Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is probably my favorite Indiana Jones experience since I first watched the original movies. Without any exaggeration, I found myself slipping right into the shoes of the titular archaeologist, transported back to childhood memories of watching the original films with my parents.
MachineGames’ senior narrative director, Edward Curtis-Sivess, said it best one year ago in the Developer_Direct 2024: “Our game is all about putting you in Indy’s shoes.” In my opinion, this is exactly the game’s greatest strength. The story, gameplay, and locations all work together to immerse you in the experience and make you feel captured by the energy of the adventure.
The story structure and quest design do a good job of keeping the pace moving. Although I think the general structure of an Indiana Jones film already lends itself well to action-adventure puzzle game design, it’s important not to fall into the trap where side quests and collectibles feel disconnected from the urgency of the plot.
In this game, the side quests always lead back to the main story, but they aren’t necessary to complete the plot. This way, when you do complete all the side quests, it merely feels like an extended experience rather than a divergence. If you miss one or two, nothing feels lost or absent.
The central mystery is always at the heart of an Indiana Jones story—that drive toward discovery. Does this game do it well? I think the mystery is intriguing and grand enough to keep you wanting to learn more, and I found myself overall satisfied with the conclusion. If you want to know whether you’ll be captivated, you’ll have to judge for yourself. But I think anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will likewise be satisfied.
This game’s combat is fascinating to me—not because it does anything particularly new, but because it sets out to replicate the choreographed fight scenes of Indiana Jones purely through emergent gameplay, and it mostly succeeds. Running around Nazi guards, hitting people with improvised objects, catching someone off guard with a bottle to the back of the head, or striking the gun out of someone’s hand with a whip—numerous elements work together to create this sense of flow.
This actually creates an interesting incentive. My personal goal isn’t to play perfectly but atmospherically. Occasionally, messing up and having to dodge gun-toting Nazis can be just as fun as sneaking in and ambushing them silently. Plus, if you ever really find yourself outmatched by a particularly skilled opponent, you always have your trusty revolver (though with very limited ammo).
Puzzles are likewise tone-perfect.
They each feel like sequences you could see Harrison Ford working through on the big screen, and the commentary from Troy Baker’s Indiana Jones always adds a nice layer of background immersion. Even the hint system feels well integrated, with Indy working out the solution to the puzzle one small clue at a time.
Atmosphere can do a lot to turn a good experience into a great one, but in this game, atmosphere drives everything. A big part of truly inhabiting Indy’s hat is through the feeling of inhabiting his world. Collecting items, exploring, doing quests, and fighting enemies—these are things I already want to do because games have trained me to want to do them.
But it’s the subtle details—the small wisecracks, the musical score drawing heavily from John Williams, the little Easter eggs and historical references—that make me forget for a little while that I’m exploring these catacombs because I’m looking for collectibles. Instead, they make me feel like I’m doing it because that’s what Indiana Jones would be doing.
The voice acting likewise is truly incredible. Not just Troy Baker’s impressive Harrison Ford impression which has received its due praise elsewhere. But the rest of the cast as well. Good voicework is not an island, and every talented actor delivers their A game. Keeping pace with Troy Baker to bring to life a lively cast of convincing characters.
Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing. We need to talk about performance. While Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looks incredible, the way it runs leaves something to be desired. You shouldn’t need a $2,000-plus piece of hardware to enjoy a strong visual experience. I can run Cyberpunk 2077 on higher settings and get at least as good visuals but with far better performance.
The game also has its fair share of other bugs, although many are rapidly being patched out. On a couple of occasions, I experienced bugs that interfered with picking up collectibles, completing certain minor objectives, and even a crash or two—though some of these seem to have been fixed in the latest update.
Overall, I found the experience to be an incredibly satisfying one. If you’re one of many wanting a classic Indiana Jones adventure, this game more than delivers. For all future Indiana Jones nights, I’ll be adding this game to the lineup, and I eagerly await more. 9/10 for Indiana Jones.