The Indiana Jones series has failed to revive itself with its last two films, with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny both having fallen significantly short of the heights of the original trilogy, but Indiana Jones and the Great Circle somehow captures that spark perfectly. It begins with a near shot-for-shot playable recreation of Raiders’ unforgettable opening, complete with Indy dodging arrows, swapping the golden idol, and running away from a giant boulder. The decision to start the game off that way could have gone one of two ways, either feeling like a painful bit of pandering fan service, or setting the tone for an authentic Indiana Jones adventure. Here, it very much feels like the latter. MachineGames has delivered the high-flying, swashbuckling Indiana Jones story we’ve been starved of for so long, and it has done so with an excellently designed first-person action-adventure romp that might even be the Wolfenstein studio’s best outing to date. Considering its track record over its relatively brief but packed history, that’s high praise.

One of The Great Circle’s biggest strengths is how it captures the vibe and aesthetic of the original Indiana Jones movies down to a T. Much like the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man, Batman: Arkham Asylum, or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order did with their respective IP, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle adapts its source material with incredible care and devotion. That this is a game made by lifelong Indiana Jones fans is always evident, and anyone with any affinity for the franchise will have their enjoyment from the game decidedly heightened by that fact. From the central archaeological mystery and the globe-trotting journey it sends you on to the historical setting and the fascists and Nazis Indy crosses swords with (an area of particular expertise for MachineGames), from the slapstick, physical comedy that the franchise has always been known for to the strong cast of characters around Indy himself, The Great Circle sticks the landing in all the ways it needs to in its attempts to craft a bona fide Indiana Jones adventure. And yes, hearing that iconic John Williams melody kick in every so often certainly doesn’t hurt.

"MachineGames has delivered the high-flying, swashbuckling Indiana Jones story we’ve been starved of for so long, and it has done so with an excellently designed first-person action-adventure romp that might even be the Wolfenstein studio’s best outing to date."

What makes those accomplishments that much more impressive is the fact that the game does all of that even in the absence of Harrison Ford. It’s fair to say that there aren’t a lot of fictional characters in the history of any visual medium whose very identity is as deeply and intrinsically linked as Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford have always been, but the incredibly talented Troy Baker manages to do a stellar job of making you almost forget that Ford hasn’t donned the iconic fedora for The Great Circle, even if his likeness has been used. Baker captures the charisma, confidence, and goofiness of the famous professor shockingly well, from his voice down to all of his mannerisms (with plenty of finger-wagging, yes), and he does it without ever seeming like a cheap imitation, achieving a best case scenario that, honestly, should have been an impossibility.

And though Indy is obviously the star of the show, he’s surrounded by other compelling characters, too, with the standouts being Gina Lombardi, a journalist played Alessandra Mastronardi who serves as the perfect foil and partner for Indy over the course of the adventure, and Emmerich Voss, a formidable Nazi archaeologist played by Marios Gavrilis, and the game’s magnetic main villain, who demands attention every single time he’s on the screen. With a strong cast of characters and the kind of sharp writing and confident and cinematic storytelling that MachineGames has become known for over the years, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle succeeds in delivering a constantly entertaining and compelling story.

And it’s no slouch on the gameplay front either- though The Great Circle is probably not the sort of game you may be expecting it to be one way or another. It’s not the sort of linear, action-driven, breakneck experience that Indiana Jones’ own disciples in Uncharted and Tomb Raider have become synonymous with, though it does obviously have elements of that. Meanwhile, it’s also not the sort of explosive shooter that MachineGames itself is known for. In fact, it cannot be stressed enough how different The Great Circle is from the Wolfenstein games.

"Baker captures the charisma, confidence, and goofiness of the famous professor shockingly well, from his voice down to all of his mannerisms (with plenty of finger-wagging, yes), and he does it without ever seeming like a cheap imitation, achieving a best case scenario that, honestly, should have been an impossibility."

Yes, it’s primarily first-person, and yes, it does have guns that you can shoot, but it very much isn’t a first-person shooter. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle goes hard on exploration, puzzles, and stealth, and the blend that it delivers in the end feels unique to itself. It feels like an old school adventure game in 3D AAA form, with a healthy dash of immersive sim and semi-open world elements, and delightfully chaotic melee brawling and improvisational stealth thrown in for good measure. If that sounds like an eclectic mix, it is, but The Great Circle does a great job of making it all come together cohesively, and does it all in a way that feels true to the spirit of Indiana Jones.

Take the combat, for instance, where even though you almost always have access to a pistol (and other guns that you can pick up and use), gunfire is usually a last resort, not only because ammo is scarce, but because the game encourages you to rely on other ways of dealing with conflict situations. In terms of out-and-out combat, The Great Circle places heavy emphasis on melee brawling. Indy’s own fists are your primary weapon, of course, but there’s also a large variety of other items that you can find and use as improvised weapons, from pickaxes, pipes, and shovels to hammers, dynamite, batons, to even more outlandish items like giant flyswatters, pots, and pans, all of which serve as particularly comical weapons in combat. Meanwhile, Indy’s whip also plays an important role, serving as a means to stun foes, disarm them, grab them and pull them towards you, and more.

