‘Garden Retreat’ case walkthrough, hints, and solution in Rise of the Golden Idol

“Garden Retreat” is the first case in Chapter 2 of Rise of the Golden Idol, available right after you complete “The Curse, Chapter 1” summary case.

As with all of our Rise of the Golden Idol case guides, our goal here is to provide a hint-based experience that will lead you to the solution without automatically showing you how to solve it. We’ll start out with small hints for the puzzle, escalate to bigger ones, and eventually just spell out the answer if it’s still not clicking for you. We’ve separated our tiered hints and answers with in-game art, but be wary of scrolling farther than you intend.

In this Rise of the Golden Idol guide, we’ll walk you through the “Garden Retreat” case, including hints and the full solution for the overview and event puzzles.

Garden Retreat Overview

There are no names to learn in “Garden Retreat,” and you’ll instead need to come up with an overview of what happened in this case.

First hint

• The first two words describe where this vignette is taking place.
• The second two inputs combine into a two-digit number.
• The final two words describe the crime depicted here.

Second hint

• To find the date, try listening to the radio while you look at the sky.
• To find out where you are, look to the local newspaper and the gate outside.
• To learn what happened, watch the woman carefully and look at the second floor balcony.

Solution

Here is the completed overview for “Garden Retreat:”

The events that took place at the Harmony Foundation on August 17, 1974, resulted in someone’s death.

Garden Retreat Events

The event puzzle is rather long in this case, with 19 entries.

First hint

• The first two words refer to the victim and the killer.
• The third, fourth, and fifth words refer to why the victim was at the Heritage Foundation.
• The second paragraph describes what led to the altercation.
• The third paragraph describes how the altercation was turned against the victim.
• The final sentence describes the victim’s cause of death.

Second hint

• To determine the victim, weed out the various voicemail leavers by looking at the woman’s pockets and what she is burning.
• Look to the suitcase, the safe, and the idol to determine why the victim was here.
• Listen to what the woman is saying to determine what led to the altercation.
• Look to the floor near the window to learn what led to the victim’s death.
• Examine the right side of the outdoor section of the map to learn the victim’s cause of death.

Solution

Here is the exact event solution for “Garden Retreat:”

‘Colleague’ visited ‘Historian’ to exchange an artifact for money.

During the meeting, ‘Colleague’ suddenly tried to rob ‘Historian.’

In response, ‘Historian’ sprayed ‘Colleague’ with hair spray and then pulled a rug.

As a result, ‘Colleague’ fell and hit a rock.

After “Garden Retreat,” you’ll be able to tackle the “Behind Bars” case.