The Rise of the Golden Idol
The Award-winning detective saga returns in this standalone sequel to The Case of the Golden Idol. Uncover the truth behind 20 strange cases of crime, death and depravity in the 1970s. The world has changed dramatically - the sins of humanity have not.
The Rise of the Golden Idol is a mystery, investigation and detective game
developed by Color Gray Games
and published by Playstack.
Released on November 12th 2024 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 12 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish - Latin America, Traditional Chinese, Turkish and Portuguese - Brazil.
It has received 2,102 reviews of which 1,991 were positive and 111 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 17.55€ on Steam and has a 10% discount.
The Steam community has classified The Rise of the Golden Idol into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: 1.7 GHz Dual Core
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4600
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 2500 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS High Sierra
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.86 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
- Storage: 2500 MB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Great like the first game, but with better art and better overarching story. A couple of puzzles were annoyingly specific, but overall I had a blast. The ending is also surprisingly touching and serious compared to the series's overall whimsical tone.
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I actually liked Rise more than the first game, which I think puts me in the minority to a lot of reviews, even the positive ones, and I really enjoyed the first game. I think the first game has some really high highs, but I felt like this one was a more consistent experience all the way through, even if it doesn't reach the same difficulty or complexity of a few cases in the first game. The set pieces were really impressive (the movie theater and especially the apartment complex did a really good job at introducing and giving a lot of personality and intrigue to even these one-off characters. I kind of wish some of them, especially in the apartment complex, had a little more focus haha) and I thought piecing together the greater chapter narratives was also a really smart decision because of how many conflicting players and parties there are in this game. I found the visuals in this one a little bit easier to make sense of at times than the visuals in the first game, although I think I prefer the first game's on an artistic level, and I found the huge list of words and the general UI of this game a little unwieldy at first, but the ability to move different windows around was really helpful in some of the later stages and something I wish the first game had. In terms of deduction and puzzle design, I think both games are generally on the same level of quality across the board, but the difficulty varies. The easiest cases in the sequel felt more difficult (or at least more complex) than the easiest cases in the first game, but the first game's hardest cases (and especially those in the DLC) are more difficult than anything in this game. That's not to say I didn't struggle with this one; some of the end-of-chapter narratives in particular were not easy and required a bit of thinking about the puzzles when the game was closed to figure them out. I didn't find any of the puzzles unfair or poorly designed; I think both base games do a good job with the phrasing of events in a way that does not leave much room for misinterpretation. A lot of people are not as fond of the overarching narrative as they are of the first game's, but that was one of my favorite parts. I think a lot of it comes down to what exactly you enjoyed about the first game; some main characters in this game are wackier and more off-the-wall than the first, and their actions are less motivated by the presence of the idol than they are in the first game. If you really enjoyed the different timelines and the centering around the idol of the first game, this one's narrative may not click with you, but I appreciated the attempt at something different and I actually was more impacted by the finale reveal in this game than I was in the first game's. I can see why some people aren't as hooked by this one. I think the setting and premise of the first game is a big reason for why it was such a hit for people. The timeline of this game is a lot easier to follow but the motivations are more spread-out, there are a lot more parties competing for control (unlike the first game, which was driven by one person in particular), the characters lean wackier, and the setting itself is less moody and ominous than the first game's. For me, none of those were dealbreakers to begin with, and I'm in it for the deduction and puzzle aspect first and foremost, so I appreciated the attempts at trying new things and found myself really enjoying what this game was going for. In any case, it's still a very well-put-together game and both games are incredibly unique and fun. I'm looking forward to the DLC for this one.
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On the whole, this is a great game, even if it does suffer a little when compared to its predecessor. Taken as its own experience, The Rise of the Golden Idol is an extremely compelling game. The art style is unique; each character has a certain 'fugliness' to them, but their designs are varied and memorable. The UI does an admirable job of organizing a lot of information in a limited amount of screen space, and the tools available to get them out of the way when needed shows a clear dedication to making the UX as frictionless as possible. The story itself is very good, and the way in which the story is communicated through the puzzles is very emblematic of Color Gray Games. My biggest criticism is that the story and puzzles never quite reach the height of complexity that we saw in The Case of the Golden Idol. Rise has its moments, to be sure, but even its biggest puzzles don't quite match up to the absolutely sprawling conundrums seen in its predecessor. Rise also tends to be much more tame in some ways; one of the major themes of Case was the death that surrounded the titular idol, but without getting into spoilers, we see relatively little of that kind of spectacle in Rise. If you enjoyed The Case of the Golden Idol, I wholeheartedly recommend The Rise of the Golden Idol. If you're expecting Rise to be bigger and better than Case in every way, you may be disappointed—but then, I think "Case of the Golden Idol, But More So" isn't what Color Gray set out to make, and I like what we got.
