Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a 2024 action-adventure game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is based on the Indiana Jones franchise and features an original narrative set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). The story follows archaeologist Indiana Jones in 1937 as he attempts to thwart various groups who are seeking to harness a power connected to the Great Circle, which refers to mysterious sites around the world that form a perfect circle when together on a map. The game is primarily played from a first-person perspective with third-person being employed for contextual elements such as environmental interaction. The player controls Indiana as they navigate through a mix of linear, story-sensitive areas and wider, exploratory landscapes in locations such as the Vatican City, Giza, Himalayas, Shanghai, and Sukhothai.
Todd Howard from Bethesda Game Studios conceived the game's story and served as an executive producer, considering the game a passion project of his. MachineGames was chosen to lead the project because of their experience creating the modern Wolfenstein games, which also involved Nazi as a central antagonist. It was designed to be an adventure-first game while adopting elements commonly found in immersive sims and stealth games, and the team was particularly inspired by LucasArts' adventure games such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992). Troy Baker provides the voice and motion capture of Indiana Jones, whose likeness is otherwise based on Harrison Ford, who portrays him in the films. Alessandra Mastronardi, Marios Gavrilis and Tony Todd are featured in supporting roles. Development of the game lasted for more than five years.
Bethesda and MachineGames jointly announced the game's development in January 2021, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. The game was released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in December 2024. A PlayStation 5 version was released in April 2025, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version is set for release in 2026. The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the game's level design, story, the performance of the cast, and its faithfulness to its source materials. Its gameplay, however, received a mixed reception. It attracted more than 4 million players. The game received multiple year-end nominations, including Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards. Great Circle received a downloadable story expansion titled The Order of Giants in September 2025.
Gameplay
During certain contextual gameplay actions, the gameplay perspective changes to third-person.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an action-adventure game. In the game, the player assumes control of archaeologist Indiana Jones, who must stop the Axis powers from harnessing a power connected to the Great Circle, which refers to mysterious sites of cultural significance around the world that form a perfect circle when together on a map. The game is primarily played from a first-person perspective, but switches to a third-person view for cutscenes and certain gameplay actions, such as when Jones uses his whip to swing over gaps or when climbing pipes and walls.[1][2] The player can separately adjust the difficulty of the game's "action experience", referring to its combat, and its "adventure experience", referring to puzzle-solving and exploration.[3]
Similar to immersive sims, levels in the game have alternate routes for the player to reach their objectives. There are many entrances and exits for highly guarded areas.[4] Some of the levels, such as the Vatican City, Gizeh and Sukhothai, are larger, sandbox locations which can be explored freely by the player. In addition to the main quest, they may encounter other non-playable characters who will give them Fieldwork missions tied to the main narrative, and discover collectibles such as ancient relics and medicine bottles. Through exploration, the player can also collect Adventure Books, which serve as permanent boosts in the game, improving weapon performance and durability, enhancing Jones's combat skills, and increasing his health and stamina.[5] An ability called "Lucky Hat" allows a defeated Jones to instantly revive himself after he crawls to pick up his fedora.[6] The gameplay perks provided in Adventure Books must be unlocked using Adventure Points, which can be earned by photographing objects of interest, opening safes and chests, and collecting relics and field notes.[7] The player may also encounter various puzzles, many of which are optional. Photographing a puzzle repeatedly using Jones's camera will provide them with additional hints for solving it.[8] Jones will eventually unlock more tools for exploration and solving puzzles, such as a lighter for illuminiating dark areas and lighting torches,[9] and a rebreather that allows him to dive underwater for an extended period of time.[10]
The player can choose to use stealth tactics, crouching and hiding behind cover to avoid an enemy's line of sight, or quietly incapacitating them using a melee weapon picked up by Jones.[11][12] They can also hide bodies from other patrolling enemies. Disguises can be worn to access restricted areas, though some high-level enemies can still see through his disguise; committing crimes such as stealing or behaving menacingly will also cause his disguise to fail.[13] Jones can pick up various objects in the world, such as shovels, wrenches and broomsticks, and use them as makeshift weapons. They can also be thrown to distract enemies.[14] While the weapons in the game are easily broken,[15] some can be repaired.[16] He is also equipped with a revolver, though ammunition is scarce. Using firearms and explosives also alerts all nearby enemies. During melee fights, Jones can punch hostile enemies with his fist, or push them away. He can also block and parry incoming attacks, or dodge them.[17] All gameplay actions, such as fighting enemies, sprinting, and climbing, consume stamina, which regenerate slowly if he rests briefly.[18] Eating bread and fruits found in the game's world can provide additional bonus to Jones's health and stamina, respectively, while using bandages restores lost health.[7] Jones's whip can be used for traversal, puzzle-solving, and combat. Targeting the upper limbs of an enemy disarms them, while targeting their lower limbs causes them to trip and fall towards Jones.[17]
Synopsis
The Great Circle featured Troy Baker as Indiana Jones and served as the final video game credit of actor Tony Todd, who died a month before its release.
