Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: A Guide to Finding the 10 Vatican Relics

The outstanding Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a cinematic adventure video game with which MachineGames has shed the label of "frantic shooter studio".

This isn't Wolfenstein (though there are Nazis) by any stretch of the imagination, which means that, aside from the FPS-type scenes, there's plenty of exploration, investigation and puzzle-solving. Doctor Jones, Indy to his friends, is ultimately a professor archaeologist, and while he has to take his whip, revolver or fists out for a walk to deal with the fascists, he also has to make use of his journal, magnifying glass, knowledge and intuition.

How to complete the Discovery of the "Riddles of the Ancients" mission

The Discovery of the "Riddles of the Ancients" quest is the first of the somewhat convoluted collectibles collection quests, and is set in the game's first real, open-ended area: the beautiful and fascinating Vatican City.

• Note: In each location or chapter of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle you can find quests from the main Adventure and then Fieldwork, Discoveries, Mysteries and Chapter Notes.

The first thing you should know is that even if you want to complete a particular side quest on the first try, sometimes it's not possible. MachineGames has made the game less linear, with large semi-open-world environments, and therefore allows you to revisit them to complete all objectives. The Travels option in the journal menu unlocks precisely by following the main line in Vatican City, and already allows you to return to Marshall University in Connecticut, USA, as soon as you unlock it.

For this very reason, when you open the "Riddles of the Ancients" quest, you'll find that no matter how hard you try to find the ancient relics you have marked on the map (this is done by selecting Discoveries from the journal menu), you can't seem to find them. Don't despair when you keep seeing that your "Find ancient relics in the Vatican: X/10" counter doesn't add up, and don't think the game is broken. It doesn't matter how many times you walk around the Sistine Chapel, the Excavation, the Belverdere Courtyard, the Apostolic Palace, the Tower of Nicholas V... You even get the feeling that... they are under your feet!

So our second piece of advice is to follow the Adventure a little further, and you will gain access to the Underworld, the Sewers and the Catacombs, which is impossible without being granted permission or specific keys by certain characters. In other words, you will need to progress the main quest of the Adventure, namely The Stolen Cat Mummy.

Indy: "I must study these objects better."

With this in mind, think that most of these ancient relics are found between the Underworld (accessed from the room Of the Tower of Nicholas V) and the Necropolis, before you meet the journalist Gina "Ginetta" Lombardi disguised as a nun, from where you see Emmerich Voss' airship and his encounter with Father Ventura.

Effectively, these relics resemble that utensil of pleasure you are thinking of and yes, as Jamiroquai would say, "I'm going deeper underground" to find them. And with each one you will see the confirmation of "-SECRETFOUND-" Here we go.

Ancient Relic 1

The first is also the easiest of all the relics, as it is almost impossible to leave it behind once Antonio Morello accompanies you to the secret basement of the Library workshop, opening the passage with the pendant that, suspiciously, the giant left behind at the University. It is on the table, before leaving the room.

Ancient Relic 2

This one is quite later. Solve the Sacred Wounds puzzle in the Catacombs (you know, the one where you match the biblical passages to the frescoes, spill the blood of Christ and then activate the Roman numerals revealed around the crucifix) and then cause the fascist and the bulldozer to collapse in the tomb of the colossal warrior. You will then have to drop into a pit, unhooking yourself with the whip. However, if you notice, instead of pressing B, you can swing a little to access a ledge before dropping down. At the end of the nook is the relic.

Ancient Relic 3

This is perhaps the most fun because it has its own dedicated puzzle. In the north-eastern part of the lower necropolis map, as you head south and start to hear fascists inspecting what happened, and after getting your clothes wet, you'll get a bit more wet. You'll probably have a torch in hand and you'll probably see a rather blatant crack in a wall. If you try to cross it with a torch in hand, you'll be showered halfway across by an incessant stream of water, which will put your torch out (we're talking about that part of the map that looks like a cup next to a Space Invader).

"A curious hand-carved stone object with prehistoric origins."

However, if you go all the way around the top right corner of the map, you'll find a high hole in the wall. You can throw a lit torch through there, retrace your steps and finally burn the back wall to access the relic - what a Zeldic puzzle!

