Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 87 | 34 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 98% | 94 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 82 | 31 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 98% | 94 | 37 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Acclaim gate: the raw blend lands at 92.1, but scores above 88 must be earned in front of a mass audience; this verdict rests on 11,068 player reviews, a largely self-selected fanbase. As more players weigh in, the ceiling rises (full scale unlocks at 100,000 reviews).
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 103 reviews sampled · 105 total reviews in window · weighted 77.3 up / 1.4 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (37)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
- 80
“If you’ve ever played Return of Obra Dinn, like I have, you’re sure to enjoy this game as well. You’ll put your detective skills to the test as you search for even the tiniest clues and uncover various connections between characters. It’s just plain fun to put your brain to work. The developers at Color Grey Games have done a really good job. The Case of the Golden Idol is an interesting and entertaining game with a surprising story, which I definitely recommend to fans of the detective genre.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Color Gray Games could never release another game and they'd still be a team I'd remember years down the line. Case of the Golden Idol is an incredible first showing that may just revolutionize the mystery game genre in the way that classics like Return of the Obra Dinn did at launch. When I was done with it all, I was left with this hunger to create art, because that's what happens when I consume a piece of truly great art.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“In The Case of the Golden Idol, the mystery-solving is quite engaging up to a point. But overall, the narrative is frustratingly executed and the presentation is unremarkable.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Triple Click Podcast has been going on and on about this being one of the best unsung games of the year, and it's easy to see why. The ability to get on with, enjoy and progress through this title makes one feel intelligent, and there's even a touch of smugness that's attached to that feeling. On more than a couple of occasions, The Case of the Golden Idol requires some leaps in logic to reach the conclusion, in absence of having all of the information needed to be certain, and this is so well done as one will self-reflect that they are a genius for figuring it out. Otherwise, it is a very slow and rigid title that will no doubt be an acquired taste for many - the last two cases in particular are extremely difficult, and with little flexibility for experimentation it could be easy to run into a hard stop. At the end of the day, there is nothing else in the whodunit genre that represents what it was like to be Father Dowling on an intellectual level any better.”
read full review ↗ - 78
“Truly a bit of an odd bird, with its own pretty minimalist style on point-and-click adventuring, but daring to tell an overarching story its own way”
read full review ↗ - 95
“The stories can be gruesome and horrific at times, but that also makes them intriguing puzzleboxes to sit down and solve. At times while playing I looked up at the clock and realized I had been squinting at the screen and was lost in thought solving a puzzle for nearly an hour. The year of narrative bangers just keeps on rolling and if you are even remotely interested in solving a good mystery, The Case of the Golden Idol should be at the top of your list!.”
read full review ↗ - 88
“The Case of Golden Idol is an engaging adventure game that completely won me over, even though it's not remotely what I thought it would be. It's more about observation than actual detective work, but it requires more deduction skills than many games of its kind would feel comfortable to burden the player with. It's very much in the vein of Return of the Obra Dinn, where it's more about your logical deduction skills than about pretend detective play. If that's your cup of tea, The Case of the Golden Idol is an easy recommendation. Given the choice, I would opt for the PC version, especially if you don't intend to play the game in the Switch's docked mode.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Witty, observationalist writing and a hands-off approach to deduction elevate this excellent period murder-mystery to a singular work.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Everything that I love about Return of the Obra Dinn is present in The Case of the Golden Idol and more. Things are never as straightforward as they seem, and the story is so absorbing that I once again spent all night delving into each case. My only wish is that the game was longer, as I eventually completed it in four hours. But when the only flaw is that you wanted more, can it really be considered a flaw?”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Another great indie detective game that not only makes solving crimes fun and interesting but has some surprisingly good storytelling to tie everything together.”
read full review ↗ - 89
“A challenging and inventive set of mysteries to solve tied together with a brilliant storyline.”
read full review ↗
Fintendo
Gaming Professors
video games are good
Cubed3
Nindie Spotlight
NintendoWorldReport
Worth Playing
Eurogamer
GameLuster
Metro GameCentral
PC Gamer…and 25 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- DLC support added for macOS users!Jun 6, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Small minor bug improvement patch 1.0.7May 8, 2023
- Update 2023.04.25-1 DLC 1.0.1Apr 27, 2023
- Update 2022.12.05 v1.3.3Dec 6, 2022
- Stability fixes and text improvements - version 1.3.2Oct 20, 2022significant · resets scoring window