The Case Of The Golden Idol: Playing Armchair Detective Has Never Been More Fun

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EVER wanted to travel to 18th century England (or at least a fictionalised version of it)? How about solving a murder case while you were there? How about a dozen? All spanning some 50-odd years, yet connected through a common thread? And while you are at it, would you also like to embody the spirit of a REAL detective, pushing and testing your deduction abilities to their limits? Well, aren't you in luck!

Color Gray Games' adventure-puzzle The Case of the Golden Idol gives you everything you ever wanted from a detective game, and then some more. A lot more.

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Stabbing, poisoning, spontaneous combustion, gunshot wounds, explosions, “falling” off great heights, we've got it all. Not to mention the supernatural goings-on. But all that excitement feels like window dressing in the face of the innovative and craftily designed gameplay, an embodiment of beauty (in all its varying and subjective forms) in simplicity.

Inspired by '90s point-and-click adventure games and the likes of Lucas Pope's Return of the Obra Dinn, Golden Idol's dithered pixel art style lends itself not only to invoke nostalgia, but also to bring forth the somewhat distorted, and at times morbid and grotesque side of its characters, and the eerily dark atmosphere and seedy backdrops for the sinister acts to unfold.

Each case or chapter — where you are met with a deceased character — is divided into two modes, the Exploring and the Thinking, with the broad objective being identifying and putting together the chain of events that led to the unnatural demise of said person.

The Exploring mode resembles a more classic point-and-click where an environment (including characters and dialogues) is presented frozen at a point in time and the player is required to look for clues in the form of words of interest, which are collected at the bottom of the screen. Meanwhile, the Thinking mode (different for each chapter, but following the same core concept) allows one to piece together a narrative of what actually took place, by filling in blank slots to complete description of events, characters etc using the previously collected words.

With innovative yet easy to pick up mechanics, the game makes the prying around and the necessary mental gymnastics to crack a case incredibly satisfying. Examining (repeatedly) each wall, cabinet, safe, letter, note, book, character, dialogue, secret correspondence, painting, ritual (to name a few), is always a giddy pursuit of Sherlockian proportions. But that's not to say everything is always smooth sailing. Slowly but surely, with each passing chapter, the game ups the ante (read difficulty). While on the one hand this makes resolving each case more rewarding, there are instances where things can get frustrating, and one is tempted to brute force a solution (eg. by trial and error). But such instances are rare, and more often than not, a short break (or perhaps a glass of water) takes care of the business. Eventually when things do fall in place, the dopamine rush is real.

But it's more than just the creatively put together processes and technicalities that make the game stand out. The people and spaces, in their forever tiny looped animations, make the world feel rich in a way marginalia does to old books.

From humble beginnings at a cliffside betrayal to a nation at odds, this generations-spanning tale features explorers, aristocrats, parliamentarians, generals, butlers, doctors, domestic help, thieves, gentleman robbers, dinner parties, tavern and manors, a Freemasonry-esque secret brotherhood society, and even an East India Company-esque corporation. All set to a bewitchingly evocative score by composer Kyle Misko.

Within the bounds of its grisly crime scenes, the game also occupies itself with themes of greed, power, divine, corruption, politics, social organisation, revenge, and colonialism. But there is also an undercurrent of dark humour and absurdness, which along with the striking art style, gives it a unique appealing weirdness.

One of the best in the detective game genre, The Case of the Golden Idol is a delight from the moment you lay eyes on it (and the cogs in your head begin to turn). And for aficionados of murder mysteries, much like its titular relic, a modern gaming artefact not to be missed. 

Available on PC, Mac, Switch | Paid | Download here.