The Case of the Golden Idol

Scratches that Obra Dinn itch. Fantastic detective game with a engrossing overarching story. Highly reccommend to anyone who enjoys solving tricky problems.

Deceivingly fun and addictive - but in a way that challenges your analytical skills and not in a way where you're grinding.

I feel like I'm getting better as I get through the harder and harder scenarios. The puzzles aren't 'tricky' or cheap, I feel like when I've put together the story of what happened and hope I got the boxes right, that I've 'earned' it.

I'll be on the lookout for anything else from this game maker. We need more games like this !

The graphics are silly but the music is quite enjoyable at times - it's different in every scenes, which by the way are progressions part of a bigger story.

Overwhelmingly positive is absolutely justified.

Incredible detective game which shines because of its tight interconnected story and twists.
Everything was carefully planned and even though they give you all of the hints to discover every twist you never see it coming until the very end.
I had a lot of fun going back to previous levels to check on details that I missed the first time around. The music and art is also great and adds a lot to the mood of the game and the detective system helps you big time when you're overwhelmed with clues and names to help you solve it in a more ordered manner.

Highly recommend it if you liked Obra Dinn.

excellent clue-style narrative detective game with unique style. comparisons to obra dinn are obvious and unavoidable. avoids pixel-hunting, and all scenarios can be thought through without wild leaps of logic or hints fairly easily if you've been paying close attention to the narrative. really enjoyed this one and would recommend. very little replay value and doesn't outstay its welcome at about 4 hours to 100%. for the price of a movie ticket i don't have a negative thing to say about it and am excited to see what these devs do next.

This is one of the finest detective games ever made. Always making you think, never boring, its mechanics gently lead you to be observant, make educated guesses and draw conclusions based on logical thinking. It was ALWAYS challenge to figure out the solution, but it was NEVER impossible - the build in hint mechanic allows you to make progress without spoiling it for yourself too much, but I found I could go the entire game without it. When I started to fill in my guesses to the solution boards, the answer would eventually appear to me. It's hard to describe how well this game works, but it works so damn well to make you feel engaged at all times, and smart when you figure out the puzzle.

On top of that, the art is top notch and the music is wonderful. The story itself is wildly intriguing, you have no clue where this is going so I won't say anything more. It's a crazy, fascinating story.

As far as detective games go, this is one of the best ever made. Obra Dinn is up there, but for me I think I enjoyed my time with this one more because it is a) more pleasing to look at b) has better music and c) is a bit more mechanically elegant than Dinn was. Apples and oranges though, they are different games and both fantastic. But if you like detective games, this is an absolute MUST PLAY.

Inevitably there are going to be comparisons to Return of the Obra Dinn, but I think the game stands well on its own. One of the few deductive games I can think of, in a world that was entertaining to explore and learn. The option to have interactable items signalled was a very welcome addition, as pixel-hunting for objects is the least interesting way to add difficulty to a game.

Really clever detective game with satisfying mechanic. Tiny bit on the expensive side but recommended :)

(mild game spoilers)

A truly amazing journey following the idol, and the satisfaction from finally putting the last piece of information together at the end was something else!

Great game, in the vein of Return of the Obra Dinn, with you playing a detective, trying to piece together the current scenes story to advance to the next story scene.

I would say it is not as visually unique as Obra Dinn, but still has a retro point'n'click look, which works. I found it easier than Obra Dinn, but perhaps that was the better hins system in place?

It is also an interesting story, which you get to unravel.

Also there is an "epilogue", which is a simpler than the others and gives you some of the missing pieces.

I wish this game was longer! I really enjoyed it and it scratches the same itch as Return of the Obra Dinn.

A delightful four-hour romp for fans of old-school puzzle and mystery games! I especially appreciated the epilogue, which confirmed some of my suspicions about the storyline, and filled in a few gaps that were still a little unclear. Altogether, a very satisfying game and story!

Finally a game to scratch that Return Of The Obra Dinn itch!

Boils down to:
-> Find the clues
-> Understand the context
-> Piece together what happened

The story itself was fairly intriguing, having a large cast of characters who persist (mostly) to the end. I could see this format of game being a series and I would play every one.

A well paced puzzle game, structured carefully to make you feel clever while rarely being too difficult, particularly with the help of the clue gathering system and framing devices. Doesn't outstay it's welcome, and is worth playing to the end.

I loved every minute of this game. The puzzles were clever without being too obtuse. Chapters were nice bite-size chunks for the most part. I liked that such a static format could still provide surprises. Highly recommend.

What I liked:
- Outstanding detective game
- The story is fun, and figuring out what happened to every character is engaging
- Loved the art style

What I didn't like:
- That the game ended. I wanted to play more!

This game rules

Imagine 2D Obra Dinn and you're 80% of the way there

The other 20% is the weird wild world the devs have created, with its own fun twists and logic to figure out

Get it!

the mystery was good. liked the world building. wish it was longer, and if there is more content in the future we can have access for it.

