We joined much of the industry – and players at large – last December in heaping praise on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It was a love letter to the iconic action movies, with plenty of wit, exploration, puzzle-solving and stealth that did Indy proud. Nine months later, we finally get hands on the announced DLC The Order of Giants, but is it too little too late, or a grand swansong to Indy’s exploits?
Well, let’s get it out of the way; this is, for all intents and purposes, an extra (fairly lengthy) mission that stands alone from the main game. It slots in as a new mission marker, and once done, we can carry back on with the rest of the game as if it were never there, albeit with a new upgrade or two in our arsenal. This is not necessarily a bad point, but I can’t shake the feeling that nine months was too long between releases, and I spent half the four hour play time refamiliarizing myself with the controls and abilities of Indy. Of course, new players on PS5 – and soon to be Switch 2 – might not have this disconnect so much, and it is these players that will benefit from this DLC the most.
We head back to the Vatican in search of Father Ricci and his parrot Pio as they espouse a rumour of yet more treasure and mystery to uncover. A supposed giant, more ancient murmurings of power, and artifacts await as he enlists Indiana to help him evade the Blackshirts who appear to have gotten wind of his plans.
What follows is visits to new parts of Rome, including a lot of time in the underground sewer system, and a new foe to contend with to boot. It is, by the nature of a late-coming DLC, very self contained, with the only real option to return to the main world being right before the penultimate fight. There are a host of new puzzles to solve, a few of which are easily the trickiest in the game now, and require fine attention to detail to solve. One, involving rotating discs on the floor according to texts nearby, was especially mind melting, and I struggled a fair bit in clearing that one (partly by luck, partly by help from those smarter than I).
The long and the short of it is, if you enjoyed Machinegames’ full fat Indiana Jones experience, then The Order of Giants is more of the same. Combat is still better in melee than with guns, stealth is king to beat the groups, and exploration is rewarded with lore, upgrades, and hidden areas boasting extra puzzles to solve. Baker once again does a fantastic job of his interpretation of Indy, although the cutscenes are far shorter and less involved due to the shorter run time, and the usual twists and turns of the story are both seen a mile off and welcome when they show their faces. If you’re new to the main game, or have only recently played it, I feel you’ll get more out of this DLC than players returning from December 2024, but even then I did enjoy the majority of my time with it by sheer virtue of the strong base it had to build off of.
Conclusion
Nine months is a bit too long of a wait for this DLC to truly recommend returning to the game for, but newer players who will have it folded into their organic playthrough are in for a tough but enjoyable addition to an already excellent game.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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