It was in Hawaii, towards the end of 1977, that Steven Spielberg told his friend George Lucas he wanted to make a James Bond film. Lucas suggested they make an adventure flick of their own. He already had the idea and the main character: the hero was inspired by the adventure serials from the 1940s that Lucas had loved as a child. And so Raiders of the Last Ark, the first Indiana Jones film, was born.

Now the developers behind Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, one of last year’s best games, have added a new episode that recalls old movies like Flash Gordon. It’s called The Order of Giants and it doesn’t reinvent the game but instead tells a tight, self-contained story that feels like an organic spin-off.

• Read Joshua Lamb’s review of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

To access it, you need to return to Vatican City while playing The Great Circle (the developers have added an in-game note on precisely how). The Order of Giants kicks off when a roguish priest called Father Ricci ropes Indy into stealing a key from his office, which just happens to be surrounded by black shirt-wearing soldiers. It’s not long before we’re investigating the legacy of the Nephilim giants (beings mentioned in the Old Testament), unearthing a conspiracy involving a mysterious cult, swinging across vast tombs with Indy’s trusty whip and riding a boat along the Tiber.

Much of this expansion is set around the cobbled streets of Rome and in the dingy sewers beneath. It focuses on intricate puzzle-solving slightly more than the original did. There’s an absence of those filmic set pieces we saw in The Great Circle and instead an emphasis on deciphering clues and collecting notes that provide us with much-needed historical context. There are still plenty of fisticuffs to be had, and smacking a fascist in the chops is still immensely satisfying.

The snappier running time of about four hours makes for a more streamlined experience and at £17.99 (unless you own the premium edition of the base game, in which case it’s free) you might feel a tad shortchanged. But I’ll take any excuse to return to this wonderfully cinematic world.
★★★★☆

Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

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