The Rise of the Golden Idol makes a great puzzle game even better

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding bid of point-and-click execution mysteries that became 1 of my favourite games of 2022. And portion I felt determination was much communicative to research astir the titular aureate idol, I wasn’t definite if a imaginable sequel could unrecorded up to its clever puzzles and fascinating, dilatory unfolding story. Turns out, I had thing to fear: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the recently launched sequel, easy surpasses the archetypal by improving connected conscionable astir everything.

At its core, Rise is simply a precise akin crippled to Case. The caller crippled takes spot successful the 1970s, astir 200 years aft the events of the original, and each of Rise’s cases drops you into a circumstantial infinitesimal successful time, typically during oregon soon aft a murder. You’re tasked with solving what’s going on. To fig that out, you archetypal person to click astir the country to observe applicable words and names that get saved successful a menu. Then you usage those words to lick puzzles wrong the case, similar the names of the individuals successful a scene, a statement of however the execution happened, oregon adjacent things similar however to construe parts of a creation oregon who won a crippled show. 

It’s a clever system. Clicking astir to cod each of the words forces you to scrutinize everything that’s going on, and having to capable successful the blanks means you truly person to deliberation astir however elements of the country mightiness beryllium connected. I’ve travel to deliberation of it similar an elaborate jigsaw puzzle: portion the scattered elements whitethorn look similar a batch to necktie together, arsenic you dilatory lick the disparate elements of the puzzles wrong cases, it’s easier to fig retired however they connect.

There are much layers, too, arsenic you person to lick puzzles encompassing the events of full chapters, which typically person 3 oregon 4 cases wrong them, to beryllium capable to determination connected to the adjacent one. A fewer recurring characters volition popular up crossed chapters, meaning the crippled is capable to archer a holistic communicative by forcing you to recognize their actions crossed a clump of antithetic scenes. (You don’t request to person played Case to recognize the events of Rise, though determination are a fewer tidbits that volition beryllium acquainted to fans of the archetypal game.)

The strategy isn’t perfect. Like with Case, if you’re disconnected the people aft you’ve slotted successful words for a circumstantial puzzle, Rise volition archer you if your conjecture is incorrect oregon if you person 2 oregon less words successful the incorrect place. Usually, knowing that I was adjacent meant I could reexamine my assumptions and tweak a fewer words to get things right. But arsenic I besides did with Case, if I couldn’t fig retired the 2 oregon less incorrect words connected my own, I would conscionable brute-force a clump of guesses until I got things right. 

Rise has immoderate pugnacious puzzles, but truthful far, I’ve been capable to lick each of them without turning to an online usher similar I had to bash with the last fewer cases of Case. Rise besides has an improved hint strategy that offers up to 3 hints for a circumstantial portion of a case, and often, checking those pointed maine successful the close absorption erstwhile I was stuck. I’d besides urge having pen and insubstantial useful to constitute things down, particularly due to the fact that immoderate cases scatter details crossed aggregate areas. And if you tin play with idiosyncratic else, that helps, excessively — my woman saw a clump of things that I wholly missed.

I volition pass you that the crippled tin beryllium grotesque. Case mostly erred connected the broadside of creepy with its old-school pixel creation style, but Rise looks much similar a painting, and that means you’ll beryllium seeing somewhat much realistic dormant bodies. Scenes and characters determination successful abbreviated loops, which makes them consciousness live but besides means you’ll spot definite uncomfortable movements implicit and implicit again. The archetypal lawsuit opens with a antheral actively strangling idiosyncratic else; different shows a idiosyncratic getting electrocuted. If you person a fearfulness of birds, there’s 1 lawsuit you’re truly not going to like. But similar a bully scary movie, those twisted scenes are portion of what makes the crippled compelling. Every clip I started a caller case, I was ever anxious to spot what unspeakable things I’d travel across.

I’m not rather done with Rise. After much than 15 hours, I’m connected 1 of the past of the game’s 20 cases, and this 1 is taking maine a mates of days to muddle through. I deliberation the eventual thrill of figuring it each retired volition beryllium worthy the pain, though, arsenic there’s thing amended than that lightbulb infinitesimal of slotting the last connection into the close spot of the puzzle. And adjacent erstwhile I’m done with each 20 cases, determination volition beryllium four DLC packs to look guardant to adjacent twelvemonth — possibly there’s adjacent much that we don’t cognize astir the mysterious aureate idol.

The Rise of the Golden Idol is present disposable for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and connected mobile with a Netflix subscription.