The Rise of the Golden Idol

The Rise of the Golden Idol
Developer(s)	Color Gray Games
Publisher(s)	Playstack
Designer(s)	Andrejs Kļaviņš Ernests Kļaviņš
Programmer(s)	Andrejs Kļaviņš
Artist(s)	Ernests Kļaviņš
Composer(s)	Paul Alexander
Platform(s)	macOS Windows Nintendo Switch Android iOS Xbox One Xbox Series X/S PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5
Release	12 November 2024 Windows, Mac, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S 12 November 2024 Nintendo Switch 13 November 2024 Android 15 November 2024 iOS 19 November 2024
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Rise of the Golden Idol is a 2024 puzzle video game developed by Latvian studio Color Gray Games and published by Playstack for PC and console and Netflix Games for mobile platforms. It is the sequel to the 2022 game The Case of the Golden Idol. The game received generally positive reviews.

Gameplay

Similar to The Case of the Golden Idol, The Rise of the Golden Idol is a puzzle video game in which players are presented with interactive scenes frozen in a point in time that depicts a murder or similar event. To complete a scene, players must interact with character dialog, objects, and texts in the scene to identify relevant keywords. These keywords are used to identify characters and complete sentences that describe the events depicted in the scene and the actions and motives of the characters. Expanding on the first game, each chapter in the game itself has one or more overarching narrative blocks that connects the event of each scene in that chapter and from earlier chapters that the player must solve to progress.

Plot

The game follows the events of its predecessor, The Case of the Golden Idol, which concerned the supernatural powers of the Golden Idol, a relic of the Lemurian empire, and its use and misuse by figures in the eighteenth century. The Rise of the Golden Idol is set in the 1970s, long after the historical use of the Golden Idol has fallen into myth. During this time, the Idol had been sold as a trinket and left on a shelf for centuries.

Initial events in the game take place in 1977. Oriel Toussaint, a patient at an insane asylum, escapes after choking a guard to death. Meanwhile, police investigate a series of deaths dubbed the 'Red Curse', due to the blood-red eyes of the victims, believed to be related to drug abuse. Isaac Nowak, a prestigious academic also discovered dead with blood-red eyes, is subject to a police cover-up to conceal the association between his case and the Red Curse.

Events in the subsequent chapters are presented in loose chronological order. In the years prior, spiritualist Tesa Nevari, founder of the Harmony Foundation, has been able to gather parts of the Idol with the aid of an accomplice whom she helped to escape prison before killing him herself. She attempts to reconstruct the Idol and use it to perform a dubious ritual to help devotees of the Harmony Foundation find enlightenment, but the Idol does not function as it was not properly assembled. The OPIG Corporation, which had hired Tesa as a contractor, is disappointed with her work and proceeds to seize the Harmony Foundation and its equipment, including the pieces of the Idol.

With help from Oriel Toussaint, a professor of ancient Lemurian history, a group of scientists within OPIG discover how to properly reconstruct the Idol. While most members of the team are hesitant about using it, one member, Eugene Marmot, sneaks into the lab and accidentally triggers one of the Idol's abilities, setting himself on fire. Because of his initiative, Eugene is made head of the research group, and rehires Tesa to aid in investigating the functions of the Idol. The other team members, including Maria Westlake, Tim Spender and Jack Nowak, are troubled by Eugene's leadership, given his somewhat dimwitted attitude.

By 1977, the OPIG group discovers and refines the Idol's ability to remove memories from one person and grant them to another. By accident, they further learn that the Idol, if used on a camera transmitting a video signal, will transfer its stored memories to all viewers of the broadcast. Jack and Oriel work with a museum curator to test the device using an ancient Lemurian data disc. While they discover that the Idol can store and recall memories from the disc, Jack inadvertently gives Oriel the complete memories of an ancient Lemurian, Echo Secunda, wiping out Oriel's own persona in the process. Echo, now in Oriel's body, flees into the unfamiliar world.

Eugene suggests that the OPIG Corporation could use the Idol to send a subliminal ad for its beverage product O-Range during a major televised peil match, by transmitting memories of drinking O-Range laced with amphetamines. Tesa speaks out and is fired, leading her to create a new cult – the Empathy Warriors – to protest OPIG's activities. The Idol is assembled into a device that Eugene names the 'Information-Dispatching Optical Lens' (I.D.O.L.). Marie and Tim, disgruntled with Eugene's success, secretly contrive to sabotage the advertisement and discredit him. Simultaneously, Jack is distressed with this trivial use of the I.D.O.L. and refines the means to use it to fully transfer the identity of one person to another; the process leaves the original body lifeless and with red eyes.

Jack attempts several tests with homeless people at the local docks, leading to bodies being found associated with the Red Curse. After failing to effect meaningful change by placing a few 'worthy' persons in the bodies of powerful individuals, Jack now plans to alter the advertisement in order to transmit the mind of his uncle Isaac Nowak to the entire viewing audience, creating millions of geniuses to improve the world. He transfers Isaac's memories to a Lemurian data disc and encourages the police to cover up the discovery of his body.

OPIG is informed that the military sees a potential use for the I.D.O.L.'s abilities, and considers the upcoming match a proper demonstration. On the day of the match, Jack prepares to use the I.D.O.L. at the local television station. Marie and Tim, unaware that Jack has overwritten their sabotage, trap Eugene on the roof. Worried that the I.D.O.L.'s test will go badly, Eugene disconnects the video broadcast signal just before Jack sends out Isaac's memories. As a result, only Jack becomes Isaac. Tesa's group storms the television station and destroys the I.D.O.L. In the aftermath, Eugene remains head of the speculative investment department, while Marie and Tim are fired; Isaac, as Jack, struggles with his identity, and Echo, as Oriel, maintains a low profile to avoid being found.

Release

The Rise of the Golden Idol was first announced in development during The Game Awards in December 2023. The full game was released on 12 November 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, as well as for mobile platforms Android and iOS through Netflix.

Four downloadable content packs are planned for release across 2025.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	85%

Review scores

Publication	Score
Digital Trends	4/5
Eurogamer	4/5
GameSpot	9/10
GamesRadar+	4.5/5
PC Gamer (US)	87%
RPGFan	70%
Shacknews	9/10
The Guardian	4/5 5/5
Slant	4/5
Softpedia	5/5

The Rise of the Golden Idol received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic, with the game receiving praise for its complex puzzle design, detective gameplay, and narrative.

External links

• Official website