Indiana Jones and The Great Circle: 5 reasons it’s Indy’s best adventure in 35 years
Pick up that controller, put on that fedora and hum that theme tune. Indy’s back.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the best Indiana Jones adventure since 1989’s The Last Crusade.
That fact alone might be all you need to know to get excited about Indy’s new gaming outing, heading to Xbox Series X and S consoles, and PC on December 9th, ahead of a PS5 release next Spring.
Like the great adventurer himself, developers MachineGames (under Bethesda’s publishing banner) have taken some well-calculated risks to pull off a remarkably polished and faithful adaptation of one of cinema’s most beloved heroes. But, like the interlocking mechanisms of a deadly tomb, the risks all snap together impressively — and, just like the secrets of an archeological dig, thankfully again finds the seemingly-lost life in this once-unstoppable franchise.
A globe-trotting adventure that sees Indiana Jones travel from the majestic halls of the Vatican to the deserts of Gizeh and jungles of Sukhothai, you’ll race against the Nazi army to stop an incomprehensible power falling into the hands of evil.
All in a day’s work for the daring doctor, eh?
The Great Circle belongs in a museum — and that's intended in the most complimentary way possible. Here’s five reasons it’s Indy’s greatest gaming adventure ever.
1. Don’t just play as Dr Jones, become Indiana
When Indiana Jones and The Great Circle was first revealed, there was a collective eyebrow raised at the choice to present the game from a first person perspective. Sure, it’s developer MachineGames home turf, having successfully blasted Nazis to smithereens in their Wolfenstein reboot series.
But Indy? That hat! That whip! That silhouette! You’ve got Harrison Ford’s likeness for crying out loud — don’t you want the player to be able to see it?
Turns out, we’d all got it very wrong. MachineGames wasn’t interested in making just an Indiana Jones game — this is basically as close to an Indiana Jones simulator as you’re going to get.
Seeing things from Indy’s perspective is key here — the moment of elation when your eyes fall across the solution to a puzzle, the fear of turning down a corridor to face a column of goose-stepping Nazis, the sense of wonder when an ancient tomb’s secrets are revealed. They’re emotional beats that, sure, can play out well in a film (or third-person game) when you’re behind the camera — but there’s a different sense of connection, danger and excitement when you’re behind the eyes. MachineGames are smart enough to pull the camera back to that third-person perspective too when it makes sense — say, when climbing a building that’d otherwise leave you two inches away from a brick wall.
But the point here is to really feel like you are Indy, rather than directing his avatar around. It’s something that carries over into the very tactile nature of the game. Indy, brave as he is, always feels vulnerable, heightening the sense of heroism his every action takes. And you’ll live through that with his every movement, whether that’s in tiny acts like the very deliberate opening of a door, to the windmill of punches in a fist fight.
2. No Harrison? No problem
Just as there was trepidation around viewing the game from a first person perspective, so too were there worries around Harrison Ford’s absence here. The man is Indiana Jones, the two can’t be separated — could The Great Circle convince without his instantly recognisable voice?
Absolutely yes.
Troy Baker, a veteran game voice over artist, lends his vocal talents to The Great Circle, as well as cracking the whip in motion captured scenes. He does a phenomenal job of capturing Ford’s likeness — every vocal tick and charming smirk perfectly captured without falling into parody. Bringing back the likeness of a younger Ford was a risky move — just look back to The Dial of Destiny’s uncanny weirdness in cinemas — but the game holds up better in this regard than the recent silver screen outing did.
It’s a level of production quality and authenticity that’s held up from the game’s first moments right through the adventure. The late Denholm Elliot’s Marcus Brody is equally-well recaptured here by David Shaughnessy, and it’s also the final performance from the late Tony Todd, star of Candyman, The Crow and Platoon, who makes for an impressively imposing giant-sized religious zealot.
The attention to detail goes beyond the stars and into the art direction, too — there’s Spielbergian-warmth to the colour palette and art direction, with levels littered with Easter eggs for fans. And the score could very easily be mistaken for John Williams own work — a greater compliment we can’t think of for the game’s composer Gordy Harb. And rest assured — the strings of the iconic Raiders March theme is present and correct.
3. A stealthy slugger, not a shooter
When you think of Indiana Jones, how often do you picture him with a pistol in hand? With one character-defining exception, I’d imagine rarely — he’s a smart thinker, not a sharp shooter, only reverting to firearms when the odds are not in his favour.
