Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants - Review

Before I started Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I was hoping for a game that was going to let me feel like I was Indy, by the time the credits rolled, I had found the definitive game for that. I loved it so much, that even after my review was done, I was going back into that world and getting everything. So, when the first teaser trailer for The Order of Giants showed off more puzzles and fights, I was keen on seeing if it could capture the same magic. Did this DLC deliver on my giant expectations, or was it an order to large to fill?

The story for this one is a little weird, as it begins inside the Vatican, but apart from that, it is entirely on its own. Something that I did like and this is not a spoiler, is that one of those doors in the guard quarters finally can be opened. Anyway, with the story, you meet Father Ricci, who was forced out of a location by the blackshirts and others, as they were attempting to keep something from him. Not one to be deterred, he ends up enlisting the help of Dr Jones and the quest begins in earnest. Across the 5 or so hours of content, there is the main story, a few side quests and a lot of notes and artifacts to discover. If you just focus on the main story, it might see you done in just over 3.5 hours, so it does feel on the shorter side, but it is a nicely put together 3.5 hours.

What I liked about the DLC was that it didn’t really require you to understand the full story of the main game to get, there was no random appearance from any existing characters, outside of a single cutscene. That means that if you have not played the game in months, you won’t feel like you are going to miss things. Of course, the flipside is that, without any existing characters in the mix, apart from Indy, it also feels completely disconnected from the events of the main game and it is. That separation is both the biggest strength and weakness of the DLC, because without that connection, none of the actions or events matter to the grand story, but without it means it does not need to rely on any element to stay strong. It is an odd juxtaposition to be sure and one that I think could have been solved if the DLC took place in an entirely new location, to really separate it.

Ok, so story aside, what about the gameplay. When I reviewed the main game, I called out how it often felt like I was Indiana Jones, thanks to the puzzles, combat and whip engagement. For the DLC, it was less about the latter two and more about the first, please don’t get me wrong, there are combat encounters and plenty of chances to whip it good, it just feels like the balance is more for the puzzles. There are a few big room puzzles, where you have to solve clues and turn things to get through it and while they were fun, I would have loved to have seen something that didn’t require me to stare at a floor to solve it. There was one puzzle near the end that required me to spin a wheel and columns and I will say that I had to use the game to give me the solution, because what I thought it was, was apparently not right. The problem was that I got one of the four things correct, but the remaining three were just not lining up and I think that was the game not agreeing to its own rules.

The biggest issue with the gameplay was just that there was not enough of non-puzzle things, outside of a few sneaking sections early on, you are mostly devoid of enemies to encounter and when you do, they are just one or two at a time. Yes, there is a time when there is a lot of enemies and that is fun, but it feels like getting one onion ring in with your fries, something nice but you want more of. Something that did pop up again, was the game showing me icons for notes or photos to take, which I had already done and they just did not remove from the map. As someone who was ready to find every card, note, recipe or other paper related item, being stuck trying to get 100% in the DLC and unable to because it says I missed something is annoying.

Speaking of annoying, there were quite a number of visual issues that popped up in the DLC, nothing game breaking, but quite noticeable. The first real issue was the lighting in one cutscene just freaked out and it was hard to see what was going on. Thankfully, it did only last for a few moments, but it was weird, nonetheless. The more repeating issue was simply due to the game world not actually being built right, there were loads of gaps between the elements. In one room, there was such a gap that you could see into the white void behind the playing space, but it happened with doors, boulders and more and each time I spotted it, it felt wrong to see. None of these broke the game, I did not fall through the world or anything like that, but they were just unexpected, given how polished the base game was.

The music and voice work was again incredible, with there being a host of new audio arrangements and pieces here. Troy Baker continues to shine as Indy and while the new additions to the cast were good, they really didn’t have the same impact as the main games cast, just due to how limited their time on screen was.

The Order of Giants is an ok expansion, there are issues with the story, which I can’t talk about for spoilers, but the biggest issue is that it just doesn’t feel like its connected to the main game. The puzzles are still a treat, though a little more variety would have been ok and the combat, while minimal, is still fun. If you are like me and just wanted more Indiana Jones, then this will scratch that itch, but if you are hoping for more everything, then this might be an order you may not want to join.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Bethesda

The Pros

The game still lets you feel like Indiana Jones, which is still a great feeling to have

Puzzles are the main focus of the experience, with combat being far more limited

The Cons

The story just doesn’t feel like it is apart of the main narrative or connected to it, in any meaningful way

The game still has that issue of not being able to remove icons from the map once items are collected