Over the past couple of days, I picked up my Switch2 again to revisit my favorite Bethesda game from the end of 2024—"夺宝奇兵：古老之圈". With its well-crafted boxed-in levels, intuitive interactive exploration, moderate difficulty, puzzles that feel natural, and a respectful, flavorful adaptation of the source material, "夺宝奇兵：古老之圈" has become a game I recommend to everyone I meet. "Hey, you can tear apart Nazis with your bare hands—wanna play?"

After playing the Switch2 version of "夺宝奇兵：古老之圈" for a couple of days, I feel like I need to write something to recommend it to you all again. This article isn't a review—I won't repeat the specific gameplay. If you're interested, you can click here to check out my article from a year ago. My goal today is to get you to try the game yourself! As for the Switch2 version's performance, I'll save that for the end.

Similarly, as an adventure set in ancient ruins, 《夺宝奇兵： 古老之圈》 has a completely different character from the 《神秘海域》 and 《古墓丽影》 we know. Imagine you're riding a high-tech cable car, taking in a breathtaking panoramic view, when suddenly a violent wind hits, the car sways, sending a chill down your spine, and the scenery outside transforms into something you've never seen in your life—that's playing 《神秘海域》 or 《古墓丽影》. Imagine you're on a desolate marsh, a cold, rotting breeze wafts from the tomb beneath massive rocks, you breathe in the dust from ancient stone walls, and you idly examine the artifact you just found, intently comparing it with the notebook you've gradually filled during your journey—that's playing 《夺宝奇兵》. One presents the adventure experience with industry-leading technology, delivering a grand and overwhelming sense of wonder to the player; the other refines the adventure, using massive detail and clever design to keep you fully engaged, making the exploration both fun and full of surprises. For me, 《古老之圈》 is a game where the more focused and immersed you are, the better the feedback you get. Here are a few examples.

The game progressed to the point where I needed to rescue my companion held captive in a Nazi camp. Through observation, I discovered two completely different infiltration routes. However, through certain hints and scene dialogues, the game made me feel that there must be other options. At that moment, there was no objective marker in the game telling me where to look. I simply observed my surroundings and, following my intuition, inexplicably ended up in the Nazi laundry room. With a heavy blow from a rolling pin, I took out the guard, grabbed the "Blackshirt" uniform lying nearby, and successfully blended into the camp. From start to finish, no quest line guided me on how to find this outfit. "I just thought, they took off their clothes to shower—using normal logic, you really could just grab a piece of clothing, right?" Discover, think, try, and then reap the surprise. Beneath the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, I unexpectedly spotted a spilled bucket of red paint. The gradually fading red footprints caught my attention. In the bustling market, people came and went, but my focus was drawn to a trail of red. Sure enough, following the footprints, I found a collapsed tomb. A frantic grave robber lay inside, on the verge of death.

Similar designs abound in this game. For example, you hear a nun at the church say, "Father XX is particularly charming." In other games, it might just be a bit of flavor text, but in 《古老之圈》, you can take a photo of the priest with your camera, then give the photo to the nun. She is overjoyed, and the player receives an exploration reward. All of this happens naturally, with no objective markers or quest lists. I really love the camera design in 《古老之圈》. Besides serving as a puzzle-solving tool, it also functions as a narrative device for exploring interesting environments around us. When you see an intriguing scene, you pick up the camera and take a shot, and the protagonist 印地安纳 will naturally comment on the photo you just took. Once there are enough of these photo spots, the sense of immersion suddenly kicks in.

If you pay attention to the reviews on Steam, many players will say, "I've played for over ten hours and I'm still exploring the first map." This is because the map of each major chapter is a meticulously designed diorama, filled with highly detailed puzzles, tomb explorations, interesting side quests, and more. In information-dense areas, through minor side quests and document collection, you can piece together a small story, and this small story will then become the answer to the next puzzle. The game is rich in content, from the Vatican in Italy to the snowy mountains of the Himalayas, to the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and even to Shanghai during the Battle of Shanghai, where you personally blow away a Japanese fascist who is lunging at you. The progression of the chapters is also exactly like a movie, with a classic montage shot transitioning between maps.

