Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants – DLC Review

Quick, put on your fedora and bring an Italian phrasebook!

There's not much I can tell you about Indiana Jones that you don't already know. A fedora, a whip, a revolver that jams exactly when you don't need it to, and that unmistakable air of a history professor who prefers to hunt for artefacts in the dark corners of the world instead of marking student exams – that pretty much sums it up.

If you read my previous review on PCGames.ro for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you already know that the main adventure was a global journey through the Vatican, Egypt, the Himalayas, Iraq, and even a touch of China and Peru. It was a combination of reinterpreted history, puzzles, fights with Nazis, fascists, and mysterious circle conspiracies. A kind of all-inclusive for adventurers, but without the dirty hands or mortal risk.

However, as often happens with heroes who don't know how to say "Finito, basta!", Dr. Jones still has work to do. Bethesda and MachineGames thought it would be a shame to leave us without an extra helping of action, so this month, September 2025, we received The Order of Giants, the game's first story-driven DLC. And no, to be clear from the start, the DLC is not on Game Pass. The base game is, and you can play it from start to finish with your Microsoft subscription, but if you want to step into 1930s Rome and fight mythological giants, you'll have to get your card out. Yes, I know, it's a big mess and it was for me too. But, in the end, it's worth it, especially considering what you get here is almost a small sequel disguised as an expansion.

And let's be clear: "Order of Giants" isn't just a side mission, the kind of downloadable content you finish in an evening and forget about the next day. It's a six-hour chunk of story that feels like a complete Indiana Jones adventure. It has its own mysteries, elaborate puzzles, new locations, and even a different atmosphere from what we saw in the base game. In a way, MachineGames managed to deliver what I would call Indiana Jones 1.5, only in the form of a DLC, which I should mention is the only one recently that has surprised me in terms of scale, perhaps since the late GTA The Lost and Damned and GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony, both DLCs for GTA IV, which even became standalone titles, they were so big.

The Eternal City: SPQR

The action in The Order of Giants begins in 1937, during the events of the main game. Indiana Jones is summoned by Father Ricci, an erudite priest who holds more secrets than a man of the cloth should. Ricci tells him about an ancient sect, the cult of Mithras, and its connection to the so-called "giants" of ancient mythologies. And if you're thinking it's just unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, well, you've forgotten this is Indy. When a priest tells you "there are giants hidden in the ruins of Rome," it's best to put on your hat, grab your whip, and get going.

Rome thus becomes the new playground. Not a touristy Rome, with selfie sticks and pizza on a terrace, but the Rome of the 1930s, in the shadow of fascism, with the Vatican guarded by suspicious eyes and dark corners where ancient cultures still breathe. MachineGames has recreated several iconic locations: the Colosseum, the Vatican gardens, the Cloaca Maxima (the underground sewer dating back to antiquity), and the Tiber River, where you get to boat among ruins and secret entrances.

The atmosphere is dense and authentic. Rome's architecture is rendered with an impressive level of detail, but always with that Indiana Jones twist. It's not enough to look at a Roman arch; you have to press a corner of it, discover its hidden mechanism, and open a secret chamber full of relics and dangers. Everywhere you find clues about the legends of giants and the cult of Mithras, a delicious combination of real history and credible fantasy.

The enemies are a combination of fascists we've already become familiar with from the base campaign and fanatic cult members. Obviously, there's no shortage of puzzles – in my opinion, perhaps even a few too many… Some make you control water flows through ancient channels, raising and lowering platforms, others are linked to symbols and their correct alignment. Everything is designed to keep you engaged and give you the feeling that you're solving real archaeological mysteries, not just pressing buttons to open doors, although the lazy part of me would have wished for exactly that.

What I liked is that the Rome in the DLC isn't just a succession of corridors, but a semi-open space that you explore with a certain freedom. You can enter the Colosseum from multiple directions, descend into the underground Cloaca Maxima, or navigate the Tiber. MachineGames managed to create a sense of a connected hub, which makes the adventure feel bigger than it actually is.

Puzzles, gymnastics and a disguised mini-sequel

If the main game already offered the classic combination of combat and enigmas, The Order of Giants takes things further. The platforming is more fluid, the puzzles more complex, and the action sequences more spectacular. One of the most successful sequences involves manipulating a water flow to raise and lower entire levels of corridors, creating a vertical platforming game that makes you feel more like you're in an archaeological amusement park.

