The Case of the Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol is a 2022 puzzle video game developed by Color Gray Games and published by Playstack. The game depicts a narrative spanning 40 years in the 18th century, in which players collect clues to piece together concepts, characters, and evidence to provide context to the story. It was originally released for PC and was ported to consoles and mobile platforms in 2023 and 2024. The Case of the Golden Idol was developed by Latvian independent developers Ernests and Andrejs Kļaviņš, who aimed to create a detective game influenced by the visual presentation of 1990s adventure games. The Case of the Golden Idol was similarly inspired by the design of the 2018 game Return of the Obra Dinn by Lucas Pope, with the game receiving similar comparisons from reviewers. The Case of the Golden Idol received praise for its use of deduction to present its narrative and distinctive visual presentation, and received awards as one of the best games of 2022. Two expansions to the game, The Spider of Lanka and The Lemurian Vampire, were released as downloadable content in 2023. The Case of the Golden Idol Redux, released as a free update in October 2024, provides several quality of life updates to the game. A sequel, The Rise of the Golden Idol, released in 2024.