The Case of the Golden Idol

[Zombra]

Is that Obra Dinn mentioned here similar and as good?

Don't say another word, DON'T look at previews or trailers, just go play it.

 

[Maxie]

I bought this and the DLC in the last Steam sale. I haven't touched the DLC yet, but I finished the main game and I really enjoyed it. It's a bit short though, so I'd suggest picking it up on sale.

Are there other games like this? Is that Obra Dinn mentioned here similar and as good?

Odra Dinn is similar in the sense that you identify dead bodies, otherwise they're two different games really

 

[Pablo Ruiz Pikachu]

Obra Dinn was kind of cool, even great. A very clever idea with a lot of love poured into it and a really cool, horror story vibe, but I couldn't get into its mechanics. The fucking ship map you had to look up the whole game, to locate every corpse in each chapter and identify it, exasperated me. Somehow it didn't feel the right way to do it to me, there's have to be a better way to do it.

Anyway, I got this one, I'll check it out.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I bought this and the DLC in the last Steam sale. I haven't touched the DLC yet, but I finished the main game and I really enjoyed it. It's a bit short though, so I'd suggest picking it up on sale.

Are there other games like this? Is that Obra Dinn mentioned here similar and as good?

Return of the Obra Dinn is better IMO.

If you haven't played it yet you have something wonderful ahead of you.

 

[Maxie]

I bought this and the DLC in the last Steam sale. I haven't touched the DLC yet, but I finished the main game and I really enjoyed it. It's a bit short though, so I'd suggest picking it up on sale.

Are there other games like this? Is that Obra Dinn mentioned here similar and as good?

Return of the Obra Dinn is better IMO.

If you haven't played it yet you have something wonderful ahead of you.

until it's fucking ruined by the horrible

Spoiler

cthulhu gimmick

 

[OSK]

I picked up Obra Dinn on sale a while back and I finished it yesterday. It's great. I loved it! But I can't help but think The Case of the Golden Idol is the better game. Running around the 3D environment and flipping through the book can get kind of tedious after a while, especially towards the end.

 

[Alternative Account]

Just finished this great game and its okay DLC, thanks for the recommendations. Art style was charming, so was the soundtrack but it was rather simple.

First couple acts were simple but then complexity ramps up as you start getting names/nouns/verbs and other stuff. Each new act feels overwhelming at first. But you look at the data and figure it out. Feel very satisfying to one-shot a scroll. Overarching story helps you avoid red herrings which was something the DLC lacked.

I didn't use hints in the main game but checked some of them after solving the scrolls and they range from not very useful to mildly useful which was fine. I understand it's there discourage you from using hints but I disagree with the inclusion of the matching game. Another minor complaint; font pixel size doesn't match the rest of the artstyle, it could have been more legible or stylistic.

I personally prefer Obra Dinn. I like that there are no interface elements during the "inspection" sequences. You simply look and listen and store the info in your brain. And use an entire pool of words to input your findings. Maybe we'll get a game where you type out your deductions in the future.

 

[Berekän]

Wake up baby, surprise second DLC just launched



First DLC was a bit too short, but in any case it's half the price of a movie ticket so worth the admission, instabought this one

 

[Zombra]

Wow! Stealth DLC! Forget Starfield, this is my evening

 

[JarlFrank]

Bought this last night and finished it just now.

Found the third case to be much easier to figure out than Spider of Lanka's third case (which felt confusing and not connected enough to the previous two tbh). Overall a pretty good DLC where everything felt logical, and it ties the story of the main game together with the first DLC. Good stuff.

I guess next up will be a completely new game?

 

[Maxie]

beaten it just now
i like that the ancient conspiracy is too ancient to be actually unraveled lmao

 

[Jenkem]

Will probably pick up the 2nd dlc tonight to play it but based on the Spider of Sri Lanka I think i'll wait to start their next game when all the DLC is out because 1. coming back to the game after months of not playing it when the dlcs kind of expect you to tie things back to the main game (maybe this is more of an issue with spider since it seemed rather disconnected until the end) 2. they bundle the game plus dlc on steam but you can't purchase it if you've already bought the game, there's another package that is a "complete the set" type bundle which has the soundtrack, which I don't care about.

 

[Jenkem]

finished it, it was ok... one thing that bugged me is how did that woman set up the tower and steal life for CENTURIES and no one said anything about how she is forever young and there's no evidence of it

seems kind of retarded tbqh

 

[OSK]

finished it, it was ok... one thing that bugged me is how did that woman set up the tower and steal life for CENTURIES and no one said anything about how she is forever young and there's no evidence of it

seems kind of retarded tbqh

Probably an unsatisfying answer, but the woman was in charge of teaching the children. She taught them that everyone has different lifespans and that it's inappropriate to ask anyone their age. The people definitely knew of people with shorter lifespans and must have figured she was one with a longer lifespan, but they never talked about it since they were raised as children that it was something rude to discuss.

 

[Maxie]

finished it, it was ok... one thing that bugged me is how did that woman set up the tower and steal life for CENTURIES and no one said anything about how she is forever young and there's no evidence of it

seems kind of retarded tbqh

nice speedrunning bro

Spoiler

she didn't set up the tower, she found it and reverse engineered it

 

[Jaedar]

I played the main game and enjoyed it a good amount, although the first few puzzles were too easy. Do the dlc's start out challenging?
6 euro for 3 maps feels a bit expensive but I guess not really compared to the main campaign, especially if they're as meaty as the mid/late puzzles.

