One of the first great classic franchises I remember watching with my grandfather was Indiana Jones. We sat and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when I was young, and it inspired a thrill of adventure that never quite left me. I’ve watched the entire series multiple times over the years, and playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle just felt right.
From the very first section of the game, a tutorial in which you relive the famous Idol temple scene, stepping into the shoes of Indiana Jones just felt…right. Something about the craftsmanship of the game makes it feel like you are a part of an Indiana Jones film, for better or worse. I’ll get to the “worse” part in a minute, but let’s discuss the better first.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, from a technical standpoint, is awesome. There is a myriad of accessibility options, difficulty options for both combat and puzzles, and a whole host of settings to tailor your experience both visually and through sound.
On top of that, there’s a certain immersive experience involved with playing such an iconic character. Indiana Jones is fully human, so there’s no superhuman health regeneration in the middle of combat or abilities that aid traversal. All you have is Doctor Jones’ athleticism, his whip, his fists for combat, and other tools like a pistol. You’ll have to find keys to unlock doors, knock out enemies with improvised weapons in stealth, and solve puzzles using your own mental skill and environmental clues.
Also, Indiana Jones being a normal human means that he has limited stamina. Carrying bodies of incapacitated enemies depletes stamina, so you can only travel so far without needing to rest. At the same time, sprinting or other athletically demanding actions also depletes stamina. You can find books throughout the world that give you perks, though you’ll need the proper amount of Adventure Points to unlock them.
You also collect money throughout the open levels that you can use to purchase items. However, some items, such as Stamina and Health upgrades are directly linked to side quests that are of an obscure “fetch quest” variety. Other side quests are more enjoyable, usually referred to as “mysteries” which are linked to puzzles, etc.
This makes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle more enjoyable because while the game itself is linear in its story, the levels are a bit more open. You can approach exploration in a variety of ways, and there are collectibles and quests galore to incentivize you to do so. The problem comes with something I mentioned earlier, Henry Jones Jr. is only human.
In between exploration of tombs, crypts, temples, caves, etc. You’ll have frequent sections where enemies are crawling all over the place. It isn’t that difficult to fist-fight (or pistol fight) one or two enemies. However, the Pistol is a loud weapon, so if there are other enemies around, they’ll come running. Alternately, you can’t fistfight ten people at once, and healing via bandages takes time.
This means that in the early game; despite having large and open levels to explore, you have to take a large amount of time during each section to carefully pick off enemies one by one so that you have the freedom to move around and explore. That is unless you want to constantly have to deal with stealthing past enemies while trying to do side quests.
With that said, as you get further into the game, disguises become more plentiful allowing you to blend in with your foes or other groups. It is still annoying in the early game, and having such a focus on stealth is a little frustrating at times. Overall though, the moment-to-moment pacing of exploring Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s levels is one of its strengths, despite the overabundance of stealth areas.
In all fairness, what Bethesda and MachineGames have done with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is actually pretty impressive. They’ve captured the magic of the early films while keeping the experience engaging. The acting is top-notch, the environments are beautiful and well-crafted, and overall, the experience makes you feel like you are Indiana Jones himself.
Sure, it may occasionally feel like you’re playing Dishonored but without the cool powers. However, the charm of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle remains all through the experience. I highly recommend it, even if you aren’t exactly a stealth-oriented person. I usually shy away from stealth-focused things myself, but I’ve had a lot of fun with Henry Jones Jr’s latest adventure.
If I had to choose between playing more Starfield, Star Wars Outlaws, or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I’d choose Indiana Jones anytime. This isn’t a matter of style or genre preference; it’s that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is just a really solid game. Even if you aren’t super familiar with Indy’s adventures, this is an experience most people are bound to feel immersed in.
A PC Review Copy of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was provided by Bethesda for the purposes of this review.
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