Intro

Before firing up Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I’ll be honest I had almost no interest in the game or film series as a whole. Never seen a single movie, heard the modern releases were rough, and that did not exactly inspire confidence. Then I learned it was first person which made me think “Uncharted but from an FPS perspective” and this was not a positive thought. And knowing MachineGames made this, a studio known for their modern boomer shooters, I figured it would just be another generic action game with a treasure-hunting skin clumsily slapped over top if the corpse.

Holy shit, I was wrong.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this completely whiplashed by my own preconceptions verus what a game actually delivers. Within the first hour or two, Great Circle had me completely hooked and not for the reasons I was expecting.

The genius is in the details. This is my animation wet dream, a game that genuinely respects the art of animation. You don’t just pull items out of thin air into your inventory, You physically reach out to grab said items before having to preform another button input that leads to another animation of opening a big to put the item into. Equipping your camera and you watch Indiana pull it out of his bag and twists the film so that it’s ready to take the picture all in real time. The world feels alive as you equip different tools and bare witness to smooth, satisfying animations. When you interact with the environment like opening an door, you move into said door and it physically and realistically reacts to your character model. During puzzles you have to pick up one of the items and Indiana doesn’t just teleport it into his hand or inventory no he reaches his arm out to grab the item and hold it and if it’s small enough for your bag you then can stow the item leading to the animation of him opening his bag.

Here’s where it gets even better: large items can’t be stowed. Pick up something big and you’re commited to carrying it. If you need something from your bag, you have to drop the large item first. There’s no standard pause menu for inventory, everything is real time and seamlessly integrated into the world. This single design choice grounds the entire experience immediately, and it wasnt’t what I expected when I started playing. But seeing this level of detail right away had me genuinely excited to discover what else they got right.

Then the visuals. This is genuinely one of the most stunning games I have seen in years. the character models alone are exceptional like the rest of the game they care for the small and big details, the expressions, the way cloth and hair move. Combine that with environments that feel lived in just makes the whole thing look premium as well.

I was sold before the story even kicked in. Before I knew who Indiana Jones was or why I should care. The game’s commitment to immersion and animation detail had already won me over.