You may not have heard of it, but Rise of the Golden Idol is getting its third major DLC today. Not only is it one of 2024’s best indie titles, but it’s also a sequel to the 2022 original, Case of the Golden Idol.
What’s so special about this game, you ask? The Golden Idol series is a point-and-click mystery game that leans heavily into the “deductive reasoning” detective genre. If you’re familiar with Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn, you might be inclined to enjoy this one too. It shares the same goal: figure out the who, what, when, where, why, and how of its tightly crafted vignettes.
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+ 2The third DLC, The Age of Restraint, adds four new scenarios filled with brain-teasing puzzles. This time, the mystery unfolds in an ancient civilization where man, machines, and technology collide. Don’t ask how that happened; it's better if you find out for yourself.
As a big fan of point-and-click puzzles, the Golden Idol series scratches that itch for me. The satisfaction of piecing clues together and uncovering a larger mystery is genuinely rewarding. We even made a comprehensive Beginner’s Guide for anyone curious about diving into the game for the first time.
This is one of those games best played with a friend or someone who’s happy to backseat. It doesn’t take a genius to solve most of the puzzles, but there are plenty of “Eureka!” moments that make the experience unforgettable.
click to enlarge+ 2Rise of the Golden Idol currently holds over 2,800 “Very Positive” user reviews on Steam, while the original game has nearly 8,000 “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews. While the genre is relatively niche, this is the kind of game that resonates with players who love complex, lateral-thinking puzzlers; titles like Tunic, Chants of Sennaar, and The Outer Wilds come to mind.
Its previous DLCs, Sins of New Wells and The Lemurian Phoenix, are also packed with equally complex challenges. These puzzles often require more than just logic; you’ll need to pay close attention to even the smallest details from earlier cases in the original game.
Both Rise of the Golden Idol and Case of the Golden Idol are now available on all modern consoles, including Android and iOS. While the games were once part of Netflix Games, they were removed a few weeks ago. Fortunately, they’re still affordable, with the full collection priced under $20.
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