Clever! Really enjoyed the game. If you liked Return of the Obra Dinn, you'll probably like this one too

I enjoyed this game and would compare it favorably to The Obra Dinn. The puzzles are unique enough. Figuring out connections between various pieces of information, having to take into account motives, and even remembering pieces of information from earlier chapters left me feeling clever throughout most of the game. I only had to look up the solution to one piece of information online and only needed to use the in-game hint system less then a handful of times.

Highly recommend! I have heard this game compared to Return of the Obra Dinn and this game was a lot less frustrating to me (it has better scaffolding to get from small deductions to large ones, in my opinion). Highly recommend to detective/mystery gamers!

Sure it'll only take you [            ] hours to complete, but you'll have [             ] satisfying "ah-ha!" moments per hour as you piece together the narrative and sequences of events yourself.

I haven't playied it much but so far its a simple , well made premise - u collect mix of nouns and adjectives by clicking on a crime scene, and then use them to fill blanks and create a story.

It's simple enough where people without gaming experience can enjoy it and have superb nostalgic retro art style.

Great puzzle game. It's been compared to Return of the Obra Dinn, which i think is fair, but I found this a little easier. I love the art style.

Fantastic. I see why people compare this game to Obra Dinn but I think Golden Idol is superior. More lively characters, a really fun "thinking" mode, and a good hint system make this game my favorite of the two.

Generally good although maybe a touch pricey (I finished it in around 4.5 hours). The presentation and style are great, and some interesting puzzles and twists. A couple of later puzzles start to lose the thread a little but overall good.

My favorite game of the year by far and one of the best detective/mystery games I've played. If you like logic and detective games like Return of the Obra Dinn, you will definitely enjoy The Case of the Golden Idol - the 90s art style and rich, unfolding story will surely win your heart. My only complaint is that I wish there were more.

Fun puzzles with an interesting story. Probably not worth £17, especially if you didnt enjoy games like Obra Dinn

Very fun, really enjoyed solving the mysteries. Would love to see more from this dev, and only wish it had been longer so I could play more!

A short, lean, and exceptionally enjoyable game of deduction. I enjoyed every moment and wished the game was longer.

Fantastic story, atmosphere, music, art, gameplay; everything is simply delicious

PUT THIS GAME INTO YOUR LIBRARY

An excellent, addictive detective/puzzle game. The retro 80's text adventure feel and thematic music make this a very engaging game. Buy it, you won't regret it.

Masterpiece. It is one of those of which I wish I will one day forget everything, so that I can experience it once more the way it is intended. In that sense, I rank it amongst other greats such as Outer Wilds, Return of Obra Dinn, and the Myst series.

The game consists of several levels, each showing a particular scene of a story. Some scenes are bigger and others and consist of multiple locations. It is up to you to interact with characters and objects to understand who is who, what happened in the scene, and how this all relates to what happened previously.

The inference work required to complete the picture is very fun to do. At times it is challenging, but I wish it was more difficult still. As you get to understand who some of the characters are, how they are connected to each other, what their motivations are, some of the challenge is removed as it becomes easier to fill in the missing gaps. However, it is important to note that the logic required is exceptionally coherent. There is no need for guess work or curious connections. This is very commendable. The inference work is also broken down into smaller pieces, allowing you to validate your assumptions in decently sized bits.

To understand the characters and story you must put in effort to solve the scenes. This is an engaging way to interact with the narrative, which to me makes it more immersive and memorable. The main selling point of the game is the gameplay, but I was surprised by the amount of story and character building. This elevates The Case of the Golden Idol from solving puzzles for the sake of solving puzzles to a more complete experience.

The soundtrack brilliantly conveys a mix of urgency (something bad has happened) and mystery (what is going on?). It is mixed in at an appropriate level for this kind of game. It is there on the background, working hard to create ambience, but careful enough to never take the spotlight from the scene at hand.

Good attempt, but ultimately not clever. Like many similar games, it suffers from errors in framing its logic and deduction (sometimes what you are supposed to logically deduce is probably not what an intelligent person would logically deduce, or final solutions include steps of deduction that would be omitted/unnecessary). It's very hard for developers of this game to put themselves in the player's shoes, but I'm tired of half-attempts. If a game like this doesn't feel clever, it's a glorified drag and drop simulator. That's what I got out of this. I felt the gameplay was dragging words around, not figuring things out.

Recommended only to fans of the genre who want to fund indie projects. For those who compare it to Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds: No, those games are clever and have excellent presentation. This isn't on the same level at all. Wary buyers heed this review well and buy those other games first if you haven't experienced them!

Great game that uses logic a lot like Obra Dinn. Very easy to navigate and the difficulty level increases at a comfortable pace.

