| Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | DLC & Pre-Order | Base Game Review |
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Review Overview
What is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants is a story-driven DLC for the first-person, single-player cinematic action-adventure game released by MachineGames in 2024. Set in 1937, the base game bridges the gap between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, placing players directly in the shoes of the legendary archaeologist, Indiana Jones. This expansion continues that formula, adding a new standalone storyline that takes players beneath the streets of Rome in pursuit of ancient secrets tied to the mysterious Nephilim Order.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants features:
⚫︎ New Story Chapter
⚫︎ Iconic Indiana Jones Gameplay Loop
⚫︎ Atmospheric Environments
⚫︎ Adaptive Difficulty
⚫︎ Cinematic Presentation
⚫︎ Environmental Storytelling
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 PlayStation |
 Xbox |
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| DLC Only | $19.99 | ||||
| Premium Upgrade | $34.99 | ||||
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Clever Expansion of Nephilim storyline Atmospheric Rome Underground Engaging New Characters and Lore |
Combat Is Tougher Puzzles Are Easier |
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Story - 9/10
The narrative cleverly expands on the Nephilim order, offering intrigue and fresh lore while standing as a self-contained arc. New characters and the atmospheric Roman setting keep things engaging. That said, the pacing starts slow and the odd timeline disconnect from the base game prevents it from feeling seamless. It’s an excellent story, just shy of flawless execution.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Gameplay - 8/10
The core loop of exploration, puzzles, and stealth is as strong as ever, with adaptive difficulty adding replay value. Combat, however, feels more punishing and at times unfair, especially against enemies with tanky health. Puzzles, though still thematic, lack the creativity and challenge of the base game. It’s enjoyable and polished, but not without its frustrations.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Visuals - 9/10
The underground catacombs and sewers of Rome are atmospheric, detailed, and fitting for the story. Lighting, textures, and environmental storytelling remain impressive. Still, players expecting the sweeping vistas and architectural grandeur of the base game may find the setting more confined. Beautiful in its own way, but not quite as striking as before.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Audio - 8/10
The soundtrack maintains the adventurous spirit, with solid orchestration and fitting cues. Voice acting is strong, though not consistently impactful across the board. Environmental audio sells the underground atmosphere well but doesn’t always reach memorable heights. It’s good, just not extraordinary.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Value for Money - 9/10
At $20, the DLC delivers a robust and polished story expansion that feels substantial rather than filler. The content length and quality make it worthwhile, especially for those invested in the lore. Overall, excellent value, though not endlessly replayable.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Overall Score - 86/100
This DLC thoughtfully broadens Indy’s world, delivering engaging storytelling, moody environments, and a refined gameplay loop. Still, the harsher combat balance, simpler puzzles, and more confined setting hold it back from true greatness. Where it shines, it does so with certainty, showing clear respect for both the character and the genre. It’s a strong expansion that proves a DLC doesn’t need to reinvent itself to feel worthwhile.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Review: A Monumental Expansion
Chasing Another Adventure With Indy
Ah, action-adventures, one of my bread and butter. From globe-trotting treasure hunts to stealth-heavy infiltration missions, I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit clambering over ruins, dodging traps, and piecing together mysteries most sane people would leave buried. So when Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launched last year, I came in with high expectations—and walked away impressed enough to give it one of my higher scores of the year. I wasn’t alone either; critics and players alike agreed it was something special, a rare blend of cinematic storytelling and hands-on adventure.
Now, almost a year later, we’ve got a brand-new chapter under Indy’s belt: The Order of Giants. And like any good servant to adventure, I couldn’t resist diving headfirst into this DLC. Was it another relic worth uncovering, or just a dusty trinket riding on the base game’s success? Time to crack the whip and find out.
A Vatican Confession That Leads Underground
The first question with any DLC is obvious: where does this new adventure actually begin? In the case of The Order of Giants, you don’t have to slog through the entire base game to get there. In fact, you don’t even need to be halfway through. As long as you’ve made it to the Vatican in The Great Circle, the DLC quietly unlocks itself as a fieldwork assignment. It all starts at the Confessions Fountain, where you’re asked to lend Father Ricci a hand retrieving something seemingly minor. But, as is the case with Indy, one harmless errand spirals into a labyrinthine chase through the undergrounds of Rome.