While fisticuffs can feel a bit wonky at times – as usually tends to be the case in most first-person games – The Great Circle’s combat feels much more enjoyable when you’re having fun with items that you pick up and use as weapons, not only because of how improvisational it feels, but also because of how hilarious the on-screen action can be as a result, all of which is, of course, exactly what you want the action in an Indiana Jones game to be. I wouldn’t say I ever found the combat to be challenging by any means – in fact, a lot of the times, it was all too easy to button-mash my way through brawls, even against larger groups of enemies who should have been able to easily knock me out – but if nothing else, combat is energetic and enjoyable more often than not.

"While fisticuffs can feel a bit wonky at times – as usually tends to be the case in most first-person games – The Great Circle’s combat feels much more enjoyable when you’re having fun with items that you pick up and use as weapons, not only because of how improvisational it feels, but also because of how hilarious the on-screen action can be as a result, all of which is, of course, exactly what you want the action in an Indiana Jones game to be."

It’s not the game’s greatest strength, but thankfully, it’s also not an area of particular of focus. In fact, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is almost a stealth game first and foremost. Though stealth is pretty much never forced on the player, dealing with situations quietly is usually the way to go- which is good, because the game feels much more accomplished in this area. Again, though it’s not particularly challenging (cheesing stealth is often a bit too easy, for instance), it does make sneaking through heavily guarded areas a consistently enjoyable exercise.

Finding melee weapons, quietly taking out enemies, moving bodies, and staying out of enemies’ line of sight all functions the way you’d expect it to, but what really makes the stealth tick is the strong level design, which lets players discover a multitude of different ways of sneaking into areas by themselves. Sneaking through meticulously crafted levels is always fun in mechanically tight games, which is what this is, but when those levels are as multi-layered and branching as they often are here, things hit a different level. A stealth-first first-person experience with immersive sim-esque level design wasn’t something anyone expected an Indiana Jones game to be, but that formula somehow fits The Great Circle like a glove, thanks to how well MachineGames sees it brought to life.

That strength in level design is something the game exhibits from beginning to end, in fact. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comprises a healthy mix of linear, cinematic sections, and more open-ended, exploration-heavy ones, but across the board, level design remains a highlight. The more guided and cinematic sequences boast high-octane set pieces of the kind you would expect from a rip-roaring Indiana Jones adventure, while beyond that, the game also touts multiple semi-open world maps, each set in a different location in the world, from the bustle of the Vatican to the sands of Egypt to the jungles of Sukhothai.

"Each of these maps boasts excellent design, and each is packed densely with well-designed side quests, addictive collectibles, and mysteries and secrets aplenty."

Each of these maps boasts excellent design, and each is packed densely with well-designed side quests, addictive collectibles, and mysteries and secrets aplenty. Especially when played on moderate Adventure difficulty with unguided exploration, moving about and stumbling on mysteries feels incredibly organic (the diegetic UI elements, from Indy’s journal to his inventory, definitely contribute to that, too). Exploring every nook and cranny of every map to uncover all secrets, sights, hidden details, and optional content never loses its luster.

The one area of the game that does feel a bit half-baked, however, is the progression. The Great Circle sees players collecting books that unlock skills that you can then purchase using Adventure Points. A fair number of these unlocks do feel genuinely useful, and the allure of finding more books does make exploration feel even more compelling, but more often than not, the game fails to present a level of challenge that requires you to do anything that the core mechanics don’t already permit you to do, which means the progression system often feels like a needless addendum. In fact, I’m not sure the gameplay would suffer too much if it was entirely exorcised from the game.

Conversely, a department where Indiana Jones and the Great Circle impresses in every regard is its puzzles. Unsurprisingly for an Indiana Jones game, puzzles are a pivotal part of the experience here, with a hefty amount of them scattered across main missions, side quests, and general exploration, and more often than not, they’re very well designed. Organically making players understand what they’re required to do by studying their environments might sound easy on paper, but very rarely do games manage to do it well. The Great Circle does it well, and once again, does it in a way that makes it feel like it’s really you donning the iconic fedora, whip at your hip, journal in your hands, using your brilliant archaeological mind and sharp wits to solve a litany of historical brain-teasers and tests of character.

"Organically making players understand what they’re required to do by studying their environments might sound easy on paper, but very rarely do games manage to do it well. The Great Circle does it well, and once again, does it in a way that makes it feel like it’s really you donning the iconic fedora, whip at your hip, journal in your hands, using your brilliant archaeological mind and sharp wits to solve a litany of historical brain-teasers and tests of character."

The game also impresses on the visual and technical front. It’s a pretty looking game, obviously, even if it probably won’t blow anyone’s socks off, but what’s more impressive (in my eyes, at least) is how technically stable it is. Other than the most minor and rather infrequent visual bugs, I ran into next to no issues in my time with The Great Circle, while the game also managed to consistently maintain a smooth 60 FPS frame rate without any hiccups. While nitpickers will find nits to pick here, there’s very few major issues to speak of, if any.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an excellent game, if that wasn’t clear enough already. For years, we all thought a AAA Indiana Jones game wouldn’t dare be anything other than a linear, cinematic Uncharted clone (ironically enough), but MachineGames’ first-person adventure marches to the beat of its own drum, and it’s stronger for it. The Great Circle will have you jumping from the wing of one plane to the next, smashing in a Nazi’s face with a frying pan, swinging across a deathly chasm with a whip, and feeling like a genius as you solve brilliantly designed archaeological mysteries- exactly as an Indiana Jones game should. It’s the studio’s best game to date, and the best game to have come from the Bethesda label since it was acquired by Xbox.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.