Pretty good detective game.
Some of the puzzles make you feel a little clever.
Some of the puzzles only seem to make sense by process of elimination.
More than a few solutions I never understood what the clues were (because I cheated by using a guide).
There's a little over a dozen related secret society murder mysteries in this game.
I wasn't sold on this until about the third or fourth one.
I think it's worth the money between now and the next breakout metroidvania.
Lucas Pope (Papers, Please, Return of the Obra Dinh) recommends it too.

I probably have an hourish left in the game (I'm on the last scene of the last chapter) and feel like I've gotten my money's worth, despite steam telling me I have only played 4 hours.

This game is very Return of the Obra Dinn-ish, in that you're looking at a series of scenes trying to deduce things about them. It is much smaller in scope and much easier than Obra Dinn, but still challenging enough to make you feel clever.

If you've never played Obra Dinn, I'd suggest Curse of the Golden Idol if you like using your brain. If you end up liking Golden Idol, snag Return of the Obra Dinn - it's a massive version of one of the scenes from Case of the Golden Idol with a different presentation.

This is one of the better detective deduction puzzle games to be released, for sure. It is not nearly as interesting in my opinion as Obra Dinn or Paradise Killer, nor does it allow you to freely investigate and come to your own conclusions like either of those games.

It is a more guided experience, so the difficulty is lower. Each level must be cleared correctly to move on, so there is no risk of deducing incorrectly ultimately, as you will have to find the right answer to proceed. The game is still fun and well crafted, but I felt like it was important to point out that difference as that is a quality I would have loved to see in this and really every detective genre game.

Wow. Heir to the"Return of the Obra Dinn" throne.

Play with no hints, no matter how tempted you are to use them, and complete the Epilogue. It's worth it.

It’s a very interesting game! It’s clearly inspired by "Return of the Obra Dinn", and while it cannot reach its greatness, it is nonetheless a very worthwhile experience!

Solving ridiculous murders has never been more fun. Somewhat short, but worth every cent. I hope the developer makes more like this in the future. The way everything tied together was perfect.

Great puzzles. Love the visuals & the music too. Anybody who enjoyed Obra Dinn needs to play this game

Obviously you're playing this if you played Obra Dinn, but this is no mere imitation or fan work - it's a mystery that stands on it's own with "eureka" moments and surprisingly sophisiticated worldbuilding. Here's hoping that this cements the return of mystery adventure games.

Incredible detective game. Perfect mix of clues and context hidden in each tableau. The mad lib aspect keeps it from being overwhelming. Great story that builds to a satisfying and brain twisting climax.

Loved this! It's really nice that each episode is kinda self contained, but also somewhat linked to the previous one, so there's lots of room to think about and speculate what's gonna happen next. I wished to see dozens of other games like this, with even larger cases and a broader story.

An excellent detective game. One of the few that doesn't hold your hand much, letting you instead discover the connecting thread between the mysteries through nuance and your own logic reasoning.

It has a nice level of difficulty, too, though I might say it was a bit too easy. I was stumped for a bit on one mystery, but never to the point of needing hints or getting frustrated. My only complaint is I wish it was harder, just so the game would last longer!

A fucking good detective game that made me feel smarter than I actually am. Peter is a fucking Chad.

The first few cases are fairly simple, but that's just to teach you the problem solving skills you'll need for the big finale. I ended up using an excel spreadsheet to organize my thoughts and keep track of everything, which both made me feel like a deranged lunatic and a fucking genius concurrently.

if you like point and click detective games this is a must have. a simple concept thats time consuming in a good way

Finally something fresh.
This game is satysfing, good written, has interesting artstyle, great story and original setting. The riddles are smart, engaging and enjoyable at the same time. I trully hope we will have a sequel soon.

It's an 10/10 YES from me.

You're not a detective but instead act as an observer trying to piece together what happened.
I'd argue this isn't your typical "whodunit" murder mystery as by around chapter 5 you'd have a good idea who killed the victim. But it's still fun to reconstruct the murder scene.
The ending is a bit anti-climatic but I guess it suits the theme of story like this.

This is a great game! I enjoyed it very much and it offered depth that managed to surprise me. It also has a demo with lots of gameplay if you are unsure.

If you've not played Return of the Obra Dinn, spend your money on that instead.

If you have played it, this is the only game I've played that scratches the same itch.

The Case of the Golden Idol is a very good deduction puzzle game with a great difficulty curve. The last levels are vast but unexpectedly manageable. I had a lot of fun discovering the characters and the story through the puzzles and I loved how this knowledge helps you in later levels.

Great mystery game with unique themes
I 100% the game on my steam deck
However I'd recommend using a mouse

Nice puzzle/investigation game that scratches that Return of the Obra Dinn itch. 11 main puzzle scenes with increasing complexity and last epilogue chapter to summarise the story offers interesting story beats with nice world-building revolving around the Golden Idol artefact.