That’s where The Order of Giants finds its footing: in twisting catacombs, forgotten halls, and ruins that feel like they’ve been waiting centuries for someone reckless enough to wander in. The story zeroes in on the Nephilim Order, a thread teased in the base game but never fully unraveled. Here, it takes center stage. It’s treated as a completely standalone arc, and that brings some quirks. Certain cutscenes play out as if Indy’s Vatican encounters from the main campaign haven’t happened yet, which can throw you off if you’ve already finished the story. On the flip side, if you’re diving into the DLC before wrapping up the Vatican arc, everything slips neatly into place.
The enemies you’ll face reflect that transition too. At first, the familiar Nazis make their presence known, but before long they fade into the background and give way to something stranger. Enter the cultists—zealous new foes who breathe a different kind of menace into the story. They’re more ritualistic, more obsessed, and ultimately better suited to a tale that’s less about world wars and more about ancient secrets.
Admittedly, the opening stretch can feel slow, like the DLC is carefully winding its gears before letting loose. But once the momentum clicks, the hunt for the truth behind certain religious events becomes genuinely gripping. New characters arrive to fill in gaps, fresh lore spills out of dusty archives, and the adventure grows into something that feels both connected to Indy’s world and distinct in its own right.
Whips, Shadows, and Puzzles in Equal Measure
When it comes to the nuts and bolts of The Order of Giants, don’t expect any radical shake-ups. The DLC keeps the same core loop that made The Great Circle so enjoyable: sneak into forbidden places, solve puzzles that test both wits and patience, nab the objective, and then make a daring escape before everything collapses—sometimes literally. It’s classic Indiana Jones pacing, the kind of rhythm that feels like a playable serial adventure.
Stealth remains the heart of it. Enemies are sharp-eyed, and once you’re spotted, combat quickly tips into chaos. You can fight, but the odds are rarely in your favor. Get flanked, and it’s basically game over. That constant tension, thinking "do I risk sneaking past the guard or do I make a break for it?" is still the driving force of the experience.
Exploration and puzzle-solving pick up where stealth leaves off. One moment you’re tiptoeing through crumbling corridors, the next you’re aligning symbols, pulling levers, or finding that one overlooked clue that cracks the chamber open. The balance between these systems is still one of the game’s strongest traits. Nothing overstays its welcome, and there’s always something new to do, whether it’s dodging lines of sight, deciphering ancient mechanisms, or outrunning enemies.
What makes it work is the freedom. The DLC, like the base game, doesn’t chain you to one approach. Stealth, action, or pure evasion—it’s up to you. Sometimes the smartest move is slipping by unnoticed, other times it’s sprinting like hell and trusting your whip and reflexes to get you out alive. That autonomy keeps the experience fresh, even if the mechanics themselves are largely familiar.
That said, the same frustrations from last year linger. Chief among them: the lack of proper stealth takedowns. It’s one of those absences you feel immediately. Sneaking around is tense and rewarding, sure, but when you get the drop on an enemy, there’s no satisfying payoff. Instead, you’re stuck either staying hidden or risking a noisy scuffle, and it makes stealth feel just a little incomplete.
There’s also the matter of difficulty scaling. Depending on where you are in the base game when you unlock the DLC, the challenge adjusts accordingly. If you’ve already sharpened your skills and gear deep into the campaign, expect tougher fights and enemies who hit harder. If you’re tackling the DLC earlier, it won’t hit you quite as brutally. It’s a clever bit of adaptive design that makes The Order of Giants playable at multiple stages, though it does mean two players can walk away with very different impressions of how tough it is.
Fists Hit Harder Than the Brains
Here’s where my experience with The Order of Giants got a little complicated. On paper, the gameplay loop is still strong. In practice, though? The combat hit me harder this time around—literally. Since I’d already finished the base game, enemies felt tougher. Enemies felt like they had sharper vision and sturdier health bars. I usually lean toward stealth, and I don’t mind the occasional brawl when things get messy, but here even a small slip—like brushing into a cultist’s line of sight—spiraled into a fight I wasn’t really prepared for. It forced me into an even more cautious rhythm, less about improvising and more about threading the needle to avoid detection. The tension is authentic to Indy’s world, but I sometimes wished the balance leaned back toward clever escapes and high-stakes puzzles rather than punishing scraps.