The game picks up after Jones has left his fiancée, Marion Ravenwood (voiced by Karen Allen through archive recordings). Following the theft of an artifact from Marshall College by an imposing man known as Locus (Tony Todd), Jones heads to the Vatican to investigate. He discovers that sites of spiritual significance have been built throughout history, realizing that their locations form a perfectly aligned circle around the globe. Besides Vatican City, other locations include Peru, Connecticut, the Sukhothai temples in Thailand, the Egyptian pyramids, Shanghai in China, the snowy Himalayas, and the Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq. During his journey, he teams up with Gina Lombardi (Alessandra Mastronardi),[1] an Italian investigative reporter who has an interest in the case. They go up against Emmerich Voss (Marios Gavrilis),[1] who uses psychological manipulation against his enemies and even his own allies like Colonel Viktor Gantz (Tom Beck).[1][25]
Plot
In 1937, Indiana Jones returns to Marshall College after leaving his fiancée Marion Ravenwood. One night, a giant man named Locus breaks in, steals a cat mummy, and knocks Jones unconscious before leaving. Jones notices Locus's medallion bears a symbol resembling that of the Vatican Secret Archive's and infiltrates Vatican City for answers. The city is under the control of Benito Mussolini and his Blackshirts, who have been working with Nazi archeologist and occultist Emmerich Voss. Jones meets reporter Ginetta "Gina" Lombardi, who is investigating Voss for her sister Laura's disappearance; the two team up for their respective missions. They discover that a tribe of giants called the "Nephilim Order" have been covertly working for the Catholic Church to protect the secret of the "Great Circle", with the cat mummy containing a special stone related to it. Voss steals the Order's stones and flees as Jones and Gina stow away on his zeppelin. Jones then explains the Great Circle represents a number of sacred religious sites across the world that form a perfect circle, and fears that Voss has discovered some secret to its power.
Arriving at a Nazi dig in Gizeh, Jones learns the Order has been working with Egyptians for thousands of years prior to the Catholic Church's foundation. The pair then finds the Idol of Ra for its stone, but Voss recovers it and leaves Jones for dead in the desert. Gina, having intercepted Nazi radio traffic revealing Voss's members went missing in Machu Picchu, rescues Jones and the pair travel to the Himalaya Mountains, where they learn the third stone has transported a Nazi battleship from South America to the Himalayas. After finding Laura frozen to death, Jones is captured by a Nazi colonel named Viktor Gantz. Gina sets off a grenade, which allows Jones to escape but sends the Nazi battleship skidding down the mountain. Jones is able to use the third stone to open a portal, transporting them to Shanghai in the midst of the Japanese invasion of the city, where Gantz dies. After hijacking a Japanese fighter plane, the pair travel to the nearest Great Circle ruin in Sukhothai, Siam. Locus confronts them during their search, warning that the Great Circle's secret must never come to light, but Jones ignores his warnings. Voss attacks them as Jones collects the stone; but as they escape, Gina is captured.
