A prologue allowing players to meaningfully revisit and experienceRaiders of the Lost Ark’s opening may have been wholly unprecedented, butIndiana Jones and the Great Circle’s first half hour or so being tremendously cinematic was surely anticipated given the nature of the movies. Indeed,Indiana Jones and the Great Circlewades players into its narrative and in a linear fashion with light exploration in Peru’s jungle and Connecticut’s Marshall College.
Even when Indy arrives in Rome players are slowly introduced to the basics of stealth, combat, and traversal while being informed of locked doors and shortcuts they’ll discover in their journey. It isn’t until players reach Vatican City and obtain Indy’s first disguise thatIndiana Jones and the Great Circlereveals its true colors, and by that point it will probably be quite clear to players whether MachineGames and Bethesda’s latest action-adventure romp is going to resonate with them or not.
For Better or for Worse, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Vatican is an Adventure All on Its Own
Perhaps unexpectedly—depending on how immense players believedIndiana Jones and the Great Circlewould be—the Vatican quickly blossoms into an unexpectedly large zone where a ton of investigative and multifaceted side content can then be freely pursued, such as meeting NPCs, following Mystery note breadcrumbs, scavenging medicine bottles for skill pamphlets at the pharmacy, or taking photographs of trivial ongoings, sacred landmarks, and resting cats.
Players earn Adventure Points along the way regardless of what they’re up to ina Clerical or Blackshirt disguise, but keeping an eye out for these points of interest and interactions throughout the environment will typically net them enough Adventure Points so that abilities associated with newly purchased books and pamphlets can instantly be unlocked. An enormous amount of side content is allotted to collectibles, including scattered ancient relics or miscellaneous notes, with time spent searching for them easily doubling how long it may take to beatIndiana Jones and the Great Circleon top of various Fieldwork and Mysteries players can choose to indulge in at their leisure.
Either way,Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s cinematic adventureis only a quaint part of its allure while invigorating and rewarding exploration is lying in wait for players to discover it in the Vatican. Gizeh and Sukhothai then echo the Vatican in how dense they are with exploration opportunities and journal completion checklists that are equally as arresting and intimidating while the Himalayas, Shanghai, and Ur run perpendicular and balance them out as tighter cinematic set pieces.
How Players Acclimate to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Gameplay May Determine How Much They Engage with Its World
Players can obviously elect to followIndiana Jones and the Great Circle’s golden pathexclusively if they’re at least intrigued by the game’s more outwardly cinematic moments. But if the overarching narrative hasn’t captured players’ curiosity and the idea of elaborate side content or extensive collectible hunting in Gizeh and Sukhothai isn’t enticing at all either then it would make sense if players bounce off of it.
The Vatican sets the dinner table in such a way that it transparently displays what the meatier parts of the game will look like as players progress to new settings. IfIndiana Jones and the Great Circle’s gameplayisn’t hooking players by the time they hitch a ride on a zeppelin to Africa then it’s unlikely they’ll suddenly fall for it in a way that they wouldn’t have when they realized just how big of an emphasis on patternable exploration, collectibles, and side quests there would be.
