The Case of the Golden Idol (2022)

The Case of the Golden Idol, 2022, developed by Color Gray Games, published by Playstack Limited

There's a mysterious statue known as the Golden Idol. Since a group of explorers found it, it has been a source of power and death to a secret society, using it to gain political influence. The trail of the Gold Idol is filled with death, and through these scenes of murder and mayhem, you are piecing together the sordid history of the idol and the people seeking to use it for their own ends.

Each part of the story is told as a scene frozen in time. At times, you see the murder happening; at times, it has already happened. In either case, it's up to you to diligently go through the scene, investigate the people, the objects and the writings, to piece together what has happened and who did what. 

The game proceeds in two modes. The first one is called the Exploring mode, in which you can freely move around the scene of the murder and its nearby locations. You can search, prod and poke as much as you desire, as you are an external entity in these scenes, invisible to people present. 

In most of the cases, you need to figure out the identities of the people present. Some are easy to find out if they have identification papers, but most of the time, you'll need to deduce the identities from clues left in letters, diaries or some fragments of dialogue. There are additional objectives as well, like piecing out what the Idol is and how it actually works.  

After investigating the locations, you can open up the Thinking mode. It boils down to having a list of the individuals and narratives with blank spaces, which you can then fill from the word list gathered during the Exploring mode. When you get close enough, the game tells you if you have too many wrong or if you are only a couple of steps away from the right answer. 

Now, depending on the scenario, deducing the events and people can be a pretty simple thing. Like a person A pushed person B off the cliff so they would get the Idol for themselves. The people in question, you have obviously already identified. If you have deduced all that is necessary, then you'll get to solve another case. And after all the main cases are over, you'll get to play two DLC stories, which offer more or less the same, but a bit more difficult and handling the history of the Golden Idol and how it got into the hands of the secret society.

The game also offers a hint system. It doesn't give you a solution straight away. For each hint, you need to solve a small puzzle, in which you need to connect the right words to the correct objects or people. Then you are provided a hint.

Graphically, I would call The Case of the Golden Idol a grotesque-looking game, but this fits the game very well. It is, after all, an ugly story about ugly deeds. And the art style is not without its own charm.  The music is very good as well, enhancing the atmosphere and not too distracting to the puzzle-solving.

And let's be very clear about one thing. The Case of the Golden Idol is not an adventure game. It is a story-driven puzzle game, in which the puzzle is a murder you need to solve, garnishing and all. It is a great game and something for a unique experience. The only game of its kind I can think of is Return of the Obra Dinn, in which you solve similarly frozen scenes of death and desolation. The perspective is different, as Obra Dinn is a first-person 3D game, and the Golden Idol is a 2D game.  Of course, there's also the Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares, but those are, in the end, lean more toward adventure games, with deduction game play in a bit simpler form. 

The Case of the Golden Idol is a great game for anyone who likes puzzle games, especially those in which you need to figure out a bit more complex scenarios. It doesn't offer inventory puzzles or dialogue trees, but it does offer a good opportunity to flex your brain a bit.

If The Case of the Golden Idol sounds like it's up your alley, you can get it from GOG and Steam, among other places. It has a sequel as well, so if you really like it, you can have more. It's worth the full price, if you ask me.