The Rise of the Golden Idol

The Rise of the Golden Idol wonderfully evolves on the original with some truly devious cases that empower you to feel like a genius as you piece everything together and read between the lines. Loads of details make this best played with a notebook to hand, each case stretching you to think in genuinely fresh directions.

A decrease in murder lowers the stakes, but The Rise of the Golden Idol is still an inventive detective game where deductive reasoning prevails

The Rise of the Golden Idol is the sequel to Color Gray Games' The Case of the Golden Idol, and it feels poised to make some kind of appearance at the Game Awards this year, given all that it offers. As a standalone sequel, even those who never played the first Golden Idol can follow its story, although playing the first game beforehand might help players to see all the improvements the sequel has...

You might have to take notes outside the game to keep up, but it’s worth putting up with the annoyance. Rise of the Golden Idol is one of the most captivating mystery games around, one that makes clever use of every tool available to it and expands the possibilities of what a logical deduction game can achieve.

Rise of the Golden Idol is a fantastic game. It is a brilliant 10-15 hour affair that focuses on your mind instead of your reflexes. While it’s best with a mouse, I wholeheartedly recommend it no matter where you’re playing. It has a thoroughly ridiculous and satisfying story and is a worthy sequel to one of 2022’s best games.

Solve a sprawling mystery in the point-and-click adventure sequel.

The Rise of the Golden Idol scratches a very specific puzzle-solving itch and provides plenty of “Eureka!” moments.

Perhaps the ultimate puzzle game for armchair detectives, The Rise of the Golden Idol has plenty of intriguing scenes for you to work through, figuring out the true series of events. It's tricky, but few games will give you the same level of satisfaction when you finally get a correct solution.

A compelling modern mystery thriller that's bigger, better and more ambitious than its already brilliant predecessor.

While the storyline doesn't quite hit the same as its predecessor which is amplified by the longer gameplay length, The Rise of the Golden Idol still has very engaging gameplay and puzzles. I'm happy to say that I was hooked once again.

“The Rise of the Golden Idol makes a great mystery series even better.”

Consistently building on a simple set of rules with progressively inventive twists, this detective puzzle game offers up tough but fair head scratchers you’ll feel like a genius for solving.