Indiana Jones and the Great Circle exceeds all my expectations

Less than five minutes in, and I’m already grinning. If, like me, you grew up with film composer John Williams, this’ll be a given when you hear his orchestral soundtrack. However, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle doesn’t just use Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ acoustic originals. It even copies nearly the entire beginning of the first movie – as a tutorial.

Sounds uninspired, but it works perfectly. This nostalgic introduction really sucks me in as a fan.

As soon as I re-enact one of the most famous scenes in film history myself, I’m completely captured by Indy fever again. I wouldn’t have thought this possible after the last two films. But for anyone who thinks that Machine Games, the Swedish studio behind Wolfenstein, is only good at copying, the next 15 to 20 hours prove beyond doubt that it can do much more.

A thirst for exploration

For me, the appeal of the films consists of three things: treasure hunting adventures with a pinch of the supernatural. A perfect setting in the early 20th century, when the world was a more mysterious place. And a charismatic hero who, despite the occasional mishap, always has a witty quip to deliver. This is exactly what Indiana Jones and the Great Circle offers.

After a rare artefact is stolen from Marshall College, Dr Jones’ teaching post, Indy embarks on a world tour to get to the bottom of the theft. First stop: the Vatican. It’s one of several larger areas where Indy spends a lot of time. How long depends on how much you lose yourself in side missions.

In his diary, Indy records all important information about active missions, side tasks or rumours surrounding potential treasure. There’s plenty of it, by the way. Sometimes they’re artefacts hidden behind a secret door, other times they’re sprawling ruins with complex mechanisms that would’ve amazed even Leonardo da Vinci. Thanks to the many cutscenes, even side missions feel like they’re part of the main story. In the Vatican, for example, you can help a nun retrieve the lost diary of a long-dead priest from the catacombs. A shady priest, who’ll later play an important role, doesn’t like this at all.

I almost missed the fact this mission is optional, it seems so well woven into the main story. Fans of thrilling adventures will get their money’s worth. You’re free to decide whether you want to devote yourself to collection tasks, helping the inhabitants or focusing on the main quest.

In typical Indiana Jones fashion, the story’s wonderfully elaborate and full of meaning. At its core, the story concerns Nazis seeking a supernatural artefact promising great power for their war effort – the Great Circle. Indy’s job’s to get ahead of them. In the process, he meets daring reporter Gina Lombardi. With her quick wit, she reminds me a lot of Karen Allen’s character Marion Ravenwood, with whom Indy has the longest-lasting relationship in the films.

Gina’s looking for her missing sister, who just happens to be the world’s best scholar on dead languages. Is there perhaps a connection between her and the Nazis’ endeavour?

Fewer guns, more fists

The longer stops, such as the Vatican or Giza, remind me of assassin simulator Hitman. And not just when I explore the levels freely while hiding from Italian fascists and Nazis – the game is set in 1937, between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A lot of sneaking is required of me as well. As soon as confrontations degenerate into shooting battles, the fun usually ends quickly for Indy.

Better to grab the bludgeoning objects such as candlesticks, guitars or tool tongs generously sprinkled around and hit my enemies from cover. A snappy quip’s included free of charge.

Despite the first-person perspective, there’s rarely any shooting. The right move, it reflects the original perfectly. The viewpoint, which led to discussion before release, didn’t bother me in any way. On the contrary: unlike in third-person adventure games such as Tomb Raider or Uncharted, you’remuch more involved in the action. Nothing feels as authentic as playing Indy from a first-person perspective and exploring ancient ruins, wiping moss from the walls and using cogwheels to trigger complex mechanisms – only to almost fall into a deadly trap yourself.

Compared to those hordes of mindless enemies you have to work through from a remote third-person perspective in Uncharted, I can no longer imagine that anything other than first-person makes sense.

This is also down to Indy preferring to let his fists do the talking instead of alerting the whole postcode with his revolver – even though his blows bang almost as loudly as gunshots. Glorious. Classic, cartoonish 70s and 80s sound effects, just like in the Indy films.

Speaking of which, the brawls are fortunately much faster and more dynamic than the trailers suggest. Left-right combos, dodging, parrying – it’s all wonderfully quick as long as you have enough stamina. Indy can improve it by finding the right book or magazine on his explorations, unlocking them with adventure points. These are awarded for solving puzzles, completing side missions or after taking photos of important objects with your camera. This makes me take a closer look at my surroundings, motivating me to examine every Nazi camp and every cave in detail.

Indy’s iconic whip’s also along for the ride, of course. Either to keep enemies at a distance, to swing across chasms or to activate remote levers.

There’s another feature from the films that’s playfully reminiscent of Hitman – disguises. If you don’t want to be constantly sneaking around, you can get yourself a suitable outfit to attract less attention. But watch out: officers’ll continue to see through your disguise and sound the alarm. Fortunately, adventures can sometimes become chaotic but still end well. Even if half the garrison is hot on my heels, that doesn’t necessarily mean game over. However, I won’t be able to hide the mountain of unconscious or dead opponents.

Archaeological endeavours

One vital element for the great atmosphere in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, apart from historical locations, is head and shoulders above the rest: puzzles. Sometimes I have to activate the right floor panels to disarm traps, then use mirrors to redirect light to open a gate, or set giant wooden cogwheels in motion to get a perpendicular elevator up and running. The puzzles have just the right level of complexity, although I took a day to decipher the secret cloud-based code for an optional Nazi chest.

Many interactions require extra hand movements, which makes the game more tangible. Doors don’t open at the touch of a button. You first have to get the key out, insert it and then turn it. This also applies to the puzzles, where Indy sometimes takes out his magnifying glass to examine objects. He takes a more coarse mechanical approach when opening closed caskets. All he needs is a firm blow with a hammer or whatever else is lying around that hasn’t yet smashed a Nazi’s head.

Another great part of any Indiana Jones movie is supposedly hopeless situations with collapsing ruins from which Indy saves himself at the very last moment. I’ll admit, the pacing can’t quite keep up with the films due to the medium. However, wild chases and funny cutscenes regularly liven up the game.

In one scene, Indy’s antagonists, the slick Emmerich Voss and the aggressive Viktor Gantz, argue about the right course of action. At the end, Voss asks Gantz: «Do you think the solution will suddenly fall on your head?», only to be killed at the same moment by Indy, Gina and a falling ceiling from which the two were secretly eavesdropping. What follows is a slapstick scuffle and an escape through the window, while startled Nazis pepper Indy and Gina with bullets.

Troy Baker contributes to that authentic Indiana Jones feeling. His imitation of Harrison Ford’s extremely accurate. It was a bit stiff at first, but after a while I didn’t even notice I wasn’t listening to the real Ford.

And Ford’s character model? Another great interpretation. Visually, however, more could certainly have been achieved throughout the game. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle never comes close to the visual spectacle that Uncharted 4 recently delivered on the PlayStation 4. The locations are nevertheless atmospheric and impressive. And during the numerous cutscenes, I enjoyed sitting back and watching a few minutes of what feels like the best Indiana Jones movie since The Last Crusade.

We talk about the game in detail in the latest episode of our Swiss German Tech-telmechtel podcast.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available from 9 December for PC and Xbox Series X/S. With the Premium Edition, you can already play on 6 December. The game was provided to me by Bethesda for PC.