It’s the 70’s and The Golden Idol case it’s antique history. What were the legends and myths about – the history of Lemuria The Golden Idol case it is almost completely unknowable, told in the shadows by the strangest conspiracy theorists and historians on the fringes. Everything that was known about the golden idol and its power fell apart with it at the end The Golden Idol case. The creation of the Golden Idol begins with a scientist face down, dead in the snow; the cycle starts again. “The world has changed radically” – written in the description of the sequel by Color Gray Games. “The sins of mankind have no place.”
At the beginning Increasethere is no direct mention of the idol or the role it might play, but several people – mostly homeless and one prestigious scientist – were found dead of various causes, all with glowing red eyes. As in The Golden Idol casefirst order in The creation of the Golden Idol is to start laying out the clues built into the game scenes. Being in The Golden Idol case these scenes were immobile and made using pixel art, the Color Gray Games team has perfected this art over the centuries: The scenes are still largely immobile, albeit with some looped animations in some details, but now rendered in a grotesque art style reminiscent of Arlene Klasky’ ego and Gábor Csupó Aaaah!!! Real monsters, Wild ThornsOr As Ginger said instead of classic video games.
Each scene represents a key moment in a complicated story. Such a scene could be two shadowy figures in a darkened museum attic – one electrocuting the other. Or maybe it’s a press conference at a police station or a woman watching a man dancing on TV. The creation of the Golden Idol is a point-and-click puzzle, so the player should expect a lot of pointing and clicking: first in highlighted areas that require exploration to unlock keywords, and then as they move these keywords in a fill-in-the-blank fashion to the entries to log enabling the identification of characters or key elements.
At its core lies The creation of the Golden Idol has the same gameplay with The Golden Idol casebut with several quality of life improvements, the biggest of which is that players no longer have to switch between scenes and a fill-in-the-blank notebook page. Instead, solvable entries appear directly on the scene as if it were a window on your desktop. They move around, which means it’s simple to explore each scene by filling in the blanks. Simply put, The creation of the Golden Idol puts the “discovery” and “thinking” phases on one screen. Between each scene, the detective returns to a chapter that requires you to fill out a summary note before continuing; it’s a way to make sure the player really understands what’s happening in an increasingly complicated story. It’s very simple to get tangled up in this The creation of the Golden Idolpetite details, so a sort of summary of each scene – which still adds puzzle elements to the solution – is a useful change that encourages players to better appreciate and interrogate the overarching plot.
While this storyline only references one or two characters from the original game, it’s still reflective The Golden Idol casethemes of greed, power and corruption, while also incorporating the macabre humor that made the original so beloved. The creation of the Golden Idolthe characters’ understanding of the idol and its utilize is confused – really, really confusing – by the centuries that have passed; all the gruesome accidents and murders are largely caused by both well-meaning fools and power-hungry idiots. Many threads that are actually elaborate jokes refer to this. The most popular is when an absolute fool science intern sets himself on fire using a device powered by his idol; he had his access to the lab revoked after he used the machine in an unauthorized test. He later “learned” about the idol’s power from a cultist group full of conspiracy theorists and was convinced that he was denied access to the lab because the machine was intended to incite hatred towards his boss. His second attempt was intended to eradicate this hatred – instead, it ignited a fire. This is one of the first impulses of the Rube Goldberg machine of bad decisions that fuels a whole line of ineptitude. Human incompetence continues to be rewarded. (Sound familiar?)
The creation of the Golden Idolthe only real problem is the lack of precision in the language; it is very simple to understand a scenario but still get the answer wrong due to minor differences in interpretation. There are several cases where the wrong solutions made sense but were not the right solutions; in these cases, the tips didn’t facilitate at all because the developers who wrote them have no way of knowing exactly what caused the problem. It’s just a guess, eh could mislead the player. Perhaps a more helpful system would be a last-chance hint that highlights where the answer is wrong. As in The Golden Idol casehowever, it is clear that Color Gray Games prefers the player to find solutions without any clues, even if it takes too long to get there. You can see this in the prompt pop-up, where the game asks if you want to meditate – inhaling and exhaling into a circle that expands and contracts, like a mental health app – on the answer. This is indeed the most satisfying way to solve a puzzle, but it also runs the risk of completely discouraging the frustrated player.
These frustrations are minor, however, if you can push through a few confusing puzzle solutions. Like The Golden Idol case before that The creation of the Golden Idol is an indispensable crime thriller that somehow weaves together a web of red string into a compelling, silly and masterful narrative.
The creation of the Golden Idol will be released on November 12 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Windows PC via Steam using a pre-download code provided by publisher Playstack. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.