Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set between the events of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Last Crusade." Indy's antics have left him estranged from Marion Ravenwood, but otherwise, he's pretty much exactly where you'd expect him to be, exploring the world, finding treasures and bringing them to museums. That activity is the source of his newest troubles, when an artifact he had previously recovered is stolen by a mysterious man. It forces Indy to track him from the Vatican to the distant sands of Egypt to recover the artifact. Of course, the Nazis are there to make everything harder because Indiana Jones and punching Nazis go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

Overall, The Great Circle is a pitch-perfect Indiana Jones adventure that combines the exact mix of humor, seriousness, science and mysticism that made the franchise work. I'd go to bat for it being easily the best thing to come out of Indiana Jones since "The Last Crusade," and I'd probably even put it above "Temple of Doom" in my personal rankings. It doesn't break any new ground, but it feels like a fun, exciting and well-made adventure featuring Dr. Jones. The worst I can say about it is that it is perhaps a tad safe in places, but when you're dealing with the Indy franchise, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Before the first whip crack or thrown punch, the main priority of The Great Circle is creating a world that feels lived in, detailed and interesting to explore. Every environment you visit is absolutely littered with detail. Random signs on walls may be clues to puzzles, or they might just be for flavor. Searching a seemingly innocuous room can reveal secret passages that lead to hidden treasures or rare artifacts. Every moment of the game feels like you're in a real physical place, and it feels incredible. Even simple acts like pulling out your map involve actually pulling out your map and staring at it.

In doing so, The Great Circle has created a world that feels at once immensely faithful to the series and incredibly fun to live in. The first stage of the game (after a slightly self-indulgent tutorial/remake of the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark") involves the museum and school where Indy spends his non-adventuring days, and I could've spent hours looking at the exhibits, the details of the offices, and more. That's for a relatively simple place that you only visit for a short time. Once you reach ancient ruins or distant locales, it feels incredible.

This also plays into how the game handles puzzles, which aren't difficult. They are tactical and feel natural. You'll use objects in the environment to solve the puzzles, such as the tutorial where you're tasked with finding out which artifact is missing from a museum by matching the artifacts with their cases based on contextual clues. It's a simple but compelling piece of gameplay that feels like an Indiana Jones title.

When not solving puzzles or exploring lush environments, Indiana Jones is spending most of his time trying not to get into conflict with the many and omnipresent fascists who litter the land. Despite developer Machinegame's Nazi-killing pedigree, The Great Circle is more of a stealth game than an action game. Whenever you're somewhere with dangerous foes, your best bet is to avoid them, usually through the tried-and-tested method of hiding behind objects or using your trusty whip to scale ledges so you can go above them. You're able to don disguises because in true movie fashion, Indy's trusty hat is often more recognizable than his handsome face. Disguises only work on lower-ranking enemies; officers will suss you out in a few moments.

Most of the time, sneaking past enemies is your best bet. Many objectives can be reached via multiple paths, and on the default difficulty level, enemies are fairly unaware. If you move quickly enough or stick to going above their heads, they'll have no idea you were even there. Finding these paths is probably the most enjoyable part of the game, adding a genuine sense of immersive simulation to the overall experience. It felt very satisfying to find the correct whip-ledge to climb on or the correct disguise to get past enemies.

Stealth kills require more of an investment. Indy needs something solid to knock out enemies. You can use objects in the environment, ranging from heavy maces to, inexplicably, a fly swatter, but each object has limited durability, and stronger objects are heavy enough that you can't drag them around with you. There are plenty of objects, but you need to consider if it's worth knocking out a foe instead of just sneaking by. In a pinch, you can use the butt of your revolver, but this can damage it and require repair.

If I have one complaint about the game, it's that, for a stealth-focused title, the stealth is merely acceptable. For being such a major part of the game, it often feels perfunctory. There's nothing exceptional or notable about it, despite the fact that the rest of the game absolutely drips with that Indiana Jones feeling. Admittedly, Indiana Jones' stealth in the movies is usually barebones rather than involved. Stealth feels necessary; Indy can handle the occasional fistfight, but he's not going to single-handedly murder every fascist at the base without some effort.

Thankfully, when you do get caught, hand-to-hand combat is a lot of fun. Indiana Jones is less of a super-skilled brawler and more an incredibly dirty fighter. Hand-to-hand combat is fast and visceral, with every punch having genuine weight and impact. You can block and parry attacks, and parrying and counter-punching a Nazi in the face is arguably one of the most satisfying feelings in gaming this (or last) year. There's no reason to play fair, and you can use the same objects to stealth takedown enemies to club them over the head or use your whip to pull them off their feet and steal their weapon. You have to manage your stamina, but that feels appropriate for the character; Indy rarely finished a fight without panting for breath.

It should be noted that Indiana Jones does have guns, but as in the films, they don't play a huge role. If anything, I felt heavily disincentivized from using guns. They attract enemies and are cumbersome, and they just don't feel like something you want to use. It's possible to re-create that scene from The Raiders of the Lost Ark where you pull out your revolver and shoot an enemy, but even there, it feels underwhelming, to the point where the butt of your gun feels like a more valuable tool than its barrel. Guns feel like an option of last resort when you're tired of a situation. This might sound like a criticism, but it isn't. Indiana Jones isn't a shooter protagonist, and The Great Circle understands that assignment perfectly.

It helps that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is absolutely gorgeous. Not only are the details lush and beautiful, but the entire game also looks amazing. Characters both new and old are rendered in near-perfect detail, the cut scenes look fantastic, and the whole game looks phenomenally good. It's easily one of the prettiest games on the PS5, especially if you have a PS5 Pro. I think the sound really makes it all work. Troy Baker's take on Harrison Ford is absurdly good, eerily so at points, but everyone nails their roles. Everything from the soundtrack to the crack of the whip sounds like the films.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is about as ideal of an Indiana Jones experience as you can hope for, and it's easily one of the best adaptations of a film franchise. It captures everything that made the best parts of the franchise shine, while avoiding the pitfalls and missteps of its weaker parts. It's a love letter to everyone's favorite whip-wielding, fedora-wearing adventurer, and the game shows why he still has a place in video games, even among the Nate Drakes and Lara Crofts. Only some slightly weak stealth elements bring down the game a tiny bit. It's a cliché, but ... well, this game belongs in a museum.

Score: 9.0/10