The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding collection of point-and-click homicide mysteries that grew to become certainly one of my favourite video games of 2022. And whereas I felt there was extra story to discover concerning the titular golden idol, I wasn’t certain if a possible sequel may reside as much as its intelligent puzzles and engaging, slowly unfolding story. Seems, I had nothing to worry: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the newly launched sequel, simply surpasses the unique by bettering on nearly every little thing.
At its core, Rise is a really comparable recreation to Case. The brand new recreation takes place within the Nineteen Seventies, round 200 years after the occasions of the unique, and every of Rise’s circumstances drops you into a particular second in time, usually throughout or shortly after a homicide. You’re tasked with fixing what’s occurring. To determine that out, you first need to click on across the scene to find related phrases and names that get saved in a menu. You then use these phrases to resolve puzzles throughout the case, just like the names of the people in a scene, an outline of how the homicide occurred, and even issues like find out how to interpret components of a dance or who gained a recreation present.
It’s a intelligent system. Clicking round to gather the entire phrases forces you to scrutinize every little thing that’s occurring, and having to fill within the blanks means you actually have to consider how components of the scene may be related. I’ve come to consider it like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle: whereas the scattered components might appear to be quite a bit to tie collectively, as you slowly remedy the disparate components of the puzzles inside circumstances, it’s simpler to determine how they join.
There are extra layers, too, as it’s a must to remedy puzzles encompassing the occasions of complete chapters, which usually have three or 4 circumstances inside them, to have the ability to transfer on to the following one. A number of recurring characters will pop up throughout chapters, which means the sport is ready to inform a holistic story by forcing you to grasp their actions throughout a bunch of various scenes. (You don’t have to have performed Case to grasp the occasions of Rise, although there are just a few tidbits that will likely be acquainted to followers of the primary recreation.)
The system isn’t excellent. Like with Case, if you happen to’re off the mark after you’ve slotted in phrases for a particular puzzle, Rise will let you know in case your guess is wrong or you probably have two or fewer phrases within the unsuitable place. Often, realizing that I used to be shut meant I may reexamine my assumptions and tweak just a few phrases to get issues proper. However as I additionally did with Case, if I couldn’t determine the 2 or fewer incorrect phrases by myself, I’d simply brute-force a bunch of guesses till I obtained issues proper.
Rise has some powerful puzzles, however thus far, I’ve been in a position to remedy all of them with out turning to an internet information like I needed to do with the ultimate few circumstances of Case. Rise additionally has an improved trace system that provides as much as three hints for a particular a part of a case, and sometimes, checking these pointed me in the fitting course once I was caught. I’d additionally advocate having pen and paper helpful to jot down issues down, particularly as a result of some circumstances scatter particulars throughout a number of areas. And if you happen to can play with another person, that helps, too — my spouse noticed a bunch of issues that I utterly missed.
Picture: Playstack / Shade Grey Video games
I’ll warn you that the sport might be grotesque. Case usually erred on the aspect of creepy with its old-school pixel artwork type, however Rise appears to be like extra like a portray, and meaning you’ll be seeing barely extra life like lifeless our bodies. Scenes and characters transfer in brief loops, which makes them really feel alive but in addition means you’ll see sure uncomfortable actions time and again. The primary case opens with a person actively strangling any person else; one other reveals an individual getting electrocuted. If in case you have a worry of birds, there’s one case you’re actually not going to love. However like an excellent scary film, these twisted scenes are a part of what makes the sport compelling. Each time I began a brand new case, I used to be all the time wanting to see what horrible issues I’d come throughout.
I’m not fairly completed with Rise. After greater than 15 hours, I’m on one of many final of the sport’s 20 circumstances, and this one is taking me a few days to muddle by means of. I believe the eventual thrill of figuring all of it out will likely be definitely worth the ache, although, as there’s nothing higher than that lightbulb second of slotting the ultimate phrase into the fitting place of the puzzle. And even once I’m completed with all 20 circumstances, there will likely be 4 DLC packs to sit up for subsequent 12 months — maybe there’s much more that we don’t know concerning the mysterious golden idol.
The Rise of the Golden Idol is now accessible for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Swap, and on cell with a Netflix subscription.
