Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Review (Xbox Series X|S)

MachineGames is back with another dip into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – this time with an extended outing in the game’s Vatican location, or should I say, underneath the game’s Vatican location. Yep, The Order of Giants takes titular hero Indiana Jones underground to explore the various caverns and sewers that lay beneath the Holy City – tackling some brain-scratching puzzles and a creepy cult in the process.

Let’s start with how you actually access the new DLC content. If you own the pack and have it installed, The Order of Giants is woven right into the main game, rather than being accessed separately. You head to the Fountain of Confession within the Vatican City, where Father Ricci is waiting to set you out on a new quest based in an extended portion of one of the game’s existing areas. The Order of Giants instantly feels like a new slice of The Great Circle rather than anything profoundly new or different – and that extends to the way the expansion plays as well.

Once you sneak underground and figure out what you’re down there to achieve, The Great Circle quickly throws you into what’s quite a puzzle-focused weave through the Vatican City’s secret chambers. You’ll be faced with some brain-scratching puzzles fairly often — in some cases back-to-back-to-back — so if the slower-paced areas in the main game were your jam, you’ll probably get on with the majority of The Order of Giants. For me though, the DLC once again had pacing issues that made it feel like a bit of a slog by journey’s end.

That feeling probably wasn’t helped by The Order of Giants’ setting, admittedly. I was pretty excited when I initially set off on my new Vatican City adventure, but the location quickly feels like one of those ‘sewer sections’ in video games that you just want to get through. You’re in dark areas, splashing through filthy water fairly often; circling around and backtracking as you uncover the DLC’s core mystery. Things get a little better once you enter each cavernous puzzle area, but it’s a somewhat drab location overall and contributes to the expansion feeling ‘samey’ most of the time.

Then, as I previously mentioned, The Order of Giants is so puzzle-based that it’s a very slow-paced affair overall. You complete four of five big puzzles throughout the roughly six-hour adventure, and if you’re like me and often have to bang your head against a wall for short while to get through these puzzles, it might feel like you’re making no real progress for hours. Later on, the DLC adds in some combat and stealth sections, but these could have done with being sprinkled more evenly throughout the expansion.

Thankfully though, pacing aside, the puzzles themselves are some of the best in the entire game. A couple of them do have a few obtuse steps that we had to resort to Indy’s clue-filled camera to get past (a very useful feature, I might add), but all-in-all, they were satisfying to get through – and delivered a real sense of achievement once completed. If puzzles are your jam in this sort of video game experience, you’ll be well-served by The Order of Giants.

If you’re more into the action and/or platforming side of things, then you’ll probably be somewhat disappointed here. Combat arrives later on in the expansion and is still as clunky as it is in the main game, and platforming takes a real backseat here. There’s not a lot of clambering around in the Order of Giants, and considering that’s probably my favourite aspect of these sorts of action adventure games, the DLC didn’t really scratch my itch in that regard. It feels like a much-more specialised experience compared to the main game — which probably makes sense given its length and the target audience — but yeah, just something to keep in mind here if puzzles aren’t the main draw for you either.

Before I wrap up, the team throws in a fresh boss fight right at the end for good measure, which at least mixes in a unique combat mechanic compared to the mostly fist-based bosses in the main Great Circle experience. It’s not a particularly challenging boss, but it’s one that stands out in comparison to the base game, and gave the DLC a decently satisfying ending.

Conclusion

The Order of Giants is more Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, for better or for worse. Those of you who liked the base game’s slower paced sections should get on well with the DLC, and its puzzles feel satisfying and fair throughout. Combat and exploration are lacking though, and just like the core game, I feel like the pacing is completely off – which definitely takes something away from the sense of adventure here. The Order of Giants is a solid expansion to MachineGames’ 2024 title, but don’t expect anything wildly different or unique from the team’s brand-new DLC.