The Rise of the Golden Idol Review

Point-and-click puzzle games often get the short end of the stick due to what may at first seem like simple mechanics and slow gameplay. Compared to their heyday in the 90s and early 2000s, these games have become more niche in recent years as action, open-world, and narrative games have primarily stolen the spotlight. However, the genre has been kept alive by a dedicated fan base and a steady flow of releases, especially within the indie gaming scene. Color gray game' The Rise of the Golden Idolon the other hand, might be enough to break the niche ceiling of its genre and appeal to players beyond those already passionate about point-and-click detective games, as it offers an engaging story and challenging gameplay to boot.

The Rise of the Golden Idol is the sequel to Color Gray Games' The Case of the Golden Idoland it feels poised to make some sort of appearance at the Game Awards this year, given all it has to offer. As a standalone sequel, even those who never played the first Golden Idol can follow its story, although playing the first game beforehand can help players see all the improvements the sequel has made to the now-franchise's formula. With some incredibly challenging puzzles to solve and one of the most shocking, disturbing and atmospheric stories I've seen unfold in quite some time, The Rise of the Golden Idol could be the shot its genre needs to rise again.

The Rise of the Golden Idol specializes in atmospheric storytelling

After spending almost 10 hours on The Rise of the Golden Idols story, one of my biggest takeaways is its excellence in creating a thrilling atmosphere, no matter how innocent the scene may initially appear to be. The shock value, for one thing, often left my jaw on the floor and my eyes glued to the screen in disbelief as I witnessed murder after murder repeatedly — then The Rise of the Golden Idols character animations occur in two-second loops. The unsettling feeling of The Rise of the Golden IdolThe garbled character expressions also made frequent trips through every hair on the back of my neck, often serving as an effective distraction from the real culprit.

The Rise of the Golden Idol isn't always gruesome and macabre, but it certainly has its moments. Anyone who has looked at the game's pre-release screenshots can see that much, but it's only a small part of its most horrific landscape. It's also not so much just what's shown on the screen that makes these moments hair-raising to witness, but more so the underlying motivations of the game's criminals, their questionable behavior, and the apparent lack of remorse they have for the victims of their crimes. The music is another big contributor to The Rise of the Golden Idols atmosphere, as it generally darkens and loses its shape depending on which part of the story is examined.

The Challenge of Rise of the Golden Idol's Puzzles increases the value of their reward

While The Rise of the Golden Idol is primarily about telling a story, that story cannot be told unless the players succeed in their efforts to uncover the truth. Like its predecessor, The Rise of the Golden Idols overall story is broken up into a bunch of shorter plot points called “Events”, where players are tasked with collecting clues in the form of words and then applying them to an event page in the correct order. As each event page is completed correctly, that puzzle piece is added to the main story until players reach the end of the game and see each piece come together for a very rewarding conclusion.

Where The Rise of the Golden Idols puzzles really shine is in their challenge. In fact, there were moments during my time with the game where I felt so dumb that I had to ask someone with fresh eyes to help me out. The game does have a hint system, but it's really nothing more than a hint system. First, if I ever used it, it always tried its best to convince me not to, but I just couldn't help myself sometimes and went through with it anyway. Second, the hints are really just hints and sometimes so vague that even they would throw me off at times and confuse me all the more.

After spending almost 10 hours on
The Rise of the Golden Idol
s story, one of my biggest takeaways is its excellence in creating a thrilling atmosphere, no matter how innocent the scene may initially appear to be.

The main reason The Rise of the Golden Idol is so challenging because it excels at throwing players off the scent at every turn. One event in particular had me thrown into a loop for several hours because I was too stubborn to see the scene play out differently. However, this was largely due to a character seemingly giving me evidence that turned out to be no evidence at all.

Another thing is that the game's puzzles become increasingly complex, often adding multiple levels to each event and way too many words that don't even belong on the event card. In addition, the difficulty to The Rise of the Golden Idols tutorial Event is absolutely nothing that comes later, which is just the game's way of showing its allergy to holding the player's hand. That said, one way the game helps is by revealing when two or fewer words have been misplaced.

Unfortunately, “help” is being generous because there are often so many words that it's hard to get to the point where two or fewer are incorrect.

Most of the The Rise of the Golden Idols Events also have optional objectives, such as determining who is who on stage or which object was used for what. Many of the game's tips help complete these goals, showing their importance. Although optional, it is often critical to the success of these tasks, as it makes filling out the event pages much easier.

I didn't run into many errors on the technical side of things, but there were times I felt like the event page wasn't updating to reflect my progress. Upon restarting the game it would work, which told me it was indeed a bug. That aside, I can say that this is not a game for the faint of heart. Sometimes, The Rise of the Golden Idols tips pointed things out to me that I didn't even consider looking at. In short, each event requires players to look at every major and minor detail and not just rely on the words they find to tell the whole story, and that quality alone can make it frustrating for some players.

The Rise of the Golden Idol could usher in a new golden age for its genre

Having grown up playing point-and-click puzzle games like Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? and that Monkey Island series, I am more than familiar with the genre and I really enjoyed those experiences. Since then, these games have largely gone under my radar as my primary focus has shifted over the past few decades to the opposite side of the gaming spectrum. However, The Rise of the Golden Idol has convinced me that it might be time to let myself be sucked back into the genre, because if games like this are what it currently offers, then the widespread popularity it once maintained is worth reviving.

Total, The Rise of the Golden Idol is a huge achievement in storytelling and gameplay, especially for a point-and-click puzzle game. Despite its steep challenge and the potential for players to encounter a game-stopping bug, The Rise of the Golden Idol is worth a try, even for those who might not consider themselves a fan of the genre. Its gameplay is slow and deliberate, but filling out those event pages, completing each objective and watching the entire story unfold is very satisfying – something that even some of the fastest action games fail to do.