I've been itching for a mystery game like this since I finished Obra Dinn, and The Case of the Golden Idol certainly scratched that itch.
I plowed through this game with a couple of friends, and sharing the aha-moments once all the pieces were starting to fall into place was fantastic. A large part of the mysteries can be solved with enough trial and error, but we tried to challenge ourselves by only placing names that we were 90% sure were going in the right spot.
Looking forward to the sequel!

An unique puzzle game where the player must investigate a murder scene or diorama . As a puzzle genre fan, I strangely did not vibe with this as it feels less detective work and more fill in the blank. It has its merits of surprises such as false leads but I did not get that aha factor that I look for. Perhaps it was not that difficult or did not feel I truly solved it on my own. For the story though, I do not truly think this is a mystery but more like a series of events with the idol as a key object. The twist though was okay but I did not like how it required guesswork in the last level to figure out the first part. This is still an indie gem worthy of recommendation and do play it with a mouse rather than a controller.

While it's not simply a murder mystery, Golden Idol draws a still scene for you to parse, whether it's a murder or a disappearance and so on. Instead of ruffling the scene for clues to add to a list, you earn words to use on a mad-libs type scroll to make sense of assailants, objects, or actions.

I dig the art even if it shows its seams at times, the only thing that felt especially jarring is the occasional comic style cutscenes between some chapters. Being pre-rendered it strips away the charm of the art and introduces laughably bad speech boxes that look amateurish at best.

Puzzle design is fun and the story itself interested to progress with, but some level had inconsistently long leaps of logic between the solving steps that it turns into guesswork with the scroll. Since it gives a special warning when you've got two or fewer mistakes, meaning you can keep swapping pieces while using confirmed pieces as a control group. I can't describe this as me spoiling my fun, since most of those instances were when I found the solution but was struggling with composition of the pieces.
I did like how it lets you do some minigame style puzzles to unlock hints, I only needed to use it once, but it's a nice idea of breaking the thinking tedium and jog your mind elsewhere. As a fun way to re-tread the events, you can also check previous chapters and solutions to eliminate some of the guesswork for scrolls, the game even prompts you to do so at the final chapter.
Music was really nice and fitting though, especially the first expansion. It was standout kind of good.

The first expansion; the spider of Lanka is a prequel to the events of the game. Animation is improved however the scenario script was too convoluted for my tastes. I spent more time switching pieces than I did exploring the scenes.
The second expansion is a continuation that bookends exactly where the base game begins, more of the same, don't have much to say.

It does have apparent flaws, but it's a good detective puzzler with a nice story to follow.

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.

¿Qué tiene en los bolsillos?

Return of the Obra Dinn es una de esas experiencias que te marcan como jugador. Es una obra inteligente, perfectamente medida e indudablemente insólita. The Case of the Golden Idol parece querer recoger su testigo y, no contento con eso, lo lleva a otros niveles de profundidad.

Empieza de sopetón, poniendo sobre la mesa unas mecánicas a las que te adaptas rápidamente y, sin darte cuenta, ya estás atrapado dentro de un sistema de investigación, especulación, reflexión y resolución reforzado por una narrativa interesantísima que se aprovecha de la división en capítulos para evolucionar en todos los sentidos —en lo jugable, en lo complejo, en lo argumental—.

Es, también, una obra inteligente y bien medida, con escenarios y situaciones lo suficientemente enrevesadas como para retar la mente de cualquier jugador. Y es que es una experiencia que te obliga a recrear mentalmente. Se trata de analizar la información, visual o escrita, y darle una forma lógica a través de las palabras y rompecabezas que se te presentan.

Es un concepto tan, tan bueno y a su vez tan, tan poco explotado en el mundillo, que tiemblo de solo pensar hacia dónde podrían hacerlo crecer.

Recordaré siempre con cariño aquel primer instante del capítulo uno, cuando vi ante mí una escena y pude empezar a investigar. Entonces me pregunté, "¿qué tiene ese hombre en los bolsillos?". Y accedí a sus pertenencias y me envolví entre datos, nombres, personajes y asesinatos hasta llegar al final, emocionado y deslumbrado, por lo que ha sido una experiencia maravillosa.