The Case of the Golden Idol
Developer(s)	Color Gray Games
Publisher(s)	Playstack
Designer(s)	Andrejs Kļaviņš Ernests Kļaviņš
Programmer(s)	Andrejs Kļaviņš
Artist(s)	Ernests Kļaviņš
Composer(s)	Kyle Misko
Engine	Godot
Platform(s)	macOS Windows Nintendo Switch
Release	macOS, Windows 13 October 2022[1] Nintendo Switch 25 May 2023[2]
Genre(s)	Adventure, puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Case of the Golden Idol is a 2022 adventure and puzzle video game developed by Color Gray Games and published by Playstack for macOS and Windows. The game depicts a narrative spanning 40 years in the 18th century, in which players collect clues to piece together concepts, characters, and evidence to provide context to the story. The game was developed by Latvian independent developers Ernests and Andrejs Kļaviņš, who aimed to create a detective game influenced by the visual presentation of 1990s adventure games. The Case of the Golden Idol was similarly inspired by the design of the 2018 game Return of the Obra Dinn by Lucas Pope, with the game receiving similar comparisons from reviewers.

Upon release, the game received praise for its use of deduction to present its narrative, and distinctive visual presentation, and received accolades as one of the best games of 2022 for its narrative and design. Following release, two expansions to the game, The Spider of Lanka and The Lemurian Vampire, were released as downloadable content in May and August 2023.

Gameplay

A screenshot of The Case of the Golden Idol, depicting the 'Thinking' mode of gameplay

The Case of the Golden Idol is a detective based puzzle game in which the player connects together the details of the narrative from eleven cases, placing the player at or shortly after where a central character in the narrative has met their death. Each level represents a frozen point in time, represented by the looped animation of its characters.^[3][4] Players resolve chapters through two modes of gameplay, with the overarching objective to correctly identify the details of the events in the chapter.^[5]

In 'Exploring' mode, the game resembles a point-and-click adventure game where an environment is presented frozen at a point in time. Players are able to investigate the scene by clicking on characters, objects, or documents to collect key words of interest, such as names, places, verbs, and items, that are collected in the bottom of the screen. Whilst the events on screen are frozen in time, players are freely able to navigate between rooms, open the contents of containers, and see what items and documents a character has on their person, as well as any words that they have said.^[6]

In 'Thinking' mode, words of interest are used to piece together a narrative of what has occurred, through filling in blank slots against an incomplete description of events and characters. Parts of the 'Thinking' mode will differ depending on the chapter, in some cases requiring players to identify full names of characters, and in others specifying situational characteristics such as the titles of Brotherhood members, or the occupants of certain rooms. To assist the player, slots are completed in segments, with the player being notified when the words in that segment are either entirely correct, in which case the segment is locked in, or when the segment has more or less than two incorrect words allocated.^[6]

Plot

The Case of the Golden Idol tells the story of the titular Golden Idol, a relic with supernatural powers, as it travels over time through the hands of the Cloudsley family to the criminal underworld, esoteric secret societies, and the political and aristocratic class. The game is organized into four chapters, spanning a period of fifty years.

In 1742, Albert Cloudsley acquires the Golden Idol on an expedition after pushing his partner, Dr. Oberon Geller, off a cliff. In 1786, his descendant, Sebastian Cloudsley, dies accidentally. His will passes the Idol to a stranger to the family, Willard Wright. It is later revealed that Sebastian and Wright are members of The Brotherhood, a secret society.

The Cloudsley family conspires to return the Idol to their possession, and Willard Wright is murdered, returning the Idol to the elderly Edmund Cloudsley. The Brotherhood unsuccessfully attempts to poison Edmund, and he goes into hiding to experiment with the Idol's powers. He discovers that the Idol can transfer properties such as matter, temperature, and even age, between two objects. Ultimately, a band of thieves - led by Brotherhood cultist Walter Keene - storm Edmund's cabin, but they are subdued by a trap.

Some time later, Walter Keene returns to the Brotherhood to endorse a new inductee, Lazarus Herst, into the cult. Lazarus hides the Idol inside a staff to perform the "miracle" of walking on air, and is crowned as their leader. Meanwhile, the other Brotherhood members successfully take out their opponents in parliament by murdering one and framing the other at a countryside salon.

Years later, the Brotherhood, restyled as the "Order Party", have taken power in the country. Citizens are ranked by virtuous behavior. Using the Idol, Lazarus takes youth away from those of low rank, and bestows it upon to those of high rank. They plan to overthrow the King, who does not recognize their authority. Before they can do so, Lazarus Herst is lured back to the Cloudsley manor by his old love, but is blasted by a cannon. Infighting erupts between the remaining Brotherhood members, and the Idol is ultimately broken.

In the epilogue, it is revealed that, after capturing Walter Keene in the cabin, Edmund demonstrated the Idol's powers and convinced Keene to his side. Edmund faked his own death, sapped the youth from a beggar outside, and made himself young again, taking the name Lazarus Herst. He planned to use the idol to gain power and build an ideal society, uniting the threads of the game's story.

