Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2006
Shadowgrounds
Developer Frozenbyte
Shadowgrounds is a top-down shooter for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, developed by Frozenbyte. The game takes place on a space colony on Ganymede which is being attacked by aliens. It was released for Windows on November 17, 2005, in stores in Finland and Germany, and in 2006 in the rest of Europe and North America. As well as being available through retail stores, the game began being distributed on Valve's Steam on… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
190 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Jul 24, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
82
LovedLoved
150 positive · 33 negative
95% range 76–87%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 150 | 33 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
7 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,325 of 1,624 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 190 · most liked firstA nifty twin stick shooter with a fun campaign mode and a good variety of both enemies and weapons to slaughter them with. Take on hordes of aliens and try to survive, a simple and enjoyable premise! The story and graphics are good enough, and the game is plenty of fun despite it's age.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32482033/]Crim's Humble Opinion Curator Old School Frozenbyte It's always interesting to step back and experience a developers first release. Shadowgrounds is a top down shooter from the folks behind the Trine series and Nine Parchments. The locations and environments are built very well to be creepy. The weapon system has a nice variety especially since you can upgrade them as you progress the game. There's a variety of creatures to face off against…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ignore the haters. This game came out a long time ago when Steam was first turning into its own thing. Games like this really made Steam stand out as a place that would feature a wide variety of high quality games that you didn't have to buy a physical copy of. For the technology at the time, it's rather excellent. The voice acting was good and inspiring. It was very memorable if I am here decades later finally completing it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The dull stuffiness. Gave the game a chance several times, but it couldn't drag you in. A series of poorly implemented elements in the game simply kill any interest. Even Alien Swarm was more interesting to play and even more exciting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Usual "The humans are the real monsters" type of story. Other than that amazing everyone trusts this random mechanic with a gun. Good game tho. The way the start was going felt like a horror in a sense, but slowly it turns full action.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+20 SOCIAL CREDIT ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢁⠈⢻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⡀⠭⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣿⣷⣶⣶⡆⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣼⣿⣿⠿⠶⠙⣿⡟⠡⣴⣿⣽⣿⣧⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣟⣭⣾⣿⣷⣶⣶⣴⣶⣿⣿⢄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣩⣿⣿⣿⡏⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣹⡋⠘⠷⣦⣀⣠⡶⠁⠈⠁⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣍⠃⣴⣶⡔⠒⠄⣠⢀⠄⠄⠄⡨⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡘⠿⣷⣿⠿⠟⠃⠄⠄⣠⡇⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠋⢁⣷⣠⠄⠄⠄⠄⣀⣠⣾⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠉⠙⠻ ⡿⠟⠋⠁⠄⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⡯⢓⣴⣾⣿⣿⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⡟⣷⠄⠹⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ +1 WAIFU ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠛⠛⠉⠄⠁⠄⠄⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡟⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⠄⠄⠐⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⢀⡀⠠⠃⡐⡀⠠⣶⠄⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣶⠄⠰⣤⣕⣿⣾⡇⠄⢛⠃⠄⢈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →would be a decent if not particularly memorable alien breed clone but there's no mid-level saving. not even checkpoints or save spots you might have to go back to. levels are long, so it's inexcusable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice story and gameplay,but you can't play as the cutie grill in the game 0/10 >:C
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →no mid game saving and its a pain in the ass to get to run but when it dose work its just OK of a game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The only top-down shooter in history which looked like a modern game of its time and not like indie game of some sort. Well, there were games like Half-Life 2 back in 2000s, of course, but not every game was even close to that level. Still, this game starts like horror of some sort and I think it should have kept such style. But apparently devs had different vision. By the way you can try to play it on easy because the game is pretty damn hard.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played Shadowgrounds from start to finish. It was not a very long game but it was still a great fun game. The story is also great! I purchased Shadowgrounds on sale a while ago for a very low price and it was definitely worth it! Very nice top down shooter.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically Dead Space/Alien Shooter/Alien Breed Run`n`Gun top down shooter in the universe where Isaac Clark is a LIDL German pothead. Also the Icon for the game looks like Mr.Incredible Becomes Uncanny Dark meme.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Kill aliens, upgrade weapons, kill more aliens...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an old top down shooter game so there maybe glitches and bugs running this on modern machine. First of all, the most annoying part of the game is 6 out of 10 run it will gives an error saying "Failed to find Steam".. the devs know of this problem but said "It's Steam's problem not ours." Yeah, this is the only game i played having this problem so yes, you're expecting us to believe that. The problem here is the game is having trouble getting the path to our installed steam folder.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →better than alien breed games like this r why i rather have a cheap laptop than a ps5
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A basic top-down 3rd person shooter with a story that is pretty much a series of science fiction cliches bound together with copious amounts of cheese. Leave your brain at the door for this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shadowgrounds is an ancient game from 2006. It's a whopping 17 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run well on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. It's an old top down shooter, 3D rendered but with 2D top down gameplay (although it doesn't play like a twin stick shooter, which is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not Bad. Not Great either. Imagine DOOM but as a Top Down shooter. Autosaves at end of each chapter, so you need to play in 20 minute chunks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically Doom 3 as a top down shooter. Not optimized for large resolutions, but still addictive and a decent amount of jump scares.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shadowgrounds, where the game should not been seen by anyone Imagine Starship Troopers mixed with Serious Sam and in Top Down perspective Cons: Not responding Weapons Especially the Shotgun has some issues to work, often it just does not want to shoot. Filled with cliches and boring missions Most time you are been send from point a to b, etc. There are many of those typical cliches to extend the story, to make the game unnecassary longer, like: "Admiral has no access to highest security…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I set mine up with Half Life 2, a game I have still never finished, and apparently bought a second time in the Orange Box. I think I've still yet to play the games in that Naval Combat Pack, and I only played half of one of those Shadowgrounds games. Yeah, I started the backlog EARLY.
