The Case of the Golden Idol (2022)

I was a little underwhelmed for the first 4 or so cases, but then the story took some interesting wild turns and the game starts to (implicitly) reward you for paying attention to some details it doesn't outright state. Story and puzzles are nicely woven together. The game doesn't drag on for too long and is definitely engaging the entire time.

Still, I feel like deduction games haven't reached their peak yet here. There are some constraints on what is possible to enter as deduction: you get a limited selection of words to complete a few sentences. In some cases this guidance seemed necessary to figure out what happened. Also, if you are close to the solution, the game tells you so, and this can be abused to triangulate which parts of the deduction you are wrong about and solve it in a guess-the-word way. All this doesn't make you feel very clever. I admit it's a better solution than leaving players completely stumped, but I feel like this can be improved upon - a better hints system seems like an obvious way to go.

Maybe Klei Games should pick up the deduction genre, they can turn every genre into gold.

Especially in the second half chapters, I needed a walkthrough for every level. Not necessarily every scroll but at least one of the scrolls on each level was too vague for me. i enjoy a lot of standard point and click puzzles that combine inventory and environment to solve a mystery. This use of multiple rooms/events for each level got very confusing and, even with a walkthrough I ended up confused how I was supposed to know that. Still, it's a very interesting variation on the pixel puzzle game theme. Even if it's more difficult to follow, I enjoyed the challenge.

I preferred the format of the Linux version on my Steam Deck but the DLC don't work on that version so I finished it on PC.

5/5

Played on PC, with company.

Fantastic puzzler. So satisfying to piece things together and solve both the environmental clues specific to each level and the overarching story progression (especially in case 10). The story itself and the world building is also very compelling. Even more fun playing with others and solving things together. The DLC levels are, in my opinion, better than the base game.

I crave more games like this.

Pretty meh on this one. As someone who thought Obra Dinn already had some major problems, this game has even more.

First of all, the player perspective makes no sense. Who are we? Why is each scene frozen in time but not really? Why is the storytelling so all over the place with comic book panels inserted randomly between some cases?

As for the puzzle mechanics themselves, they're pretty shallow and haphazard. In an attempt to solve the verb-guessing issue of Obra Dinn all the solutions are built out of words you discover in each level, but in practice it's just busy work. There are counters and indicators telling you exactly where to find everything and when you've found it all, so it's very flat and checkbox-y. Also, why do I have to find words like "have" written on random notes before I can use them in my solution? What is that even supposed to be expressive of? It's silly.

This is more of a word game than a proper adventure or puzzle game, and it's fine for what it is for a while at least. But man, when I got to the final few levels and brought up those solution pages with like 50 blanks on them they just made me feel tired.

Generally, the environmental puzzle solving was still somewhat satisfying, so I didn't outright dislike the game but it's nowhere near a recommendation from me. I think if you like word games (or Obra Dinn) more than I do you might still get a lot of enjoyment out of it, though.

Do you know those people who love FromSoftware games and can "descipher" all the lore by looking at the color of a hat, the location of a corpse and a broken statue?

This is a game about that.

I was gonna say the "ugly" character design was a flaw, but it honestly grows on you and it is a big part of its personality.

If you're looking for a game that combines mystery, puzzles, and storytelling, you might want to check out Case of the Golden Idol. It's a game where you play as a detective who has to solve a series of murders related to a mysterious artifact. The game is divided into two parts: the investigation and the thinking screen. In the investigation, you explore the crime scenes, collect clues, and interrogate suspects. In the thinking screen, you use your logic and deduction skills to piece together the clues and find the culprit.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this game is how it uses different types of puzzles in the thinking screen. You don't just have to match the evidence with the suspects, but also solve other kinds of puzzles that are relevant to the case. For example, in one case, you have to figure out the rules for a card game and the hands of the suspects based on the evidence in the crime scene. This adds variety and challenge to the gameplay, and also makes the story more immersive and engaging.

