The Rise of the Golden Idol

The Rise of the Golden Idol

Released Nov 2024

The Award-winning detective saga returns in this standalone sequel to The Case of the Golden Idol. Uncover the truth behind 20 strange cases of crime, death and depravity in the 1970s. The world has changed dramatically - the sins of humanity have not.

92% positive · 4,121 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence

Where to buy

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Evaluation

The Rise of the Golden Idol launched on November 12, 2024 alongside a Detective Pass — a season pass bundling four planned DLC packs. The developer, Color Gray Games, delivered all four packs on a steady schedule throughout 2025: The Sins of New Wells (March 4, 2025), The Lemurian Phoenix (May 13, 2025), The Age of Restraint (July 15, 2025), and The Curse of the Last Reaper (September 23, 2025). When announcing the final DLC on September 22, 2025, the developer explicitly called it "the final DLC for Rise of the Golden Idol," and the launch post on September 23 reinforced that framing. All items included in the Detective Pass have shipped. On November 18, 2025, the developer released a celebratory trailer noting that "all four DLC Investigations are available to unravel now." The most recent developer activity was a July 16, 2026 announcement about a mobile re-release — this was a platform availability update, not new content. No additional content has been announced, and the developer has made no indication of further story content planned for this game.
Evidence
The Curse of the Last Reaper launched, described as 'the final DLC' in the release post
news post · Sep 23, 2025 source development ending
high
All four DLC packs — The Sins of New Wells, The Lemurian Phoenix, The Age of Restraint, and The Curse of the Last Reaper — have been released, completing the Detective Pass
dlc listing · Sep 23, 2025 source content shipped
high

Content

6 of 6 released · no outstanding content

Media

Details

Publisher
Playstack
Achievements
46
Platform
Windows, macOS
Controller
partial support
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player

About this game

The Idol was lost — but not forgotten. In this followup to the award winning detective game The Case of the Golden Idol, you are an observer that must investigate 20 strange cases of crime, death and depravity - all somehow connected. Use your detective skills to make sense of a grand mystery that unfolds across an age of hallucinogens, disco, fax machines and parapsychology.

200 YEARS LATER… THE IDOL RISES

Two hundred years after the unspeakable fate of the Cloudsley family, the Idol's legend lives on only in whispers and myth… but some are determined for this to change.  Discover the mysterious forces connecting a tenacious treasure hunter, a team of scientists, the members of an enlightenment-seeking cult and corporate profiteers drawn to the all-powerful artifact. 

FEATURES

LEAD YOUR OWN INVESTIGATION

The Rise of the Golden Idol is a new type of detective game where you freely explore each crime scene at your own pace, using logic to build your own theories. Click to collect clues and analyze each discovery to determine what happened, why, and who was responsible.

A CURIOUS CAST OF CHARACTERS

Convicted prisoners, new age cult leaders, corporate middle management and many more figures have a role to play in the wider mystery that unfolds — each driven by their own agenda. Scour each scene for key details to put names to faces and deduce their motives.

A NEW APPROACH TO SOLVING CRIMES

A reworked interface lets you quickly gather key terms from observations and witness testimonies, greatly expanding the depth and variety of each scenario. Upon the conclusion of each chapter, a new type of puzzle lets you revisit past deductions, recap the events of these interconnected cases, and investigate the threads that unify them.

Last evaluated Aug 28, 2026
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