And then there are the puzzles. If the combat dial got cranked up, the puzzle design seems to have been dialed down. Compared to the base game’s elaborate, brain-tickling challenges—those moments where you’d sit back, rub your chin, and feel like a genius when it finally clicked—the puzzles here felt safer. More contained. Still good, still thematic, still tied into the setting in a satisfying way, but noticeably easier. Where the base game made me feel like a world-class archaeologist, the DLC occasionally made me feel like I was just following instructions.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad puzzles. They’re crafted with care and they serve the story well, but they rarely hit that "wow" factor. Which is a bit of a shame, because if there’s one thing I expect from an Indiana Jones adventure, it’s to put my brain through its paces just as much as my reflexes.
If I could wave a magic fedora over this DLC, I’d swap the sliders: tone the combat down a notch, and crank the puzzles up. Indy works best when he’s using brains over brawn. Sure, the whip cracks and the punches land, but the thrill is in outsmarting the ruins, not just outlasting enemies.
Beauty in the Grit
If the base game swept you off your feet with sweeping vistas, temper your expectations here. The Order of Giants trades grand skylines for tight corridors, dripping catacombs, and more sewage than Indy probably bargained for. I genuinely felt bad for the man, wading chest-deep through water that looked like it hadn’t been touched since Caesar walked the streets above.
That said, there’s a certain charm in the grit. The developers didn’t skimp on detail, and while the palette is darker and the spaces more claustrophobic, they’re dripping with atmosphere—sometimes literally. Catacombs are lined with religious secrets, underground chapels echo with ominous silence, and even the oppressive tunnels manage to feel alive with history.
So no, this DLC won’t give you the sun-soaked backdrops that made the base game so photogenic, but it replaces them with a moody, immersive dive into the underbelly of Rome. It’s less about beauty in the obvious sense, more about finding wonder in the shadows.
Strengths Beneath the Surface
For all my gripes with balance and spending time with rats, The Order of Giants nails the big picture. The story hook is clever, tying Indy into the Nephilim Order in a way that feels both connected and standalone—you don’t need to finish the base game to jump in, but if you have, the lore hits with extra weight. The setting does a lot of the heavy lifting, too. Rome’s underground layers are a playground of atmosphere: winding catacombs, hidden chambers, and eerie religious relics that feel ripe for discovery.
Mechanically, the DLC is smart about adapting to where you are in your progression. If you’ve wrapped the main campaign, like I had, enemies come out swinging. If you haven’t, it still scales to meet you. That’s a nice touch, even if the combat’s a bit spikier than I’d prefer.
Most importantly, the variety that defined The Great Circle remains intact. Exploration, combat, puzzles, and stealth all weave together into a package that feels distinctly "Indiana Jones." Even if one element isn’t firing on all cylinders, the mix keeps things engaging.
Is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Worth It?
A Treasure Worth Unearthing
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants is a win in my book. It’s not perfect—the puzzles don’t quite hit the same highs, and the combat balance made me sweat more than I’d like—but it’s a meaningful, atmospheric, and surprisingly robust expansion of Indy’s world. It captures that timeless balance of exploration, danger, and mystery that makes this series tick, while carving out its own identity in Rome’s hidden underbelly. And for a DLC, that’s no small feat.
For $20, you’re not just getting a quick side mission or some filler content; this is a full-bodied expansion with its own story arc, memorable set pieces, and enough lore to deepen the Nephilim mystery in ways the base game only teased. If you sprung for the deluxe edition up front, the DLC is already bundled in, which makes it an even easier recommendation.
It’s the kind of add-on that respects your time and your wallet. A solid 6-8 hours of content depending on how much you explore, wrapped in the same polish and production values as the base game. If you’re on the fence, consider this your nudge, grab the whip, dust off the fedora, and dive back in. Just… maybe don’t think too hard about what Indy’s swimming through down there.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Xbox |
|||
| DLC Only | $19.99 | ||||
| Premium Upgrade | $34.99 | ||||
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants FAQ
How Do I Start The Order of Giants?
After installing the DLC and updating the base game, you’ll need to have reached the Vatican to access The Order of Giants. Once that requirement is met, head to the Fountain of Confessions and speak with Father Ricci to begin the DLC quest as a fieldwork assignment.
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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle News |
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants Product Information
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| Title | INDIANA JONES AND THE GREAT CIRCLE: THE ORDER OF GIANTS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 5, 2025 |
| Developer | MachineGames, Bethesda |
| Publisher | Bethesda |
| Supported Platforms | PC (via Steam) Xbox Series X|S PlayStation 5 |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Website |