Scratched the itch from wanting another game like Obra Dinn, been waiting for this game since I've discovered it. Didn't fail my expectations, the middle few cases were challenging and took time to process. The stories were also interesting and not too complicated to follow through (with a few interesting twists). The last case was a bit of a let down, felt too easy compared to all the previous chapters and build ups. Overall would 10/10 recommend, especially for fans of whodunnits.

This is the game that every dev wanted to make as soon as they played Obra Dinn. Case of the Golden Idol doesn't quite match up to that original influence (how could it?), but it's still pretty cool all the same - and is almost certainly the best homage to date.

Great game and made in Godot too. 5 on 5. Only disappointing part was how quickly it ended. Definitely need more DLC or a sequel.

Really interesting mystery game. If you liked Obra Dinn, you'll like this. (I actually liked it more than Obra Dinn—the episodic nature of this game made it feel more approachable.)

A greatly crafted mystery solving game. While each case has you retrace a murder, extra clues in them build the world and foreshadow future connections. that tie the whole thing into one overarching story with a neat bow.

The art style, animation and sound design work together to make the static scenes come to life and recurring characters are presented well and have their own little sideplots through the game.

If you enjoyed Obra Dinn, you are going to love the hell out of this. Likewise, if you end up loving this and haven't heard of the other, I'd advise checking out the Return of the Obra Dinn.

Each level is a deductive logic puzzle that requires close examination of the details of the scene(s) to determine all of the relevant details and correctly solve a mad-lib-esque puzzle of the events that transpired. The latter ~third of the game is honestly incredibly difficult, but very satisfying to finally solve.

That said, the difficulty does ramp p well. The first level is just ID'ing two characters and determining their location on a map. The second level only has one character, but demonstrates a few more of the ways the game will hide clues from you. Starting on the third, though, there are almost always lots of characters, and usually more than a couple of things going on to complicate the core mystery.

All-in-all this game is a logic puzzlers dream. If a well executed and difficult deductive-reasoning puzzle sounds appealing to you, don't hesitate to get this game.

If you're a fan of mystery puzzle games, then The Case of the Golden Idol is for you. It is just long enough with some high quality puzzles, without overreaching in assumptions to make in any puzzle. There are multiple ways to figure out things within each level; some of the more obscure I found during my playthrough and it was very satisfying. Great story, great puzzles, a couple of "Huzzah" moments, not much more you can ask for in a game like this. An absolute joy to play!

Cool short deduction game. If this is the sort of thing that scratches the itch that's in your mind, you know.

It does the slow acceleration of complexity particularly well. As in the best games, the level design is its own tutorial, and I found the way that the puzzle elements between levels started to build off one another well done. There are a handful of very clever moments with a few very satisfying ah-has.

The game is aggressively ugly, which is distracting at certain levels. Sometimes, the word-based method is frustrating, and there's at least two times I spent more time trying to figure out how to get to what the game wanted me to build the solution rather than the solution itself.

My primary complaint is something of the genre in general. There's that Doyle line about deduction and mystery solving about how "whatever remains, however, improbable, must be the truth." Resisting naming names in the interest of spoiler avoidance, and noting in passing that Obra Dinn is not one, I think that designers end up thinking that some audacity in the biggest mysteries is required to create a good mystery - the Sherlock Holmes quote is treated as a challenge. I don't think that this actually creates satisfying mysteries, or at least I always end up in a place of thinking "well, that's a possibility, but that'd be stupid," and so my process of deduction is less that almost Lovecraftian moment of admitting the impossible and more the slow acceptance that the writer took the cliche or tedious or otherwise oh come on plot twist, which tends to put a downbeat on the ending of what's an otherwise great process.

But that's irrelevant in the big picture. Again, you probably know whether you're going to love this already.

As someone that really enjoyed Obra Dinn, this is so much what I was looking for, and actually does a few things better. Cannot recommend it enough. I cannot get enough of games like this.

Best game I've played all year. Interesting and engaging, with a clever story that keeps you hooked. Took about 4 hours to beat and there is little replay value. But it's an unforgettable 4 hours.

For all adventure game enthusiasts. Filled with great puzzles and intense deduction, with a sinister plot and some really great moments of revelation. Really good game!

An amazing investigation game overall.
The game is relatively short, but it's an amazing experience in which you'll lose your perception of time due to how much you'll have to think to try and figure things out, this game will push your brain to its limit. And also the story is really good and mind blowing.

Haven't played a fantastic game like this in a very long time. It's such a gem, and there's so much love in the details and how the story was built that it actually made me take pauses in between chapters so I wouldn't eat it all at once.

I'm obsessed and I need more, please. MORE PLEASE

A nice little gem. Collecting clues to understand a series of events and deaths through different scenarios of a connected story. Plenty of 'a-ha!' moments guaranteed. Wholeheartedly recommended.

