The Rise of the Golden Idol makes a fantastic puzzle recreation even higher

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding collection of point-and-click homicide mysteries that turned one in all my favourite video games of 2022. And whereas I felt there was extra story to discover concerning the titular golden idol, I wasn’t positive 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 every little thing.

At its core, Rise is a really related recreation to Case. The brand new recreation takes place within the Nineteen 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 occurring. 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 unravel 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 interpret elements of a dance or who gained a recreation present. 

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

There are extra layers, too, as you must resolve puzzles encompassing the occasions of complete chapters, which generally have three or 4 circumstances inside them, to have the ability to transfer on to the following one. Just a few recurring characters will pop up throughout chapters, which 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 a number of tidbits that will likely be acquainted to followers of the primary recreation.)

The system isn’t excellent. Like with Case, if you happen to’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’ve got two or fewer phrases within the unsuitable place. Often, figuring out that I used to be shut meant I may reexamine my assumptions and tweak a number of phrases to get issues proper. However as I additionally did with Case, if I couldn’t work out the 2 or fewer incorrect phrases by myself, I might simply brute-force a bunch of guesses till I acquired issues proper. 

Rise has some powerful puzzles, however up to now, 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 particular a part of a case, and sometimes, checking these pointed me in the suitable route once I was caught. I’d additionally advocate having pen and paper helpful to jot down issues down, particularly as a result of some circumstances scatter particulars throughout a number of areas. And if you happen to 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 might be grotesque. Case usually erred on the aspect of creepy with its old-school pixel artwork type, however Rise appears to be like extra like a portray, and meaning you’ll be seeing barely extra sensible useless our bodies. Scenes and characters transfer briefly loops, which makes them really feel alive but additionally 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. If in case you have a worry of birds, there’s one case you’re actually not going to love. However like a great 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 all the time desperate to see what horrible issues I’d come throughout.

I’m not fairly accomplished 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 way of. I believe the eventual thrill of figuring all of it out will likely be well worth the ache, although, as there’s nothing higher than that lightbulb second of slotting the ultimate phrase into the suitable place of the puzzle. And even once I’m accomplished with all 20 circumstances, there will likely be 4 DLC packs to look ahead to subsequent yr — maybe there’s much more that we don’t know concerning the mysterious golden idol.

The Rise of the Golden Idol is now obtainable for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Change, and on cell with a Netflix subscription.