Seeing that Jones attaches more importance to Gina than the stones, Locus helps him follow Voss's trail. At the last site for the Great Circle, the Ziggurat of Ur, Locus summons the Nephilim Order to attack the Nazis, allowing Jones to rescue Gina. Ignoring Locus's warnings, the pair travel deeper and find Noah's Ark. Voss captures them and reveals that the Great Circle is related to all of the flood myths in history, with God granting Noah the power of the Great Circle to travel around the world to collect two of every animal and eventually repopulate the world. Voss intends to use this power to help the Nazis take over the world. Jones remarks that God had chosen Noah, and if Voss attempts to harness the power of the Ark, he will be judged and incur God's wrath. Nevertheless, Voss activates the Great Circle's power, causing another Great Flood. Voss, an expert in the Japanese art of karate, brawls with Jones before being killed by the unstable power of the Ark. Locus teleports the Ark away through another portal, averting the flood. Afterwards, despite sharing feelings for each other, Gina parts ways with Jones for her career after a heartfelt goodbye.
In a secret ending,[a] Jones discovers a hidden mural showing all of the locations on the Great Circle pointing to the South Pole. There, footprints in the snow are seen leading away from Noah's Ark, suggesting that Locus has survived.
The Order of Giants
The Order of Giants downloadable content takes place during the Vatican City portion of the main game, precisely after Indy meets Gina for the first time and before they come across Locus and Voss in the Vatican's treasury room. Indiana Jones encounters Father Orlando Ricci, a young scholar who is researching a legendary figure known as the Nameless Crusader. Said to be a silent warrior of enormous stature, the Nameless Crusader fought and died at the Siege of Antioch, and his helmet and armor were ensconced in a secret chamber under a palace built by Pope Paul IV. Ricci was barred from the palace by Father Ventura, and he prevails upon Jones to search it and then visit him at his family estate in Rome to share his findings. Jones locates the armor and a key that opens a passage to the underground tomb of a giant named Junia, which is guarded by a lone member of the Nephilim Order and holds the first of three pieces of a carved stone cylinder.
As he travels to the Palazzo Ricci by way of the Cloaca Maxima, Jones notices that Mussolini's Blackshirts are also looking for Ricci at the request of Father Ventura. Ricci and Jones deduce that the other two pieces of the cylinder can also be found in the Cloaca Maxima, in the secret tombs of two other giants: Abgal, an undefeated gladiator known as "the Minotaur" who was favored by Emperor Nero, and Gibborim, the Nameless Crusader. Jones retrieves the cylinder pieces while encountering members of a modern Cult of Mithras lurking in Rome's sewers.
When Jones reassembles the cylinder and interprets its inscription, revealing that it is a key to the resting chamber of the still-living Abgal, Ricci absconds with the cylinder. Ricci is exposed as the pater or head of the Cult of Mithras; he stole an artifact called the Dagger of Mithras from the Vatican's museum collection, drawing the wrath of Ventura, and he and his cohorts have been murdering vagrants as sacrifices in an ancient Mithraic temple. Ricci's paramount goal has been to find Abgal, whom he believes to be an incarnation of the cosmic bull of Mithraic lore, and sacrifice him to gain enlightenment. Jones pursues Ricci into the temple, defeats the cult, and unseals the gate that leads to Abgal's chamber. Ricci ambushes Jones, but as the cultist attempts to stab Abgal with the Dagger of Mithras, the giant awakens and strangles him. Abgal then raises his chamber into the center of the Colosseum and challenges Jones to a fight. Jones triumphs over the ancient gladiator, who falls back into the underground ruins, recovers the dagger and then makes his way back to Vatican City.
Development
Creative director Jerk Gustafsson (left) and executive producer Todd Howard (right).
The game was executively produced by Todd Howard, a game director at Bethesda Game Studios known for his work on role-playing video games such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Howard, an Indiana Jones fan, had previously pitched such a game to franchise creator George Lucas around 2009,[27][28] although the project did not move forward at that time, partly because Bethesda did not have the resources to develop it.[29] In addition, Lucasfilm wanted to publish the game, a role that Bethesda sought to fill, and the two could not come to an agreement.[30][31] Since 2016, Disney, the owner of Lucasfilm, opted not to self-publish its games and started licensing its franchises to external partners.[32] Negotiations between Bethesda and Lucasfilm started again in 2019, after John Drake, a friend of Howard, was appointed as Disney's VP of Business Development and Licensing for Games.[33][34]The Great Circle was the company's first non-Star Wars game in years,[35] and the first Indiana Jones game since Indiana Jones Adventure World (2011).[36]
MachineGames was chosen by Howard to develop the project because of its work on the Wolfenstein series, which also sees the player character fighting against Nazi, similar to the Indiana Jones franchise.[29] As executive producer, he would occasionally check in on the game's progress rather than having a hands-on role.[29] Jerk Gustafsson served as the game's director. Jens Andersson joined the project as design director in late 2022, after previously being hired in the same position for the planned 2009 game. Andersson had also served as lead designer on The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) and The Darkness (2007). The Indiana Jones team includes more than 20 developers who previously worked on The Darkness.[37][38] Development of the game lasted for more than five years.[33]
Gameplay
Vatican City served as one of the game's hub locations that players can revisit multiple times.
