The Case of the Golden Idol Reviews
The Case of the Golden Idol's clever mysteries leave players feeling like Victorian super sleuths.
Witty, observationalist writing and a hands-off approach to deduction elevate this excellent period murder-mystery to a singular work.
A challenging and inventive set of mysteries to solve tied together with a brilliant storyline.
The Case of the Golden Idol is a game that makes me feel like a TV detective, slapping photos on a wall and drawing red lines between them. Those strings of yarn crisscross throughout my notebook, connecting characters and murder weapons and motives. It’s easy to get sucked into small details looking for a lead, but the feeling it gives when I’ve locked in the correct answers… It’s like I’m the most brilliant person on earth — even if just for a moment. The Case of the Golden Idol, like other deep detective games, expands past its own boundaries and into the pages of my notebook, leaving me thinking about its clues long after I’ve closed the game.
This handsome detective game isn't quite the second coming of Return Of The Obra Dinn, but it does come pretty damn close. An entertaining story told through a dozen murders, The Case Of The Golden Idol is a mystery well worth solving.
The Spider of Lanka doesn't really try to change the base game's formula in the slightest but it didn't need to, either: instead it brings some quality additions to an already great game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Another great indie detective game that not only makes solving crimes fun and interesting but has some surprisingly good storytelling to tie everything together.
As a debut title from a new indie team, it's difficult to imagine how things could have gone better: Gray Color Games has indeed managed to create a charming and well-crafted investigative adventure that every wannabe detective should really consider playing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A treasure inspires murder, and your job as detective is to piece together the crime in this addictive 18th-century whodunnit
The Case of the Golden Idol is an excellent debut. Color Gray has learned the lesson of Return of the Obra Dinn and reinterpreted it with its own style. The cases to be solved are well thought out and to come to grips with puzzles that require deduction and intelligence rather than skill with the classic mechanics of the genre is quite satisfying. The Latvian developer duo in his first game shows they have personality, including in the graphic style that does not mind being disturbing and in the appropriate background music, all of which conveniently mystery-themed.
Review in Italian | Read full review
For situations where players have exhausted all their available options and brainpower, The Case of the Golden Idol also offers a fantastic in-game hint system. It doesn't overreach and offer solutions blatantly, but instead uses phrases like "consider the food on the dinner table, and everyone's personal eating habits" to point confused players in the right direction. None of the puzzles presented in the game are impossibly difficult (except for one late game chapter which suddenly threw maths in, but that could be my own personal shortcomings) and the story it tells about the golden idol itself is delightfully weird and fleshed out despite the game's short runtime. For anyone looking for 3-6 hours of cryptic crossword-like murder mysteries, The Case of the Golden Idol is a solid choice.
Wannabe detectives and lovers of the occult need to check out The Case of the Golden Idol. Just make sure to play the original PC release.
Curse of the Golden Idol is a game that every would-be detective and Sherlock Holmes fan needs to play.
Case of the Golden Idol is an innovative and truly engaging detective masterpiece.
The Case of Golden Idol is an engaging adventure game that completely won me over, even though it's not remotely what I thought it would be. It's more about observation than actual detective work, but it requires more deduction skills than many games of its kind would feel comfortable to burden the player with. It's very much in the vein of Return of the Obra Dinn, where it's more about your logical deduction skills than about pretend detective play. If that's your cup of tea, The Case of the Golden Idol is an easy recommendation. Given the choice, I would opt for the PC version, especially if you don't intend to play the game in the Switch's docked mode.
The stories can be gruesome and horrific at times, but that also makes them intriguing puzzleboxes to sit down and solve. At times while playing I looked up at the clock and realized I had been squinting at the screen and was lost in thought solving a puzzle for nearly an hour. The year of narrative bangers just keeps on rolling and if you are even remotely interested in solving a good mystery, The Case of the Golden Idol should be at the top of your list!.
The ability to get on with, enjoy and progress through this title makes one feel intelligent, and there's even a touch of smugness that's attached to that feeling. There is nothing else in the whodunit genre that represents what it was like to be Father Dowling on an intellectual level any better.
The game excels at having an interconnected narrative, which greatly motivates you to delve into deep thinking to solve every mystery and unravelling all secrets.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
The Case of the Golden Idol is one of the biggest surprises of this year. I liked the demo a lot, but I honestly wasn't expecting the full game to go far beyond that and offer a completely original and memorable experience like Return to Obra Dinn. You'll be sorry if you miss it.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The Case of the Golden Idol is a tight adventure with good mechanics, excellent design for all the scenes, and great presentation. Players should try to play a sequence at a time, savor the clues and avoid relying on the hint system as much as possible.