Last year, Machine Games gave us Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, taking us on an amazing, global adventure. Now, the team are back with a piece of single-player, story driven DLC. This mini-adventure takes Indy deep within the bowels of the Rome itself. Is it worth the journey, and more importantly, your money? Let’s try to answer both of those questions in our spoiler-free Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants Review!
A Mystery Begins
In order to start and actually play Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants, you’ll first need to travel back to Rome. Here, you’ll meet Father Ricci, a young priest (and an adorable talking bird) who’s trying to learn more detail about the ‘legend of the nameless crusader‘. A legendary and incredibly tall warrior said to have never removed his helmet.
The young priest worked as a conservator, and found a hidden text inside a mural. This long hidden message suggests this great warrior had removed his helmet and that its final resting place is in a secret chamber somewhere underneath Rome itself. Indy’s curiosity piqued, we’re off on a whirlwind adventure that will last the average gamer around 5 hours or so.
As this is a story driven, single player DLC, I won’t go into any more plot details than that, but as a big fan of the original game, I have to say it was a genuine pleasure to step back into the shoes of the world’s most famous archaeologist once again. Handily, Machine Games flashed some brief tutorials to remind us ol’ grey beards of the controls, and it wasn’t long before I was back to my usual fascist-beating, whip-cracking antics.
Since launch, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle has had a number of impressive updates, and playing the game on PC, it looked absolutely stunning. Texture and material work is sumptuous, and as we descended into the long forgotten tunnels beneath Rome, lighting regularly impressed. The footage in my review video is running at ‘Supreme’, with full raytracing and every bell and whistle turned on, supporting a rock solid 120FPS – though it did drop to 60 during cutscenes. On Xbox Series X, the game is still a looker, remaining a solid 60FPS throughout, and I played around 2 of my 5 hours in the DLC with the Xbox Series X version of the game.
Sightseeing
Structurally, the setup of Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants is similar to the Sukothai section of the original game. We’ll have a large, new area to explore, from the streets of Rome, deep warren-like tunnel systems and a boat with which we can traverse the waterways under the city.
There are notes to find, new adventure books to read, safes to crack, and of course, plenty of tombs to explore, replete with loads of delightfully good puzzles that – once solved – will make you feel very clever indeed. While you don’t have your sidekick with you this time around, the story and writing is just as solid and enjoyable as the full game, with Troy Baker returning once again with a fantastic Indiana Jones. Cutscenes and performances are well animated, with some amusing returning characters too.
The majority of your time in Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants is going to be exploring underground, so if the slower-paced, more puzzle focused sections of the original game were your least favourite parts, bear that in mind, though I personally found them to be excellent in design, with plenty of hidden secrets to find.
Going Deeper Underground
I only have a few negatives with my time in Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants. Firstly, the lack of set-pieces in comparison to the full game is a little disappointing – you won’t be flying a plane or surviving a gunboat ride as it descends the Himalayas this time around. It also ends with a slightly frustrating finale that didn’t signpost particularly well exactly what you were meant to do, resulting in lots of moderately panicked running around. Regardless, the build up to the ‘big reveal’ and the final location was super cool, and as always, was very much in keeping with the franchise.
A Gigantic Adventure
If you’re keen for more of Machine Games’ Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants is a no-brainer. Some great puzzles, an entirely new location and a solid 5 hours of gameplay (if you want to explore and find every hidden item) make the £17.99 asking price more than worthwhile. While it can be purchased separately, if you purchased the premium or collectors edition of the game, you already own it, so be sure to get stuck in.
Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants doesn’t quite rise to the incredible heights of the original game’s story, but what’s here is more of what I wanted. More incredible locations, puzzles and maze-like tombs, dripping with atmosphere and history. What more could a budding archaeologist ask for?
Review Code provided by the Publisher
Want more Indiana Jones?
Check out our full review of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, right here.
Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants
Played on
PC & Xbox Series X
PROS
- Absolutely gorgeous
- Great, brain teasing puzzles
- Dripping with atmosphere
- Decent amount of playtime for your money
- Exploring Tombs is still cool
CONS
- A frustrating finale
- Lacking in huge setpiece driven moments