Several levels in the game are large, non-linear levels, as the team wanted to extend the game's longveity. The team experimented with the Uberkommandant missions in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which sees players revisit levels, and they were inspired by Metro Exodus' structure, in which the game had a linear narrative while still having large, sandbox areas where players have more freedom to explore and complete side content.[39] Vatican City was the first hub level and served as the game's vertical slice. The team described Vatican as the most complicated level in the game because it was the level where the developer experimented with different design choices. They decided early on that it cannot be a 1:1 recreation of the city, as they were unable to funnel players across major locations of the map or have them explore certain key buildings or areas.[39] To enhance the sandbox experience, the team initially designed "treasure hunts", which were essentially fetch quests that guide players across various map locations, though these were later reworked into 'mysteries' with richer narratives. These quests were mainly short activities—or ones that enriched the main narrative—as the team did not want to them to draw the attention away from players from the golden path too much. Mysteries primarily served to enliven the game’s world, as players encounter these optional narratives simply through exploration and evoke a sense of adventure.[39] To ensure the depiction of the locations in the game were authentic, the team read old books and images and reimagined how they would have looked like in the 1930s.[40]
Design of some of these locations was inspired by immersive sims, which give multiple ways for players to infiltrate and reach their objectives.[41] Disguises introduced an additional way for players to interact with the map and the environment. The team also worked to ensure the game was immersive, making sure that the game's user interface is presented phyiscally using Indiana's journal. Hannah Hoffman from the level design team also pushed for having "living world", in which players can identify small ways to interact with NPCs by being attentive.[39] An optional waypoint system was added to the game late in its development.[42] For MachineGames, the game continued the company's tradition of developing games in the first-person perspective, and to make it distinct from third-person adventure games. The first-person viewpoint was also chosen to fully immerse the player in the role of Indiana Jones. Certain contextual actions and cutscene will switch the game to third-person as they wanted to show the character on-screen as much as possible.[43] As with Wolfenstein II, the team built a full-body model of the player character, which can be seen from a first-person perspective. To make the game more immersive, a gameplay engineer was assigned the task to design how Indiana will use his hands manually to pick up, hold and manipulate different objects in the world.[39]
Indiana Jones himself serves as a guiding star for gameplay design, as every action he takes must feel in character. According to creative director Axel Torvenius, Indiana was not a gunslinger and instead a "teacher and a somewhat clumsy archeologist". As a result, the team depriotizied the use of guns in combat and positioned it as a last resort for Indiana to fight off his enemy. Despite having plenty of guns in the game, Indiana is easily killed during gunfights, and using firearms will attract the attention of other enemies in the area.[44] The game was designed to be generous, as Indiana was considered a lucky character. As a result, the team populated it with abundant pick-ups and ensured he could quickly escape combat, so players never feel compelled to fire a gun.[39] As the team was used to making run and gun game using heavy weaponry in the Wolfenstein series, it took the team a lot of time to readjust for a slower-paced gameplay.[45] Describing Indiana as an "unlikely" hero, the team wanted the melee combat system in the game to be "semi-chaotic", in which Indiana must rely on his wits and improvise using what he can find. As a result, the game had a lot of environmental objects, including guns, that players can pick up and use as a melee weapons.[41] Designing the whip, especially its game physics and simulation, was also difficult for MachineGames, and level designers have to create scenarios in the game where the whip is consistently implemented. The team consulted with a Swedish bullwhip champion to record visual and audio references.[46]
