Point-and-click puzzle games often get the short end of the stick due to what, at first glance, may seem like simple mechanics and slow-paced 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-driven games have primarily stolen the spotlight. However, the genre has been kept alive by a dedicated fanbase and a steady influx of releases, especially in the indie game scene. Color Gray Games‘ The Rise of the Golden Idol, on the other hand, may be enough to break the niche ceiling of its genre and appeal to gamers beyond those already passionate about point-and-click detective games, as it offers a compelling story and challenging gameplay to boot.
The Rise of the Golden Idol is the sequel to Color Gray Games’ The Case of the Golden Idol, and it feels poised to make some kind of appearance at the Game Awards this year, given all that it offers. As a standalone sequel, even those who never played the first Golden Idol can follow its story, although playing the first game beforehand might help players to 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 might be the shot in the arm its genre needs to rise again.
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The Rise of the Golden Idol Specializes in Atmospheric Storytelling
After spending nearly 10 hours on The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s story, one of my biggest takeaways is its excellence in creating a spine-tingling 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 eyes glued to the screen in disbelief as I witnessed murder after murder repeatedly take place — since The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s character animations occur in two-second loops. The unsettling feeling of The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s distorted character expressions also made frequent trips through every strand of 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 taken a gander at the game’s pre-release screenshots can see as much, but that’s only a small portion of its most horrific scenery. It’s also not so much solely what is shown on the screen that makes these moments hair-raising to witness, but more so the underlying motives of the game’s criminals, their dodgy behavior, and the apparent lack of remorse they have for the victims of the crimes they commit. The music is another major contributor to The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s atmosphere, as it generally becomes darker and loses its shape depending on what part of the story is being 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 can’t be told unless players are successful in their endeavors to uncover the truth. Like its predecessor, The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s overarching narrative is split up into a bunch of shorter plot points called “Events,” where players are tasked with gathering clues in the form of words and then applying them to an Event page in the correct order. Once each Event page is filled out correctly, that piece of the puzzle is added to the main story at hand until players reach the end of the game and see every piece brought together in a highly rewarding conclusion.
Where The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s puzzles truly shine is in their challenge. In fact, there were moments during my time with the game where I felt so stumped I had to ask someone with fresh eyes to help me. The game does have a hint system, but it really is nothing more than a hint system. Firstly, if I ever used it, it always did its best to convince me not to, but I just couldn’t help myself sometimes and went through with it anyway. Secondly, the hints really are just hints and are sometimes so obscure that even they would throw me off at times and confuse me all the more.
After spending nearly 10 hours on
The Rise of the Golden Idol
‘s story, one of my biggest takeaways is its excellence in creating a spine-tingling atmosphere, no matter how innocent the scene may initially appear to be.
The main reason The Rise of the Golden Idol is so challenging is because it excels at throwing players off the scent at every turn. One Event, in particular, had me completely thrown for a loop for several hours because I was too stubborn to see the scene playing out any differently. However, this was largely due to one character seemingly giving me evidence that didn’t turn out to be evidence at all.
Something else is that the game’s puzzles get progressively more complex, often adding multiple levels to each Event and far too many words that don’t even belong on the Event card. Furthermore, the difficulty of The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s tutorial Event is absolutely nothing to what comes later, which is just the game’s way of showing its allergy to holding the player’s hand. That being said, one way the game does help out is by revealing when two or fewer words have been placed incorrectly.
Unfortunately, “help” is being generous because there are often so many words that getting to the point where two or fewer are incorrect is a tall order.
Most of The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s Events also have optional objectives, like determining who’s who in the scene or which object was used for what. Many of the game’s hints even assist in completing these objectives, which shows their importance. However optional they may be though, completing these tasks is often paramount to success, as it makes filling out the Event pages much easier.
I didn’t encounter many faults on the technical side of things, but there were times I felt 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. Apart from that, I can say this isn’t a game for the unobservant. Sometimes, The Rise of the Golden Idol‘s hints 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 to rely on the words they find to tell the whole story, and that characteristic alone might make it frustrating for some players.
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The Case of the Golden Idol Review
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The Rise of the Golden Idol Could Spark 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 the Monkey Island series, I’m more than familiar with the genre and I thoroughly enjoyed those experiences. Since then, these games have largely gone under my radar as my primary focus has shifted over the last couple of decades to the opposite side of the gameplay spectrum. However, The Rise of the Golden Idol has convinced me that it might be time to let myself get sucked back into the genre, because if games like this are what it’s currently offering, then the widespread popularity it once maintained is deserving of a revival.
Overall, The Rise of the Golden Idol is a massive 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-halting 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 intentional, but filling out those Event pages, completing every objective, and witnessing the whole story unfold is highly satisfying — something even some of the most fast-paced action games fail to accomplish.
Reviewed on PC
- Developer(s)
- Color Gray Games
- Publisher(s)
- Playstack
- Excels at creating atmosphere
- Story is compelling with a satisfying conclusion
- Gameplay is challenging but rewarding
- May be too challenging for some
- Potential for bugs to halt gameplay