Demo of the Innovative Detective Game The Case of the Golden Idol Arrives at Steam Next Fest

The spiritual successor of Return of the Obra Dinn attempts to offer something new in the elusive murder mystery deduction game genre.

During this autumn’s Steam Next Fest taking place from October 1 to October 7, indie studio Color Gray Games will release a demo version of The Case of the Golden Idol. The game is an attempt to offer a true experience of what it must really be like to be a detective, which so far only a few games such as Her Story or Return of Obra Dinn have been able to achieve.

The Case of the Golden Idol is set in the 18th century where you piece together clues and reconstruct the events of mysterious deaths using a unique drag-and-drop evidence mechanic. The game is brought to life combining early 90ies PC point and click adventure game pixel art aesthetics with late 90ies 3D rendered cutscene visuals. The demo version has been praised by already acclaimed authors of deduction games.

Lucas Pope, author of Papers Please and Return of the Obra Dinn, highly recommends the game, saying “Fantastic art, great mysteries, and rewarding, methodical gameplay. Loved every minute of the demo and want more”.

The Case of the Golden Idol is meant for players who enjoy unravelling mysteries at their own pace, without any time restrictions or reaction based gameplay, but also offers very little hand-holding. The players solve each scenario by building theories of what happened there and changing them, once they encounter more evidence, and gradually the scenarios start revealing a larger overarching narrative.

“We want to elicit a bit of nostalgia in those who grew up playing adventure games, but put a new spin on it.”, says Andrejs Klavins, CEO of Color Gray Games.

The Case of the Golden Idol will be released in the near future, but until that time, you can add it to your wishlist on the Steam page and stay updated.

About Color Gray Studio

Color Gray Studio was founded in 2021 by two brothers Andrejs and Ernests to explore if they can use their many years’ experience in the industry to make creatively fulfilling and financially viable games. The Case of the Golden Idol is the studio’s first game.

Andrejs is a game designer and IT product manager. In 2010, Andrejs co-founded and led video game studio Next Level which published over 10 social network and mobile games in Latvia. After 4 years in education technology startup Edurio, Andrejs has decided to return to the game industry and try creating a successful indie game studio.

Ernests is a painter with numerous art exhibitions under his belt and many years’ experience working as a cartoonist in the leading news magazines in Latvia. However his true passion is making games and exploring artistic ideas with this interactive medium. Ernests has participated in over 20 artistic and commercial game projects.