How Indiana Jones and the Great Circle makes its side missions worth it

Summary

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seamlessly integrates side quests into its story for an immersive experience.
Completing side quests in the game offers various rewards that enhance the story and enrich the lore.
The game's design blurs the line between optional and essential content, demonstrating the value of well-executed side quests.

Whether they're appreciated or not, side quests have the potential to make a game's world feel much more expansive than it appears to be by offering deeper insights into its stories and characters than the main story might be able or inclined to. Whenever side quests are implemented well, they provide a meaningful and rewarding escape from the demands of the primary objective, offering memorable stories and challenges that have the potential to increase immersion beyond the capabilities of a game's visuals or gameplay. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the perfect example of a game that knows how to do side quests, arguably putting it in league with the likes of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

IN Indiana Jones and the Great Circleside quests, also known as “Fieldwork”, don't stick out like a sore thumb like optional objectives tend to do in many other games, nor do they feel boring or unrewarding to complete. Instead, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle manages to make its side quests feel like an essential part of the main adventure, which is something that isn't common in action-adventure games and games in general. It accomplishes this through each sidequest's unique contribution to the overall story, as well as its deliberate design to make completing each sidequest an almost unintentional feat.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Giza is the perfect shake-up for its small beginnings

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Giza area is an exciting upheaval that expands the game's scale and ambition beyond its small, closer beginnings.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle side quests don't feel like side quests

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle side quests are seamlessly integrated into its story

Unlike many games that have tons of side quests for players to complete, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle somehow integrates its side quests so seamlessly into the game that it's often hard to tell if the quest in question is the main story or just Fieldwork. Much of this is due to the pacing of the side quests, as they generally match the pace of the main story, as they are not trivial, like quick and aimless fetch quests. Instead, these side quests tend to even contribute to the main story, as players find various bits of lore in notes, books, and other items scattered throughout each area that help create what Indy is after.

Many of Indiana Jones and the Great Circles side quests also rely on cinematic moments, and since they are usually reserved for the main story in other games, they can sometimes trick players into thinking they are witnessing a cutscene from the main story. It also helps that most of the game's side quests are introduced naturally as players pursue the main objective and collect what they find along the way. Many of these side quests can even be completed while players are in pursuit of the main quest.

This is probably because MachineGames ensures
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
feels more like a playable movie than a simple video game.

There are many benefits to completing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle side quests

Another way Indiana Jones and the Great Circle makes their side quests feel important is through the rewards they offer upon completion. Not only can players get tons of adventure points and lira, the game's currency, but they'll also sometimes get valuable adventure books, as well as relics and artifacts that enrich Indiana Jones and the Great Circles story and provides insights into the game's lore. Plus, Indiana Jones and the Great Circlethe economy is well balanced, so getting as many Adventure Points and as much Lira as possible is necessary to progress.

While side quests aren't always greeted with a warm welcome, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle shows how meaningful they can be when treated as an essential part of the experience rather than just optional content. The game's seamless integration of Fieldwork into the pacing, narrative, and cinematic quality of the main story sets it apart from others in the genre, making the side quests feel less like distractions and more like something worth spending time on. Plus, with rewards that make the journey worthwhile and a design that blurs the line between optional and essential, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle proves that when side quests are done right, they will never subtract from the quality of a game.