Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Order of Giants DLC

When in Rome…

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was a pleasant surprise when it came to adapting the beloved movies as not just a video game, but as a moment in time between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. It established itself with some incredible mission design, voice acting, and a sense of action that the films were known for. While Order of Giants does fine in its offering, it lacks the excitement of the campaign and provides far too simple puzzles across its roughly 8 to 10 hours in length.

Order of Giants comes to us almost a year later, and takes place during an early moment in the story. In fact, a particular scene won’t make a lick of sense if you have already beaten the campaign. That said, it was very easy to access, as you simply need to travel back to the Vatican and pursue the mission that pops up. It is here, then, in Rome, where the ENTIRE DLC takes place, that you meet Father Ricci and his parrot, who asks for your help with an errand. That said, this simple errand turns into a roughly 8 to 10-hour campaign that takes place entriely under the Eternal City. 

Order of the Giants trades in the globe-trotting, wide-open spectacle of The Great Circle for a wealth of catacombs, forgotten ruins, and claustrophobic environments that haven’t seen life for centuries. While it is appreciated that DLC dives into more of the Nephilim Order, which was left unexplored in the base game, it sadly lacks the punch when the final hand has been shown. Yes, one particular reveal is something you likely will see coming, especially as the story lacks any real antagonist to fuel Indy’s desire to see this through. 

While you’ll have a few familiar foes show up in the early hours, you’ll eventually take on cultists who are after Ricci and his potential discoveries. Given the short length of the DLC and the penchant for puzzles that are likely going to take you anywhere from 10-15 minutes a piece, as well as hours of exploration in this tight corridor-ridden halls, you don’t have too many big enemy encounters to take on, just a sea of simple stealth moments that feel added here to keep us aware of the cultist threat around us. That said, similar to The Great Circle, you do have a lot of freedom in either going in guns hot or playing it more stealthily. 

While the DLC does eventually get interesting, it is only then that less than a half an hour later, that it ends. The final encounter is rather fun, I’ll admit, as is the resolution that follows that fight. There are some good moments for Troy Baker to chew on, but rarely any that show that the actor had a lot to do here; likely recording for an hour at best. 

In The Great Circle, there were puzzles that had stumped me for quite some time. However, the puzzles here rarely kept me stuck. There is a fun narrative puzzle where you need to put the clues together, but it rarely stumped me. The only puzzle to keep me occupied for longer than I’d care to admit was a marble puzzle where you need to direct a marble to all four statues. While the puzzle itself was simple, given that the lanes were rarely mazelike. It was that fact that the pieces you hold in your arms to direct the marble would block the entire view of the hole you needed to slot them in, let alone the direction you want the marble to go. It was painful.

If you head into Order of Giants at the time when it takes place in the story, you’ll likely be able to take advantage of the scaling difficulty found in this DLC. As I had already beaten The Great Circle, I never got to experience this scaling. That said, enemies hit extremely hard given my completion of the campaign, but it wasn’t anything a good pipe or hammer to the skull couldn’t fix. While you do find the odd gun early on, they are nowhere to be found later on. 

For $20, Order of the Giants is more Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but with less spectacle and more of exploring forgotten ruins and swinging around with your whip. While there are some locations that flavor that whip swinging, the DLC only teases us with what was so great about the main campaign. Personally, I think it is a fine enough adventure, but one that just didn’t wow me or remind me what I loved about the base game. Baker is back with his impeccable Harrison Ford impression, but I just wish he had more to chew on this time. 

Developer - MachineGames. Publisher - Bethesda Softworks, Microsoft. Released - September 4th, 2024. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, Windows. Rated - (T) Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Review code for the base game and DLC was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.