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The game received widespread acclaim from both critics and fans, despite its late release preventing it from competing for awards at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards. Many players, including myself, had high hopes for the story DLC, which was announced before the base game launched. Its focus on The Order of Giants felt appropriate since that was one of the core mysteries from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that fans were eager to learn more about.
However, what we received left me feeling disappointed. Most of the things I loved in the base game—such as the gameplay and especially the puzzles—can be found here too. But despite being billed as a ‘story-driven DLC,’ The Order of Giants fails significantly in this regard. The narrative thread is extremely thin and provides few answers, ending with a weak conclusion that leaves players slack-jawed.
The boss fight and plot twist before it are good but feel too short and not very meaningful to the overall experience. I played the game at launch and returned specifically for this DLC, but even from a fresh perspective, The Order of Giants feels weak compared to other content. It barely introduces the Cult of Mithras before ending.
Even the promise of entering Rome proper is largely unfulfilled as most of the time is spent in the Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s ancient sewer system. While it makes sense for such a game, failing to add actual monuments and streets seems like a missed opportunity.
The best reason to play The Order of Giants is to enjoy its excellent visuals, which have been further enhanced since my last playthrough. New features include RTX Hair on GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards, making hair more realistic during cutscenes. However, the DLC only has a few such scenes, and the improvements are noticeable mainly in cutscenes.
Overall, the game looks magnificent and runs nearly flawlessly, a testament to MachineGames and their MOTOR engine derived from idTech 7. Nevertheless, I cannot recommend The Order of Giants DLC at its current price of $19.99 until it becomes more reasonably priced.
