Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

[h1]I Didn't Love It, But I Want More of It[/h1] I had a good time with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It's not an amazing masterpiece or MachineGames' best work, but it's a decent adventure game. Even though I have quite a few issues with it, this is still the kind of AAA game I want to see more of. [h3]Gameplay and Tempo[/h3] The biggest issue with the game is definitely its tempo. There are many sections where the game slows down way too much. Endless dialogue, long cutscenes and slow gameplay sections frequently damage the pacing. I don't mind story-heavy games, but Indiana Jones just feels boring sometimes. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3778308575 The puzzles, on the other hand, are very enjoyable. They are right at the sweet spot where they make you think for a minute without becoming frustrating. Combat is probably the weakest gameplay system. It's very simple and mindless. The stealth isn't much better either. Enemy AI isn't great and sneaking around eventually becomes repetitive rather than satisfying. [h3]Story and Characters[/h3] I wasn't blown away by the story, but I can't say it's bad either. The narrative is solid enough to keep you interested throughout the adventure. Troy Baker absolutely carries the game. As always, he delivers an incredible performance. His Indiana Jones feels natural instead of feeling like someone trying too hard to imitate Harrison Ford. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3778308206 Voss is also a surprisingly good villain. Good villains are very rare in games, so it was nice to finally have one that I actually enjoyed. The cutscenes are well directed and the overall presentation is very polished. [h3]Graphics and Optimization[/h3] This is easily the biggest disappointment of the game. The environment design itself is fantastic. Ancient ruins, temples and historical locations are all beautifully designed. The artists clearly did an amazing job. Character models are decent as well, and Indiana Jones looks great. The actual graphics, though? They are honestly pretty bad. Everything looks blurry. Textures and lighting constantly fall apart, especially outdoors. The render distance is not great either. Indoor locations generally look much better, but outside the game often looks shockingly dated. I also really dislike how dependent the game is on ray tracing and path tracing. A game should not need ray tracing just to avoid looking bad. We've had incredible-looking games with traditional baked lighting or standard lighting techniques for years. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Uncharted 4 or The Last of Us Part II prove that you don't need path tracing to create beautiful visuals. This feels more like laziness than technical progress. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3778308872 Optimization doesn't help either. Unless you own something like an RTX 4090 or RTX 5090, you're not playing this game at 1440p Ultra with Path Tracing enabled comfortably. I played it with an RTX 5080, and this is honestly the first game where I was not able to play with path tracing on at the highest settings. [h3]Final Thoughts[/h3] Contrary to what many people are saying, I don't think Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is some incredible masterpiece. But I do think it's the kind of game we need more of. It's a focused, single-player adventure with enjoyable puzzles, good characters and genuine passion behind its world. Even with its slow pacing, weak combat and disappointing technical side, I still had a good time with it. I definitely recommend it, especially if you're looking for a linear classic adventure game rather than another giant open-world checklist. [h1]BRONZE MEDAL[/h1] Follow My [URL=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40523765-Bearsonal/]Curator Page For More Reviews ⚜️

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☑ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☐ Decent ☑ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☑ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☑ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☑ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9 ☑ 10 Love this game. One of the best games i've played. regret i didnt get this sooner

A wonderful surprise, even though I'm not really a fan of the movies (I watched them once and thought they were cool, but that's about it). In fact, despite the very positive reviews, I didn't expect it to be this much fun to play. Direct combat is virtually nonexistent, and the stealth sequences are fairly short, allowing the game to focus on exploration and discovery. I find that pretty uncommon, and therefore particularly enjoyable, not to mention totally in the spirit of Indiana Jones. The storyline and storytelling really hold up; there’s humor that works (if you like the style of the movies), and the voice actors are good. After the narrative and game design disaster that was God of War Ragnarok, which I’d call “The Metronomic Verbosity”, it’s a relief to switch to a game that, while certainly aimed at a mainstream audience, is less formulaic and less hand-held. What’s more, visually, it’s still a real treat, often exceptional: it’s very beautiful and detailed, with top-notch lighting (thanks to path tracing) that really showcases the artists’ work. Finally, I really appreciate that the developers made compromises regarding the believability of our actions as players in order to deliver a smooth and enjoyable experience. You can get away with suspicious movements (crouching while walking, climbing low walls, sprinting, etc.) even while in disguise without raising suspicion. I find that pretty uncommon, and it’s a good thing because it lets you enjoy exploring the environments. I recommend it without hesitation.