 

[OSK]

I played the main game and enjoyed it a good amount, although the first few puzzles were too easy. Do the dlc's start out challenging?
6 euro for 3 maps feels a bit expensive but I guess not really compared to the main campaign, especially if they're as meaty as the mid/late puzzles.

Yeah, they're all comparable to the mid/late puzzles in the main campaign.

 

[Alternative Account]

Finished the second DLC. It's more challenging than the base game but still fair. I liked the new mechanic of looking at different snapshots of the same zone. "Known information" tab is also a nice addition, it's the equivalent of an inventory for this game. Whole thing is set in a single village which works better for a short game. I thought it was better than the first DLC, which felt disjointed storywise and its Ch2 was unfairly difficult while Ch3 was super easy.

General comments;

Throughout the game I was on the lookout for the possibility of using a different meaning of a same word (possibly a figurative meaning) or using a name as a noun but it never came. Would have been a nice way of introducing additional challenge towards the end. Example: "Sovereign state / state of distress" or "James Wood / wood box".

There should be an option to lock in the answers and a "clear all" button that clears all answers but the locked ones. An obvious feature that is missing, but not a big deal.

A notebook would also come in handy. Though I only needed to bust out the pen and paper once, to calculate the merits deductions.

Story is not as emotional or funny as some of the other games' in the genre but it's intriguing and presented in a unique way. Works perfectly for the game's structure as things fall into place slowly.

Looking forward to their next game.

finished it, it was ok... one thing that bugged me is how did that woman set up the tower and steal life for CENTURIES and no one said anything about how she is forever young and there's no evidence of it

seems kind of retarded tbqh

Probably an unsatisfying answer, but the woman was in charge of teaching the children. She taught them that everyone has different lifespans and that it's inappropriate to ask anyone their age. The people definitely knew of people with shorter lifespans and must have figured she was one with a longer lifespan, but they never talked about it since they were raised as children that it was something rude to discuss.

Great details. But years are traded in increments of 36, it would have been very noticeable. In the base game the guy changes identity after going through the same process. And she can't even do that because there is like 15 adult females in the village. Anyway, it doesn't really bother me.

 

[Alternative Account]

Golden Idol avatars are added to the Codex! While making the avatars I've noticed a nice detail: Bald James character has a some hair later in the game.

 

[Jaedar]

I am slightly upset at vampire #2:
Big spoilers for this scenario:

Spoiler

How is "afterwards the murderer returned in a basket" the right answer? As far as I can tell the truth is that she hid in the basket until morning and then emerged. But then it should be "returned to the basket" as "returned in" implies the basket was moved somewhere afterwards.

I couldn't solve those 3 entries without brute force. It also took me a while to realize the motive for the murder, but that's on me.

Vampire feels trickier than spider so far. While I'm asking questions though, in spider #2 what is the secret message that is passed to the heir(s) via the newspaper? I think you're supposed to use the statue as the picture to figure it out, but I can't contort my brain the right way

 

[Alternative Account]

Spoiler

How is "afterwards the murderer returned in a basket" the right answer?

That's not the answer though.

Spoiler

As far as I can tell the truth is that she hid in the basket until morning and then emerged.

Spoiler

Yes, and the answer is "[hid] in a basket".

 

[Jaedar]

Spoiler

How is "afterwards the murderer returned in a basket" the right answer?

That's not the answer though.

Spoiler

As far as I can tell the truth is that she hid in the basket until morning and then emerged.

Spoiler

Yes, and the answer is "[hid] in a basket".

And yet:

Spoiler

I guess I broke it?

 

[Berekän]

Maybe it's going easy on the grammar and just interpreting that as

Spoiler

Returned to the basket after the kill, after all she was there before

 

[Alternative Account]

Spoiler

Maybe there are multiple answers. "[returned] [to]" and "[hid] [in]" both makes sense. [returned] [in] sounds odd but I suppose the game only checks individual boxes. [to] was also available as one of the prepositions, right?

 

[Jaedar]

Finished vampire DLC. It was good, certainly a worthy addition to the main game, although I wouldn't say any of the puzzles was amazing. The novelty was high though since the base game didn't have puzzles that involved time. Better than dlc1, which I found slightly weak. I think the identity of the villain was a bit too on the nose, felt like I could have figured it out without having her literally be caught red handed onscreen and it would have been more satisfying.

Great details. But years are traded in increments of 36, it would have been very noticeable. In the base game the guy changes identity after going through the same process. And she can't even do that because there is like 15 adult females in the village. Anyway, it doesn't really bother me.

Looking at it closely her model does maybe change a little bit, losing some wrinkles between first and second puzzle. Although it's pretty subtle. Then again, the guy drained was already on his second draining, and so must have been at least effectively 51 years old (realistically older since he probably wasn't made guardian at the age of 15) so I guess the idol might not have drained the full 36 this time (doesn't explain how nobody noticed the first time Vaito got drained though though!)

I do agree that someone de-aging 36 years in a day would be drastic. Someone who is 25 and 61 are going to look very different, and that seems like a pretty optimal span for making the differences as small as possible. Seems like it could easily have been written to steal fewer years more frequently. They'd literally just have to change the text on the golem printout.