The Rise of the Golden Idol

A decrease in murder lowers the stakes, but The Rise of the Golden Idol is still an inventive detective game where deductive reasoning prevails

A compelling modern mystery thriller that's bigger, better and more ambitious than its already brilliant predecessor.

A gritty detective adventure that's nearly as clever and captivating as the original.

The Rise of the Golden Idol wonderfully evolves on the original with some truly devious cases that empower you to feel like a genius as you piece everything together and read between the lines. Loads of details make this best played with a notebook to hand, each case stretching you to think in genuinely fresh directions.

Consistently building on a simple set of rules with progressively inventive twists, this detective puzzle game offers up tough but fair head scratchers you'll feel like a genius for solving.

The Rise of the Golden Idol feels regressive as a sequel but is still a worthwhile play for series fans.

Rise of the Golden Idol is one of the most captivating mystery games around, one that makes clever use of every tool available to it and expands the possibilities of what a logical deduction game can achieve.

The Rise of the Golden Idol makes a great mystery series even better.

Overall, The Rise of the Golden Idol is a massive achievement in storytelling and gameplay, especially for a point-and-click puzzle game. Despite its steep challenge and the potential for players to encounter a game-halting bug, The Rise of the Golden Idol is worth a try, even for those who might not consider themselves a fan of the genre. Its gameplay is slow and intentional, but filling out those Event pages, completing every objective, and witnessing the whole story unfold is highly satisfying — something even some of the most fast-paced action games fail to accomplish.

The Rise of The Golden Idol is a solid follow up to one of the best mystery games of the last few years.