MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes you, as Indy, on a trip through the heart of the growing fascist movement in 1930s Europe. While you’re searching for clues in Indy’s main investigation, you’ll catch sight of a few dozen smaller, optional mysteries. But is it worth taking the time to check them out?
It’s a slightly more complicated question than you might think. The Great Circle separates its missions into several categories: Adventure, Fieldwork, Discovery, and Mysteries.
Adventure is the primary plot, where Indy is out to learn who stole one of his museum pieces and why. Fieldwork missions can be broadly generalized as other, unrelated archaeological investigations; Discoveries involve collectibles and short-term activities, like an underground boxing circuit; and Mysteries are shorter and typically based around a single puzzle.
Due to the way that The Great Circle is structured, many of these missions tend to be interconnected. It’s easy to follow one mission only to end up pursuing another as you go about finding collectibles and quest items.gc-sm02.jpg]
There’s nothing wrong with letting that spontaneous objective structure play out for you. In fact, you’ll end up benefiting if you stray from the main path from time to time. The two primary rewards for successful missions in The Great Circle are Books and Adventure Points. While Books are rarely an actual mission reward, it’s very common for access to a Book to be locked behind progress in a particular side mission.
Books are used to unlock passive bonuses to Indy’s skills, such as faster stamina recharge or more blocks of health, while Adventure Points are spent to gain those bonuses. Picking up any collectible, such as a note, photo, or artifact, is usually worth 15-50 AP, while side missions can earn you up to 300 at once.
If you’re looking to prepare for the later challenges in The Great Circle, especially when playing on a higher difficulty, it’s worth taking the time to knock out at least a few side missions in order to improve Indy’s stats. It’s particularly useful to pick up the Moxie books from “A Remedy for All,” which extend Indy’s health meter, and to acquire the Blackshirt disguise in Vatican City so you can take the “Brawler II” Book from inside the fascists’ campsite.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available on PS5, Xbox Series X?S, and Windows via Steam.