The Case of the Golden Idol review - a stellar detective game wrapped in an engaging story
Just to get this out of the way, The Case of the Golden Idol is a phenomenal puzzle game.
The game tasks you with piecing together what happened in a mostly static scene using your detective and deduction skills. You can click on elements in a scene, a character’s pocket, a drawer, a scrap of paper laying on the floor, etc. to slowly figure out who did what to whom.
As you dig through a scene, you’ll uncover names, verbs, and other words that you will then have to combine together in the right way to explain what happened.
The gameplay ressembles a lot another highly recommended puzzle game, Return of the Obra Dinn. Fortunately, you don’t have to solve the whole mystery all at once. Each mystery is composed of smaller mysteries and once you’ve put the right words in the right spots, the game will confirm the information, making it easier to solve the rest of the bigger mystery. For example, you can start by identifying the characters involved in the scene or the location of the scene, before filling out what happened.
The game is divided into 11 quite different scenarios that become increasingly more complicated with more characters and events. Each scenario takes between 30 and 60 minutes to complete and they are all interconnected in a way that tells an interesting story centered around the mysterious figurine, the Golden Idol.
There’s a hint system that I haven’t had to use myself, but if you’re stuck, you might not have to go find the solution online.
The Case of the Golden Idol is one of the best puzzle games I’ve had the chance to play. If you liked Obra Dinn or Outer Wilds, I’m sure you will enjoy this one as well.