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

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding sequence of point-and-click homicide mysteries that grew to become one among 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 engaging, slowly unfolding story. Seems, I had nothing to worry: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the newly launched sequel, simply surpasses the unique by bettering on nearly all the pieces.

At its core, Rise is a really comparable sport to Case. The brand new sport takes place within the Seventies, round 200 years after the occasions of the unique, and every of Rise’s circumstances drops you into a selected second in time, usually 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. Then you definately use these phrases to unravel puzzles throughout the case, just like the names of the people in a scene, an outline of how the homicide occurred, and even issues like easy methods to interpret components of a dance or who gained a sport present. 

It’s a intelligent system. Clicking round to gather all the phrases forces you to scrutinize all the pieces that’s occurring, and having to fill within the blanks means you actually have to consider how parts of the scene is perhaps related. I’ve come to think about it like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle: whereas the scattered parts could appear to be quite a bit to tie collectively, as you slowly resolve the disparate parts of the puzzles inside circumstances, it’s simpler to determine how they join.

There are extra layers, too, as it’s important to resolve puzzles encompassing the occasions of total chapters, which generally have three or 4 circumstances 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 know their actions throughout a bunch of various scenes. (You don’t have to have performed Case to know the occasions of Rise, although there are just a few tidbits that will probably be acquainted to followers of the primary sport.)

The system isn’t excellent. Like with Case, in case you’re off the mark after you’ve slotted in phrases for a selected puzzle, Rise will let you know in case your guess is inaccurate or when you’ve got two or fewer phrases within the incorrect place. Often, understanding that I used to be shut meant I may reexamine my assumptions and tweak just a few phrases to get issues proper. However as I additionally did with Case, if I couldn’t work out the 2 or fewer incorrect phrases alone, I’d simply brute-force a bunch of guesses till I acquired issues proper. 

Rise has some robust puzzles, however to date, I’ve been in a position to resolve all of them with out turning to an internet information like I needed to do with the ultimate few circumstances 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 infrequently, checking these pointed me in the appropriate path after I was caught. I’d additionally advocate having pen and paper useful to write down issues down, particularly as a result of some circumstances scatter particulars throughout a number of areas. And in case you 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 aspect of creepy with its old-school pixel artwork fashion, however Rise seems to be extra like a portray, and which means you’ll be seeing barely extra sensible lifeless our bodies. Scenes and characters transfer in brief loops, which makes them really feel alive but in addition means you’ll see sure uncomfortable actions again and again. The primary case opens with a person actively strangling any individual else; one other reveals an individual getting electrocuted. When you’ve got a worry of birds, there’s one case you’re actually not going to love. However like a superb 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 desperate 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 circumstances, and this one is taking me a few days to muddle by means of. I believe the eventual thrill of figuring all of it out will probably be well worth the ache, although, as there’s nothing higher than that lightbulb second of slotting the ultimate phrase into the appropriate place of the puzzle. And even after I’m carried out with all 20 circumstances, there will probably be 4 DLC packs to look ahead to 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 cellular with a Netflix subscription.