Andersson described The Great Circle as an "adventure-first" video game.[47] Early in development, the team created a pie chart denoting the proportion of the game devoted to six pillars: Hand-to-Hand, Platforming, Exploration & Puzzles, Infiltration, Set-Pieces, and Shooting.[48] The team took an extensive amount of time balancing different facets of gameplay, and attempted to juxtapose its setpieces with slower moments in which Indiana is simply exploring the environment and unraveling its mysteries.[49] Adventure games by LucasArts, such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, served as sources of inspiration for the team.[50] Puzzles in the game were designed to be complicated and varied. However, the team feared players may visit YouTube to look for solutions while playing the game, breaking their immersion. Therefore, they implemented a "hint system" in which Indiana will provide additional clues whenever the player take a picture of the puzzles.[51] To make the game more accessible and support players who are uninterested in solving puzzles, the game allows players to separately lower the difficulty of adventure aspect of the game.[52]
Story and characters
The team developed the narrative of the game first.[39] It was always considered to be a globe-trotting adventure, as the team felt that limiting players to one location would not be exciting, and that the game would have better pacing if different biomes are introduced.[45] Howard also helped conceived the story, in particularly the Golden Circle concept.[39] Gustafsson was heavily inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark and matinee adventure movies, and envisioned The Great Circle as a "lost Indiana Jones adventure from the 1980s",[53][54] one that evokes the same "tone and spirit" without repeating old plot threads.[55] The team collaborated with Kyle Klutz who served as the game's Director of Photography in order to imitate the filmmaking style and cinematography of Steven Spielberg's films.[53]The Great Circle was MachineGames' biggest game to date, with Torvenius adding that the game had nearly four hours of cutscenes.[56] Due to the frequent appearance of the Axis Powers' forces and propaganda in the game, known for their various and heinous crimes against humanity in World War II, the game also includes a cultural sensitivity warning that appears when the player begins the game for the first time, indicating that neither the game nor its developers condone the Axis Powers' actions.[57]
The game uses Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford's likeness, while Troy Baker provides voiceover work for the character. Ford was never considered to reprise the role due to his age, while Howard initially did not want Baker for the role as he told him in a Zoom meeting, which Baker took as a compliment, but after auditioning with hundreds, he got cast.[58] Baker initially turned down the role upon being approached due to finding the offer too daunting, but MachineGames' motion capture team changed his mind so he auditioned with dozens of actors until only he and another actor remained, with the team choosing Baker every time despite not impressing Howard at first.[59] Ford praised Baker's performance as "brilliant" and was pleased that no artificial intelligence was used in its creation.[60] As Indiana is a polyglot, Baker worked with language coaches to ensure he can perform some of his lines in Italian or Latin.[40] While the game told a standalone story, it does not necessarily pushed the character to a different direction. Nonetheless, the story of the game reveals an impulsive side of Indiana, how he always tries to seek the next adventure while refusing to settle down,[61] and explores his "obsession" with the past and how they prevented him from maintaining relationships with the ones he loved.[53] Recurring characters include Marcus Brody and Marion Ravenwood appeared early in the game to set up the adventure, before the new characters are introduced.[40]
Alessandra Mastronardi (left) and Marios Gavrilis (right) rounded out the supporting cast as reporter Gina Lombardi and Nazi leader Emmerich Voss respectively.
