably, too much world building information would have interceded the large number of clues particularly dedicated to solving each chapter, in which there are already many red herrings. Id say the experience of the story feels very theatrical, and the pace of the story is quite well balanced in terms of the intensity. The music does a great job at enhancing the atmosphere as well.
My main criticism would be that I'm a very stubborn person so I didn't want to use the hint system - and in turn ended up needing to rely heavily on the "Two or less correct" message to clean up some of my mad libs panels. A few times its easy to get some small details just barely wrong and it becomes a little trial and error-ry (if you refuse to use hints). I will say I do appreciate the little help screen that comes up when you press the hint button that reminds you of some deductive reasoning skills before you commit to actually reading any of the hints. At the very least, for any of the mad libs solving, 80-90% is going to be good perception and reading comprehension. Furthermore, even Obra Dinn suffers for a bit of that trial and errory-ness too, so I don't judge it too harshly. Until someone proves otherwise, as creators try to make more games like this, I think it is just going to be a pitfall of games of this type.
Very similar to Obra Din, so there you go. A great mystery with balanced difficulty. Each scenario feels like a bombardment of information that gradually coalesces into something manageable. Switch port is a bit clunky, but we got over it eventually (small text combined with soooo much drag and drop).
great puzzle game that makes you feel like a detective.