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was looking forward to this sequel all year and would recommend it despite falling short of the first game imo i found Rise overall much less challenging than Case, which i attribute to Rise having double the scenarios at the cost of complexity. i personally prefer 4+ room scenarios over the bite-sized, compact ones which make up the majority of puzzles. i also wish each scenario were more visually dynamic or exciting to look at, as most felt somewhat pared down and unmemorable on a similar note, i think Case's stylistic decisions / ui are more polished and cohesive than Rise. while the movable pop-outs and disable switch are nice, navigating these and the new giant word list and the static scenario pop-outs can be overwhelming and clunky i had hoped they'd lean more into the "dystopian 70's corporate america" aesthetic to inform the game's atmosphere and design. recurring characters lacked in the eccentric personality and charm that were so captivating in Case. aside from one or two key moments (eg. the auction or warehouse scenario), i don't think Rise reached quite the same freakishly eerie tone either which was a bummer i do like that Rise forces you to flip back and forth between completed scenarios to piece together the overarching story, but even 7 seconds of load time when swapping scenarios dozens of times gets annoying with Case setting such a high bar, it's hard not to compare the two. nevertheless, i still enjoyed Rise as a standalone game and will happily pay money for future installments in the franchise
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If this is the first you're hearing of the Golden Idol, do yourself a favour and play The Case first. Not because you need the knowledge per se, the game really is a standalone sequel and the events of the first game are merely referenced, no. I just think that the way your thinking skills are used in this one is a natural expansion of how that happened in The Case. This one's hard to explain, but I'm sure you'll agree with me once you notice it. It's like this. They took the essence of what made the first game great, amplified it somehow and injected into a fresh, different setting. The result? I guarantee you will have trouble putting it down once you start. The only reason I didn't beat it in one sitting was because it was 2:30 AM and... well, you get the idea. From now on I'll write as if you haven't played the first one. What am I even looking at? The game itself is a collection of bizarre, seemingly random scenes where something happens. Usually someone dies, but not always; the game expects you to construct a coherent explanation what really occurred here. A guy fell during a barbecue, but why? A woman is crying in the garden, but why? There is a red-eyed corpse in the hallway, but why? The mysteries are non-trivial and impossible to figure out at a mere glance. Instead, the game expects you to inspect all the evidence, and then slowly but surely fill little sub-puzzles. What is this person's name? What does this symbol mean? In what order did these events occur? Oh, and guessing generally won't work, there's far too many combinations; you will, however, be told that you got a section right. What does this have to do with anything? The cases themselves might seem random at times. A hippie protest, a talent show, a bird enclosure; of course, they're anything but. Every few cases you're presented with a 'meta-case' of sorts, where you're supposed to figure out the bigger picture. A single, seemingly irrelevant piece of evidence can be a huge revelator in those. The game respects your intelligence. To progress, you have to pay attention, there won't be a waifu attendant to remind you that you've seen this particular object a few cases before. It's quite refreshing. No flashbacks, no "I have a feeling this is very important!"; just a ridiculous question that you're supposed to nonchalantly answer. And answer it you will, once your brain attunes to the right frequency. And if you won't, well, there's a hint system. Wait, I solved it? But how? I'd say that the difficulty is lovely. Most cases just flow, while keeping your brain very engaged. I got many puzzles right on my first try; but unlike most detective games, here I was somehow able to "intuit" the right solution, without necessarily being able to track my reasoning. These moments felt pretty amazing. That said, usually there is more than one "path" of reasoning that can take you to the right conclusion. There are also red herrings, but even these usually contain something to show you that yeah, this ain't it, chief. Think again. I got stuck two times in total. Once I couldn't progress because of a grammatical mistake - the order of phrases was wrong, the game is quite picky about this stuff. And the second time was the very final question of the game, a certain person's identity. To get past this one, I did the ol' Sherlock Shuffle: slow, meticulous elimination of all impossibilities based on careful reexamination of all evidence. Tequila Sunset I had to bring up Disco Elysium. It's the 70s, and look at the vibrant, painted art style! Anyway, yes. It's good. Very, very good. Better than the first. I really can't think of any shortcomings. Okay, maybe the soundtrack to the bird case hurt my ears a little, but I'm pretty sure it's intentional. So, should you get it? I don't know, should you? You tell me. Just make sure you don't have any meatspace obligations for the next 13 hours before launching it... [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42922988/]Curator page
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 23 November 2024 15:25 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 18 December 2024 21:33 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 12:21 |
| Steam reviews | 21 December 2024 19:51 |
Online players
269
Developer
Color Gray Games
Publisher
Playstack
Release
12 Nov 2024
Platforms
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