Another thing that I loved about this game is how satisfying it is to unravel the truth behind each case. The game does a great job of creating suspense and intrigue, and keeping you guessing until the end. As everything started to come together, it was very satisfying to start to realize what some of the things in plain sight in earlier cases actually meant. I felt like I was really involved in the story, and I wanted to know more about the characters and their motives.

The game also has a unique art style that might not appeal to everyone, but I personally liked it. The game uses pixel art and retro graphics, which give it a nostalgic and charming feel. The art style also suits the tone and atmosphere of the game, which is a mix of humor and drama. The game doesn't take itself too seriously, but it also has some emotional moments that make you care about the outcome.

The game reminded me a bit of Professor Layton, which is one of my favorite series. It has a similar vibe of solving puzzles and mysteries in a whimsical setting. However, Case of the Golden Idol also has its own identity and originality, and it offers a different kind of experience, because the puzzles are more directly connected to the story than in Layton. But they have similar types of logical puzzles.

If you're looking for a fun and relaxing game that will keep you entertained for a few hours as you work through the scenes, I highly recommend Case of the Golden Idol.

Roll Credits?: Yes!

Surprised/Let Down/As Expected: Surprised

Favorite Mechanic or Narrative Moment: puzzles felt the perfect balance of fair and challenging. just as you started to become lost or hopeless, something would click and everything would start falling into place. also, the flow of solving the puzzles was natural and gradual (moving from names, to actions, etc). improves upon the "guessing" mechanic in Obra Dinn, by making it feel intended and not like cheating the system. this is done by the way each section of the solution is separated and what information is difficult to determine within it.

Least Favorite Thing: Ending was a little lackluster (Peter Battley blasting the dude while drunk felt out of left field, yet funny) and felt a bit abrupt given the pacing of the story. It feels as though the Order Party section could have been fleshed out another death or two to show the scope to which they seem to have really impacted the land.

Steam Curator

This game is a knowledge deduction puzzle interwoven with an exciting detective narrative adventure.

It's tight balance ensures that the escalation of the difficulty feels very natural, and by the end you'll have a complete understanding of all of the mysteries not because the game gave them to you... but because it gave you the skills to uncover it yourself.

This is a fun little game that presents a series of 12 mysteries, and has you gather clues and deduce the details of what went down in each case. While the first couple cases are simplistic, it continually escalates into much more complex puzzles that are more connected than they initially appear. By the end of the game, if you haven't been taking notes, you might wish you had... but when you go back to dig up the details, it will feel nice to see past events in a new light.

The cases are cracked by first gathering key words by examining the environment and the people and objects within it. Then, you fill those key words into the blanks of some documentation provided by the game. This most commonly means a short paragraph describing the circumstances of a murder, as well as filling in details on some supplementary materials like a map or bunch of portraits of the characters.

Once you've filled in a certain set of solutions, you'll receive feedback on your answer. This can either be a straight-up "correct" or "incorrect", or a hint that only two or less things you've entered are incorrect. It's a similar design approach to Return of the Obra Dinn, and it works well here for keeping track of all the info and helping frame your understanding of the investigation. A pretty involved hint system tries to encourage you to figure things out on your own, and provides tiny nudges in the right direction if you need it.

The game really shines with misdirections that make you step back and re-examine the whole picture. I think it balances the complexity pretty well overall. It's definitely tricky, especially toward the end, but still reasonable in the scope of what it's asking you to consider. The way that knowledge from prior cases becomes increasingly relevant in the game also requires you to pay attention and adds some nice extra cohesion and engagement.

Story is a pretty interesting area of the game, with some memorable stuff both in the cases themselves and in the overarching mystery that binds it all together. By the end it goes some very unexpected places, to a point where I'd almost say it's a bit over-the-top, but in general I liked it.

The artistic direction is a bit weird—not my favorite style, but I'd say it fits the tone pretty well—some occasional animated cutscenes look rough, though. The music is a lot less spotty, though, pretty solid throughout.

This definitely has a style of its own and is consistently fun for a solid 5-6 hours or so. It is a no-brainer to pick up if you have loved a similar puzzle/detective game (like Obra Dinn).