Ancient Relic 4

Shortly afterwards you come to a larger room infested with black shirts. In the centre, a huge chandelier from which you can hang yourself with the whip to swing between crumbling balconies. On one side, you'll see some rather cheeky pedestals next to equally unassuming busts. By placing the one on the floor on top of the missing one, you'll open the door to the relic room. This is one of the easier relics to locate.

Ancient Relic 5

With the same bust you can open a way out. When you can't walk any further, you have to climb up with the whip. If you do this for a couple of levels, you will see Nike, the goddess of victory (yes, in case you didn't know, the sports brand was named after this Greek goddess). Take a picture of the beautiful statue and duck into the ossuary on the right hand side to find your ancient relic.

Ancient Relic 6

This one is easy to find, but it might take you a couple of tries. Its location is pretty obvious because you'll come across another busts and pedestals puzzle, only this time you can't seem to progress to the relic room. There's a weakened brick wall, but you're probably only carrying a torch... and we're telling you, no, you can't bust it down. What you need to do is go around the lit wall, and in the darker room, you'll find a couple of those blunt sceptre-candeliers that will do more than enough to knock down the wall. You know what to do.

Ancient Relic 7

For this one you need to have activated the Fieldwork The Secret of the Giants, related to the Nephilim. Again, as we recommended at the beginning, it's a good idea to advance a bit in the main quest to be able to complete the side quests, and this is another example.

"On Crescenzo' s map sat ten inscriptions. I'm sure Antonio would be interested to see a photograph of all of them".

The first four unlock the mission, with the ten you can return to Antonio's quarters and place the ten photographs on the corkboard in the office. You will then find the antique relic on his desk as a reward.

• Tip: You may get nine inscriptions from The Secret of the Giants, but go a bit crazy because you can't find the tenth one, which in the order of the game may actually be the ninth, because it is not marked on the map. This is the inscription in the gardens of the Vatican Museum wing (entered from the top left corner of the Belvedere courtyard, in the middle of the Fascists' vietato camp - wear your black shirt disguise if you already have it to walk among them unnoticed) and can only be accessed once you have unlocked the Task A Nun in Trouble. Roaming the courtyard area and the Sistine Chapel after meeting Gina will activate the Task, but chances are you'll head to the Fountain of Confession first, complete its underground trials and go straight to the airship that takes you to Egypt. And then? Then you need to return to the Vatican via the Travels option to complete Antonio's Task.

Ancient Relic 8

Let's go back underground, but this time in search of the secret monastery that hides the Fountain of Confession. First solve its fantastic puzzle of dragons, spinning mechanisms, baptism and the rotations of the reed ark (Moses' walk on the waters of the Nile), undoubtedly one of the best in the game. Then, as you descend the spiral staircase into the depths, brace yourself, because if the torch and water puzzle had seemed Zelda-like, you're going to have two rations with the Silver and Gold paths.

The first relic is before you enter the large ornate gate room where you will forge the keys, in a platforming challenge called the Trials of Augur. Cross the first section of pendulum traps and in the second section, before crossing the swinging blades, drop into the water moat. Your ancient relic awaits you there.

Ancient Relic 9

The ninth relic is shortly after, in the middle of the Golden Challenge Path. It's best to pull out the map and mark the Riddles of the Ancients Discovery to see that, walking along the Golden Path before reaching the pillar room, there should be a way to sneak into the adjoining room. That way is through a small gap at the base of the wall. It is a matter of crouching down and placing a bust back on its pedestal.

Ancient Relic 10

Finally, if you pull out the underground map of the fountain you will see that there is one ancient relic left before you leave the Vatican secret service's hideout. When you reach the fabulous treasure chamber where the stolen cat mummy from the main adventure is located, don't try to open the door on the left (right on the map), because Gina won't pay any attention to you.

What you should do is activate the next scene, fight the giant Locus and sneak a glimpse of the brilliant sequence between Mussolini, Voss and Father Ventura. Only after this will you be able to access the last room, with the relic on a shelf.

By the way, as a cool Easter egg, next to the relic, on the boot, there is a document entitled "Report of excavation of the ziggurat", dated September 1922. It is a masterful nod to none other than René Emile Belloq, but many years before he became the villain of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when he shared an expedition in Iraq with the young Indiana Jones (referred to as Henry Jones Jr.).

Also, you should know that, like A Remedy for All, the Riddles of the Ancients Discovery mission is repeated in later chapters. For example, in Giza you also have to find the ancient relics, in this case up to 15.