Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was nearly universally praised when it was released in December of 2024. It featured engaging adventuring gameplay that captured the feel of the franchise, earning it praise from many fans and critics.
The game is set to repeat its success with the upcoming The Order of Giants DLC, which will take Indy under the streets of Rome to face nefarious new antagonists. While you wait for the DLC to come out, now is a great time to revisit a forgotten Indiana Jones classic from 1992.
Indiana Jones Starred In A Game Before The Great Circle
Less Action But Just As Much Adventure
In 1992, LucasArts released Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The point-and-click adventure game included all the staples of a great Indiana Jones tale, from the often-humorous dialogue to larger-than-life scenarios.
In The Fate of Atlantis, Indy is pulled into a globe-trotting adventure that sets him on a path to stop nefarious Nazis from obtaining the incredibly dangerous weapon that sank the doomed city of Atlantis. Like many other point-and-click games, The Fate of Atlantis involved examining the pixel-art environment, talking to different characters, and picking up and using items to solve environmental puzzles.
Unlike other games of its kind, though, players could choose between the Team Path (which had Indy joined by a helpful NPC), the Wits Path (which focused on challenging puzzles), and the Fists Path (which, naturally, involved more action sequences). This made it possible to play the game in any way that you wanted, whether you preferred to solve puzzles and avoid fights, or go in fists blazing, so to speak.
Like its 2024 sibling, The Fate of Atlantis earned critical acclaim on its release, winning multiple “Game of the Year” awards. It still holds up today, whether you’re an Indiana Jones fan, a point-and-click adventure game fan, or both.
It’s Good To Have Indiana Jones Back In Gaming
Many Years Have Passed Since The Last Adventure
The professor and accidental adventurer used to be a hot topic for video games. The Fate of Atlantis isn’t the only video game he starred in back in the day. (It’s just my favorite of the bunch!) Between 1989 and 2011, Indy was featured in over 20 titles.
Since then, though, the games have tapered out. The last Indiana Jones title before The Great Circle was a mobile Zynga game, and the one before that was a LEGO video game. So, when The Great Circle was announced by MachineGames and Bethesda, it brought the professor back to the limelight.
As good as it is to have Indy back in the world of gaming, it’s still a good idea to revisit one of the earlier games. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is still remembered as one of the best adventure titles of the 90s, back in the heyday of point-and-click games.
It’ll have you solving puzzles and fighting Nazis in a way that was very different from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but still every bit as exciting and captivating.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Systems
9/10
- Released
- December 9, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- MachineGames
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Engine
- id Tech 7
