izigame.me

If this is the first you're hearing of the Golden Idol, do yourself a favour and play The Case first. Not because you need the knowledge per se, the game really is a standalone sequel and the events of the first game are merely referenced, no. I just think that the way your thinking skills are used in this one is a natural expansion of how that happened in The Case. This one's hard to explain, but I'm sure you'll agree with me once you notice it.

It's like this. They took the essence of what made the first game great, amplified it somehow and injected into a fresh, different setting. The result? I guarantee you will have trouble putting it down once you start. The only reason I didn't beat it in one sitting was because it was 2:30 AM and... well, you get the idea.

From now on I'll write as if you haven't played the first one.


What am I even looking at?

The game itself is a collection of bizarre, seemingly random scenes where something happens. Usually someone dies, but not always; the game expects you to construct a coherent explanation what really occurred here. A guy fell during a barbecue, but why? A woman is crying in the garden, but why?

There is a red-eyed corpse in the hallway, but why?

The mysteries are non-trivial and impossible to figure out at a mere glance. Instead, the game expects you to inspect all the evidence, and then slowly but surely fill little sub-puzzles. What is this person's name? What does this symbol mean? In what order did these events occur? Oh, and guessing generally won't work, there's far too many combinations; you will, however, be told that you got a section right.


What does this have to do with anything?

The cases themselves might seem random at times. A hippie protest, a talent show, a bird enclosure; of course, they're anything but. Every few cases you're presented with a 'meta-case' of sorts, where you're supposed to figure out the bigger picture. A single, seemingly irrelevant piece of evidence can be a huge revelator in those.

The game respects your intelligence. To progress, you have to pay attention, there won't be a waifu attendant to remind you that you've seen this particular object a few cases before. It's quite refreshing. No flashbacks, no "I have a feeling this is very important!"; just a ridiculous question that you're supposed to nonchalantly answer. And answer it you will, once your brain attunes to the right frequency.

And if you won't, well, there's a hint system.


Wait, I solved it? But how?

I'd say that the difficulty is lovely. Most cases just flow, while keeping your brain very engaged. I got many puzzles right on my first try; but unlike most detective games, here I was somehow able to "intuit" the right solution, without necessarily being able to track my reasoning. These moments felt pretty amazing.

That said, usually there is more than one "path" of reasoning that can take you to the right conclusion. There are also red herrings, but even these usually contain something to show you that yeah, this ain't it, chief. Think again.

I got stuck two times in total. Once I couldn't progress because of a grammatical mistake - the order of phrases was wrong, the game is quite picky about this stuff. And the second time was the very final question of the game, a certain person's identity. To get past this one, I did the ol' Sherlock Shuffle: slow, meticulous elimination of all impossibilities based on careful reexamination of all evidence.


Tequila Sunset

I had to bring up Disco Elysium. It's the 70s, and look at the vibrant, painted art style!

Anyway, yes. It's good. Very, very good. Better than the first. I really can't think of any shortcomings. Okay, maybe the soundtrack to the bird case hurt my ears a little, but I'm pretty sure it's intentional.

So, should you get it? I don't know, should you? You tell me. Just make sure you don't have any meatspace obligations for the next 13 hours before launching it...

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