“Once it clicks, you have sweet epiphany.”

In the dingy dark hallway of an asylum or prison, two men are struggling in a battle of life or death. One man is writhing on the ground while the other has something wrapped around his throat. The art is captivating and gothic, verging on grotesque, and they’re animated in an unsettling way. The movement suggests a moment caught in time. We, as investigators, are tasked with uncovering the sequence of events behind this story.

The Rise of the Golden Idol is a mystery-solving, narrative-driven game, and the gameplay truly makes the players feel like detectives investigating the scene of a crime. You hear from suspects, examine the evidence and search crime scenes for clues. The story itself is twisty and fantastical, and feels almost impossible to solve at first until you start pulling at threads. There is a deep satisfaction to solving the puzzles and creating order from the chaos.

Brothers Andrejs Klavins and Ernests Klavins of Color Gray Games join us all the way from Latvia to talk about creating this popular series of games. I really enjoyed hearing about the changes they made from The Case of the Golden Idol when developing the sequel, and how to fine-tune difficulty in these types of mystery games. I was also especially impressed to hear that these games are written in English, which is not their native language. If you love escape rooms, puzzle games, or solving investigative mysteries, I highly recommend you check out The Case of the Golden Idol and The Rise of the Golden Idol.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: Weldwood Marketing, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:13 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 04:19 The Creators’ Backgrounds
• 06:16 The Decision to Create Another Video Game
• 09:05 The Process of Creating a New Video Game Studio
• 11:24 The Core Mechanics of the Games
• 13:41 Determining the Boundaries of the Supernatural
• 14:46 Dialing in the Mechanics
• 16:16 Calibrating Difficulty
• 18:23 Their Approach to Playtesting
• 19:17 Sponsor Break: Weldwood Digital Marketing Agency
• 22:45 Golden Idol’s Unique Art Style
• 24:27 The Fictional Setting
• 28:19 The Approach to Making the Second Game
• 31:15 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 33:17 The Netflix Partnership
• 35:39 The Mechanics They Changed for the Sequel
• 38:37 Developing for Many Platforms
• 40:04 Sponsor Break – RECON & PG’s Playhouse
• 41:50 Dealing With Intense Scrutiny on the Internet
• 46:51 What Comes Next
• 49:26 Credits
• 52:19 Bonus Story: Escape Room Fail

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Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Golden Idol Website
• Golden Idol Games on Steam
  • The Case of the Golden Idol
  • The Rise of the Golden Idol
  • The Sins of New Wells (DLC)
• Escape This Podcast
• Aurelius Whitlock’s Murder Museum
• Netflix Mobile Games

About Andrejs Klavins

X: @colorgray7, Bluesky: @andrejsklavins.bsky.social

Andrejs is a game designer. 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 at the technology start-up Edurio, Andrejs left the start-up scene and decided to team up with his brother Ernest to return to the game industry and try creating a successful indie game. Their first published game was The Case of the Golden Idol and last year they released its sequel The Rise of the Golden Idol.

About Ernests Klavins

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.

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