Indiana Jones and the Great Circle A Harsh Climb Walkthrough

Jun 26 2025

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A Harsh Climb is a main quest in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the A Harsh Climb main mission.Reach the CoordinatesYou are ahead of Voss

A Harsh Climb is a main quest in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the A Harsh Climb main mission.

Reach the Coordinates

You are ahead of Voss, but just barely. You must find the source of the signal as fast as possible, which is not an easy task since every step is through waist deep snow. Follow Gina up the mountain until you reach a crumbling bridge. Whip to the other side, then swing over and climb up the side of the cliff. Follow the waypoint into a cave and have a moment’s rest from the relentless weather. When you emerge from the cave, you see a Nazi battleship on top of the mountain, frozen in place.  Take a photo for your journal. Since you don’t have a map yet, showing the exact locations is challenging, but this one is hard to miss.

Adventure Note #1: KMS Kummetz (60 AP)

Get to the Ship

Whip yank the debris off of the ice surface so that you can shimmy across and climb up on the other size. Continue to follow Gina until you reach the ship. Whip the propeller shaft of the lifeboat above you and climb up, then help Gina up with your whip. The floor will give way and you will end up inside the Kummetz.

Search the Ship

Follow the hallways until you see a doorway to the right. It looks like the hand wheel for the door is missing. You’ll have to find it before you can access the rest of the ship. In the meantime, look down and pick up the pipe leaning against the door. Continue down the hall, and you’ll emerge into a room with an ice sheet blocking the door. Smash it with your pipe to continue.

Just inside the door to the right is a map of the Kummetz.

Also in the room is the handwheel you need to open the door.

Grab it and head back to the door to mount it in place and open the hatch. Inside is the remains of the crew, frozen to the deck, in sheets of ice, or each other. Grim.  Look on the north side as you enter to find a note on the ground.

Adventure Note #2: Survivor’s Account (30 AP)

Now go up the stairs to the upper level, and straight ahead of you is another pipe to grab. Go through the hatch to the west, and you will find another door covered in a sheet of ice to smash. In the next room, crawl through a duct to reach the catwalk above a bunch of pipes. Where the railing is broken, jump down and help Gina get past a broken pipe that blocks the exit. There is a long cinematic, followed by Gina and Indy committing to finding the truth no matter what. Indy finds a Nazi file that has Dr. Lombardi’s Nazi identification card, and notes that start to clue Indy in on what the Great Circle actually does. You will get two notes at the end of the cinematic. Meanwhile the Nazis have arrived and are blasting to get into the hulk.

Adventure Note #3: Laura’s Card (30 AP)

Adventure Note #4: Adamic Research (30 AP)

Find the Stone

Two Nazis climb down a ladder from above and attack. Help Gina fight them off, then climb the ladder. Keep following the corridors until you reach the radio room where there is a photo opportunity.

Adventure Note #5: Radio Room (60 AP)

Stay crouched, there are a lot of heavily armed Nazis searching the ship and they still don’t know you’re here. Go west into the next room and you’ll find a book on one of the consoles.

Adventure Book #1: Button Man II (Requires 775 AP)

Guards search over large distances, and will investigate any noise or disturbances in the area. Make sure you hide all the bodies of soldiers you take down, and stay unseen for as long as possible. Pick up the dropped guns of Nazis and press / to only use them as melee weapons. Use heavy attacks to knock enemies out in one hit if possible, but otherwise your goal is to subdue them before they can fire a shot. Keep advancing through the ship carefully. When you eventually reach the room outside the Krankenstation (Hospital Ward), you’ll find a note on the desk to the north.

Adventure Note #6: Witness Account (30 AP)

Then go through the door to the east to find another note on a desk by a corpse.

Adventure Note #7: New Orders (30 AP)

Continue on until you reach the mess room, and find a card on one of the tables.

Adventure Note #8: Judgement Card (30 AP)

Keep following the waypoint until it leads you to the Ankerraum (Anchor Room, predictably). Gina climbs up the ladder and says the chain is in the way, so you will have to climb down and break it. Take a photo from the top level first.

