This is one of those games that looks ugly to the point of being downright off-putting, but if you give it just ten minutes of your time, you'll be hooked before you know it. I've loved games with detective elements ever since I was a kid, and Golden Idol does a superlative job of making you feel like a super sleuth. You're presented with a scene, usually moments after a murder has been committed, and it's the player's task to figure out what happened by gathering all the evidence, pouring over it and then filling in the blanks. It quickly becomes an addiction as you go from one case to the next; finding out who the culprit was using your own deductive reasoning. And all these different vignettes are tied together by a surprisingly intriguing narrative that, while hardly shoved in your face, provides enough solid story beats that you have a firm grip on everything that has ensued by the end credits.

I hope this game goes on to be the sleeper hit of 2022. It deserves it. I think it's (purposefully) grotesque art direction could work against it, but don't let it! There is an incredibly compelling detective romp hidden behind those garish colours and bulbous features.