Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review (PC) – I Understand Its Power Now

It’s been over a decade since Indiana Jones last appeared in a video game, dating back to the 2009’s Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, not counting the LEGO and mobile games.

Since then, fans have been waiting patiently—or maybe not so patiently—for another chance to step into the boots of the world’s most famous archaeologist. For years, the allure of treasure-filled tombs, perilous chases, and whip-cracking action felt like a forgotten relic in the gaming world. Now, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle arrives to answer that long wait, promising to deliver the cinematic thrills and globe-trotting excitement that fans have been craving. But after all these years, does this new adventure live up to its legendary name? Let’s dive in to find out.

Game Name: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Platform(s): Xbox Series X|S, PC (reviewed), Coming To PlayStation 2025
Publisher(s): Bethesda Softworks
Developer(s): MachineGames
Release Date: December 9th 2024, Early Access December 6th

Adventure Awaits

Indiana Jones has inspired so many great action-adventure games in the past, from Tomb Raider to Uncharted and more. So, it’s only natural that you might expect Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to take on the same form. What I found instead is what I would call an adventure-action game.

The focus of Indy throughout his movies and other adaptions has always been adventure and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is no different. It has these cinematic set-piece moments you might expect from Uncharted, but action is a smaller part of the experience.

What awaits you in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a fantastic adventure that begins with a cat mummy being stolen from the Marshall College Museum. Following this, Indiana Jones voiced by Troy Baker, sets off to find his cat and figure out why it was stolen in the first place. What Indy uncovers is a much bigger story involving the Great Circle and unfortunately, the Nazis as the events of the game take place in 1937. This allows Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to be perfectly positioned between Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981) and The Last Crusade (1989) with the movies events taking place in 1936 and 1938 respectively.

Globe Trotting

Throughout this globe-trotting tale, you’ll visit several different locations, each one unique and beautiful, packed full of things to do.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle from a design perspective is what I would describe as an open-linear game. Structurally, this is not an open-world as there is no seamless travel between the various regions, I wouldn’t even describe it as a semi-open world game. Each location is more like a Hitman level but on a slightly bigger scale, you’ll have restricted areas that require a certain disguise.

Unlike Hitman, you can’t just knock some poor guy on the head and steal his clothes. These disguises can only be found in certain locals within each sandbox, occasionally you’ll need a specific outfit to do a certain side activity. Fancy your hands in an underground fight club? You better find the right outfit.

Treasures To Find

Speaking of side activities, there is so much treasure to be found off the beaten path. Optional tombs to raid, safes to crack, and more, but what impressed me the most was how none of this content feels like filler. For example, in the Vatican, I found a fellow archaeologist whose work had been interrupted as his apprentice was taken by The Black Suits. I won’t spoil the outcome of the quest but what I discovered along the way connected directly back to the main narrative and expanded on it.

Each location has hours of optional content to engage with and all of it hand a sense of adventure, learning something new and uncovering a mystery. I found myself spending 5-6 hours, just exploring the Vatican finding secrets and ways to upgrade.

Lucky Hat

Yes, you can upgrade Indy through your travels by finding books that contain a skill. You then use your adventure points to unlock this skill. Adventure points are unlocked dynamically as you play. Everything you do rewards some adventure points from finding a note with lore to solving a puzzle or even taking some photos. Each aspect of this game is in service of the adventure you are on and the game will reward you accordingly for exploring away from the golden path.

Those side missions that find you helping someone offer the most adventure points. They are a bit more time-consuming, but given what they add to the story and lore while providing you a way to upgrade yourself, they are well worth the time in my opinion.

If you are struggling to find the skill books you can find a vendor in each location that sells maps for certain items if you have enough in-game cash… don’t worry there are no microtransactions found in the game. Everything you need can be found in the game. Even medicine bottles, which can be given to certain vendors to upgrade your health and stamina.

If you can’t find enough medicine bottles for an upgrade there is a simple way to gain a temporary boost to health and stamina. All you have to do is eat some food, fruits will increase stamina and other food items will increase health. I found it useful to always keep some sort of snack in my back pocket, you never know when a donut is going to save your life.

