Meet The Case of the Golden Idol, the detective game top indie devs are already recommending

It's rare that any game comes with recommendations from top indie developers before it's even been announced, but that's exactly what's happening with The Case of the Golden Idol. 

This new non-linear detective game is from Color Gray Games and published by Playstack sees you investigate 11 deaths that span forty years in an alt-history 18th Century England. Through investigation, you must figure out the suspect, their motive, and the order of the events, and then put all your theories and ideas into an interactive notepad. 

It looks like it's not going to be easy though, as Color Gray Games’ co-founder Andrejs Klavins states that "it was very important to us that we do not hold the player’s hand, respect their intelligence and intuition, and let them discover for themselves". 

As you'll see in the above teaser trailer for the game, even Lucuna dev, Julian Colbus, calls it "absolutely nails".

You'll also need to keep in mind that it seems that there's something rather mysterious connecting all the deaths. Idols, mysterious hidden rooms, suspicious worshipping, and revenge... there's a lot going on in The Case of the Golden Idol, just as the name suggests. 

Despite the fact it's literally just been announced as part of the Future Games Show Powered by Mana, its demo has already got thumbs up from developers like Lucas Pope (Return of the Obra Dinn), Erik Wolpaw (Portal / Portal 2), and Sean Vanaman (Firewatch / Half-Life: Alyx).

Thankfully, you've not got long to wait until you can see what all the fuss is about because The Case of the Golden Idol is launching on PC later this year. But, potentially even more exciting news is that that dev-endorsed demo is available right now.

If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.

Sam Loveridge
Global Editor-in-Chief, 12DOVE

Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.