A very good deduction game. If you like playing detective, you will like it.
I really hope it will lead to other cases ;)

This is a delightfully inventive puzzle/detective game. In each level, the game arranges a tableau of murders, frozen in time while you are free to explore each nook and cranny. You can see inside locked chests and books, uncovering all sorts of devious plots. The trick is to take these scattered clues and piece together what happened. At its core, in this game you're constantly making inferences and logical connections to piece together the story. It's great fun, and kept me engaged the whole way through.

Fans of "Return of the Obra Dinn" should buy immediately.

An enjoyable 'detective' game where you have to use common sense and deduction to 'solve' these cases. An interesting overarching story links the cases together.

Worth the money. I hope the developers continue to explore this genre.

This was super fun if relatively short. Basically this is an old school logic problem puzzle book adapted to computers with some cool pixel art and a great overarching story.

You essentially read all the clues hidden on the screen and then place the right answers in their boxes using deduction.

Definitely worth the price and I am hopeful for more along these lines!

Really interesting concept for a detective game with an intriguing story. Some of the cases get pretty complicated later on

Recommended to people who like to think out of the box, spend time exploring static screens, gathering clues that are not necessarily pointed out to you right away and filling blanks in texts. Fairly enjoyed my time with it.

Hope for the next game, if it gets a sequel, to have a bit more "Gameplay" in the sense of point and click mechanics like "Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Earring" had

This game was so fun to play. It had a good story and good puzzles. I recommend it to anyone that loves a good puzzle game.

One of the few "Perfect" games out there in that I would not change a single thing about it. A must play if you like puzzle games, mysteries, detective games, etc. If you liked obra dinn, you'll love this. If obra dinn was too much for you, this game is much more bite sized and approachable.

I absolutely loved this game.

The game had me at the first chapter. The puzzles are perfectly balanced, making you work for that true detective feeling, whilst not making the story or clues too tenuous.

The game managed to get the right level of difficulty throughout, without being too easy at the start, nor too hard at the end. The soundtrack was fantastic and not once became irritating when pausing for thought.

A perfect game to play with someone and the social element of working though all your theories together.

Very nice game, a completely new concept for detective games. You collect clues and read material in a frozen scene, trying to figure out what happened.
Graphics are nice and the game is full of humor. Nice music as well.

I nearly did not buy this game because I am not a big fan of the art style. I am glad that I did buy it though, since it turns out to be a very nice little deduction game. I hope there will be a (spiritual) successor at some point.

An absolutely brilliant murder mystery with an amazing set of mechanics (finding words from objects and dialogues to fill in your deductions). I don't often play murder mystery and detective games, but this definitely has to be up among my favourites.

The attention to detail in every scene (a lot of minute details early on become very important in solving the final cases), clever puzzles and a gripping storyline, and the charming art style and music all fit together to make a game that delivers in every single capacity.
The Case of the Golden Idol is very much worth the price you pay for it. If you love games like Return of the Obra Dinn, this game is perfect for you!

An amazing little detective game. It basically takes what Obra Dinn did and puts its own spin on it. While the prewritten texts make it not as difficult to puzzle out the correct solutions, The Case of the Golden Idal creates quite an interesting, colourful story which I had a tremendously fun time to figure out.

Good detective'm up, massages the same brain area as others such as Obra Dinn or A Hand with Many Fingers, using the detecive puzzles to immerse the player into its story to the tiniest detail. Recommended!

Had a good time with this. Obra Dinn comparisons are apt, though this was considerably easier (no note taking required).

Like others have said, if you liked Obra Dinn, Paradise Killer, Papers Please and Outer Wilds - you will most likely like this game as well.
My only negative points is -
- It could've been a tad longer for the price (4 hours is fairly short)
- While the deductions puzzles are good, you aren't really a part of the story - you connect the dots but there's no "payoff" in the end. Your actions do not affect the world, like in the rest of the games I've mentioned.

While the second point is fairly disappointing (for me!), the game is still well made. It did not prevent me from finishing it in one sitting when I needed to sleep

A simple but fun puzzle game, where the narrative is relayed to the player as you acquire the necessary pieces to solve each scene. Short, sweet, a touch vague at times but overall fun.

Combine some very novel mechanics for discovering clues and deducing what happened, a well-written story that manages to keep up a strong sense of intrigue throughout, and charming music and artwork that add a lot of character to both the game's cast and setting, and you get a great mystery game.

If you enjoyed the context-clues hunt of Return of the Obra Dinn, this has that in spades. Lots of fun puzzles, and the story that slowly reveals was fun and twisty.

I have anxiety, should I be worried? Nope. Nothing particularly jump-scarrey or disturbing. I think there's a bit of gore in a few places, but it's all pixel art, and stylized in the same serious-cartoon style you see throughout. Anywhere where things could have been really bad seems to have been minimized.

Very fun game of mystery and deduction. I got about 8.5 to 9 hours out of it and it was a good time figuring things out. Glad I played it.

Exceptional game of deduction that stands out among other mystery games on Steam. For those who enjoyed Obra Dinn, you'll very much enjoy this game as well.

