Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has finally made its way to the public, offering gamers a new and exciting Indy experience. MachineGames has surprised PC gamers with its strict system requirements centered around ray tracing, but it turns out that with the right settings, the game runs even better than expected.

Unlock the Potential of Indiana Jones with These Performance Tips

Ray-Tracing Hardware and GPU Compatibility

Indiana Jones demands ray-tracing hardware at all times, making it incompatible with older GPUs. Even those with capable graphics cards may face issues if they accidentally adjust certain settings. We've tested the game on a high-end gaming PC and can break down which settings have the most impact on performance. 1: The strict requirement for ray-tracing hardware ensures that players get the most immersive visual experience. However, it also means that those with older GPUs will need to upgrade to enjoy the game. It's important to be aware of these limitations to avoid any disappointment. 2: Despite the initial concerns, the game runs surprisingly well on capable systems. By understanding which settings to adjust, players can optimize the performance and truly immerse themselves in the world of Indiana Jones.

VRAM and Performance Optimization

After extensive testing on a PC with a Geforce RTX 4080, we've concluded that the game's performance heavily relies on the amount of VRAM on the GPU. Digital Foundry reached the same conclusion and provided some easy-to-understand optimized settings. 1: Depending on the graphics card's capacity, different VRAM settings are recommended. For example, at 1080p, medium settings are suitable for 8GB VRAM, while ultra and very ultra settings require 10GB or more. At 1440p and 2160p/4K, the VRAM requirements increase accordingly. 2: It's crucial to account for more VRAM when using DLSS frame generation. Playing at a lower resolution or turning off ray-tracing features can help alleviate VRAM pressure and improve performance. Newer graphics cards like Intel's Arc B series, with their increased VRAM, are better equipped to handle the game.

Path Tracing Performance Tips

Indiana Jones is one of the few games in this generation to use path tracing, which calculates all lighting using ray tracing. The Full Ray Tracing toggle affects sun shadows, ray traced reflections, and ray traced global illumination. 1: These settings are demanding, with the final RTGI option being the most resource-intensive. While enabling them improves image quality, the performance hit is often not worth it. Turning on RT reflections can make a noticeable difference, so it's recommended for those with capable hardware. 2: Path tracing adds a level of realism to the game, but it comes at a cost. Players need to balance image quality with performance to ensure a smooth gaming experience. By following these tips, they can make the most of path tracing without sacrificing too much performance.

PC Performance Benchmarks

The game uses ray tracing at all times, but players have the option to turn on path tracing, which is more demanding on GPUs. For older GPUs, especially those from AMD, it's advisable to avoid path tracing. 1: We played the game on a PC with specific specs, including an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D CPU, NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080 GPU, 32GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM, Windows 11 OS, and a WD SN850 M.2 SSD. The benchmarks show the performance differences at different resolutions and with different settings. 2: Turning down other settings didn't result in significant performance improvements, making The Great Circle one of MachineGames' most optimized PC games. However, players still notice constant pop-in, which can be distracting. There is a workaround by pressing the '`' key and typing 'r_lodscale 5' to increase the level of detail, but it may cause instability in certain areas.

Conclusion

PC games are becoming more demanding, but Indiana Jones is a well-optimized game. By following our performance tips, players can claw back some extra performance and enjoy the game to the fullest. It's available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and will release on PS5 in spring 2025. If you're a fan of Indiana Jones, there are plenty of other adventure games to keep you busy during the holiday season.