The Rise of the Golden Idol makes an amazing puzzle sport even higher

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding collection of point-and-click homicide mysteries that turned considered one of my favourite video games of 2022. And whereas I felt there was extra story to discover concerning the titular golden idol, I wasn’t certain if a possible sequel may stay as much as its intelligent puzzles and interesting, slowly unfolding story. Seems, I had nothing to worry: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the newly launched sequel, simply surpasses the unique by enhancing on nearly every thing.

At its core, Rise is a really related sport to Case. The brand new sport takes place within the Nineteen Seventies, round 200 years after the occasions of the unique, and every of Rise’s instances drops you into a selected second in time, sometimes throughout or shortly after a homicide. You’re tasked with fixing what’s occurring. To determine that out, you first should click on across the scene to find related phrases and names that get saved in a menu. You then use these phrases to resolve puzzles inside the case, just like the names of the people in a scene, an outline of how the homicide occurred, and even issues like the best way to interpret elements of a dance or who received a sport present. 

It’s a intelligent system. Clicking round to gather the entire phrases forces you to scrutinize every thing that’s occurring, and having to fill within the blanks means you actually have to consider how components of the scene could be related. I’ve come to think about it like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle: whereas the scattered components might look like lots to tie collectively, as you slowly clear up the disparate components of the puzzles inside instances, it’s simpler to determine how they join.

There are extra layers, too, as you must clear up puzzles encompassing the occasions of whole chapters, which usually have three or 4 instances inside them, to have the ability to transfer on to the following one. A number of recurring characters will pop up throughout chapters, which means the sport is ready to inform a holistic story by forcing you to grasp their actions throughout a bunch of various scenes. (You don’t must have performed Case to grasp the occasions of Rise, although there are a number of tidbits that shall be acquainted to followers of the primary sport.)

The system isn’t excellent. Like with Case, for those who’re off the mark after you’ve slotted in phrases for a selected puzzle, Rise will inform you in case your guess is inaccurate or when you have two or fewer phrases within the fallacious place. Normally, understanding that I used to be shut meant I may reexamine my assumptions and tweak a number of phrases to get issues proper. However as I additionally did with Case, if I couldn’t work out the 2 or fewer incorrect phrases by myself, I might simply brute-force a bunch of guesses till I received issues proper. 

Rise has some robust puzzles, however to this point, I’ve been in a position to clear up all of them with out turning to an internet information like I needed to do with the ultimate few instances of Case. Rise additionally has an improved trace system that provides as much as three hints for a selected a part of a case, and sometimes, checking these pointed me in the correct path once I was caught. I’d additionally suggest having pen and paper helpful to write down issues down, particularly as a result of some instances scatter particulars throughout a number of areas. And for those who can play with another person, that helps, too — my spouse noticed a bunch of issues that I utterly missed.

I’ll warn you that the sport will be grotesque. Case usually erred on the facet of creepy with its old-school pixel artwork fashion, however Rise seems to be extra like a portray, and meaning you’ll be seeing barely extra lifelike useless our bodies. Scenes and characters transfer in brief loops, which makes them really feel alive but additionally means you’ll see sure uncomfortable actions over and over. The primary case opens with a person actively strangling any individual else; one other reveals an individual getting electrocuted. You probably have a worry of birds, there’s one case you’re actually not going to love. However like a very good scary film, these twisted scenes are a part of what makes the sport compelling. Each time I began a brand new case, I used to be at all times desirous to see what horrible issues I’d come throughout.

I’m not fairly carried out with Rise. After greater than 15 hours, I’m on one of many final of the sport’s 20 instances, and this one is taking me a few days to muddle via. I feel the eventual thrill of figuring all of it out shall be well worth the ache, although, as there’s nothing higher than that lightbulb second of slotting the ultimate phrase into the correct place of the puzzle. And even once I’m carried out with all 20 instances, there shall be 4 DLC packs to stay up for subsequent 12 months — maybe there’s much more that we don’t know concerning the mysterious golden idol.

The Rise of the Golden Idol is now out there for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Swap, and on cell with a Netflix subscription.