As the first, as far as I'm aware, Obra Dinn-like, The Case of the Golden Idol is a triumph of style and world-building. Few games allow you to piece together a mystery without holding your hand the whole way, but TCotGI doesn't spoon-feed you every clue you need to solve the murders, forcing you to perform lateral thinking and logical deduction to get to the solutions. It's never TOO taxing on the brain (I never needed to consult a walkthrough), yet peeling back the many-layered onions across the game's eleven scenarios makes you feel like a very intelligent person indeed.

Add to that the excellent (but always effectively concise) writing, the charming pixel art, the evocative music, and the gripping story, and you've got several hours of pure delight that a hundred games of Clue couldn't replicate. Loved, loved, loved it. Very much looking forward to seeing what this studio does next. Even a game with an identical structure and gameplay to this one, but with a brand-new story, would be A-Okay in my book.

If you enjoy adventure games, playing detective, and submerging yourself into labyrinthine storytelling, buy this game!

Very cool game that made me feel pretty smart. Can't wait to forget everything and go for another round.

If you liked Return of the Obra Dinn, you'll enjoy this! Unique art style and fun scenarios where you have to deduce what happened.

Took me about 5-6 hours to finish

This game makes my crazy schizophrenic thoughts look incoherent. This game makes L.A. Noire look like a puzzle game for toddlers. This game makes me want to go outside and look at real crime scenes to backseat detectives.

Entertaining story that play through the whole games. Never once I felt that I had to guess and check. Also the option to have interactables shine is a god send, should be standard for all game types like this.

Picked this game up seconds after seeing the words "like obra dinn." Didn't disappoint, though I can't say time wise it's fantastic value for money, so if that's a concern consider waiting for a sale. I'm more than happy having paid full price myself, and highly recommend the game.

Short but very inventive and funny. Perfect for that one afternoon you can't think of anything interesting to do.

Unlike many detective games, this one actually requires you to piece together clues and create a narrative to uncover the solution. As a result, it is extremely rewarding and fun, would strongly recommend.

The artstyle can be initially discouraging, but the story is SOLID. It certainly makes you feel like a detective, much like ace attorney games make you feel smart, this game makes you feel like a genius, then a moron and a genius again. It is masterfully written, though at times there are a few gaps in the logic... I had a hard time imagining why one thing in part ten happened. The plots made inside will surprise you in their occurrences, everything in plain sight but not explained...

When I saw this game I gave it one look and thought it was another attempt at someone to make an indie game. I decided to try it and four hours later I could finish it with just one hint in the tenth act, amazed how I was seeing more and more how it ties together. The more you do, the more you see how much you missed.

Overall, it's a fine detective game, but much like the "comparing stick", once you do it (and you can do it in just a few hours) you pretty much can't do it again unless you give yourself brain damage. Everything in here will stick with you after you will go back and forth over everything to see what you missed. Nothing is spelled out, but everything is there.

A super neat puzzle game that makes you feel like a genius, kind of similar to "The return of the Obra Dinn", but with less annoying graphics.

AMAZING detective game. Same basic concept as Obra Dinn but way better. Almost as good as Paradise Killer.

This is an excellent detective game, with an unusual but compelling narrative structure. If you like games requiring logical thought above all else then this is worth playing. It's a bit on the short side (less than 6 hours, taking my time and savouring it, not using any hints), but is high quality throughout with no filler and a satisfying ending.

Looking forward to any sequels!

Compared to Return of the Obra Dinn, the art and sound aren't on the same level but everything else is. In fact it may be better in some ways. The story is more engaging, weaving characters from previous mysteries into later ones. Mechanically, it gives you just enough of an idea of what kind of clues you should be searching for so you don't waste too much time on dead ends, but it doesn't hold your hand and solve the mysteries for you.

Terrific. Loved every minute of it. Anyone can tell that this looks very similar to Obra Dinn, but The Case of the Golden Idol benefits from having 12 different self-contained mysteries to solve and an overarching narrative that is fun and engaging to piece together as the game goes along. Each mystery contains unique puzzles to solve that lead to many satisfying "a-ha!" moments.

One of the best games I've played this year, and that's a phenomenal feat from an indie debut, considering this is the same year that Elden Ring came out.

Amazing deduction game, with a very distinct art style, great music, writing, and clever cases. 10/10

Great little game. Has a lot of meat on its bones without feeling tedious. Definitely worth checking out if you like puzzles

As a child, I spent ages over books with detective puzzles in them. This takes me back - it's been a while since I've had that experience, and The Case of the Golden Idol delivers that.
Had the pleasure to playtest some of the chapters, and loved the diversity of the puzzles, the sense of progress while figuring out a multi-layered challenge, and, of course, the art style.