Development and release

The game was developed by Latvian independent developers Ernests and Andrejs Kļaviņš, who had a decade of prior experience in the game industry.^[7] The brothers founded the studio Color Gray Games in 2021, with an objective to build prototypes for their games to see if their titles could be commercially successful. The Case of the Golden Idol was developed as the first commercial venture of the studio,^[8] and scouted for publication by publisher Playstack in late 2021.^[9]

The developers were inspired to work on the game by the genre of deduction games pioneered by The Return of the Obra Dinn and Her Story, observing a lack of similar games in the market.^[10] In response, they aimed to create an analytical detective game based on a realistically designed world.^[11] The developers pursued a visual design inspired by the pixel art of classic point-and-click adventure games of the 1990s, with Andrejs Kļaviņš stating "we want(ed) to elicit a bit of nostalgia in those who grew up playing adventure games, but put a new spin on it."^[12] Citing the desire to take a new approach, the developers pursued the 18th century as a setting due to the overuse of the 19th century, and were inspired by the art of Gustave Doré and William Hogarth as aesthetic references when illustrating the art of the game.^[11] The developers created the game using the Godot engine and produced its art using Aseprite.^[13]

The game's soundtrack was created by Ukrainian composer Kyle Misko. Misko aimed to use orchestral elements to create a soundtrack evocative of the eighteenth century atmosphere whilst integrating ambient and new age elements.^[14] For the downloadable content expansions, Misko used world instruments consummate with their exotic settings, including Asian percussion and instruments for The Spider of Lanka and "tribal elements" for The Lemurian Vampire.^[15][16]

A demo of the game was released on Steam on 25 August 2022,^[17] in line with the Steam Next Fest event in October 2022, an event that showcases upcoming games on the platform.^[18] The full version of the game was released on 13 October 2022 for Windows and macOS,^[1] and released for the Nintendo Switch on 25 May 2023.^[19]

Reception

The PC version of The Case of the Golden Idol received "generally positive" reviews, while the Switch version received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[24][25] The game appeared on several year-end lists as one of the best games of 2022. IGN nominated the game as one of the best puzzle games of 2022 on the basis of its "refreshing take" on the murder mystery genre and gameplay.^[30] PC Gamer awarded the game as having the best story of the year, praising the "deep and fascinating" narrative surrounding the idol, its history and powers, and the intertwined lives of the game's characters.^[31] Polygon, rating the game as one of the best of 2022, stated the game "expertly supports you through the trial and error of detective work" and contained an "excellent payoff" and "epilogue".^[32] Simon Parkin of The New Yorker also cited the game as one of the best of the year, describing it as a "riveting detective game" and a "sophisticated, Sherlockian story about wealth and greed, delivered in a way that rewards close attention."^[33]

Critics praised the innovative use of deduction to solve the puzzles in the game, with several reviewers highlighting the experience of discovering and understanding the game's clues.^[26] Writing for The Guardian, Simon Parkin praised the game's "genuinely new and inventive forms of play" and innovative puzzles.^[28] Nicole Carpenter for Polygon highlighted the game's ability to "take the time to consider each scene in depth" and "expand past its own boundaries...leaving me thinking about its clues long after I've closed the game".^[5] Edge commended the innovative use of ancillary questions across cases and the use of misdirection and red herrings.^[7]

However, some critics noted the complex and trial-and-error guesswork of the game had occasionally inconsistent execution. Chris Livingston of PC Gamer observed some cases required "occasionally brute-forcing the final few names or detail of a case" and noted some cases "didn't entirely come together".^[27] Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun similarly observed instances where the game's leaps of logic "went one step too far" and reached a resolution through guesswork instead of deduction.^[34] Similarly, Dean Waxman of Adventure Gamers critiqued the game's "extremely obscure" clues and poor distinction between essential and secondary clues.^[4]

Critics also praised the game's narrative and writing. Alexis Ong of Eurogamer praised the humour and "witty, observational writing" in the game, remarking that it also contained a "Hogarthian flavor of political and social commentary" and "cheeky digs at the upper class disconnect with the common man."^[3] Chris Livingston of PC Gamer praised the game's "elaborate and intricate" cases, and stated "solving these murders [is] not just a fantastic series of crime-scene investigations but a highly imaginative bit of storytelling."^[27] Stefano Castagnola of IGN Italy highlighted the game's originality and progression in revealing a "more intricate story than originally seemed" filled with "no shortage of interesting revalations".^[30] In contrast, Dean Waxman of Adventure Gamers found the narrative to be heavily segmented and difficult to follow, citing the "poorly fleshed out and uninteresting" character development".^[4]

Critics also noted the distinctive visual presentation of the game, with several critics praising the game's visual style as evocative of 1990s adventure games, including those from LucasArts.^[26][6] Edge praised the character design as "memorably drawn" and evocative of the "ugly" personal qualities of the characters.^[7] Similarly, Stefano Castagnola of IGN Italy described the "grotesque contours" of the visual presentation as "distinctive" but unlikely to appeal to all players.^[30] Dean Waxman of Adventure Gamers felt the graphics to be dated and flat, describing the character design as "bland and unappealing".^[4]

The game received positive comparisons to the 2018 adventure game Return of the Obra Dinn as a non-linear detective game.^[34] Commenting on the demo of the game, Lucas Pope, developer of Return of the Obra Dinn, also praised the game as having "fantastic art, great mysteries, and rewarding, methodical gameplay", a remark that was noted by the developers and subsequently used to promote the game.^[1] Edge noted that both games share a "grisly mise-en-scene" and "intelligent way it seeds clues everywhere, making oblique allusions to places and people".^[7] Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun noted the game was reminiscent of Return of the Obra Dinn in its "keen eye for detail and visual flourish", although observed the game "may not be quite as nuanced".^[34] William Hughes of The A.V. Club felt The Case of the Golden Idol "asks players to go far more in-depth (than Obra Dinn), sacrificing its inspiration's breadth for case-by-case depth."^[35]

Sequel

A sequel, The Rise of the Golden Idol, was announced at The Game Awards 2023, with planned release in 2024 on Windows, and Nintendo Switch and new on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and mobile devices through Netflix. The game takes place in the 1970s in continuity with the first game, where the player must solve 15 new cases.^[44]

References

External links

• Official website