Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC Review (PS5) – Small But Mighty

After finishing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I immediately wanted more time in the leather jacket of the iconic archeologist. Thankfully, The Order of Giants has arrived to whip up another Indy adventure. While it isn’t a full game or a sequel, the DLC offers a fun diversion from the main game with its own unique story surrounding an Ancient Roman mystery.

Game Name: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Developer: MachineGames
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: September 4th, 2025
Price: $19.99 (or included with the Premium Edition)

The Order of Giants picks up in the Vatican, the first main area that Dr. Jones visits on his Great Circle quest. As such, players can start it fairly early on in the main campaign. Personally, I enjoyed playing it after finishing The Great Circle, as it is a standalone story. Though it technically takes place during the events of the main game.

Indiana Jones and the Local Crusade

After meeting up with Father Ricci and his pet parrot Pio, Indiana Jones learns of a lost helmet hidden below the Vatican Gardens. The problem? Italian fascists have locked down the area. It’s up to Jones to sneak past them and find the helmet before they do.

Of course, finding the helmet—belonging to a giant warrior from the Nephilim Order—leads to a larger mystery. This send Jones through the streets and sewers of Rome in search of more artifacts. Along the way, he contends with clues, cults, crusaders, and more.

The Order of Giants runs about three to four hours in length. You can add on more time for finding optional notes and artifacts off the main path. It doesn’t have any new “open world” areas like the Vatican or Gizeh, with Rome more akin to the base game’s Shanghai section. You generally follow a path of roads, catacombs, and waterways. But these areas are typically quite wide with many nooks and crannies to investigate.

The design is so detailed that I sometimes just wanted to stop and smell the biscotti on my Roman holiday. Even the sewers look fittingly ancient and eerie. But there’s usually something to find when exploring—even if it’s just a friendly cat you can pet. Along the way you’re accompanied by a new soundtrack by Gordy Haab, with just the right nods to the John Williams’ originals.

The Order of Giants and Small Improvements

The pacing of The Order of Giants is spot on, with nothing overstaying its welcome or feeling rushed. The DLC has a solid mix of puzzles, platforming, and combat. It typically rotates through these gameplay elements to keep things feeling fresh. And MachineGames has attempted to elevate each of these over their counterparts in the base game, to varying degrees.

Platforming now has a mechanic of weighted platforms; pulling a chain to lower a crane for you to jump on before the counterweight sends it somewhere else. It’s a mechanic that easily could have become frustrating in another game. But The Order of Giants has solid traversal mechanics, so it becomes a nice touch of something different from the base game even if it isn’t revolutionary.

Likewise, combat has some small tweaks. The DLC has a couple of new weapons that prove fun to use on unsuspecting enemies. One section involves taking out a bunch of preoccupied foes at once. However, they’re so absorbed in what they’re doing that it’s easy—and satisfying—to make the element of surprise work strongly in your favor. This does mean that the DLC heavily favors stealth over going in whip blazing. But I never found the stealth too tough to pull off. By the time I’d get spotted I could pick off any stragglers in hand-to-hand combat.

But with its puzzles, The Order of Giants really rises to the occasion. The DLC has several that tie into historical lore. Four of these are particularly largescale. Each one has just the right amount of complexity. Two of them—one with statues of snakes, the other statues of gladiators—end up being some of the best puzzles in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, period. Both of these are not only stylistically appealing, but have tactile maze-like qualities that make them especially engaging.

And the game’s writing is a joy as always, with plenty of quips and wry observations. I smiled when I jumped in some water and Jones said “I need a bath.” And then I chuckled when I jumped back in and he said “Now I need two baths.” It’s those little touches that make the game extra special. And of course, Troy Baker once again delivers a fitting faux-Ford performance as Dr. Jones.

A City-Trotting Adventure

The story itself—without spoiling anything—has all of the twists and turns of any Indiana Jones adventure, albeit on a smaller scale. Exploring Rome in search of religious artifacts, it’s most similar to The Last Crusade. But it sprinkles in a bit of Temple of Doom towards the end. So it’s a treat to see more of the “occult horror” side of the pulp adventure genre that led to Indiana Jones.

The Order of Giants is also one of the more historically-rooted Indiana Jones adventures. Its central mystery revolves around the 11th century Crusades but eventually goes all the way to Ancient Rome and the reign of Nero, with plenty of details scattered through the environmental storytelling.  In other words, yes, it gets you thinking about the Roman Empire.

These touches help, since The Order of Giants doesn’t have the grandeur of other Indiana Jones adventures. It’s definitely paired down, since it takes place in (and mostly under) one city. And the stakes aren’t too high. But it’s consistently engaging and earnest. I wouldn’t even have minded if this had been the last film. One could imagine Harrison Ford doing everything in this quieter adventure (minus the platforming). It’s more about atmosphere than action.

The Order of Giants does have a thrilling finale. That said, it’s offset by a final battle that’s a bit wonky. The base game doesn’t really know how to handle boss battles and The Order of Giants doesn’t fix this. But it would have been easy enough to end the DLC like any other side mission, with Indiana Jones finding an artifact and going on his way. So props to MachineGames for striving towards a grand finale. Plus, the setting for said battle is admittedly quite epic.

And even the brief final cutscene made me smile. Without saying what happens in the clip, it tips its fedora to the fact that this is a full Indiana Jones journey—just with less mileage.

Review Disclosure Statement: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants was purchased for review. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.