Other voice actors included Alessandra Mastronardi as Gina Lombardi, Marios Gavrilis as Emmerich Voss, and Tony Todd as Locus in his final voice acting role. Todd was brought into the project to play Locus by Emily Schweber and Tom Keegan after creative director Axel Torvenius and other developers half-jokingly pitched Todd for the role out of dissatisfaction with the actors who had audition for the role, as they had not brought enough depth to Locus. Once Todd turned out to be available, he brought an entirely different angle to the character's enigmatic background so he was offered the role.[62] Gavrilis auditioned for the role under the impression the game was a new Wolfenstein entry due to the codenames employed until he was informed about its true nature in late 2021; he felt that had he been told beforehand, he would have failed his audition. To portray Voss, Gavrilis rewatched all the films, paid special attention to Ronald Lacey's Arnold Toht and Paul Freeman's René Belloq and injected "a bit of Klaus Kinski flavour" to his performance. Gustafsson described Voss as a "hobby psychologist" who used Indiana's obsession with the past against him.[40] Gavrilis described Voss as "radical and unapologetic", and remarked that he had "joker-like qualities, almost like a God level troll, a school bully who took shithousery to a whole different level, backing it up with true knowledge and skill". Stuntman Nicklas Hansson briefly took over for Gavrilis on set when Gavrilis was infected with COVID-19.[63]
The audio team, led by Peter Ward, rewatched the films and recreated Ben Burtt's sound design for the game. According to Ward, the team "did hundreds of hours of original recordings, using props like the whip, the fedora, the leather jacket, and lots of different shoe types on lots of different surfaces".[55] The soundtrack was composed by Gordy Haab, based on the work of John Williams, who composed the film scores. Haab and 86 musicians recorded the game's score at Abbey Road Studios, where Williams originally recorded Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).[64] Certain soundtrack pieces, such as "Marion's Theme" and "Raiders March", had to be re-recorded and re-orchestrated due to mechanical copyright.[42] Haab chose percussion instruments he described as "very interesting", like the jawbone, to create an environment that could give a sense of space in the game.[64]
Release
The game's announcement in 2021 was accompanied by a teaser trailer which included various Easter eggs and hints about the game's setting.[65] In mid-2021, the game was in a very early state of development.[66] The game's title, story details, and first gameplay footage were unveiled on January 18, 2024, during the Xbox Developer Direct video presentation.[67]
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was released on December 9, 2024 for Windows and Xbox Series X/S as a timed console exclusive. The original contract between Bethesda and Lucasfilm parent Disney stipulated that the game would launch as a multiplatform title, but said terms were initially amended to exclude a PlayStation 5 version when Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent company in March 2021.[68][69] Disney felt that Windows and Xbox Series X/S made up a large-enough marketplace to justify exclusivity as originally planned.[70] A PlayStation 5 version launched on April 17, 2025.[71][72] On the decision to pursue a PlayStation 5 version of the game after initially announcing it as an Xbox console exclusive, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer cited the strong reception to prior Xbox multiplatform titles Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, Grounded, and Hi-Fi Rush. Furthermore, he described the necessity to provide returns to Microsoft to receive support on game development, and the desire to maintain strong interest in their franchises while growing the Xbox ecosystem across console, PC and cloud, calling multiplatform development "a strategy that works for us".[73][74] A Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game is set for release in 2026.[75]
A cosmetics pack inspired by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) was available as a general pre-order bonus or for pre-loading the game on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. Alongside the standard release, a Premium Edition and Collector's Edition are also distributed. Both editions enabled a 3-day early access period to play the game from December 6, 2024, an extra outfit for Jones inspired by his appearance in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and instant access to the game's story expansion The Order of Giants from release, in addition to a Digital Art Book. The Collector's Edition also comes with a SteelBook display case, a physical replica of the Allmaker Relic displaying a download code for the digital game, a journal resembling the one belonging to Jones, and an 11-inch globe marking key locations in the game's story, with space for hidden storage.[76][77]
A downloadable story expansion titled The Order of Giants was released on September 4, 2025.[78] The expansion was intended to be a "natural extension" of the main story campaign, and explores the origin of the mysterious Nephilim Order.[39] Commenting on the expansion, Torvenius noted that the DLC will not impact the story of the game, though it will give players additional insights about the game's lore. The team introduced a three-tier system which dynamically adjusted the difficulty of the expansion depending on how far players had progressed the main campaign.[79] In October 2025, MachineGames added a New Game Plus mode to the game, as well as an additional ending scene.[80]
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic,[81][82] and 94% of critics recommended the game on OpenCritic.[83]
