You know that feeling when you're watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indy barely survives a truck chase by his fingernails? That specific, desperate, "I'm making this up as I go" energy is hard to capture in a game. Most of the time, adventure games turn you into a superhero. You’re Nathan Drake, effortlessly parkouring across crumbling ruins, or Lara Croft, a literal one-woman army with a bow. But Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes a weird, gutsy left turn. It doesn't want you to be a god. It wants you to be a tired professor who’s really good at punching people in the face.
The First-Person Gamble That Actually Worked
When MachineGames first announced this was going to be a first-person game, the internet basically had a collective meltdown. People were like, "How can I be Indy if I can't see the hat?" Honestly, it was a fair question. We’ve spent decades seeing Indy from the third-person perspective in films. But after playing it, you realize why they did it.
The first-person view isn't just a stylistic choice; it’s about the puzzles. In a game like Uncharted, puzzles are often just "pull three levers in order" while the camera hovers ten feet behind you. In Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you’re literally leaning in to look at the scratches on a stone dial. You’re holding a physical lighter up to a wall to see hidden inscriptions. It makes the archaeology feel like, well, archaeology.
- The Whip: It's not just for combat. You use it to swing, sure, but also to grab items from across the room or trip guards.
- The Camera: You have an actual in-game camera. Taking photos of ruins isn't just a "photo mode" fluff feature; it’s how you gain adventure points and solve riddles.
- The Journal: Everything you find gets sketched into your journal. It feels tactile, like you’re actually building a record of your journey.
The combat is where the first-person view gets really chaotic. MachineGames, the folks behind the modern Wolfenstein reboots, know how to make a punch feel heavy. Combat here isn't a slick dance. It’s messy. You’re blocking, parrying, and grabbing whatever is nearby—a shovel, a rolling pin, a literal banjo—to clobber a Nazi. It feels much more like the movies because Indy was never a "clean" fighter. He was a brawler.
What's the Story With the Great Circle Anyway?
The game fits into a very specific sweet spot in the timeline. It’s set in 1937, right between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. This is "Peak Indy." He’s still obsessed, he’s still relatively young, and the world is on the brink of total war.
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The plot kicks off with a break-in at Marshall College. Some giant of a man steals a seemingly worthless artifact, and Indy, being Indy, can't let it go. This leads him on a global chase to uncover the mystery of "The Great Circle"—a series of spiritual sites around the globe that form a perfect ring when connected on a map.
Locations You'll Actually Explore
This isn't just one long hallway. The game uses a "hub" system. You’ll visit the Vatican, the Pyramids of Giza, the temples of Sukhothai in Thailand, and even the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. These areas are surprisingly open. In the Giza hub, for instance, you can ignore the main quest for hours just exploring side tombs or sneaking into Nazi camps to steal supplies.
One of the coolest characters introduced is Gina, an Italian investigative journalist. She’s not just a sidekick; she has her own stakes in the story. She’s looking for her sister, and her path intersects with Indy’s in a way that feels natural, not forced. And then there's the villain, Emmerich Voss. He’s not a cartoon character. He’s an intellectual rival—a man who is just as smart as Indy but uses that brilliance for something much darker.
The 2026 Perspective: Performance and Updates
If you're jumping in now, you're seeing the game at its absolute best. At launch, there were some legitimate gripes about the stealth being a bit wonky and some stuttering on certain PC setups. But the "Anniversary Update" that hit in late 2025 really smoothed things over.
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One of the biggest additions was New Game+. It’s not just the same game with your old gear; completing the story in New Game+ actually unlocks a secret ending sequence that adds a whole new layer to the mystery of the Great Circle. They also added the "Cairo Outfit" from Raiders, which was a huge win for the fans who just wanted to look like the classic version of the character.
Technical Reality Check
For the tech nerds, the game is a beast. It uses the id Tech engine, and on the Xbox Series X and PS5, it targets 60fps. If you're on PC, especially with an AMD card, the Mesa 26 drivers released in early 2026 finally fixed those weird micro-stutters that used to happen in the more crowded Vatican scenes.
Why It Beats the "Clones"
For years, we’ve been told that Uncharted is the "modern Indiana Jones." And don’t get me wrong, those games are fantastic. But they are action movies. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an adventure movie.
There’s a nuance there that most people miss. In Uncharted, the "raiding" is what happens between the gunfights. In The Great Circle, the raiding is the game. You spend a lot of time just standing still, looking at a map, and trying to figure out which way the shadow of a statue points at noon. It respects your intelligence. It doesn't put a giant glowing yellow icon on every ledge you need to climb.
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Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
If you're about to start your journey, don't just rush through the main story. You'll miss half the fun.
- Invest in "Adventure Books" early: These are hidden throughout the world and unlock specific skills. Look for the ones that increase your health or make your whip more effective in combat.
- Use Disguises: This isn't just a brawler. Many areas, like the Vatican, allow you to put on a priest’s robes or a worker’s uniform. It changes how NPCs react to you and lets you access areas you’d otherwise have to fight through.
- Take Pictures of Everything: Your camera is your best friend. Even if something doesn't look like a puzzle, snap a photo. Indy will often make a comment that gives you a hint or adds a lore entry to your journal.
- Listen to the Environment: The sound design is top-tier. If you hear Nazis talking, stop and listen. They often give away the location of keys, patrol routes, or hidden loot.
Honestly, the game isn't perfect. The gunplay can feel a bit stiff compared to a dedicated shooter like Call of Duty, but that’s intentional. Indy isn't a soldier; he’s a guy who hates guns but uses them when he has to. Once you lean into that mindset—the mindset of a resourceful, slightly clumsy, but brilliant archeologist—everything about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle just clicks into place.
If you're on the fence because of the first-person perspective, just give it an hour. By the time you’ve cracked your first puzzle in the dusty halls of Marshall College and punched your first fascist with a heavy-duty stapler, you’ll realize this is the Indy game we should have had twenty years ago.
For those playing on the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026, make sure to check your storage space; the game is a massive install but runs surprisingly well on the new handheld hardware. Dive into the "Order of Giants" DLC once you finish the main quest—it’s a shorter, tighter experience that takes place under the streets of Rome and features some of the best puzzles in the entire package.