The Case of the Golden Idol for Android

I never take the time to write a review for a game on the app store but this is the first game that I have thought to do so. Just finishing the first chapter and this game really makes you think, not only to solve the puzzles but how the story unfolds before your eyes and the timeline of it all. This game made me go into a deep rabbit hole, taking notes in my journal just to figure out how to solve the mystery, it honestly felt like I was taking a test to become an fbi agent, that’s how much this game makes you think. And that’s just the first chapter. This is probably the best detective game I’ve ever played in my life on the IOS app store

I've only played a bit of this port on my phone and my immediate takeaway is that while it's more-or-less a one-for-one port of the classic, I do wish there was the ability to hide the "!"s and "?"s that indicate objects or people you have or haven't interacted with yet. Part of the fun is to uncover those things on your own, and this just takes that aspect away. I'm unsure whether it's forced in this version due to the size of most mobile phones, but in my opinion you should let the user make that decision.

Golden Idol is an excellent game. An easy five! Unfortunately, there are a number of issues with this port. To begin, there were a number of problems with the in-game text (Strictly on English version; no idea if there are similar things in other languages). There were also a few spelling mistakes, which honestly didn’t matter much. Once or twice verb tenses were incorrect, leading me to rule out a word I shouldn’t. The worst mistake was the repeated misuse of (in addition to neglecting to use) the word “The” in the “A Long Time Ago” scroll in “The Less than Amicable Departure of Two Explorers” in “The Lemurian Vampire.” It essentially ruins the puzzle and means that the correct solution still reads as if it’s incorrect. These feel like they could be fixed without much effort. Given that one of the main ways the player interacts with the game is through text, mistakes here had the tendency to be extremely impactful. Aside from this, I encountered a few bugs in which I’d see placeholder strings like “Header Text”, or the different words would stick to the wrong spot of the screen, the game wouldn’t confirm or reject my submission, etc. In any of these instances, the solution was to restart the app, then play the offending case from the beginning. The game itself is great, so it’s disappointing that there are just a handful of bugs that *will* tarnish the player’s experience.

Absolutely LOVED this game!! The gameplay, characterization, deep/over-arching plot are all so cool! This game seriously makes you think, and it's just hard enough to make you feel really smart for finishing it. After the first set of episodes/stories, you are encouraged to play the other two more difficult sets. It's a crazy amount of content overall, and the two additional sets are great at adding even more depth to the lore of the golden idol. Couldn't recommend this game enough!

This game has received plenty of well-deserved attention for its interesting puzzle design combined with an interesting narrative. Not usually my genre, but I decided to try it and had a blast. What I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is that it’s filled with typos. I know that the developers’ first language isn’t English, but when your game is this big of a success (and trust me, when Netflix locks down the exclusive mobile rights to your game, it’s a big success), it wouldn’t break the bank to hire a proofreader to go over the text with a fine-toothed comb. Misspelled/missing words and occasionally-strange grammar blemished an otherwise wonderful experience. Here’s hoping they eventually make the necessary corrections so that others can have a perfect playthrough.