The idol from the first game? It’s back, and it’s cursing people again!
The Rise of the Golden Idol is more of the same delicious adventure puzzle challenge that made the first game in the series so enjoyable, for better or for worse. It matches the first game stride for stride, with a slew of new puzzles and characters, but it also doesn’t push much beyond that into any new territory. The idol is still cursing people, except now it’s the Seventies — and that’s the extent of it.
Much like the first game, the sequel tasks with clicking around a secen to find words and fill out word puzzles. It sounds simple, which in essence it is, but it’s also very in-depth in how we have to manage the words we find and understand which ones lead to solutions and unlock more puzzles, and which ones lead to dead ends. We have to fill out our journal correctly to get the game to move forward.
The first game does this spin a lot better, and it’s because of the delight and surprise aspect. Rise isn’t worse by any means, but the charm from the first game isn’t here. This may be because we’ve played this before, but it might also be related to the time setting that the game takes place in. There is a British take on the 20 or so cases that mixes in secret agents ands spies, like Austin Powers mashed with the 70s, with a very specific brand of humor. It works but it’s not for everyone, and really wasn’t for me.
It doesn’t feel as compelling as the original title, but that’s mostly because of how good that first game was. Fans of detective and adventure games will likely find something fun in this, and is especially good if this is the first jump into the Idol series for someone.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. It originally appeared on The SideQuest Live for December 4, 2024. Images and video courtesy Publisher.
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