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If you ask me, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is all about the little things. From the letters, postcards, and notes you can find to fill out the pages of your journal, to photographable details that help you unearth clues or collectibles, every minor discovery comes together to not only breathe life in Indy's story, but also constantly reward exploration and observation through its adventure point system. So much of what you can uncover earns points that can be used to unlock more abilities, and it's far and away what I've been loving most about my 12 hour stint in the globetrotting journey so far.
While the progression system effectively incentivizes me to soak in all the details of each location and investigate off of the beaten path, there's one particular way I can earn adventure points that really draws me into the world like nothing else. Every now and then, you'll come across people in the world who might need some help, but rather than play out like a side quest, it feels more like an organic encounter that you can easily miss if you aren't paying attention.
Be it a pair in need of a drink after a long day, or a priest that really wants a particular photograph, every instance calls for you to take the initiative and proactively lend a helping hand. They may be pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of the story, but they bring added color to the world at large, and I love the way these random acts of kindness draw me into it, too.
Lending a hand
I was only a handful of hours into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PS5 when I first came across one such encounter. As I was carrying out the very important duty of searching for someone's lost cat in the Vatican, I overheard a woman say she'd misplaced her paintbrush. Having seen an errant one moments earlier, I wondered what would happen if I picked it up and put it back.
Nothing in-game was telling me to do this, but when I set it down and the woman reacted (by expressing thanks for this little gesture), it felt like a eureka moment. I'd performed a small, considerate act, and got some adventure points as a result. The feedback from both the woman I'd helped and the game's acknowledgement through the adventure point system instills the idea that your actions matter – regardless of how small they might seem in the bigger picture of the story. This kind of approach to world design, and the responsive nature of it, is something I've also appreciated in recent RPGs like Avowed, and I'd love to see more games go in this direction in the future.
The fact that I was rewarded for actually listening and responding in that instance completely changed the way I explored from that moment on. Every time I stepped foot into a new area, I was conscientiously listening out for conversations that might spark another chance to do some good.
Sure, it may not be entirely selfless of me since my actions bag me extra points to unlock more skills, but I love that every little thing I can do speaks to Indiana Jones as a character I've personally always admired. He may be swept in a larger than life journey that spans the globe, and he may occasionally have to punch some Nazis, but that doesn't mean he can't also stop to help a nun get a book down from a high shelf, or bring some lads a bottle of wine after a long day.
In fact, the latter example perfectly illustrates how these encounters can make the world feel so responsive to me. I later returned to the same location some time later to find the wine had been spilled on a table among a deck of splayed out cards. It was a minor piece of environmental storytelling that informed me the pair I'd helped had enjoyed a tipple and a game, and it was all thanks to me that they got to kick back.
From finding that lost paintbrush to taking a photograph of Indy's pal Antonio for an admiring priest, the smaller encounters I've had so far have brought an added sense of adventure to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. MachineGames' decision to bake discoveries into the progression system was the perfect way to make exploration feel so rewarding, and I just can't get enough of it. But more than that, I love that I can try to live up to the hero Indiana Jones is to me by doing little, meaningful things that help the people out.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: "The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years".
