Rise of the Golden Idol makes the puzzle game even better

The Case of the Golden Image was a rewarding series of point-and-click murder-mysteries that became one of my favorite games of 2022. And while I felt like there was more story to explore about the golden headed idol, I wasn’t sure if the potential poem could be realized. to clever puzzles and an engaging, slowly unfolding story. Turns out, I had nothing to fear: Elevation of the Golden Imagethe recently launched sequel, easily surpasses the original by improving almost everything.

In his mind, Get up very similar game The case. The new game takes place in the 1970s, almost 200 years after the events of the first game, and each Get upThe crimes bring you down to a certain point in time, usually during or just after the murder. You are tasked with solving what is happening. To find that, you must first click on the scene to find related words and words saved in the menu. Then use those words to solve puzzles within the case, such as the names of the individuals in the scene, the explanation of how the murder happened, or even things like how they interpret parts of a dance or the winner of a game show.

It’s a smart plan. Clicking to collect all the words forces you to look closely at everything that’s happening, and filling in the blanks means you have to really think about how the elements of the scene might connect. I’ve thought of it like a detailed jigsaw puzzle: while the scattered elements may seem like a lot to put together, as you gradually solve the different parts of the puzzles within the scenarios, it’s easy to figure out how they connect.

There are many layers, too, as you have to solve puzzles that connect the events of entire chapters, often with three or four cases within them, to be able to move on to the next one. Several recurring characters will appear in every chapter, meaning the game is able to tell a complete story by forcing you to understand their actions in every different scene. (You don’t have to play The case to understand the phenomena of Get upalthough there are a few issues that will be familiar to fans of the original game.)

The system is not perfect. Like The caseif there is no mark after entering the words of a particular puzzle, Get up it will tell you if your guess is wrong or if you have two or more words in the wrong place. Often, knowing I was close meant I could re-evaluate my thinking and tweak a few words to get things right. But as I did again The caseif I can’t get two or more words wrong myself, I can just force a bunch of guesses until I get things right.

Get up it has tough puzzles, but so far, I’ve been able to solve them all without resorting to an online guide like I’ve had to in the last few cases The case. Get up it also has an advanced hint system that provides up to three hints for a specific part of the case, and often, checking those points me in the right direction when I’m stuck. I would also recommend having a pen and paper to write things down, especially since some situations spread information to many places. And if you can play with someone else, that helps, too – my wife saw a lot of things that I completely missed.

I will warn you that the game can be bad. The case they usually err on the creepy side with its old-school pixel art style, but Get up it looks like a painting, and that means you’ll see slightly more realistic corpses. Scenes and characters move in short loops, which makes them feel alive but also means you’ll see some awkward movement more often. The first case is opened by a man who strangles another person; the other shows a person being electrocuted. If you’re afraid of birds, there’s a case you won’t really like. But like a good horror movie, those twisted scenes are part of what makes the game so compelling. Every time I started a new case, I was always eager to see what bad things I would encounter.

I’m not quite done yet Get up. After over 15 hours, I’m on one of the last 20 cases of the game, and this one is taking me a few days to get the hang of. I think the joy of finally finding it all will be worth the pain, though, as there’s nothing better than that lightbulb moment of lighting up the last word in the right place of the puzzle. And even if I’m done with all 20 cases, there will be four DLC packs to look forward to next year – maybe there’s more we don’t know about the mysterious golden idol.

Elevation of the Golden Image is now available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile with a Netflix subscription.