Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Review – “I’m Making This Up As I Go”

The second level in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle takes Indy inside the bowels of Vatican City. It’s the first time when MachineGames breaks loose from its linear shackles, presenting you with a massive play area to freely explore. I went from gawking at Michelangelo’s masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to exploring the ancient ruins hidden deep beneath the holy city, spending more than three hours on this single level alone without coming close to completing every task in Indy’s journal.

It’s not quite what I expected from a studio known for its frenetic shooters, nor a game that’s been described as a first-person action-adventure. For the most part, The Great Circle is a stealth game that resembles Dishonored more than any of MachineGames’ previous output. Sure, you could skulk through the shadows in Wolfenstein, plunging knives into Nazi spines, but it was a shooter first and foremost. The Great Circle has moments of action, but its violence is sudden and tends to end quickly, indicative of Indiana Jones as a character; it wouldn’t make sense if he were running and gunning like BJ Blazkowicz. It’s a refreshing change of pace for the studio, and it’s a rip-roaring good time, even if the inexperience of creating this sort of game sometimes shows.

In terms of story and tone, MachineGames definitely understood the assignment. The Great Circle’s prologue is essentially a love letter to Raiders of the Lost Ark, immediately making it clear how much the studio both grasps and reveres the series and its globe-trotting protagonist. This feeling persists throughout the entire game, beginning with an opening level that takes place inside the fictional walls of Marshall College, where Indy teaches archeology. The Great Circle is set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, weaving into the existing fabric of the series in a way that makes it feel like a natural extension of Indy’s story. A few familiar faces return, and new characters seamlessly blend into its cinematic world, contributing to a compelling adventure that sees you travel the world, uncover ancient mysteries, and butt heads with the Axis powers.

The Great Circle does a fantastic job of nailing the look and sound of the 43-year-old series. The triumphant score by composer Gordy Haab captures the essence of John Williams’s iconic original; Indy looks like he’s stepped right out of the silver screen, and Troy Baker does a wonderful impression of the famed treasure hunter, perfecting both his voice and physical mannerisms. It’s often almost impossible to tell you’re not listening to a young, charismatic Harrison Ford, which is also a credit to the game’s writing and how it achieves Indy’s charm, distinct humor, and all-consuming passion for history and archeology. Emmerich Voss, a Nazi archeologist for the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection, also acts as a compelling foil to Indy. He’s manipulative and sneeringly evil while also sharing similar traits with our hero, mirroring Indy’s obsession with a much more twisted moral compass.

In an effort to stop Voss and his fascist underlings, The Great Circle takes you across the globe, from the looming shadows of the Great Pyramids to a Nazi battleship teetering precariously on top of a Himalayan mountain. Each location is meticulously detailed and clearly researched, recreating specific places from the films–like Marshall College–and actual historical sites alike, balancing fiction and history in a way the best Indiana Jones tales often do.

I spent way too long roaming the halls of Indy’s collegiate workplace, observing all of the trimmings in his office and examining each display case in its museum. The first-person perspective and tactile nature of everything you do makes for a wonderfully immersive experience. The in-game map, for instance, is a physical item you can pull out and look at while exploring; unlocking doors requires you to take out a key and turn it in the lock, and many of the puzzles are solved by grabbing and using items in the environment, whether you’re placing cogwheels in an ancient contraption or pouring wine into specific altars.

Puzzles often play out like environmental riddles, challenging you to observe your surroundings to figure out a solution. Others see you consulting Indy’s journal, which tracks and catalogs your adventure with notes, photos, and clues that you take and gather yourself. There are two difficulty settings for puzzles: The default setting and another that makes them easier. I stuck with the default, and aside from a few tricky conundrums in some of the later side quests, I didn’t find The Great Circle’s multi-layered puzzles particularly difficult. Most were rather simple, in fact, but the game’s tactile nature, lush environments, and blending of tone and mechanics meant that I still enjoyed solving each one.

There’s some light platforming involved, too, letting you use Indy’s iconic whip to swing over chasms and descend into dusty tombs. The slow process of climbing, mantling, and shimmying across ledges is quite stale–and the awkward shifts between first- and third-person aren’t handled as elegantly as they could be–but I did appreciate the lack of yellow paint and how this forces you to scrutinize the environment before barreling forward. There’s still the occasional white cloth blowing in the wind or tied to some ledges, but they’re less noticeable.

[Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is] a refreshing change of pace for the studio and it’s a rip-roaring good time

When you’re not rummaging through centuries-old catacombs and discovering hidden treasures, most of your time is spent avoiding the prying eyes of patrolling Nazis. There are guns in The Great Circle, but I never felt compelled to fire any of them. Firearms were never a first, second, or even third option for dealing with the game’s enemies, partly because of the game’s strong focus on making you feel like Indiana Jones, but also because there’s a lot of freedom and player expression in how you can approach enemies. Particularly in its larger and more open-ended levels, there are multiple solutions to almost every combat encounter, whether you’re utilizing scaffolding to climb up and around a fascist checkpoint, crawling through a jagged hole in a fence, or donning a disguise to stroll right through the entrance. These immersive-sim elements are fairly light, but they imbue the game’s stealth and exploration with a palpable sense of player agency.

If you opt for the clandestine route, you’ll find that stealth in The Great Circle is forgiving enough on the game’s default difficulty to where you can sneak past Nazi patrols relatively quickly. It takes a while for guards to fully notice you, establishing a kinetic pace that’s further complemented by some cinematic flourishes. To perform a stealth takedown, for instance, you need to grab a makeshift weapon from the environment. I can’t count the amount of times I clobbered a Nazi over the head with all sorts of guitars, broomsticks, wine bottles, and dirty frying pans.

It’s satisfying, to say the least. And if you are spotted, it’s not the end of the world. You can play fast and loose with the game’s stealth systems because being seen typically only results in a small-scale brawl. Most enemies are keen to engage you in a fistfight rather than calling for backup, and it’s rare for more than a few enemies to notice when things go awry. Indy’s punches feel weighty and make a thunderous impact when they connect, which somewhat makes up for the enemy AI’s predictable and slightly rigid attacks. Parrying is also simple to execute thanks to a generous timing window, and there are few feelings quite as satisfying as catching a Nazi’s left hook before following up with a devastating haymaker of your own. Combat is quite shallow, however, and I could see some tedium creeping in, but only if I’d chosen to instigate too many fights.

It’s possible to avoid combat altogether if you’re careful, but flitting between considered sneaking and bursts of chaotic brawling just feels right. Indy has always been a scrappy underdog going up against the might of the Third Reich. He’s a superhero without any superpowers, but he’s resourceful, resolute, and a master of improvisation. If going undetected doesn’t work, knock some skulls together. If a fascist shows up to a fistfight with a gun, whip it out of his hands. Then, when more show up, pick up that same gun and use it as an impromptu melee weapon to beat them to a pulp. This is just another facet where MachineGames has captured the spirit of being Indiana Jones, resulting in a thrilling dynamic between stealth and action.

There are a few smaller, more linear levels mixed in between the larger freeform ones that hone in on this dynamic. This is also where you’re strapped into The Great Circle’s veritable rollercoaster of histrionic set pieces, appropriating the intense action sequences for which the series is known. These moments tend to be fairly straightforward from a gameplay perspective, but they succeed in creating a large-scale spectacle, whether you’re shooting down Japanese warplanes in Shanghai or hurtling down the side of a snow-covered mountain.

The game’s massive open-ended levels are the highlight, though. Not just because they provide multiple ways for you to complete objectives, but because your exploration is also rewarded with various side quests, secrets, and more. “Fieldwork,” as some optional missions are labeled, are more involved than the smaller Mysteries you’ll find. They sometimes tie into the main adventure, adding more depth to the game’s narrative, while others present intriguing standalone tales.

One in Sukhothai revolves around finding a missing person who, it turns out, is trapped in a tomb full of mechanical apparatus that’s controlled by directing the flow of water. Another, in Giza, relates to one of the secretive factions involved in the main story, sending you into the scorpion-infested caverns beneath the Great Sphinx to uncover more about their purpose. Mysteries, meanwhile, are smaller in scale. You might intercept correspondence between two enemies engaged in a code-breaking game or seek out some thieving primates who stole a key to one of the fascist’s store rooms–where numerous goodies await.

By completing these quests, you’re rewarded with skill books, money, or one of the game’s various collectibles. The Great Circle doesn’t feature a traditional skill tree; instead, Indy learns new abilities by reading books scattered throughout the game. It makes sense since he’s an archeologist and professor, and these skills are somewhat grounded, letting you improve your stamina or increase the power behind your punches. They’re not the most exciting upgrades, but unlocking them via exploration feels organic.

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the quintessential Indiana Jones game. It captures the look, sound, and spirit of the movies, presenting a riveting story with an unexpected focus on stealth and freeform exploration that satisfies even when certain aspects of its design are slightly underwhelming. More than anything, MachineGames has successfully designed a game around its protagonist; its mix of improvisational stealth and combat feels distinct by adopting a fast and loose style that echoes Indy’s scrappy persistence. It might not be quite as accomplished in all areas as the studio’s Wolfenstein games, but Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is still a frequent delight.