Very satisfying mystery game! It plays very similarly to Return of the Obra Dinn, so if you enjoyed that game you'll absolutely enjoy this one. The puzzles were very well thought-out; the answers were extremely satisfying and made sense in the context of the story. There were times I felt stuck, but after exploring and revisiting clues, I was able to logically fill in the gaps of the story that I was missing.
The art style is unique and quirky, and fits well with the theme and mood of the mystery.
Hoping to see more mystery games from this developer!

If you like obra dinn, definitely give this a try. It gives the same satisfaction of being a detective and it does it well. The first few cases are very easy, but the complexity ramps up so stick with it

Fun game! Not super long, but I like it! If you like The Return of the Obra Dinn, you'll probably like this. I'd play another game like this if they made one.

This is an intriguing tale with novel puzzle mechanics most similar to the Return of the Obra Dinn.

You collect clues from frozen moments in time, moving to different vignettes and then place these clues in the correct order to solve the mystery of each scenario. This process is really satisfying and the story payoff is worthwhile. Occasionally these systems are a little inflexible when it comes to answers, but issues are thankfully rare. The art style is great and the music really fits each scene well. This is a setting and style of story that is rarely told and that's really refreshing.

Overall a strong recommend as an excellent story puzzle game with a unique flavour.

Very good deduction game, plenty secrets and "haha !" moments. I also loved the fact that there was a lot of wrong leads.
The ambiance and story was also great, the way to uncover the story of the protagonists is really compelling.
I would advise to turn off the highlights to really search for words that could help, the downside is that sometimes your missing one or two elements and really don't know where they are.

Loved it. Only needed one hint the entire time, and that's because I was too hyperfocused on the one plot element - funny enough, the pre-hint suggestions warn you against doing exactly that.

Overall, it could've done to be longer for the price it's at, but it was sweet and enjoyable. The story was the right amount of convoluted to be interesting and unique without being bloated or pretentious.
The art style is hilarious moreso than horrifying (eg: the Pear brothers case) but it's great for the atmosphere and theme of some locations.

The music is gorgeous, honestly. Superbly well-done and it repeats on each screen without getting too grating. Every level has its own motif, too - at least from what I could tell.

Honestly, I hope this dev team makes more like this, with other interesting stories they can come up with.

I have been really enjoying my time with The Case of the Golden Idol. In this game, you click around a scene showing the moment of someone's death and piece together the identities of those involved and the events that transpired.

With each new scene, the events grow more complicated and more difficult to suss out, but never feel obtuse. I've had a few moments of being stuck and being tempted to reach for the hint function, but each time I take another look around at the clues and end up having an extremely satisfying "Aha!" moment, where I figure something out and get the answer correct. I haven't once felt like the game hasn't given me the information I need to understand what's going on, just sometimes I need to think a little harder about what's being shown or why something is being shown.

The story is something you piece together as you figure out clues and start seeing reoccurring themes, items, and people. I'm very intrigued and can't wait to finish the game and figure out what happens.

The art style is weird and extremely charming. Combined with a soundtrack that sets a perfect mood, I am digging the game's presentation from top to bottom.

All in all, a very great game, well worth your time if you love point and click mysteries.

The Case of the Golden Idol was a fun way to spend an evening for me. I had fun figuring out the the various circumstances which happened, and pretty much all of the puzzles require not too much guesswork to figure out, with even some irrelevant details coming up somewhat often. The overall story was also interesting to figure out, with later levels varying greatly from the early ones on what they ask the play for variety sake.

I would recommend this game to those new to the genre as well as those who enjoy a good mystery.

(Review after 100 percent completion) This is an intriguing pixel art (circa 1989ish) deduction game where the player is asked to puzzle out the motives and events surrounding a series of deaths related to an ancient golden idol. You turn in your answers by finding key-words in the area of investigation and then placing those found words in a Fill-In-The-Blank paragraph or chart. After a very short introductory case, there are 10 full sized cases with a short bonus epilogue case that retells some story beats for clarity. While I do consider myself fairly smart at deduction, I was able to finish the entire story, including epilogue, in under 7 hours. While that is not a bunch of time, I still recommend this game at full price to people who like: stories about when magic meets political intrigue, spy stories, or logic puzzles like the game "Return of the Obra-Dinn." Without spoiling any of the plot, this is a satisfying series of short snippets of the marvels of magic and maniacs. A one play-through only, high quality product.

I played this game after seeing it recommended by Lucas Pope, the designer of Obra Dinn.
I didn't think it would be possible, but this game scratched the same itch, it was an amazing experience.
The narrative is subtle, not in your face, and although the cases seem unrelated to each other they're all part of a greater design, which is mind blowing to review at the end of the game.
The game is delightful, the puzzles are satisfying to solve and the art direction is spot on. I absolutely recommend this game.

Briefly Put, it's like... a 2d version of The Return of the Obra-dinn.
If, like me, you enjoyed that game, you'll enjoy this one as well.

I've 3 hours so far, and only about a third of the way through. It's starts off simple, but quickly gets more... not complicated, exactly... but there is a more rooms, places to investigate, items to look at, clues and words to find.

