Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: Fortune and glory

When I walked into another MachineGames beat, I was unaware of just how capable the studio could be when adapting to a Disney mood and toning down their expertise in ultra-graphic violence. Indiana Jones isn’t a first-person shooter, not in the strict sense. No, it might be considered more of a first-person brawler, or maybe a first-person puzzle-platformer. But more than anything it’s a faithful adaptation of the spirit of the movies; presentation, gameplay, and all. It’s smart, charming, breathtaking, and punchy, and it all comes together to form what feels like a high-quality interactive Indiana Jones movie.

Those nasty Nazis are at it again

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle finds our titular archaeologist and professor at the heart of a new globe-trotting mystery. When a giant of a man breaks into the museum of artifacts at Marshall University where Indiana Jones teaches, Jones fights a losing battle only for the intruder to wreck him and the museum, not to mention escaping with a precious artifact. However, he leaves a medallion behind in the fracas - a symbol of a secret Vatican order.

Convinced something mysterious and grand is afoot, Indy packs his bags and trademark bullwhip and hat for a journey to Vatican City in Italy. Given that this game takes place in 1937, it should come as no surprise that Benito Mussolini and his Black Shirts have established a firm grip on the Church and its secrets in service of the Nazi regime. Once again, the twists and turns of an ancient archaeological mystery put Indiana Jones at odds with the machinations of the Nazis and their unsettling yet charismatic leader of occult research, Emmerich Voss. Turns out Voss is very interested in a fabled artifact known as The Great Circle, which is said to provide some kind of immense power to those who can lay claim to it.

What results is a chase spanning the globe as Indiana Jones tries to stay one step ahead of Voss in tracking down the relics that relate to The Great Circle. It’s a hell of a trip. The locations and environments in this game are gorgeous. From blending into the clergy and digging up secrets in the halls of the Vatican, to raiding tombs in the dig sites outside of the grand Pyramids in Gizeh, Egypt, players will visit vast expanses of beautiful scenery and dangerous crypts as they unravel the riddle of The Great Circle.

The cast tasked with bringing this adventure to life is incredible as well. MachineGames did a great job of modeling Indiana Jones and his mannerisms after Harrison Ford’s delivery of the character, but it’s Troy Baker that really sticks the landing, delivering a very convincing version of Indy’s brusque, yet bold personality. Other standout performances include Alessandra Mastronardi as investigative journalist Gina Lombardi and Marios Gavrilis as the dastardly Emmerich Voss. Everyone does a great job of delivering their role, but it’s arguably Tony Todd that deserves the flowers for his portrayal of the imposing Locus, one of Todd’s final roles before his unfortunate passing this past November. If this had to be Todd’s last role, then he gave us a memorable performance in way only he could.

Tying the whole thing together is a fantastically arranged score by Gordy Haab. Haab does an amazing job of taking bits and pieces of the iconic music composed by John Williams and other musical talents of this series to create a strong and sweeping orchestral score that punctuates the adventure perfectly. Of course, parts of that score also feature long-time licensed music, so streamers might be happy to know there’s a Streamer Mode featuring non-licensed music to keep you safe if you decide to livestream the game.

Whip it good

Don’t be fooled by the fact that this is a first-person game with MachineGames listed as the developer. This is Indiana Jones, not Wolfenstein. You’re not going to drill holes in Nazi skulls with bristling firearms or chop them limb from limb with a hatchet. Indy is first and foremost, an enthusiast of ancient history, relics, and artifacts, so investigation and exploration are at the heart of this journey. Don’t get me wrong, though. If Indiana Jones is a seasoned professional in anything besides archaeology, it’s punching Nazis.

What we end up with in that case is mostly a stealth-action platformer. For the most part, you’ll use Indy’s agility and bullwhip to traverse exotic locales and disarm the traps protecting precious treasures. The Great Circle seems to have some level of DNA from games like Dishonored, because traversing anything feels similar. Indy can jump and climb most things within his arms’ reach, and when something is out of reach, the bullwhip swoops in to save the day. There are many cases where you can hook the whip to a fixture and either yank it down or swing to a new location. Whether on a wall or rafter, you can even stop swinging momentum on the whip and climb directly up and down it like a makeshift escape rope.

Along the way you’ll run into all sorts of baddies, and that’s where moving stealthily or brawling up front come into play. There are droves of melee weapons Indy can pick up for combat, each with its own reach and durability. However, if you sneak up on an enemy unnoticed, you can also activate a stealth takedown and pummel them without much effort. You can even discover disguises that let you slip into certain sections without raising the eyebrows of enemy guards. I’d be lying if I denied that one of my favorite things to do when starting any session was to dress up in a disguise, punch a Nazi in the mouth, and flee before his buddies showed up. The Great Circle is almost therapeutic that way.

And boy howdy, does Indiana put his all into a brawl when his back is to a wall. One button controls right hooks, one button controls left hooks, you can hold them for haymakers, and you can guard and parry your enemies as well. Whether you’re doing it with a rock hammer or your bare knuckles, Indy slugs fascists like they’re the subject of the Michael Jordan “I took that personally” meme every time. You can even bullwhip them, either disarming them outright or catching them about the head and yanking them to the ground. If you want to upgrade your abilities, there are skill books hidden throughout the game that can increase all sorts of aspects of your combat and survivability.

I wish I could say the gunplay was as good, but that feels like a weak point here among all the other goodwill. Firearms kick like mules, but their impact left me wanting. I fired Indy’s revolver and let rip with a bullet right into an enemy head. Not only was there little in the way of satisfying gore or feedback, but they survived the first shot without a helmet, leaving me a little flabbergasted. Other guns didn’t feel much better. Similarly, big fights don’t always feel like they end with the impact they should. I remember in what could be considered a boss battle, the boss just kind of slumped when I hit him enough. I kind of wish I could have had a finishing melee strike for a more satisfying conclusion in cases like that.

Aside from the fighting and platforming, puzzle-solving and investigation are the stars of this show. You’ll sneak into enemy quarters, ancient tombs, temples, and crypts in search of clues and contraptions that might lead you to a grand discovery. In some cases, that includes disarming intricate traps, such as tripping floor plates in a specific order to avoid a storm of blow darts. Sometimes it’s more cerebral, tasking you with things like decrypting a code from several notes of information to open up locked away treasure. In most cases, The Great Circle’s puzzle-solving was intricate and impressive, surprising me with how much I had to think about it.

That said, if all of that sounds like a bit much, this game lets you lessen both the difficulty of combat and the puzzles themselves if you’d like to simply enjoy the ride. In fact, the game has a reasonable array of accessibility features to help with difficulty, colorblindness, subtitles, language, and highlighted items in the world, just to name a few options.

It belongs in a museum

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle may have broken just about every expectation I had for MachineGames, short of the fact that I expected a great game. It's definitely that, but the reasons for that greatness are that it’s an impactful brawler, a stylish action-platformer, and a clever puzzle game, with a solid cast to deliver its movie-like performances, exciting environments to explore, and an excellent score to punctuate the mood. MachineGames goes above and beyond to deliver a thrilling adventure akin to the movies, and they succeed nearly across the board. Just don’t call him Junior.

This review is based on an early PC copy provided by the publisher. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comes out on PC and Xbox Series X/S on December 9, 2024, and on PS5 sometime in 2025.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.