Indiana Jones may have inspired well-known gaming franchises like Tomb Raider and Uncharted, but there is a certain sense of irony that one of films’ most famous characters has yet to command his own line of blockbuster video games. But that can be put to bed with his new game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
MachineGames helms this Indy title, which might seem like a surprise appointment considering they previously were known for the modern Wolfenstein games—the comically violent endeavours of B.J Blazkowicz are quite different from the treasure-hunting exploits of Indiana Jones.
B.J Blazkowicz may not be Indiana Jones, but MachineGames have shown they are also capable ushers for another iconic franchise. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn’t just a great Indiana Jones game, it is also a great game; period. The hair-raising action and imaginative mythological scenarios that made the movies so well-loved have been translated well to create a fun and engaging experience to go through, whilst also differentiating itself from the other treasure-hunting games it has inspired.
Circling the globe in a new adventure
Investigating the theft of an artefact from Marshall College, Indy’s latest adventure sees him tangled in the mystery of The Great Circle – involving historical sites across various locations that form a perfect circle around the globe. Fans of the films will enjoy what has been crafted here in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle—it’s an Indy story through and through, chock full of exciting set-pieces and sprinkled with intrigue as Indiana slowly solves secrets as the story unravels. You’ll be glad to know that there are throwbacks to the previous film as well, further establishing it as part of Indy canon.
It feels like an Indiana Jones movie too. Amidst all the action, a lot of goofiness is found in the game as well. If you’re familiar with the absurdist humour of MachineGames’ Wolfenstein games, Great Circle is like a more dialed-down version of it – which is very befitting of the Indiana Jones series.
You’ll find many of these aspects captured through the numerous cutscenes in the game; which there are a lot of. It’s certainly a choice by the developers to create a sort of cinematic feel—as though you are watching a new Indy film—but they could have done with some restraint. There were a couple of moments where I felt that the cutscenes went on longer than they should have. After discovering an interesting plot point, I just wanted to get back to the game; instead, I had to wait for a cutscene to finish.
The game is also one of the best-looking titles I have seen. Environments, from the likes of both the claustrophobic ancient depths as well as sprawling town markets, are incredibly vibrant and detailed even for the smallest aspects. Locals offer a greeting in their native tongue as you walk by and you can find food specific to the region; just some things you’ll experience as part of the immersion. I’m also impressed by how dense it all is. Some of the locations you’ll visit have huge open playgrounds for you to explore, but there is a surprising amount of indoor areas you can roam around too. You’ll experience that very quickly in the early Vatican City area which also has lots of verticality within the environment.
Best of all, each location you visit looks refreshingly different, which gets me excited whenever there is the chance to change the scenery.
But the graphics aren’t always perfect. On PC, I encountered a couple of visual issues – torch fires occasionally had weird animations and particle effects rendered at a low frame rate, which was amusing to see during big action cutscenes. None of these had a negative affected on my playing experience though.
Given that the story takes place between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade, MachineGames has done a lot of work to capture an Indy of that period and it shows in the model – Indiana Jones has never looked this good. Harrison Ford is of course unable to reprise the role so in comes Troy Baker, who does a decent job of recreating the cadence and vibe of Indy (though he still sounds like Troy Baker).
In fact, the rest of the extended cast in the game are also great. There’s investigative reporter Gina Lombardi whose quirky partnership with Indiana provides the heart of the game, as well as the villainous Emmerich Voss who is delightfully campy. Plus, the various other minor characters you’ll encounter throughout the game each have memorable personalities.
Getting some perspective
Much has been said about the decision to use a first-person perspective for the game, but I never felt as though it had a detrimental effect on my enjoyment of it. You are Indiana Jones, and the game sure as hell makes you feel like it. Seeing the puzzles or even using the whip in your POV is a huge part of the experience. If anything, it is what sets it apart from the likes of Uncharted or Tomb Raider.
Thankfully the first-person perspective isn’t that much of a hindrance in platforming, which some players may be concerned about. My only issue is when it comes to the whip. The whip sees regular use for some sections, letting you swing across gaps or climb higher. Trouble here is that the game is pretty iffy in showing whippable elements. You almost have to look at it in a specific way in order for the prompt to show up, which in first-person, can get tricky.
However, there are points when it leans too much into the immersion. Taking the extra step to flick a stick in order to unlock a door is just one small inclusion that isn’t much of a bother, but then there’s the journal, which I really dislike.
The journal is a significant part of the game – it shows the map for the area Indy is currently in and holds notes to aid you with puzzles. The problem with it is that it is super manual. Want to see where you should be going next? The journal will highlight it on the map, but not on the overworld for you to see. So you’ll constantly need to open up the journal to make sure you are heading in the right direction. Even then, the map usually does not show layouts for indoor areas and is generally very unhelpful if you need to find something indoors.
