Indiana Jones: The Order of Giants Features My Favorite Indy Puzzle of All Time

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This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s DLC.

As a gaming enthusiast, I’ve had a bit of a rollercoaster ride with puzzle games – loving some, struggling with others. Take the thrilling experiences of Portal and Viewfinder, for instance, which I absolutely adore. However, games like Blue Prince or The Witness have never quite caught my interest in the same way. What really hooks me into a puzzle game is its ambiance, and that’s exactly what Indiana Jones and the Great Circle offers with its outstanding set dressing.

In simpler terms, the main narrative of “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” is filled with numerous puzzles, ranging from old tombs that need complex, sometimes comical solutions to open the hidden treasure, to quick environmental riddles where players must decipher a safe combination using clues found around them. I found most of the base game puzzles in “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” quite enjoyable, but the newly released DLC titled “The Order of Giants” has introduced my all-time favorite puzzle within the entire Indiana Jones series.

Indiana Jones: The Order of Giants’ Nameless Crusader Puzzle Is My New Franchise Favorite

The Nameless Crusader Puzzle Is Accessible, But Multi-Layered

In the middle part of the Great Circle DLC in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you’ll encounter the Nameless Crusader enigma where players try to unlock Gibborim’s tomb, an old warrior from the Nephilim Order. Essentially, the gameplay during this puzzle is quite straightforward.

In this puzzle, players predominantly engage with an old book chronicling the life of the Unnamed Crusader. They then pick up a staff and adjust the tiles on the map inscribed on the chamber’s ground according to the directions outlined in the book. For example, if the text reads “the ship at Halygast watches the morning light”, the player would rotate the tile corresponding to Halygast so it faces East.

The fundamental action is quite straightforward, yet it offers an engaging progression as you delve deeper into the tomb. Upon completing your initial rotations, a hidden chamber connected to the tomb becomes accessible through an opening metal gate on its side. This secret room tasks you with dashing across the room, pulling a lever, picking up a staff, and dodging the flames creeping along the floor.

Players return the staff to the central room to set up fresh tile arrangements, which depict the subsequent stages of the Nameless Crusader’s journey. This process continues until another room is unlocked. Along this pathway, a new puzzle emerges where players must adjust a sequence of levers in line with the Biblical murals on the walls. If they fail, Indiana Jones meets an unfortunate end by being set ablaze.

In Indiana Jones: The Order of Giants, the Nameless Crusader tomb doesn’t boast the most groundbreaking or intricate puzzle mechanics found in video games, but it delivers a robust and satisfying feeling of advancement, making it enjoyable for players like myself who aren’t particularly skilled at complex, lengthy puzzles.

The Nameless Crusader Puzzle Lets Its Story Take Center Stage

The straightforward design of the Nameless Crusader’s tomb’s puzzle system allows the narrative of the fictional character to stand out clearly. In about half an hour, the Nameless Crusader’s life story unfolds comprehensively as players interact with books that are crucial for solving the tomb’s puzzles.

The large books chronicle the transformation of Gibborim into the Nameless Crusader, who was dispatched to Antioch under the pretext of aiding the Crusades, with the ulterior motive of securing one of the Nephilim Order’s hidden keys. It is revealed that he continued his fight in the same war for many years thereafter. The narrative also mentions that Gibborim found true love, but tragically lost her in a fire at a castle.

Following that deeply moving disclosure, Gibborim’s tomb, situated right at the room’s core, swings open, exposing the Nameless Crusader’s corroded sword. The last piece of the puzzle tasks Indy with inserting the sword into the statue of Gibborim’s heart. This gesture symbolizes the giant’s profound sorrow over his lost love and could hint that he may have taken his own life in his grief. It’s quite uncommon for a video game puzzle to convey such an emotional narrative in such a brief span, and it certainly caught me off guard during my adventure through Indiana Jones: The Order of Giants.

The Nameless Crusader Puzzle Feels Like an Authentic Indiana Jones Set Piece

The progressive structure and engaging nature of the game’s puzzles, the gradual unfolding of a deeply personal historical narrative, and the overall design reminiscent of an ancient tomb filled with dangerous traps create an authentic Indiana Jones-like experience. Interacting directly with all these elements makes it my preferred Indiana Jones puzzle in gaming history.

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2025-09-12 16:22