Several critics praised the game's uniqueness and noted that the game felt significantly different from other third-person action-adventure games such as Tomb Raider and Uncharted, resulting in an experience that was refreshing and unconventional.[85][18][90] Several critics praised the game's melee combat, adding that it reflected Indiana's resoruceful and scrappy nature.[85][87] Ted Litchfield from PC Gamer liked the disguise system, noting NPCs' varied reactions to Indiana's disguises.[89] Several critics remarked that the stealth systems in the game were too simplistic.[18][89]IGN's Luke Reilly praised MachineGames' decision to stay first-person for the game, noting that it helped conveyed a sense of scale and contributed to an immersive experience in both melee combat and puzzle solving.[18] Josh West from GamesRadar also considered the game to be immersive, describing the game as a full Indiana Jones role-playing simulation experience.[88] Writing for Game Informer, Marcus Stewart noted that the game was quite forgiving, though he felt that it matched with the franchise's nature as popcorn flicks. Critics also enjoyed the game's puzzles and found them to be creative and smartly designed; its hint system was applauded.[86][84][18] In a more negative review, Ash Parrish from The Verge found the gameplay to be boring and simplistic, and wrote that interesting gameplay moments were few and far between, adding that the game would be better off as a movie rather than a video game.[91]
The level design of the game also received acclaim. Katherine Castle from Eurogamer praised the varied levels, dense hub locations, and linear setpieces.[85] Vatican City was often singled out as one of the game's highlights, as its complex design encouraged players to explore.[85][89] Castle particularly liked the optional interactions with NPCs, noting that it was rare for a big-budget blockbuster games for rewarding playful discovery.[85] Several critics described the level design as one of its greatest strengths, and compared its levels to those found in modern Deus Ex games and Dishonored.[89][88] Since the team had created numerous animations for Indiana's interactions with various environmental objects, several critics remarked that the game had a tactile quality to every action, further contributing to the role-playing experience.[88][87] Richard Wakeling from GameSpot noted that these immersive sim elements helped provided the game with additional player agency, and wrote that the game frequently rewarded exploration with side quests and optional narrative that tied back to the golden path.[87]
Donaldson called The Great Circle as one of the best licensed games in history, and wrote that the game successfully represented "all of Indiana Jones as a character - the adventurer, the professor, the ladies’ man, the action hero".[90] Castle wrote that the game had a "gripping and memorable global conspiracy plot", and felt that the game restored the franchise's legacy following disappointments such as Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.[85] Reilly commended the cutscenes for being well-directed, and praised how it conveyed the "slightly slapstick Indiana Jones humour". He was impressed by how The Great Circle fit in the chronology of the franchise, and added that the game "may well be the best Indiana Jones movie".[18] While West noted that the game had bombastic setpieces, he strongly praised the quieter moments of the game and the gradual mystery unraveling as the reasons why he fell in love with the franchise.[88] Wakeling strongly praised the game's presentation, adding that it did a "fantastic job of nailing the look and sound of the 43-year-old series".[87] Some criticized the pacing, particularly the extended early stay in Vatican City for interrupting the flow of story.[86][84] Critics widely praised Baker and the supporting cast's performances,[89][18][88][86] and Harrison Ford used the game to voice his support for Baker and other video game performers on strike in 2025, protesting the use of artificial intelligence to duplicate their work.[92]
The expansion The Order of Giants received "mixed or average" reviews on Metacritic.[93] While most critics agreed it retained the base game's gameplay strengths and featured inventive puzzles, some were disappointed that it did not introduce any new feature, and that its side-adventure status and smaller scale rendered it an inessential experience.[94][95][96]
Sales
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was the second best-selling game in the United States during its launch week.[97][98] It was the 14th best-selling game in the US in December 2024.[99] The game was the 18th best-selling title in the United Kingdom for the week ending 14 December 2024.[100]Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, said that 4 million players had played the game by January 2025.[101][102]
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle became the best-selling PlayStation 5 game during its release week.[103][104] As of 23 April 2025, the game sold 117.2K units on PS5 within its first six days, according to Alinea Analytics, marking a 28% increase compared to the 91.2K units sold on Steam by 14 December 2024. Additionally, it's estimated that Great Circle has sold approximately 310K units on Steam as of April 2025.[105][106] Following its PlayStation 5 release, it became the sixth best-selling game of April 2025 in the US.[107]
When asked about the possibility of follow-ups to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Lucasfilm Games vice president and general manager Douglas Reilly stated that while they are currently focusing on making the game and its forthcoming DLC successes, "I think we’re always looking for great stories. And the good news is, there’s a lot of space in between the films where we could tell more and more Indiana Jones stories that I think would be super interesting".[123]
Notes
↑ The secret ending is unlocked if the player collects all of the relics found throughout the game and place them in the wall puzzle found in the Iraq location.[26]
↑ "IFMCA Award Winners 2024". IFMCA: International Film Music Critics Association. February 27, 2025. Archived from the original on March 21, 2025. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
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