Same goes for the puzzles. Certain puzzles need back-and-forth referencing between different notes and the UI is not at all intuitive in letting you do that. You’ll solve one part of a code and then have to cycle through the journal again to find the relevant note for the next part – it gets especially annoying when a puzzle has you stumped.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has you travelling to many locations and some of them are major locales with huge open areas. They essentially are playgrounds with lots to do and the game gives you the freedom in how you want to tackle them. These activities come in various forms—Field works are longer side quests with sub-plots while Mysteries are smaller distractions usually confined to a local area. And there are other elements as well. You can take pictures of various things of note, and sometimes, there is even small stuff like returning a dropped stolen chalice to a distressed NPC.
These open areas are dense, which will delight players who want more meat in their games but can get overwhelming to some too. When I was dropped into Vatican City, for instance, I quickly got lost as to what my main focus should be—I was seemingly finding new things to do, pictures to take, or hidden mysteries to solve whenever I turned a corner. Luckily, the game does let you travel back to previous locations at any point if you’ve missed out on something.
Doing these activities nets you Adventure Points, which you can spend through Adventure Books to upgrade Indy. These Adventure Books can be found as you explore the world or bought from vendors, improving various aspects like health and stamina as well as combat effectiveness. So there’s an incentive to do as much as you can.
Whipping into action
MachineGames’ pedigree is in shooters, but Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is very much not one. Instead, combat emphasises fisticuffs and stealth. For fistfights, both triggers act as your punches whilst the left bumper blocks attacks. Holding the left trigger charges up a punch to break enemy blocks and there’s a button to dodge as well. There are weapons you can also pick up which deal more damage.
Hand-to-hand combat takes a little bit of getting used to but becomes pretty engaging. There is a fun balance in trying to manage the stamina bar while dealing and avoiding damage from foes. Besides weapons, you can also make use of Indy’s whip for combat. While it doesn’t damage enemies, it does have other features like stunning enemies, disarming them, or yanking them towards you; it’s another consideration to utilise and adds flexibility in how to approach fights.
While there are firearms in the game, there isn’t any big advantage in using them. They dispatch people quickly, but also alert almost the entire enemy unit in the vicinity – it’s easier to just punch them out individually. I would even go as far as to say that guns are pretty underpowered in Great Circle. Close-range shotgun blasts and even headshots don’t always kill enemies in one blow, plus you can’t reload picked-up guns so you’ll have to find another one or end up in a pinch when surrounded. Indy can reload his personal revolver, but even then, ammunition is hard to find.
As for stealth, I do like how stealth is implemented in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Yes, it works pretty much like other games (crouch to sneak around, hide behind conveniently placed cover away from enemy vision, throw something to distract them) but in this game, it isn’t overpowered. So often does stealth act as a cheat code – just sneak behind an enemy to dispatch them in one shot and repeat the cycle. Here, there are limitations. You’ll need to hold a weapon to knock them out from behind, plus they break after two or so hits.
That being said, stealth still has the same problems as modern games have. Developers still haven’t worked out what to do with AI partners, so the next best thing is to act like they don’t exist. Gina will happily run circles around an enemy and they will do nothing; it’s not great for immersion. There’s also a mechanic to let you carry bodies, but it isn’t all that useful or necessary. A Nazi soldier finding his buddy doing the twister on the ground doesn’t make him even more aggressive to hunt you. In fact, he even forgets about it after a while.
As you might expect, puzzles are a big part of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The scale of those you find whilst going through the story does get pretty massive, which brings a sense of astoundment when you see them. A lot of times, you might have to move this huge mirror to reflect light in a certain direction or carry over a gigantic wheel – it all adds to how big the Great Circle feels. But there are also smaller, optional puzzles you can take on as you explore the world.
Puzzles in the game aren’t inherently hard, but they can be rather obtuse. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle does not hold your hand, quite unlike the often-joked recent God of War games. But because of that, it also means you’re more likely to encounter things that just fly over your head. I can’t count the number of times where I got stuck on a puzzle, took a break, and then saw that the solution was all in front of me.
On one hand, it’s great that the game challenges you to think critically. But I also understand that people who don’t like solving puzzles in games will find this a yucky prospect. There is an option to turn down the difficulty level in-game which makes puzzles easier (it will basically do half the work for you), but again, not many hints to help you.
Verdict
The Indiana Jones name has been somewhat in the doldrums considering the series’ last two movies, but Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is no dud. It’s an excellent foray that is faithful to what Indiana Jones is all about, all while crafting an engaging original story and characters to follow throughout the duration of the game.
Its commitment to immersion isn’t always a hit, but it succeeds in what it is designed to do—you do indeed feel like you are Indiana Jones. All the swashbuckling action and escapism are captured oh so very well in this game. That’s not even mentioning how meaty it can get. There’s always something to discover and unpack within the game, and isn’t that the spirit of what Indiana Jones is all about?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available on Xbox Series Consoles and PC, with a PlayStation 5 version launching in Spring 2025. Get it on Games Pass or through Steam digitally.
Screenshots were taken on PC with additional visuals courtesy of Bethesda Softworks.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