Adventure Note #9: Anchor Chain (60 AP)

Whip to the end of the platform and lower yourself down to the lowest level. Use the butt of your revolver to smash the ice sheet over the door here, then go down the hall and in the room on the right.

Adventure Note #10: Scary Stories #3 (30 AP)

Go back to the Anchor Room, and look up at the chain. There are two points where you can do a whip yank to cause the chain to release. The first you can reach from the lowest level, the second you’ll have to go up one level to get the whip to attach.

Climb back up to the top level then go up the ladder to where Gina waits for you. You’ll have to step through a broken railing and walk across some pipes to reach a hatch to the outside. Walk along the ledge towards the bow, then climb up on a boat hanging by lines so that you can reach another hole in the hull. Climb up and into the ship again. Keep heading east, climbing up on some more pipes and onto a catwalk when you can. You will begin to hear voices above as you approach the ladder. Time for more stealth!

If you have not gotten A Little Tumble yet, there will be no easier opportunity to do so in the game as the first Nazi on deck is hanging out right next to the broken railing and has his back to you like he’s inviting you to do it.

There are three other Nazis along the deck and most aren’t looking in your direction so with a little care you can take them all out one at a time. At the end of the deck, take a photo of the life boat there for your journal.

Adventure Note #11: Life Boat (60 AP)

Head up the stairs here, watching out for one soldier who patrols the hall of the ship as well as the outside. Take him out and continue into the ship. At the end of the hall, turn right and immediately as you enter, there will be a note on the console to the right.

Adventure Note #12: Experiment Journal (30 AP)

Exit out the only hatch and go straight across the hall to smash another ice covered doorway with the butt of your gun.

Adventure Note #13: Mayan Sketch (30 AP)

Now climb up the ladder and go around the corner into the Officer’s Lounge. There are several items to read, though most aren’t collectibles. The first has the captain’s code on it JÖGM. This will help you decrypt the code for the lock. There are also two clipboards with code tables on them. You’ll need these soon. The only pick-up is the Captain’s Journal, which explains the grisly scene.

Adventure Note #14: Captain’s Journal (30 AP)

There is a code wheel puzzle, reminiscent of an Enigma cipher machine, but much more primitive. There are four wheels around the device. Pick them up and load them into the slots in order so that they can make the captain’s code.

Solve the Captain’s Cipher

First take a photo of the device.

Adventure Note #15: Cipher Machine (60 AP)

Load the wheels into the device in the following order.

The only wheel with a J goes into the first slot. 

Then the only wheel with an Ö in the second slot. Note that the wheel with a J also has an O but it doesn’t have the umlauts that the captain’s code needs.

Then the only wheel with a G in the third slot.

Finally the only wheel with an M in the fourth slot.

Next, close the lid on the device and dial in the Captain’s Code: JÖGM. Enter the letters by dialing the wheels up and down until the code is in line with the arrows, which is to say the top slot. Once that is done look at the device to see the code in the bottom slot: BLUT. Compare that to the clipboard to find that it corresponds to the number 3666. Dial that into the door lock and it will open for you.

 

Head inside, and immediately you will see the last collectible on the ground in front of you.

Adventure Note #16: Machu Picchu Sketch (30 AP)

Climb up the ladder and open the hatch and you’ll be on the bridge. Grab the stone from the Captain’s hands, and a long cinematic will play. After some truly epic shenanigans, when you eventually regain control you will have to…

Get off the Ship

First of all, grab onto Gina’s hand to get back up on the deck, then narrowly miss being crushed as Gina pushes you out of the way. You’re separated, but not for long. You have to move aft in a hurry, but the only way to do it is truly insane. Walk out on the catwalk then whip to the crane in front of you and swing to the remains of the deck next to the ship. Climb up to the higher level then move back and whip up to another crane. Climb up till you’re hanging off the crane, then whip up to Gina’s platform when she’s dealt with the Nazi. Climb up and keep moving aft, using the zipline to reach the deck. Of course, nothing goes to plan and the whole ship pitches on its side, leaving you hanging from the mast, and Gina hanging from you. Then just as everything looks grim, something even zanier happens to end the mission hat has to be seen to be believed.

This finishes A Harsh Climb main quest in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Next up: Into the Fire

Return to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Trophy Guide & Roadmap

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