What he’s not averse to though is swinging a punch, and MachineGames leans heavily into Jones’s reputation as a slugger. “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage”, to quote Jones himself, and his brawling boundaries are determined by a realistically-modest stamina bar — with each fist tied to a trigger button, you’ll have to pick your punches, making each battle a real test of Indy’s very-human abilities. Allow yourself to be met by more than a couple of fascists, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Fittingly, Indy’s skills in this department are improved by reading collectible books hidden throughout the levels. Knowledge is power, after all.
You can rush into the action as you see fit of course, if all-out action is your preferred play style. But there’s more to Jones than just brute force, and much of The Great Circle sees you sneaking around fascist encampments, stealthily progressing towards your next goal. It’s a relatively simple stealth system — patrol routes are forgiving and you’ve got a good amount of time to break the line of sight should you be spotted. But it does give you lots of opportunities for creatively approaching any situation. Stealth take downs are particularly meaty — Jones can pick up lots of improvised weapons littered around the levels, adding to that role-playing sense of Jones’s resourcefulness. And their use has some brutal comedic effects — smashing a lute over a Black Shirt’s head while Baker delivers a quippy one-liner never fails to raise a smile.
And don’t forget Indy’s trusty whip. When not being used to traverse the environment, looped around wall tops or anchored to swing over impassable gaps, it makes for a great combat tool. Though it’s not particularly lethal, it’s a useful crowd-control option, keeping enemies at bay, disarming gunslingers, or pulling unwitting foes close for a crushing blow.
When Jones does get to fire off a few rounds, there’s the same crunchy weightiness as felt in the fisticuffs. MachineGames pedigree for Nazi-popping pistols and rifles is keenly felt — again, more grounded than the army-slaying superheroics of, say, a Call of Duty romp.
4. A magical mystery tour — and brain teasers worthy of a professor
It’s not all ruff-and-tumble though, and MachineGames does a superb job of representing Indiana Jones’s cerebral skills too.
The game weaves together wider open levels across the globe with more directed linear sections — but whether you’re exploring a dense jungle or the corridors of a holy city, there are secrets and artefacts aplenty to find. It lets you indulge Indy’s passion for the past in a way previous games haven’t. As you check every nook and cranny, uncovering shards of pottery and lost idols, there’s a sense of learn-ed glee to Jones’s reactions. These finds are not without gameplay rewards either — each lost treasure discovered gifts the player ‘Adventure Points’, used to boost Indy’s skills and encourage exploration of the lavishly-dressed sets.
For my money though, the game is at its best not in its well-acted cutscenes or its bone-crunching fights, but in the moments where your grey matter is challenged. Across each level you’ll be tasked with completing Field Work and Mysteries as well as following the main quest, each also awarding Adventure Points upon completion.
Field Work and Mysteries are optional sub-plots and side-quests — Field Work larger, multi-faceted puzzles and storylines, Mysteries smaller-scale brainteasers more numerous in number and littered around each level. Whether it’s uncovering secret passages from maps and clues, deciphering enigmas or disarming traps, their solutions are not offered up on a plate — though scaling to your chosen difficulty level, you’ll have to use environmental hints and real-world knowledge to solve these puzzles, rewarding the patient and observant. Those penny-dropping moments when Indy uncovers a solution to a centuries-old mystery, just staring him in the face the whole time? They’re here in spades, and you’ll feel like a genius when you figure them out.
5. Cinematic set pieces
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is crammed full of cutscenes — you could argue too many cutscenes, were their quality not of the highest standard. The Great Circle never looks less than amazing throughout the time we’ve spent with the game, both when playing and during cinematics, and there’s Hollywood-level flair shot through its hands-off scenes.
But MachineGames really nails the moments when the cinematic set piece and player control collide. Just as Spielberg knew how to multiply the peril Indy faces with each frame of film, so too do the developers know just how to crank up the excitement with a new, one-off mechanic or showstopping scene at key beats throughout the story.
It’s no spoiler to reveal the launch trailer’s death-defying leap from fighter-plane gun seat to the wing of another aircraft. But let’s just say the tutorial scene here might be the best we’ve ever played — and a fantastic taste of the role-playing wish fulfilment to come...
MachineGames have chosen… wisely
To paraphrase Indy’s long-time on-off love interest Marion Ravenwood, we always knew Indy’d come walking back through our door. We just didn’t think it’d be in the guise of a first-person video game.
After being burned by The Crystal Skull, and merely entertained by The Dial of Destiny, it is a relief to be blown away by Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. MachineGames clearly love the franchise, understand its characters, and have a knack for building an adventure as full of wonder as it is action.
Pick up that controller, put on that fedora and hum that theme tune. Indy’s back.
