REVIEW: ‘Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka – Web of Deception’ is an Excellent DLC (Switch)

When The Case of the Golden Idol was released in 2022 the point-and-click adventure caught the world by surprise. Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka – Web of Deception is a new DLC from developer Color Gray Games and published Playstack that expands the world of The Case of the Golden Idol in a bite-sized way and opens the door for more DLC in the future.

The Spider of Lanka is a prequel story to The Case of the Golden Idol and contains three new cases for players to solve. All three mysteries take place one year before the main game and feature several recurring characters. The titular Spider of Lanka is a mysterious figure pulling the strings in the Kingdom of Lanka, and players are tasked with discovering them. It’s an intriguing tale dripping with mystery that manages to set up the world of The Case of the Golden Idol while still standing on its own. The Golden Idol itself is mentioned, but it does not play a vital role like it does in the base game. Instead, the primary focus is on the political machinations of the Kingdom of Lanka and three different murders.

Each of the three murders is depicted as freeze-framed scenes where players are tasked with investigating every nook and cranny to get to the bottom of what happened. Every new thing I discovered made the situation even more mysterious but the solutions slowly revealed themselves. I did find the three DLC puzzles to be a little bit easier than in the base game, but a lot of that comes from familiarity with how the game’s puzzles work. New players who choose to approach the DLC before the base game will likely find them quite difficult.

Easier does not mean easy though, and these three puzzles are certainly still challenging. There is a lot of deduction required in order to piece together the clues. Every revelation feels rewarding given the challenge required to solve it. There are also additional discoveries that can be made that might not be integral to solving the mysteries but do help give a deeper understanding of the world and the characters in it. There is weight to the new characters and stories that is on par with the base game, something that is really difficult to do when creating DLC for an already great game.

The Spider of Lanka is not just fun to play, it is beautiful to look at. The pixel art style is so detailed and intricate and brings the world to life. It takes on a South Asian aesthetic that is quite a bit different than the medieval look of the base game, but it does not feel like an entirely new world. Instead, it just expands on the world that already exists and feels right at home with the franchise. The new soundtrack fits with the visual theme as well and drew me even deeper into each scene.

The approach that The Spider of Lanka takes by being called a “Golden Idol Mystery” is interesting because it sets up potentially more DLC that tell more side stories in this fascinating world. Being able to show new locations with new themes allows for an almost infinite world that can continue to expand through further DLC. The spin-off into anthology-type stories is a great approach that is as welcoming to new players as it is to returning ones. I really hope we see more Golden Idol Mysteries in the future that continue to explore an intriguing world in interesting new ways.

The Spider of Lanka builds off an already amazing base game to give players a deeper look at such an intriguing world. It is full of political intrigue, shady characters, and countless mysteries waiting to be uncovered. While I might have liked to see a few more cases, that is only because what was presented was just that good.

Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka – Web of Deception is out now on the Nintendo Switch and PC.