Indiana Jones and the Great Circle -PS5- 8.5

April 30, 2025

I just reached the end credits of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for PS5. When I first started playing, I actually did not like the game. I was not expecting the deliberate approach with enemy encounters, and I did not like how gun use was downplayed while fist fighting was emphasized. Fist fighting in the first person feels clunky, and I hated how much of it I felt like I had to do. The story also opened at a rather slow pace, and frankly, I was bored. However, the unique puzzles and exploration still kept me going at the beginning, and I wanted to push through to see why the game had been getting such high praise from critics. Thankfully, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle started to quickly turn around in its second half, where the plot really starts to heat up. And as I continued to play, I finally understood how the stealth mechanics worked, and began to genuinely enjoy the entire campaign. The game totally won me over me over by the end.

The Great Circle follows Indy’s journey to retrieve a stolen relic as he travels to exotic locations across the globe. The narrative takes its time to get going, but towards the end of the Egypt section, things start to get truly exciting. The excursion into the Himalayas was especially thrilling, and the finale in Iraq is loaded with big payoffs for all the characters. Indy’s voice actor Troy Baker does an impeccable job, sounding identical to Harrison Ford. And both Emmerich Voss and Viktor Gantz make fantastic villains as they try to one-up each other in every one of their scenes together. The rest of the supporting cast is very good, too.

I loved exploring and performing side missions in the Vatican, Egyptian desert, and jungles of Siam. Right before the final act, I focused on attaining more books and hidden items from uncharted areas to upgrade Indy’s abilities. I could hardly put the game down at times with the sense of adventure to be had in solving various mysteries and completing all the field work. The several landscapes you visit are not too large, but they are intricately designed and dense with secrets to uncover. This is the type of game where you must immerse yourself in the world to get the full experience.

The primary criticism I had with The Great Circle early on was the hand-to-hand fighting. I had no patience when I first encountered the Nazi soldiers, and I just wanted to go in guns blazing. But firearms and ammo are hard to come by in this game and I kept getting into fist fights. Eventually, I learned how to parry, and this helped me enjoy the fisticuffs a bit more. But what dramatically improved the gameplay for me was when I became more methodical with the stealth options. There is a lot of freedom the game offers when tackling a group of soldiers, and it is up to you to be creative, which substantially deepens the playability. By the end, I was having a lot of fun planning my attacks and sneaking around my enemies.

The Great Circle tells a terrific Indy tale. Once the pace picked up, it consistently had me on the edge of my seat. More opportunities to use firearms would have been nice, but I still enjoyed the stealth segments after going in with the right mindset. Transversing the varied locals was also a joy with the help of Indy’s trusty whip and climbing skills. I rate Indiana Jones and the Great Circle an 8.5 out of ten.