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

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding collection of point-and-click homicide mysteries that turned one among my favourite video games of 2022. And whereas I felt there was extra story to discover in regards to the titular golden idol, I wasn’t positive if a possible sequel might reside 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 part.

At its core, Rise is a really related 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 particular second in time, usually throughout or shortly after a homicide. You’re tasked with fixing what’s happening. To determine that out, you first need to 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 find out how 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 every part that’s happening, 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 complete chapters, which usually have three or 4 circumstances inside them, to have the ability to transfer on to the following one. A couple of recurring characters will pop up throughout chapters, that 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 just a few tidbits that might be acquainted to followers of the primary sport.)

The system isn’t excellent. Like with Case, should you’re off the mark after you’ve slotted in phrases for a particular puzzle, Rise will inform you in case your guess is inaccurate or when you have two or fewer phrases within the unsuitable place. Normally, understanding that I used to be shut meant I might 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 might simply brute-force a bunch of guesses till I received issues proper. 

Rise has some robust puzzles, however thus far, I’ve been capable of resolve all of them with out turning to a web based information like I needed to do with the ultimate few circumstances of Case. Rise additionally has an improved trace system that gives as much as three hints for a particular a part of a case, and infrequently, checking these pointed me in the proper route after I was caught. I’d additionally advocate having pen and paper useful to put in writing issues down, particularly as a result of some circumstances scatter particulars throughout a number of areas. And should you can play with another person, that helps, too — my spouse noticed a bunch of issues that I fully missed.

I’ll warn you that the sport could be grotesque. Case typically erred on the facet of creepy with its old-school pixel artwork type, however Rise appears extra like a portray, and which means you’ll be seeing barely extra lifelike lifeless our bodies. Scenes and characters transfer briefly 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 anyone else; one other exhibits an individual getting electrocuted. You probably have a worry of birds, there’s one case you’re actually not going to love. However like an excellent 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 performed 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 via. I believe the eventual thrill of figuring all of it out might be well worth the ache, although, as there’s nothing higher than that lightbulb second of slotting the ultimate phrase into the proper place of the puzzle. And even after I’m performed with all 20 circumstances, there might be 4 DLC packs to sit up for subsequent yr — maybe there’s much more that we don’t know in regards to 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.