I must also mention that the MachineGames team created a difficulty mode adapted to your progress in the original game. What I mean by that is if you haven't finished the game, for example, and are still struggling, the extra pack's journey will be easier. I, who finished the original story last Christmas, was surprised to encounter a more hostile world, better-prepared enemies, and generally a somewhat higher difficulty level. That being said, be careful where you place yourselves…

The average length of the DLC is six hours, but they are intense hours, in which you have everything you need: fights, mystery, Indy's dry humour, and those "aha!" or rather "thank goodness!" moments when you solve a seemingly impossible puzzle. Many critics in the gaming industry have noted that the expansion has the consistency of a standalone game. Several reviews of the content have referred to The Order of Giants as a small sequel, not just a simple add-on. As far as I'm concerned, I'm 100% in agreement, and at the risk of repeating myself, see the case of GTA IV and its DLCs for a comparative situation.

An important element is how the DLC integrates into the story. It doesn't appear as a separate menu, but as an organic chapter. If you've already finished the main game, Father Ricci awaits you in the Vatican and the adventure begins immediately. If you start a new save, the Rome chapter naturally flows into the narrative, as if it had been there from the start. This means that The Order of Giants isn't something thrown on top, but part of MachineGames' extended narrative vision.

Troy Baker's voice remains impeccable. You can close your eyes and swear you hear Harrison Ford, only fresher. I still remember when I played the original and I was so sure, without having checked beforehand, that the actor behind the main character was old Ford. If in the previous review I said I was speechless at how well he imitated the original timbre, here I confirm it once again. Indy's voice is so authentic that you forget it's not Harrison behind the microphone.

Fortune and glory… and a small extra cost

Let's talk openly about the elephant in the room. Or rather, about the giant. The Order of Giants is not included in Game Pass. If you want to enjoy it, you have to buy it separately, either as an individual DLC or as part of the Premium Edition or Upgrade bundle. The price hovers around 20 euros or dollars, which is about 100 lei – a bit much if you ask me, but comparatively it's about the same as a cinema ticket with popcorn included, it's true. Both films and this type of DLC were cheaper in my day, but hey, inflation, that's how it is! Many gamers raised an eyebrow, nonetheless.

On Reddit, discussions were lively, with some joking that "you're paying now for something that isn't even released." But in reality, the content is substantial enough to justify the amount, or at least almost all of the requested value. I would have gone for 15 euros, rather, but that's my personal opinion on the matter.

However, there's also a "funny" side. Many have gotten used to Game Pass being an all-inclusive buffet, where you sit down and say, "what do we have today?" But Bethesda and MachineGames said: "no, no, dessert is paid for separately." And the dessert is Rome with all its giants. I can't help but notice a hint of greed, but at the same time, I'm seriously thinking about the production costs of such a product. Debates will certainly exist in any instance. Let's remember Hollow Knight: Silksong, which sparked a real revolt among indie game developers, accusing the price of being too low, which could lead to a new forced trend in the industry.

Technically, the DLC runs almost flawlessly. The graphics are as spectacular as in the main game, and the integration is so well done that you don't even feel like you've left the original campaign. MachineGames even stated that the most difficult part was the technical integration, ensuring that there were no save conflicts or bugs between the base and additional campaigns. The final result is fluid, with no visible problems. There are a few glitches, however, but from what I've observed, they manifest randomly and are most often related to the different puzzles in the episode.

For those wondering about the future: yes, the game and the DLC will also arrive on Nintendo Switch 2, sometime in 2026. So if you're the type who wants to play Indiana Jones on the train or at the beach, you'll have to wait a little longer.

Tam-tararam, tam-tararam…

The Order of Giants isn't just a DLC. It's a genuine slice of Indiana Jones adventure, one that takes you through 1930s Rome, makes you unravel cult mysteries, fight fascists, and explore the Colosseum and the underground canals of the eternal city. It's built as a natural continuation, with its own story, elaborate puzzles, and an atmosphere that feels like an episode from a series dedicated to Dr. Jones's adventures.

Yes, it's not included in Game Pass and yes, you have to pay for it separately. For fans of the series and for those who have already finished The Great Circle, the DLC is an opportunity to extend the adventure with another six hours of pure action, and when you hear Troy Baker delivering memorable lines with Indy's same dry tone, you almost start to forget about the investment made.

So, if you're in the mood for a new escapade and don't mind shelling out a few banknotes, The Order of Giants is exactly what you need. And since I started with a classic reference, I'll end the same way: “It belongs in a museum, kid!”.