Nazi Punching Makes Me Feel Good

Of course, you’re going to need these health and stamina boosts. How else will you punch the Nazi scum in the face? If you’ve seen any gameplay of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you’ll know that combat is mostly focused on melee. While exploring, there are many items that can be used as weapons, from frying pans to fly swatters, sledgehammers to wrenches, and more. Some of these weapons even have multiple uses, such as opening up passageways or distracting enemies to maintain stealth.

So, how do you actually use these weapons? Well, you pick them up with the X button and then swing them by either tapping or holding the right trigger on the Xbox controller for a light or heavy attack. Each weapon has specific durability, indicated by white dots in the bottom right of the screen while holding a weapon. Light attacks use up one notch of durability, with heavy attacks taking two notches.

As I mentioned earlier, certain weapons also have multiple uses. Take a glass bottle, for example, you could smash it over a Nazi’s skull, or you could throw it using the left trigger to aim and the right trigger to throw, causing a distraction. A sledgehammer can be used to knock down fragile walls and more.

Outside of weapons, you can also engage in fisticuffs with your foes, or in true Indy style, you could make use of your whip. When punching, you use the left and right triggers to punch with the corresponding hand. Tapping the left bumper just before receiving a hit will let you parry. This is something that I utilized a lot. The timing for the parry is different depending on enemy attack patterns and seems to change based on difficulty settings.

A Whip To A Gunfight

You won’t get far relying on just your fists in a gunfight, but luckily, you can wield Indy’s iconic whip, which serves multiple purposes in combat. Used alongside your fists, it gives you a significant advantage. When facing an enemy armed with a gun or melee weapon, a quick tap of the right bumper will disarm them with the sharp crack of your whip. If you hold the right bumper, you can even pull your adversary toward you and deliver a flurry of punches to finish them off.

If melee isn’t your thing, you can also use Indy’s legendary revolver. Just keep in mind that it is only accessible when wearing Indy’s own outfit. You can whip it out with a quick press of left on the d-pad. Using the gun is as you might expect from any shooter: a combination of the left trigger and left stick to aim, and the right trigger to fire a shot. The shooting here felt good, very similar to MachineGames’ Wolfenstein titles. That being said, with ammo being limited and melee combat having a great flow with moments of comedic brilliance, I rarely found myself using Indy’s revolver in combat, but it was a useful last resort.

In The Hands Of The Enemy

Indy’s revolver isn’t the only firearm you can use either. Should you disarm or knock out an enemy with a gun, you are free to pick it up for yourself. These weapons are temporary since you cannot find more ammo for them. However, that doesn’t mean they are useless when the ammo is depleted as you can turn any firearm into a melee weapon. Funnily enough, this is much more useful than you might think, especially since you can easily get overwhelmed by anything more than two enemies at a time.

Personally, if I was using a firearm, I found myself using one of the enemy weapons, as they can help clear out a number of enemies more quickly than a revolver.

When it comes to combat overall, I found it to be much more free-flowing than it looks, while also feeling weighty. Melee can lead to some very funny moments that had me laughing all the time. Guns felt good to use but were much less of a focus, as they should be in an Indiana Jones game. My one criticism is that, due to a lack of enemy variety, combat can get a bit repetitive, but it never felt unfun, which is a testament to what MachineGames has crafted here and how, even in combat, they nailed the feel and comedic tone of Indy’s adventures.

Solving Puzzles Just Like Indiana Jones

We’ve talked about combat, but everyone knows the most important part of being the world’s greatest archaeologist is the ability to solve puzzles.

Solving puzzles is something you’ll do a lot of throughout Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but how does it actually work? Well, that depends on the puzzle. Some require you to find notes and decipher codes, others involve manipulating light to open doors, and some have you using your whip to traverse through the area, activating switches and levers.