Once you have completed a level, you start to understand. I've finished a level or two with a hint and things I hadn't considered suddenly slot into place and make sense. I've found that tid-bits from previous levels can help you in later ones. Which is a good thing, everything seems to nicely tie together so far.

Funny, I was eager to play a beta under NDA... then I discovered and got lost in this instead. Well worth it so far, however, like Obra-dinn. I fear I won't get to replay it after once I finish it.

Really sweet little game if you are aching for more Obra Dinn style detective gameplay. The core loop is a bit more tedious than Obra Dinn but still a great story, nice twists and puzzles. Art style is also really cool

This game was amazing. It's terrible, I feel like I immediately need a sequel. Must... have... more...

I also am in love with the art style, sort of intentionally grotesque stylized pixel art.

You like point and click adventures? You like logic puzzles? You like being a detective? You like creative indie games? Buy this game ASAP. This game is top tier.

Very well built mystery game that has a story that is tough to figure out initially, but is very rewarding as the mystery unravels as you solve each case. Highly recommend!

Fell in love with the gameplay when I tried out the Gamescom demo and the rest is history. The soundtrack has that touch of weird/unsettling about it that makes for great atmosphere.

Good detective game. If you liked Obra Dinn, you'll like this. Feels a bit brute force-y at a couple points but I may just be dumb.

If you're a fan of deduction and puzzles, this is a great companion piece to games like Return of the Obra Dinn.

GAME GOOD. SOMETIMES HARD, BUT ALWAYS FAIR. SHORTISH BUT IDOL FILL OBRA DINN VOID. MONSTER SATISFIED.

(Number) (Adjective) (Noun)s, OUT OF 5.

This is a very clever mystery game. The puzzles you have to solve are intuitive and at no point did I feel frustrated or stuck. It's very interesting uncovering the story through the snapshots you're given. My only complaint is that it ended, so hopefully the developers make more along these lines in the future!

A really strong detective game, a must-play for folks who want more of the specific itch that Return of the Obra Dinn scratches.

A genuinely excellent mystery / detective game that has close to zero nonsensical puzzles, actual Aha Moments, and an engaging narrative. I saw a rec for this on Lucas Pope's (of Obra Dinn / Papers Please fame) Twitter, and I do agree that if Obra Dinn was your thing and you're starving for more similar games, this one will scratch that itch.

The only caveat I have is that if you're like me and you prefer SOME sort of conceit or reason as to why you're doing all this, then... you won't find that here. That was the only mild disappointment for me - personally, I vastly prefer having a reason as to why I'm solving puzzles or figuring out who killed whom for what purpose. What are the stakes? Why am I involved? What happens if I fail to solve something? How did I come to know of this mystery? As far as the game's narrative is concerned, none of those questions really matter or have any answers. You're solving them... because you just are, I guess. If you fail to solve them, then... you fail, I guess.

You're not seeing through the eyes of any particular character or guiding anyone's actions, so as neat as the narrative was, I did feel a little disconnected from all of it. But frankly, that's a small and probably more stylistic quibble than anything, so if you're on the fence then please don't let it dissuade you - I'd highly suggest getting this game, overall.

A very fun detective game. All the puzzles are solvable without absurd leaps of logic, and there's 0 pixel hunting. Highly recommended to any fans of Obra Dinn or the Sherlock games.

I can't recommend this enough. It constructs a compelling story through detective work in an amazingly realized setting. Your role here is akin to an observer rather than an investigator and this approach works brilliantly.

I bought this game not knowing what kind of game I'm buying. Never played this type of games (I'm more like NBA/FIFA player type).
I was amazed by it. Puzzles starts as what the hell, I can't figure them out and then one by one I started to put them together and after some time when I finish them I feel very satisfied.

A detective game in the vein of "Obra Din", where you first have to find the clues by clicking on text and objects in the scene and then drag those clues into the slots in the verdict text.

The story is interesting, with twists and turns. Tough i found it a bit confusing to tie the diffrent scenes together time-vise. And i easily forget names. The interface is also a bit clunky, both going back to previous clues, but also entering the words.

Overall i prefer "Obra Din", but really enjoyed this game too.

Golden Idol is quite a unique game that does a pretty good job at scratching the detective itch you might feel if you've played games like Return of the Obra Dinn before, with its own charming visuals distinct from others. The game is not long, probably about 4-5 hours if you haven't played the demo, across 11.5 levels (12th is an epilogue of sorts), but packs a fun story delivered very uniquely, since you are merely discovering it instead of taking part. My only hesitation with recommending this game is that its actual mysteries aren't very difficult to solve, mostly due to a lack of red herrings.

So I'd recommend Golden Idol. If you want a game that leaves you scratching your head for hours debating possible solutions you'll want to look elsewhere, but if you're just in it for a fun time and a unique game, definitely check it out.