Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and the trials of Immersive Sims

The Great Circle is lightweight on Immersive Simming but heavy on Adventure.

Like all hybrid romps, The Great Circle carries the sweetness of choice, the joy of knowing objectives may be open to stealth, thievery, exploration.

The intro is mild, unless you're sweet on the vintage movies. Even so, gameplay is sparse, lacking the choice of the adventure proper.

Fitting how TGC respects its adventure DNA and the first real gameplay involves gathering artifacts and conducting an investigation. Not revolutionary, but a welcome intro to the game's open-ended influences.

An Indy title could have slipped between bland adventure or tedious action, but TGC is inspired and takes lessons from any fitting source:

• Exploration and finding secrets from hybrids and adventures

• Puzzles, mostly easy to solve to keep momentum

• Simple melee combat and shooting action, built on Machine Games' excellent experience.

The Great Circle's hybrid gameplay is not as evolved as full-metal Immersive Sims - Deus Ex, Prey and their ilk - but a lightweight version of action, stealth and exploration designed on brevity.

An Indy of few words

The script is less punchy than Machine Games' previous fight with the Nazis in Wolfenstein 2, but anyone wandering in from the movies - the good, vintage ones - will enjoy it. It's lighter thematically, not stylistically. The Nazis are the enemy in both games, but while Wolf 2 shines with pulpy quips about ideology and social issues, TGC is simpler - Nazis haven't occupied America and dealing with them is just as straightforward.

Indiana Jones movies are vehicles for adventure romps, for travelling the world and enjoying how Indy escapes deadly traps. His advancement as complex character was never priority, but Machine Games - as with prior titles - has the writing to infuse him with likeability.

There's no attempt to unpack Indy in detail - minus the accusations of him plundering native civilizations - or to make him irrelevant. This is a pure Indiana Jones adventure - globe-trotting, whip-swinging, Nazi-punching.

The change is better justified because Indy was never much of a complex character. As many ludic heroes, he's the means for players to round the world and uncover treasure or cause chaos.

As other protagonists of modern culture, the attitude suits him. His prime concern is uncovering ancient secrets and their potential magic. Everything else - romantic relationships or his teaching career - can wait indefinitely.

Not pushing Indy to be an emotional nice-bloke is the right call, because he's always been more action than explanation. Good writing may or may not have worked to make him more sensitive. We have a clear example in Lara Croft, who's been an equivalent to Indy from her debut.

Making her more sensitive and emotional worked, not without sacrificing part of her original identity. When our heroes need therapy, the change is risky - they have to gain empathy while remaining people of action. Good writing can deliver but not all heroes need be puzzles of parental estrangement and unresolved trauma.

The trials of immersive sims

The Great Circle's immersive sim charm is balanced as all action-stealth hybrids should be, in light amounts. We find less options than in complex hybrids, focused and defined to not detract from Indy's personality as a dashing treasure hunter.

Persuasion was never his strong whip - apart from it, Indy travels with a welcome arsenal of choice: sneaking, alternate routes, secondary goals, simple upgrades, and punching and shooting when the enemy calls for it.

Complex immersive sims use extensive upgrades to bypass various obstacles - Indy's Sim tackle is minimalist, easier to grasp, suited to his style.

His modus operandi is immediate - he often finds what he needs nearby. The design may be simplified for anyone coming over from Deus Ex and the like, but fits a game bent on more traditional adventuring.

Chests are boring, though - Indy often finds their solution nearby, without much deduction involved.

Game design lessons

Minimalist immersive sim

A minimalist upgrade system, easy puzzles, and a linear approach to goals and hubs keep the adventure going.

Indy can choose how he deals with enemies - fists, weapons (lethal or not), stealth. Combat is fast, precise. Unlike in Skyrim, punching is a viable way to defeat enemies in a timely manner.

Weapons, lethal or otherwise

Indy doesn't shy away from shooting, but weapons don't have to kill. You can flip them around and butt enemies in the face, presumably leaving them alive.

A photo camera

Part of the joy of immersive sims is finding alternative uses for items and skills which may be rare in video games.

The camera doesn't add much - it's used to complete objectives - but as a nice bonus, it offers experience when you take pictures of interest points. A pleasant shutterbug diversion with gameplay benefits.