If I’m to be honest, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle came as a huge surprise. Initially, I didn’t expect much from it. Sure, it was bound to be an okay game at the very least considering Machine Games’ legacy, I thought. On release, though, I had a Gamepass subscription and plenty of time on my hands and so I thought — why not? Cue me being absolutely blown away by the game, with a smile almost etched on my face throughout my playthrough.
The Great Circle is best described as an immersive-sim that wants you to be Indiana Jones. Apart from a few set-piece moments that rival the movies, it drops you onto small but dense maps and lets you solve the puzzles present within it. These puzzles were never explicitly hard, but what the game excels at is not holding your hand through them, peppering hints throughout its levels leading to some really nice payoffs when you solve them.
These maps also have a ton of collectibles for you to find, with some of them tying into the story. They present themselves as rewards for organic exploration. Funnily, most of the time, I actually wanted to spend time exploring and clearing out the map, with the experience itself feeling like a reward. Some of the collectibles also let you progress your Indy, making him more adept at combat or stealth. The combat itself is fun, apart from some clunky moments when you’re fighting multiple enemies. Even then, picking up a random bottle you see near you and breaking that over a fascist’s head never got old. Oftentimes, I would prefer head-on combat over stealth as that seemed more fun — which is an exception to how I normally approach immersive-sims.
The game’s story is surprisingly good as well, with amazing performances delivered by the cast. Baker’s Indy felt like a 1:1 replica of Ford’s, and seeing him in action was genuinely amazing. Voss, the game’s main antagonist, is astonishingly good too with him stealing the scenes he is a part of. The cutscenes are well-made and are very reminiscent of Spielberg’s direction.
The game felt extremely nostalgic to play, actually, as it consistently reminded me of games from the late 2005s, with giant set-piece moments that are equally as fun to play through as the game’s moment-to-moment exploration. When the game’s antagonist adopted a karate fighting stance towards the end of the game, after warning the player multiple times that he knows “kara-te”, I could not help but smile and cheer for the game. It was a blast through and through, packed with fun, adventure and emotion.
VERDICT: IJTGC is a game that will remind you of old movie tie-ins, but in a way that ensures it is a game first-and-foremost. It has a good story, amazing performances, satisfying exploration and fun (sometimes clunky) combat that is sure to make you smile in the 30ish hours that it’ll stay with you. I rate it a nine out of 10.