There is a nice variety of puzzles throughout the game that make use of multiple mechanics. They’re well-designed and never too hard, but just difficult enough to give you a great sense of reward when you figure out the solution. At least, that’s what I found on the default difficulty.

One very useful aspect of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is that Adventure and Action have different difficulty settings. So, if you want easier puzzles but harder combat, you can, and vice versa.

Indiana Jones Has Never Looked Better

Now, I have to talk about the presentation in this game. Honestly, it’s outstanding, despite one noticeable issue: the amount of pop-in. Whether it’s gameplay, in-engine cutscenes, or anything else, every aspect of the visuals is amazing. From the fine details on Indy’s jacket in cutscenes to the bruising on enemy faces as you punch them, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was also developed with ray tracing in mind, and it is no surprise, as the lighting and reflections look phenomenal. It is a shame that the otherwise amazing visuals are brought down the amount of pop-in, which to me, impacts both gameplay and cinematic scenes.

Luckily, audio doesn’t suffer any such issues, and everything sounds great. Gordy Haab writes the music for this game, and that is no surprise. Haab is known for taking on video games adapted from movies that John Williams originally worked on. His list of credits within video games speaks for itself, from EA’s Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor to even 2009’s Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. Gordy Haab has always handled and adapted John Williams’ work in a way that is respectful of his legacy while adding his own twist. The score in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is no different, providing some magical new moments as well as nostalgic ones.

Written and Performed For The Silver Screen?

So, the presentation throughout is fantastic, despite some minor issues. Presentation this good deserves a script worthy of it, and not only is the script for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle worthy, but it is also absolutely amazing. What the writers from MachineGames have crafted here captures all the right tones and emotions you’d expect from an Indy movie. Dare I say, it’s worthy of the silver screen itself, with what I would say is my favourite Indiana Jones story.

It’s not just the main story that nails the writing, either— all the quips during gameplay and side mission dialogue are on point.

Indiana Jones, Is That You?

Of course, a script is only as good as those bringing it to life, and I have to say these performances shocked me with their level of excellence. Let’s talk about Troy Baker first, who assumes the role of Indiana Jones. With this game being set between two of the movies and Indy having the face of a young Harrison Ford, one might think that they wanted Harrison Ford for this game.

However, with Harrison now being older and this being based on a much younger, more energetic Indy, that wouldn’t have been the right choice. Troy Baker, on the other hand, nails his performance as a young Indy so well that I actually forgot it was him doing the performance for most of the game. Troy is a great actor, and everyone praises him for the likes of Joel in The Last of Us. For me, this is Troy’s best performance, not only because of the range of emotions he needs to convey but also the comedic delivery he needed to have. Not to mention what I can only imagine was a heap of pressure he felt from taking on such an iconic role.

He isn’t the only one who smashes it out of the park, either. Marios Gavrilis, as antagonist Emmerich Voss, is superb, helping to deliver what I would say is the best villain of the entire franchise.

A special shoutout goes to the late Tony Todd, who plays a very mysterious role here and speaks a different language while putting in a great performance. This ended up being his final role in video games.

Stable, With A Hiccup or Two

During my time on PC via Steam, I saw not a single bug, except for the scorpions and snakes. In technical terms, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a very solid experience. No bugs, and very respectable frame rates of 75fps and upwards at 4K native on the game’s highest available settings. Granted, I have a very high-end rig with an i9-14900KF and an Nvidia GTX 4080 Super, so your experience may vary based on your hardware configuration.

I would like to see the amount of pop-in improved, but it was more of a small distraction than anything else.

Indy’s Last Crusade

Ultimately, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is my favourite game I’ve played in 2024. It captures everything that Indiana Jones should be, while also doing things to set itself apart from similar games. The writing and performances are among the best I’ve seen in a video game. Sure, it has a couple of issues, such as pop-in and slightly repetitive combat, but its focus on adventure first gives it a sense of discovery and reward that few games can match. MachineGames has delivered what I would consider their best game to date. If you are an Indy fan, then Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a must-play, in my opinion.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was provided to us for review purposes by Bethesda. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.