Traveling across the globe, unearthing hidden relics in age-old ruins, and battering Nazis while you’re at it sure sounds like an adventure—sign me up. This expedition sees you playing as Indiana Jones, but frankly, that doesn’t matter much to me.
MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a labor of love for fans of the iconic film franchise—those who donned a fedora in their youth, dug up the garden beds, and terrorized family and friends with their whip skills. I am not one of those fans. In fact, I only watched the Indiana Jones movies for the first time this year (and yes, they’re pretty good).
As a non-Indy fan, I initially wasn’t interested in Great Circle, but following a hands-off Gamescom gameplay preview event, I’m now in the market for a fedora of my own.
A great adventure
Described by MachineGames as “a direct sequel” to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Great Circle picks up with Indy in 1937. After being awakened by a break-in, Dr. Jones finds a priceless relic has been stolen from him, triggering a globetrotting adventure that sees him uncovering a worldwide conspiracy—and coming toe-to-toe with the villainous Voss, who’s destroying historical sites in search of mysterious artifacts. Indy isn’t alone in his expedition; he’s joined by Italian journalist Gina, who’s on a quest to find her sister. According to creative director Axel Torvenius, producer (and Bethesda short king) Todd Howard “ignited” the story, so it’s no surprise it sounds pretty epic.
While the premise is certainly fitting, the gameplay is what really caught my attention. To compare Great Circle to the likes of Uncharted and Tomb Raider feels a bit lazy, but it’s hard to shy away from the similarities. A charismatic adventurer chasing relics and solving puzzles is part and parcel of these series, but Great Circle seems to elevate these elements by mixing in mechanics from MachineGames’ past works, as well as games you may not expect.
An old-fashion brawl
During our preview, we saw these elements come together as Indy and Gina explored the Great Sphinx of Giza. Beforehand, however, Indy had to take out the goons guarding the entrance. With a crack of his whip, our daring archeologist swung into combat, landing on the guards before getting into some old-fashioned fisticuffs.
The Brawling feature doesn’t just involve throwing hands, though. By mixing up precise punches, dodges, and parries, you can build up combos to unleash more powerful attacks and classic finishers. If you prefer to pull out your revolver or whip to make things quicker (or re-enact “that scene”), you can—there are also plenty of environmental objects you can use as weapons, too, including rolling pins and spades.
If you’d rather outsmart your opponents, you can use these objects to distract or stun enemies, allowing you to take them out more stealthily.
As you progress, you unlock Adventure Points that let you expand your skillset, with dozens of upgrades available to tune Indy to your playstyle. There are also Adventure Books to find that grant abilities like True Grit, which allows Dr Jones to come back from a fatal blow.
A man of many hats
After watching Indy pummel his adversaries, he came across another challenge—one that required brain, not brawn, to solve. A large concrete door, with an empty, circular inset, blocked the path into the depths of the Sphinx. This is when Indy needs to swap his fedora for a deerstalker. To solve puzzles like these, you need to search your environment for clues. An excavation logbook on a nearby table mentioned a Gold Medallion and gave an insight into where to find it. Now, it was time to swap the deerstalker for something else entirely.
Like Hitman, some parts of Great Circle require Indy to don a disguise to slip past enemies undetected. After throwing on some new attire, Indy snuck past a table of belligerent guards, picked up the Gold Medallion, and then placed a bottle of alcohol on the table to keep up appearances. Easy peasy—and much less bloody than Hitman, but you can hide bodies when needed.
Once Indy reached the depths of the Sphinx, the puzzles only continued. From a gate puzzle that requires you to use your whip for traversal (rather than pain) to a brain teaser involving mirrors and lights, navigating ruins looks set to tantalize your noggin. But I love that. The camera feature, which sees you taking photos of clues to help solve these puzzles, only adds to the depth.
But Great Circle isn’t all archeological head-scratchers—nor is it entirely linear. Between your main adventures, you can let curiosity take you off the main path and uncover secrets, side missions, and other mysteries. You can even return to prior areas if you missed them the first time. These diversions won’t take you too far from the game’s core, however, as game director Jerk Gustafsson says everything you can do in the game “contributes to [its] overarching storyline.”
For fans and adventurers alike
From what I’ve seen so far, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is clearly made with fans in mind—but it’s not exclusively for them. Likewise, if you weren’t a Wolfenstein fan, you can seek comfort in the fact Gustafsson says Great Circle is “much more approachable and casual” than that series. If, like me, you love perplexing puzzles and epic globetrotting adventures, but aren’t fanatic about Dr. Jones, don’t rule out Great Circle like I did.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set to release on Dec. 9 for Xbox Game Pass and PC.
