A superb detective game akin to Obra Dinn though on a much smaller, level-based scope. Unlike Obra Dinn, Golden Idol doesn’t have you play as an in-universe character, instead you’re given a full view of its crime scenes and tasked to identify people, identify the culprit, and uncover the events surrounding the murder in each level. All the levels tie into the overarching narrative of a mysterious golden idol and its story unfolds as you continue to solve each level. The investigation element is quite strong and logical, I figured the whole game out without using a single hint and very small amounts of guessing. There aren’t really any leaps of logic or genuine obtuseness, the game is skilled at giving you all the info that you need. The atmosphere is quite good is well; the art is kind of grotesque but in a good way that befits the slimy and cutthroat characters you have to deal with and the music befits the vibes of the late 1700’s setting that the game is set in. The Case of the Golden Idol is a definitely worthy to be among the detective game greats.

I'm reading some of the negative reviews on here and I feel like I played a completely different game than y'all? I went through two routes on here, Mat and Brian, and intend to go back and do more later. I found the writing to be very charming and funny, and the core gimmick of everyone being a single parent to be an interesting dynamic between the characters.

I really like how all the different characters explore their own theme, such as Brian's toxic competitiveness or Mat's social anxiety. If you're going to play this game I would go in expecting to deal with things more along these lines, rather than expecting the game to tackle the myriad of ways homophobia effects gay men in the real world. The game sets itself in a sort of unrealistic but optimistic fantasy, in which you can be gay or trans and find love free of discrimination, and it's one of the things I liked about it.

I think taking the extra step from "this game doesn't portray anything too specific to gay culture" to "this is actively one of the most homophobic games I've played" is an extremely exaggerative critique. I do see the argument that it could be viewed as erasure, and I'm not trying to invalidate anyone for whom that's a deal breaker. However, due to how well I thought it did at dealing with the things it did choose to focus on, as well as laughing out loud at multiple points during my playthroughs, I loved this game overall. I look forward to playing more of this in the future.

Mat is the dreamiest daddy, and I have a band called the Skammunist Manifesto!