Key Takeaways
Of course, some sense of realism has to be left behind when jumping into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Much like he is in the films, our hero in Machine Games’ title is a genius-level archeologist who also possesses the ability to take on tens of Nazis at once.
However, there are still some things in The Great Circle that are specific to the game and make no sense at all. There’s always been a silly side to Indiana Jones and his adventures, but some things need to be called out as taking it all a step too far.
8 You Can Knock Nazis Out With A Flyswatter Or A Toilet Brush
While Indy always has a revolver and his iconic whip as part of his arsenal, you can always pick items off the ground and knock out Nazis with them.
Batons, sledgehammers, and hammers are there of course, but so are some absolutely ridiculous weapons. If you’re lucky enough to find one lying around in an enemy camp, you can whack people over the head with a flyswatter or toilet brush to knock them out. How exactly that’s supposed to knock a human being out, we don’t know, but that’s how it works in the world of The Great Circle.
If you do find a flyswatter, use it on at least one enemy. That’s because there’s an achievement to unlock that’s tied to knocking a Nazi out using one.
7 Enemies Forget Who You Are When You Use Lucky Hat
Lucky Hat is arguably the best Book you can find in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. With it unlocked, you’re able to revive yourself after being knocked out, provided you can scramble around on the floor and find Indy’s hat.
While it’s very useful, it’s pretty ridiculous in practice. When Indy smugly puts his hat back on, the enemies who were surrounding him just a couple of seconds ago completely forget he ever existed. Once they spot you again, they act all surprised, wondering who you are and what you’re doing there. It’s incredible to watch the stupidity at times.
6 Indy Can Climb Things One-Handed
You’ll rarely find a first-person action game that isn’t a bit janky here and there. While Indy sometimes gets stuck on objects or lurches strangely during combat, it’s the way he hops over rocks while holding things that’s the most awkward.
If you equip a piece of fruit, which would normally be used to increase your stamina temporarily, and start running over rocks with it, you’ll notice that Indy is able to climb things without the use of both arms. He’ll keep the piece of fruit rigidly in front of him while clambering. It looks really odd, and we’re not sure how it’s even possible.
5 Gina Is Always Waiting By A Radio For Your Call
Until you get to Sukhothai, Gina is by your side at all times. However, once you get access to the little boat by yourself in the final open area, it’s easy to lose your transport and be stuck wading through the swamp.
However, you’ll find radios by every dock, and calling it brings Gina and the boat to your location. No matter whether she is next to you or you left her somewhere around Sukhothai, she’s always ready to answer your call. What is she using to answer it,? We don’t know. That doesn’t seem to matter, though; she’s always waiting on your call.
While exploring Sukhothai away from story quests, Gina will leave you to explore alone and stay with the boat.
4 Did Indy Really Expect To Keep His Job?
At the end of the game, Indy gets a call from Marshall College saying he’s lost his job. After all this disappearing to travel the world and explore every cave he can find, his employers have had enough. But what did he expect? No employer is going to keep paying a member of staff if he’s never at work, even if the work in question is tangentially related.
Maybe this shock will persuade him to take vacation time for his adventures instead of just disappearing one day. We all have to play by the same rules, Indy.
3 Enemy AI Isn't Very Smart
One thing that makes no sense in The Great Circle is simply a design aspect. The enemy AI, in all situations, isn’t very smart. They all have incredibly short memories.
When sneaking around in enemy camps, you can walk in front of enemies and they’ll see you. However, as the yellow circle fills up, just walk behind something and they’ll forget you ever existed. «Hmm, what was that?» they’ll exclaim before going right back to what they were doing before.
2 Why Do Clerics Lock Doors For No Reason?
The Vatican is full of locked doors. Some of the keys you’re given by characters you meet and some are just found lying around. However, sometimes it makes no sense why certain doors are locked.
By Antonio’s office at the top of the Vatican library, there’s a door just to the left of his door. For some reason, it’s locked. All it does is lead to a stairwell to go between floors of the library. Does it really need to be locked? It’s not the only time you’ll encounter this, either.
1 Does Locus Have A Three-Metre Reach?
The hand-to-hand combat in The Great Circle is clunky and awkward, and the hit detection is very hit-and-miss, if you will.
It’s never worse than it is in the boss fights with Locus, who appears more than once throughout the story. For some reason, whenever he grabs or punches you, it doesn’t really matter how to you he is, he’ll hit you anyway. Frequently, he’ll swing, comfortably miss Indy’s face, but it’ll still register as a hit. Therefore, you need to stand really far away from him when fighting head on.
All you can really do to beat Locus is try to master the dodge and parry buttons to ensure you don’t take damage. That’s a beginners tip for the whole game.
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating: 86/100 Critics Recommend: 92% Franchise Indiana Jones Platform(s) PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC Released December 9, 2024 Developer(s) MachineGames Publisher(s) Bethesda Engine id Tech 7 ESRB N/A X|S Optimized Yes Number of Players 1 Steam Deck Compatibility Unknown OpenCritic Rating Mighty PC Release Date December 9, 2024 PS5 Release Date Spring 2025 Xbox Series X|S Release Date December 9, 2024 Expand
