Indiana Jones and the Great Circle delivers one of the greatest action adventure experiences in modern gaming.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is finally here, and it’s been a long time coming. This is one of the games of 2024 that I was looking forward to playing, and it’s been years since an Indiana Jones game was released.
But thanks to Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames, now we can go back to enjoy playing as the iconic archaeologist, as this game takes you between the events of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Although, it’ll be fun to play legendary actor Harrison Ford’s character. However, other than his likeness from the 1980s, he isn’t featured in the game to provide voice-over and motion capture.
And it makes sense as well, seeing as it’ll be asking a lot from the 82-year-old to perform as he did more than 40 years ago. Instead, both roles were wonderfully carried out by legendary voice actor Troy Baker. As a bonus, Troy’s voice sounds very similar to that of much younger Harrison.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes you to the year 1937, Connecticut, USA. The story begins in Marshall College, where Indiana is awoken from a break-in by an unknown intruder, played by the recently deceased horror movie icon Tony Todd, who leads to the theft of a priceless relic.
And, of course, Indiana will go on a wild adventure in order to retrieve it, as well as unravel its mystery. And you’re guaranteed to get an excellently crafted, brilliantly written, and undeniably addictive campaign that’ll grab your attention from start to finish.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s gameplay is primarily in the first-person, and for instances that involve environmental interactions, such as climbing on ledges or lifting heavy objects, you’ll be in the third person. Both modes will be alternating between each other based on occasions such as the actions in the gameplay and cutscenes.
You also have the privilege of controlling Indiana from linear and story-sensitive locations to much more expansive and exploratory environments worldwide to enjoy main and side quests, activities, challenges, and much more.
And what’s Indiana Jones without his legendary Bullwhip? It’s a very useful tool for climbing, grappling, swinging and yanking. It’s the one tool you must never leave home without if you’re Indiana Jones.
Combat comes in different forms: hand-to-hand, bullwhip, firearms, and more, and each is useful in its way of aiding you through the adventure. Moreover, combat, especially in hand-to-hand combat, is consumed when you’re attacking.
You’ll see a stamina bar in the middle of your screen to signal how much is being used. Then, there’s the ‘Fortitude’ feature that involves wearing an Indianan outfit and having an additional health meter that allows you to take more damage and recharge after being in cooldown.
Hand-to-hand combat involves using the left and right triggers to use a couple of attacking mechanics with your left and right hands. Plus, grab, parry, dodge, and click on the right analog to push enemies and more.
There is an impressively sizeable depth when it comes to dealing with enemies with your bare hands. Although, the hand-to-hand combat is pretty clunky and buggy. It’s still fun to use, nonetheless. To bring more authenticity to the game, they’ve added the exact hitting sound effects from the Indiana Jones movies.
As mentioned, there are other methods of combat. With your trusted Bullwhip, it can also be used during combat. You can whack, grab, and pull enemies with the whip and also disarm them. You also have your handgun that’ll come in handy for gun fights. Also, after defeating enemies, you could claim their firearms, go to town, and more. The gun battles are just as exciting as the hand-to-hand combat.
And when you’re not in combat in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you can choose to use stealth, which is occasionally the better alternative than to get your hands dirty. In your adventure, you’ll be up against Nazis and Fascists. So, sometimes, instead of just launching yourself into combat, you can simply case enemy territories so that you can get past them without being spotted.
There are missions where stealth is needed, and being inconspicuous adds more spice to this adventure. During stealth, you crouch, create distractions, and, of course, perform silent takedowns with your bare hands or objects and hide the bodies after doing so. Another thing you can do is wear disguises. Pose as a civilian or one of the enemies to keep your true identity hidden.
With all of that said, there’s another feature to be fond of with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – puzzle solving, and lots of it. In my opinion, this is probably the most exciting aspect of the game, as they do very well at challenging your mind. Now, don’t worry, there aren’t any puzzles that’ll deem impossible, regardless of what difficulty you set the adventure experience.
Although there are many that are optional, even on the hardest level, they’ll be harder, but at the same time, they’re manageable. So you won’t have to pull your hair out. If you do find yourself feeling stuck on a puzzle, using a camera that you have to purchase will help. This camera not only allows you to take photos for missions, activities, and so on but can also be used to unlock hints and clues for puzzles.
When it comes to navigation in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, there are many different ways to explore areas or locations, such as zip lines, swimming, and, of course, fast traveling to save you some trouble. One of my personal favorites is a boat that you can use to travel around much larger locations.
And it’s actually very simple to use the left analog to drive the boat. As well as the B button to dock the boat. Plus, you can use any of the many radios that can be found at numerous docks to call a companion to take the boat back to a dock.
When I first learned about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which are primarily in first person, I was a little skeptical, mainly due to the idea that a game like this would be much more fitting if it were strictly third person.
However, the former has eventually grown on me. In fact, it’s very easy to get used to it, and with the amount of excitement the game has to offer, it no longer phases you. In fact, you can look at it as experiencing the POV of the great archaeologist.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s visuals, designs, and animations (including the facial animations) were beautifully crafted, and it’s even better when playing in the vibrant 4K resolution. As for the music/soundtrack, don’t even get me started.
The use of the movie franchise’s main theme track, along with many other tracks, was second to none. It gave me the sensation that I was in an actual Indiana Jones film—incredible stuff.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the incredible action-adventure game fans have been waiting for. It is, without a doubt, my favorite game of 2024. It was expected that this game would be good, but it did not deliver what would ultimately be a flawless and authentic Indiana Jones experience.
With a phenomenally written story, as well as immersive missions, puzzles, exciting combat and stealth, and much more, this is a fantastic present for Xbox and PC players. The best part is that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available on Xbox and PC Game Pass. However, PlayStation 5 users will have to wait until early 2025 to enjoy this bad boy.
