The Golden Idol Clothier’s Next Adventure: A Journey of Creativity and Collaboration

If you happen to have enjoyed The Upward thrust of the Golden Idol – a game we referred to as “a gripping contemporary mystery thriller that’s bigger, improved, and more ambitious than its already exceptional predecessor” – then this information might be right up your street.

Will Ackermann, one of the designers behind The Upward thrust of the Golden Idol, has recently revealed his upcoming game: City of Voices. He is collaborating with pixel artist Matt Frith through his own studio, Kini Games.

Pitched as a “Golden Idol-like” title, City of Voices unfolds in suburban England, centering on a young girl who, on her first day at secondary school, faces bullying. As if that challenge weren’t enough, she soon finds herself “propelled into a fantastical journey”, which complicates her life even further.

Similar to the Golden Idol video games, City of Voices will also challenge players to “explore a collection of moments frozen in time, scrutinizing clues and solving deduction puzzles to reveal a rich narrative”. However, unlike the Golden Idol games, players will respond to questions by selecting from a range of images (see below), instead of dragging and dropping words into spaces.

If this sounds like City of Voices is treading a bit too closely to the Golden Idol formula, worry not. Ackermann made it clear that he received approval from the original creators before proceeding with his own game.

“I was a bit anxious about asking Andrejs and Ernests, the co-creators of those games, for permission to essentially borrow their mechanics,” Ackermann admitted, “but fortunately, they were quite flattered!”

Frith added: “Since that moment, they’ve both been incredibly supportive, even stating that they ‘enjoyed every minute of the demo’ we’ve created, which means the world to us. We hope other players will feel the same way.”

Currently, there isn’t a release date for City of Voices, but it is available for wishlist on Steam. You can check out a trailer for it above.

As for The Upward thrust of the Golden Idol, we rated it four out of five stars upon its release.

“This is a brilliantly crafted thriller narrative filled with a vast array of memorable villains, clowns, and quietly tragic observers, all backed up by ingeniously designed puzzles.”