The Case of the Golden Idol Preview

When I first heard of developer Color Gray Games’ nonlinear detective title, The Case of the Golden Idol, I was immediately hooked. I saw a variety of beautifully simple hand-drawn environments and characters in multiple murderous situations as well as what appeared to be a system of solving those crimes in a manner similar to Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn. While I’d loved what little of Obra Dinn that I’d played, that game’s enchantingly mysterious and grainy black and white visuals left me with enough migraines that I wasn’t able to reach the end without feeling physically ill. I say this not to throw any manner of criticism at the expertful Obra Dinn, but rather to offer an explanation as to why I haven’t been able to enjoy it to its fullest extent. I don’t entirely understand why, but it turns out that there are some visual styles that my brain and eyes simply will not allow me to enjoy. While I am forever saddened by this fact and intend on eventually pressing through to the end of Obra Dinn in my own timeframe, I was at least excited to find, with The Case of the Golden Idol, a new experience in a similar vein that wouldn’t unintentionally assault my senses!

The Steam page offering Golden Idol’s demo promises that the full game includes 12 odd deaths and tragedies to solve, so I was rather surprised that the demo itself featured four of these murders! Imagine that, the entire first third of the story, there to be enjoyed for free — a very welcome surprise indeed. The solvable murders I saw started out fairly simple and occasionally even seemingly self-evident. However, Golden Idol quickly works to spin the clues around on their heads to provide twist after twist. In one case, I was hit with an immediate assumption: the corpse in question died when trying to grab a book from a high ladder, having fallen and hit his head. After all, the ladder is out, a book at the top of it is sticking out precariously, and there is an as-of-yet unfinished research document left on the fresh body’s writing desk. Yet, other clues in the vicinity eventually disprove this theory and the mystery moves forward, with all of the pieces eventually falling right into place.

In terms of actually solving the cases, the mechanics are quite simple point-and-click fare, with an option to toggle whether or not the investigatable objects and persons are highlighted. All you need to do is click on the various related parts of a given scene and learn everything about them. Clicking on a person will show you what they’re saying at the time, a close-up image of their face, and the objects on their person. Clicking on an item will either provide a brief and factual — if bare-bones — description or, in the case of letters and notes, a close-up of the text that allows you to read the piece in full. Either by clicking on objects in the field or by selecting key pieces of text, you will then unlock various keywords, including names, weapons, and other relevant details.

Barring the first case, every one of the deaths I puzzled out provided me with an absolutely euphoric moment of insight when I discovered the truth of an occasion. What’s more, with the way that Golden Idol handles the solving of its mysteries, I was also able to immediately put my solutions into words and get a confirmation as to whether or not I was correct.

Specifically, when exploring the scene of a crime, you always have the option to swap to a “thinking” menu, where you are shown at least three scrolls. The one on the left shows a written overview of the proceedings and asks you to fill in the blanks — who did what, where it happened, with what did it happen, and in some cases, why it happened. The middle scroll presents a picture of every character that you’ve seen in the scene and asks for their names. The final scroll on the right is the most variable, sometimes just acting as a static image of a map and sometimes listing who received what in a recently-deceased man’s will. While I enjoy filling in all of these, technically only the scroll on the left needs to be filled in, and as soon as you know whodunnit and how they did the deed, all you have to do is enter the correct information! No waiting necessary!

The mysteries — the most central part of Golden Idol — are top-notch, but the rest of the game didn’t exactly slouch either. The art style is distinctive, looking almost like a series of historical caricatures sitting around in a painting. There’s usually only a slight amount of movement, but it’s enough to make the visuals feel more alive. The music is less distinctive, but still enjoyable — a handful of tracks using primarily string music that easily convey the mood, whether that be the active danger of a fresh murder, the creeping horror of a body found, or the joy and relaxation of a raucous tavern.

The actual plot itself has yet to completely unfurl, but what’s there is an entertaining series of misfortunes and betrayals, promising a tumultuous story. Sadly, the demo hasn’t provided much in the way of the trailer-promised nonlinear storytelling. The four cases provided also happen to be labeled as the earliest four stories. Chronologically, the first case comes first, followed by the second case. The only shift here is how the third and fourth cases are flipped in that same chronological sense. Even then, the player is only shown each case one at a time in a linear fashion. Perhaps this will open up a bit in the future or perhaps the trailer only meant that the story would be told out-of-order in this manner?

Either way, what’s there in The Case of the Golden Idol is still entertaining and a good puzzling exercise for the mind. The demo is small, having taken me only 45 minutes despite taking my time with it, but well worth the experience before the full title releases later this year. I hope you’ll join me then in uncovering the mystery behind The Case of the Golden Idol.