The Rise of the Golden Idol review

Point-and-click puzzle games often get the short end of the stick due to what may seem like simple mechanics and slow gameplay. Compared to their heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, these games have become more niche in recent years, with action games, open world games, and story-driven games primarily stealing the limelight. However, the genre has been kept alive by a dedicated fan base and a steady stream of releases, especially in the indie game scene. The Color of Gray Games' Rise of the Golden Idolon the other hand, it may be enough to break the ceiling in its genre and appeal to players beyond those already avid point-and-click detective games, as it offers a compelling story and challenging gameplay.

Rise of the Golden Idol is the sequel to Color Gray Games' The case of the golden idoland with all it has to offer, it's poised to make an appearance at this year's gaming awards. As a standalone sequel, even those who never played the first one Golden Idol can follow its story, although playing the first game beforehand can help players see all the improvements that the sequel brought to the formula of the now-franchise. With some incredibly challenging puzzles to solve and one of the most shocking, disturbing and atmospheric stories I've seen in quite some time, Rise of the Golden Idol she can be a shot in the arm, her genre needs a resurgence.

The Rise of the Golden Idol specializes in atmospheric storytelling

After almost 10 hours spent on Rise of the Golden IdolOne of my biggest takeaways is his excellence in creating a spine-tingling atmosphere, no matter how innocent the scene may seem at first. The shock value, for one, often left my jaw on the floor and my eyes glued to the screen in disbelief as I witnessed murder after murder unfold repeatedly — from Rise of the Golden IdolCharacter animations occur in two-second loops. That unsettling feeling Rise of the Golden IdolThe distorted expressions of the characters also often ran through every strand of hair on the back of my neck, often serving as an effective distraction from the real culprit.

Rise of the Golden Idol it's not always gruesome and scary, but it definitely has its moments. Anyone who's looked at the game's pre-release screenshots can see that, but that's only a small part of its scariest scenery. It's not so much what's shown on screen that makes these moments far-fetched, but rather the underlying motives of the criminals in the game, their risky behavior, and the apparent lack of remorse they have for the game's victims. the crimes they commit. Another major contributor is music Rise of the Golden Idol's atmosphere as it generally becomes darker and loses its shape depending on which part of the story is explored.

The Rise of the Golden Idol's Puzzle challenge increases the value of their reward

While Rise of the Golden Idol is all about telling a story, that story cannot be told unless the players are successful in their quest to uncover the truth. Like its predecessor, Rise of the Golden IdolThe overarching narrative is divided into several shorter plot points called “Events”, where players are tasked with collecting clues in the form of words and then applying them to the event page in the correct order. As each page of the event is correctly completed, that puzzle piece is added to the main story at hand until players reach the endgame and see each piece fit together in a high-value conclusion.

Where Rise of the Golden Idol's puzzles really shine in their challenge. In fact, there were times during my playthrough where I felt so overwhelmed that I had to ask someone with fresh eyes to help me out. The game has a hint system, but it's really nothing more than a hint system. First of all, if I ever used it, he always tried to convince me not to, but sometimes I just couldn't help myself and went through with it anyway. Second, hints are really just hints and sometimes they are so vague that even they would sometimes throw me off and confuse me even more.

After almost 10 hours spent on
Rise of the Golden Idol
One of my biggest takeaways is his excellence in creating a spine-tingling atmosphere, no matter how innocent the scene may seem at first.

The main reason Rise of the Golden Idol it's so challenging because it excels at throwing players off the scent at every turn. One event in particular completely turned me off for a few hours because I was too stubborn to see the scene play out any other way. However, this was largely due to one character seemingly giving me evidence that didn't turn out to be evidence at all.

Another thing is that the game's puzzles gradually become more complex, often adding more levels to each event and too many words that don't even belong on the event card. Next, the difficulty Rise of the Golden IdolThe Tutorial Event is absolutely nothing against what comes later, which is just the game's way of showing its allergy to holding the player's hand. That being said, one way the game helps is to detect when two or fewer words have been misplaced.

Unfortunately, “help” is generous because there are often so many words that getting to the point where two or fewer are incorrect is a difficult task.

Most of Rise of the Golden IdolEvent 's also have optional goals, such as determining who is who in a scene or which item was used for what. Many game boards even help with these goals, showing their importance. As optional as they may be, completing these quests is often critical to success as it makes completing the event pages much easier.

I didn't run into many bugs on the technical side of things, but there were times when I felt like the Events page wasn't updating to reflect my progress. After restarting the game it would work which told me it was indeed a bug. Other than that, I can say that this is not a game for the faint of heart. Sometimes, Rise of the Golden IdolThe advice made me aware of things I hadn't even looked at. In short, each event requires players to look at every detail, big and small, and not just rely on the words they find to tell the whole story, and this feature alone can frustrate some players.

The Rise of the Golden Idol could spark a new golden age for its genre

After I grew up, he played point-and-click puzzle games Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? and Monkey Island series, I am more than familiar with the genre and thoroughly enjoyed these experiences. Since then, these games have largely fallen under my radar as my primary focus has shifted to the opposite side of the gaming spectrum over the past few decades. However, Rise of the Golden Idol convinced me that it might be time to get pulled back into the genre, because if games like this are what they're currently on, then the widespread popularity they once held deserves a revival.

Overall, Rise of the Golden Idol is a huge success in storytelling and gameplay, especially for a point-and-click puzzle game. Despite the great challenge and the potential for players to encounter a game-stopping bug, Rise of the Golden Idol worth checking out even for those who might not consider themselves fans of the genre. Its gameplay is slow and deliberate, but filling pages of events, completing each objective, and witnessing the entire story unfold is highly satisfying – something that even the fastest action games can't achieve.