It can be hard to review a DLC as separate from the game that inspired it when the two share so damn much in common. However, when that’s only one among a handful of minor pet peeves I have with the experience, that’s quite a good thing.
The Order of the Giants brings Indiana Jones back into the action for another round of some delicious action and tomb-raiding, his trusty whip and signature hat in tow. In doing so, it brings everything that was good about the main game back to the table, but perhaps doesn’t do enough to make itself stand out.
With that being said, it’s still an excellent adventure and is probably going to get more than its share of new players to try out the game overall, and could be a great option for returning players looking for something to do on the weekend.
Troy Baker’s take on Indy continues to be a highlight in this pocket-sized experience, and the other character introduced into the mix does a great job of keeping things moving. But for the most part, you play as Indy, looking for three pieces of a cylinder that supposedly open the doors to an ancient order. There are some boilerplate twists to the tale, which simply serve as an excuse to have Indy traveling to Rome as he investigates the secret order.
Like the main game, The Order of the Giants is a very immersive, well-designed experience that captures what an Indiana Jones adventure would feel like. Exploring ancient tombs or MachineGames’ beautiful take on Rome was sublime, as was the buttery smooth framerate on my PS5. I saw no dropped frames, stutter, or pop-in for the entirety of my adventure, and the graphics on display were quite eye-catching to boot.
"Exploring ancient tombs or MachineGames’ beautiful take on Rome was sublime, as was the buttery smooth framerate on my PS5."
The DLC adds a new mission to your playthrough if you’ve already played the base game. Indy is tasked with investigating the aforementioned ancient order. While it was quite interesting for the most part, I believe that the experience here could have used some padding to make the adventure longer, as it took me about 6-7 hours to complete, without counting an important part of Indy’s new task: the puzzles!
Getting to each third of the cylinder, Indy needs to uncover the Order of the Giants and solve a bunch of ingeniously designed puzzles. The first one I encountered took me a while. I’d spent nearly two hours on it before realizing that a fairly simple solution was staring at me in the face all along. It was both annoying and funny to me at the moment, but it does show how the developers have built on what they already achieved and taken things up a notch on this front.
However, another one of those puzzles deserves a special mention thanks to how it takes everything good about the game and condenses it into a challenge that requires both brains and skilled fingers to navigate. Without diving too much into spoiler territory, this one was so simple to figure out, but a lot harder to execute. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and it had me grinding my teeth at it for nearly three hours!
"The Order of the Giants is a very immersive, well-designed experience that captures what an Indiana Jones adventure would feel like"
Another couple of puzzles after that were fairly straightforward but were similarly well-designed and implemented. It’s almost as if MachineGames designed the experience around these puzzles, as you’re more or less making your way from one to the next with a bit of exposition thrown in. It’s a pace that keeps you invested in the adventure while also providing you with some challenges along the way.
If there was something I wished the developers had done, it would be extending those challenges to the game’s combat, which remains exactly the same as it was in the base game. You take on Nazis guarding important areas or investigating events that Indy caused, along with a few members of the secret cult he’s investigating.
Even on the hardest difficulty, combat’s a matter of parrying enemy attacks and retaliating with Indy’s fists or weapons you pick up off the ground. The whip makes dealing with multiple enemies quite easy, and I rarely found myself reaching for my revolver.
On the rare occasion I was downed, a very useful perk from the base game saw me reach for my fedora, getting Indy back on his feet with a roguish grin that might feel out of place considering the beating he had taken just a few seconds in the past. It was a tad disarming, but hey, I can’t complain since it let me face no consequences for a few atrociously timed parries.
"Even on the hardest difficulty, combat’s a matter of parrying enemy attacks and retaliating with Indy’s fists or weapons you pick up off the ground"
However, I’d argue that not adding more wrinkles to the combat loop is a glaring omission in an otherwise excellent DLC. New side quests do pop up as you go along, but they’re nowhere close to being as interesting as the search for the Order of the Giants. With that being said, the final boss fight that caps off the experience is definitely one for the ages.
If you’ve already played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, expect more of the excellent cinematic presentation and a very engaging setting from its DLC. If this is going to be your first time with Bethesda and MachineGames’ take on the classic character, you’re in for a jolly good time.
But is The Order of the Giants worth your time and money? I would say yes, and that’s especially if you haven’t had the chance to try out the base game. Picking up both of them and getting to experience a version of Indy you’ve never seen before is definitely worth it.
It helps that the DLC doesn’t require you to have completed the base game, and the opening chapters you play through to get to it do a great job of bringing you up to speed on its mechanics. It’s quite likely that you’re going to complete a playthrough of the entire experience once you finish the DLC, considering its length.
The Order of the Giants is a worthy addition to The Great Circle, despite it being more of the same. In a game that’s as good as this one, that’s definitely a good thing.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
Brilliant graphics, a solid setting, engaging puzzles, easy to access and play.
Combat could have been expanded.