I especially want to talk about the puzzle elements in the game. Don't worry—the puzzles in *The Ancient Circle* strike a comfortable balance between mystery, exploration, and difficulty. You won't encounter high-difficulty puzzles that break immersion, like "box pushing" or "Klotski" (looking at you, *Scorn*), and there certainly won't be any puzzles that require you to pick up a pen and paper for mathematical calculations. If you still remember the rune-shooting puzzles in the new *God of War*, many runes require you to move to different areas to discover them, which gives players a sense of "loss of control" over the puzzles, leading to questions like, "Am I doing this right?" The puzzles in "The Ancient Circle" are confined to specific areas, keeping them always within your control. Wherever a puzzle is found, it is solved on the spot—there will never be complex situations involving cross-region or multiple puzzles mixed together. As Indiana Jones, we explore the world's most mysterious and dangerous regions. For example, in a Nazi camp, we might discover correspondence between the commander and his subordinates that reveals the code to a supply crate. All we need to do is search for information within that camp—no need to travel far, no worry about missing clues. Once we obtain a clue, we start solving it immediately. Or in an underground medieval cemetery, the puzzle is presented right before our eyes, and even the solution is openly displayed. We simply need to observe, think, and build the bridge between the puzzle and its answer.

No game, no matter how good, suits everyone. Here are a few aspects that might become obstacles for you.

First, one downside of the rich exploration and open hub-style levels is the abundance of collectibles. Our office colleague, Shushu, absolutely loves "The Ancient Circle," but even he found the sheer number of collectibles a bit tiring toward the late game. Our advice: take it easy and don't let unfinished collectibles stress you out or hold you back from progressing through the levels.

On the other hand, the game's first-person combat system leans more toward being a playful, quirky "gimmick" rather than focusing on "flashy action" or "complex controls." The combat in *The Great Circle* perfectly recreates the slapstick, bumbling feel of the original film's fight scenes, complete with that old-school manually crafted sound effects that crackle and pop. The combat looks hilariously clumsy, but when you sneak up behind an enemy with a flyswatter and perform an "under-the-moon" move that flips them into the air, you can't help but laugh.

Well, if you think it's too damn silly—then this combat system will definitely become a hurdle for you. Paired with a somewhat rough stealth system, once you're discovered, every fascist in the city will have exclamation marks popping up above their heads. At that point, you can either throw some punches, crack your whip like Indy, or just restart.

Compared to those finely crafted combat systems, *The Great Circle* is more playful and cheeky in this regard.

If you suffer from severe motion sickness, *The Great Circle* might just knock you out like one of Indy's heavy hits. As a first-person action game, it features quite a bit of camera-shaking exploration in tight indoor spaces, as well as climbing and parkour sections. I'd suggest trying it yourself—if you can't handle it, then that's that.

《古老之圈》 is a work by B社's development team "MachineGames" (representative work 《重返德军总部》). This time, the visual performance on Switch2 amazed me. Although the game is limited to 30 frames, the visual effects are not compromised at all; it's a pick-up-and-play experience.

For more professional frame rate comparisons and engine technology aspects, I'm not professional enough to say much. Let me briefly talk about my personal experience.

For me, 《古老之圈》 is a game that was basically unplayable on my Steam deck. Even now, after Steam deck has passed the game certification, I have to lower all graphics settings to the minimum to barely play it.

But the Switch2 version is quite impressive. Fine character models, clearly visible hair strands, light reflections on marble floors, and other effects that can be immediately felt are all retained. Although the frame rate is limited to 30 frames, being able to hold the Switch2 and play on the sofa is a different experience! Another point is that the vibration function of the Switch2 Joycon2 also plays a role in the game~. The subtle vibration feedback indeed improves immersion. But the cost is that I just fully charged my Switch2, and after only playing for 1 hour, the battery started to run low~.

I can't say it any better than letting you all try it out for yourselves~ This game can't be experienced through watching, you have to play it! Finally, I wish everyone has fun playing~