Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

[Ensign9]

I don't think I'm even halfway through this yet but it's solidly great. Looks great, tons of stuff to do, fun gameplay, and some truly great acting (Troy Baker getting it done again and the main villain is a delight, as much as a Nazi can be a delight, anyway). Make twenty more of these, Bethesda.

There are some nitpicks: some of the collectible hunting can be tedious and I sometimes feel like Indy is moving in quicksand. The latter is likely a product of being used to playing as superpowered, magical badasses in other video games.

[Ello Sailor]

I feel like they have to make collectibles at least a little bit tedious, or there'd be no point. See: korok seeds and Riddler trophies.

[scrub12]

It’s incredible. I’m in the final “big area” and love it. They knocked it out of the park with the feel of the game too.

[Ensign9]

I feel like they have to make collectibles at least a little bit tedious, or there'd be no point. See: korok seeds and Riddler trophies.

It has more to do with the map’s limitations — some areas aren’t unlocked until you get through a story sequence, some of which can be easy to miss as not all are required to progress. So I ended up going in circles all over the map wondering why I couldn’t find something.

[Ensign9]

One significant issue I have is them having made this first versus third person. I want to see Indy! It'd also make some of the traversal puzzles easier.

[Monkey_Driven]

This is first Xbox "exclusive" that I've really wanted to play since Halo 3? Won't have to wait long.

[Revelator]

Yeah I'm actually excited for this one to hit PS5, but also agree I would have MUCH preferred third person POV

[scrub12]

I think it works perfectly as a first person. It’s not an uncharted clone. You actually feel like Indiana Jones when you’re doing puzzles and punching nazi’s.

[Monkey_Driven]

There are so many third person games. I think it's cool Machine Games stayed in their wheelhouse and made it first person.

[scrub12]

Just rolled credits on this. What an adventure. Well done, Machinegames. Easily my favorite game of 2024 and right up there with RDR2 and Elden Ring as one of my all-time favorites.

[Ensign9]

Fuck yeah! That was great! I hope they get right to work on another one — we’ll probably have to wait until at least 2028 or ‘29 if they hold up the same quality bar. This game manages to be a love letter to the franchise without relying on nostalgia as a crutch. I’d have been thrilled with this being the Indy 4 story.

Spoiler: show

I read a proposed Indy 4 script years ago that featured the Ark on top of a mountain. Nice callbacks!

Edit: turns out it was a fan script falsely credited to Jeffrey Boam: https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/In ... f_Darkness

https://maddogmovies.com/almost/scripts ... -97alt.htm

[zeb]

Haven't played this but have been seeing it on a lot of 2024 best of lists. Could've sworn it was being panned before and upon release - will have to give it a go.

[daft twat]

Just rolled credits on this. What an adventure. Well done, Machinegames. Easily my favorite game of 2024 and right up there with RDR2 and Elden Ring as one of my all-time favorites.

I’m so excited to finally play this. I hope to start on Friday.

[Ensign9]

Have fun and take your time!

[Revelator]

Any word on a PS5 release date for this yet? I thought it was supposed to be Spring 2025?

[Monkey_Driven]

Any word on a PS5 release date for this yet? I thought it was supposed to be Spring 2025?

Late April is the rumor.

[daft twat]

One significant issue I have is them having made this first versus third person. I want to see Indy! It'd also make some of the traversal puzzles easier.

I am maybe 5-6 hours in. It isn’t an issue. There are cut scenes, yes, and any sort of climbing or whip swinging transitions smoothly to third person. I feel like you see Indy more than enough. I think I spent 5 minutes in the Cistine Chapel just staring. I was just there last summer. Absolutely unbelievable attention to detail. I’m having so much fun.

[daft twat]

Just rolled the credits. I did all the side missions, though I’ll admit I didn’t find every note and every artifact along the way. No spoilers:

The pros:
The voice acting, starting with Indy. Absolutely perfect.
The entire supporting cast, especially the bad guy: So well done.
The music: Again, just perfect accompaniment. It feels like Indiana Jones.
The environments: The attention to detail is astounding. Machu Pichu was mentioned frequently, and it bummed me out that it wasn’t one of the maps after how beautiful Gizeh turned out.
The pov: First person was the right call. Hitting someone with a shovel feels incredible, and with all the cut scenes and 3rd person during climbing and swinging, you see Indy a ton.
The story: Honestly, it felt like they took the best of all the movies without turning into total fan service.

The cons:
The pacing: The Vatican and Gizeh maps are big, and I spent so much time wandering and doing side stuff that I forgot the story a bit. It also lulled me into taking my time, which the Himalayas and Shanghai don’t allow for, the latter being particularly breakneck. Then it’s back to a huge map in Thailand before a fairly generic map for the finale.
Thailand: Gorgeous and probably the most fun because of the number of nazis to kill, but it was also very glitchy with dialogue being triggered at the wrong time and the boat being particularly hard to maneuver. You also fight something in Thailand that is fine for a video game, but it doesn’t fit the Indy universe well at all.
#1 complaint: This is actually the only thing that really really bothered me. Guns are pointless. You can shoot a guy in the face from 5 feet away multiple times and he won’t die. That’s stupid.

Minor things:
It’s like every other big game now - too much to do with little payoff. Why am I going to find every relic when the reward is him saying, “This doesn’t belong here”?
I had it on the default setting and the AI was terribly dumb,
Unless you’re on a main story mission, you can go a long time without saving, and it sucks when you die.

Overall, it’s an incredible achievement. If it’s not Indy, I’d probably give it an 8. Indy makes it 9, though. Fix the gun damage and get rid of the Thailand fight and it’s a 10. I hope the dlc comes out while this is still fresh for me.

[Monkey_Driven]

Coming to PS5 on April 17th

[scrub12]

I didn’t use a gun once the entire game. That’s what I enjoyed about it.