unlabelledView post →An interesting puzzle shooter, don't expect fallout or Doom. As far as it goes if your looking for something more indie, you could do worse. Not a bad game, just a mid game with little story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game surprised me. Definitely worth $1 on sale. Took about 6 hours to complete and it is somewhat repetitive but the cheesy dialog makes up for anything lacking. Played with a ps4 controller using most popular community key bindings. Can't wait to try the second one!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty straightforward point and shoot game with some difficult enemies, story typical but interesting with the lore you can read along with throughout the game. I beat it in one sitting so if you have a few hours pick it up!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mean what can I say, this is Frozenbyte's first game so a lot can and should be forgiven about it. However, at the end of the day its just a generic shooter. - The story is crap and totally insulting to extraterrestrial life (we humans are so arrogant sometimes), and voice acting is atrocious. Worst offender being the guy you control. He literally was given a script with no context and just delivered his lines, got his check and went home. Easy day for him. - You can't actually aim with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →easy controls, fun gameplay, cool ambience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice topdown shooter - one man army against alien invasion. A variety of weapons including upgrade system and the always threatening atmosphere including flashlight mechanics for dark corners let me enjoy this action snack until the end.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⡿⢛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣿⠃⠸⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⠼⣛⣛⣭⢭⣟⣛⣛⣛⠿⠿⢆⡠⢿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⢣⢶⣟⣿⣖⣿⣷⣻⣮⡿⣽⣿⣻⣖⣶⣤⣭⡉⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⢹⠣⣛⣣⣭⣭⣭⣁⡛⠻⢽⣿⣿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣽⡧⡄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣌⡛⢿⣽⢘⣿⣷⣿⡻⠏⣛⣀⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠙⡅⣿⠚⣡⣴⣿⣿⣿⡆⠄ ⠄⠄⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠄⣱⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠣⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠑⣿⣮⣝⣛⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good fun for a 15 year old game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little game. Gets repetitive fast though 70/100
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Coherent sci-fi settings, dynamic lighting, destructible environment, many guns, some nice improvements for each one. Uninspired scripts and dialogues, drab voices, difficult movement through doors, invisible small obstacles, sudden spike in difficulty towards the end of the game, lack of ammo during longer fights, guns that do not hit enemies when they are too close. Activate vertical sync othewise the shotgun doesn't work. A decent game in 2005, it hasn't aged well.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun shooter. Took me back a few years. No achievements to stir my OCD so I was able to focus on the game and enjoy the content. Recommend to anyone who enjoys SciFi shooters
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't recommend this game, everybody treats you like the errand boy, they yell at you and then send you to a suicide mission, telling you to hurry up, nagging you, its a chore. Do not bother. The combat is nothing special, the upgrades feel nice but later down the game, there are wayyy to many enemies compared to the bullets you get, so expect having to go back to your pistol. Story - wack, gameplay - wack, the graphics - WACK! please do not bother...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A thrilling shooter with intense action, immersive atmosphere, and engaging gameplay that keeps players on the edge of their seats.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You are basically a errand boy in space killing aliens. Generator broke, go fix it, spaceship crashed, go save survivors, someone trapped, go free them. You could play the levels in random order, would probably be equally interesting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, played on steam deck
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →went inside,shot a bit of bullets,got killed,wasted my time,woke up,checked my bed,pissed myself,changed myself,and then turned on the PC played shadowgrounds and i say the game is good
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow. That's what I'll say now after completing the game. Easily 9/10 twinstick shooter experience. I've had if years in my library and wanted something simpler to play. Game is awesome. Level design is one of the best I've ever seen. Enemy design is good and varied enough and they react differently to some weapons. Now the weapons are 9/10 for any game. Really juicy ones and upgrade system makes them all feel refreshing and diverse throughout game. Minigun has that savage Predator movie…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really good top down shooter. Pros: - The weapon upgrades really make it work - Good pacing and escalation - Gameplay does one thing only (shooting), but does it well Cons: - Need to edit options to full on widescreen - Needs 3rd person and flashlight mod to remove tediom
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Serviceable experience and reasonable price in a genre without a lot of other options.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Surprisingly enjoyable old school top down scifi shooter. Lots of variety in enemies and weapons with an upgrade system. Story is...present but honestly very meh except for the terrible deadpan delivery of the player character. It's hilarious honestly. Feels like a forgotten gem, janky for sure, but thoroughly enjoyable, especially for how cheaply it can be had on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I Say We Take Off. Nuke The Site From Orbit. It's The Only Way To Be Sure.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Note: I played this as part of my attempt to get at least a first impression of every unplayed game in my steam library. As such, this review is just based on the first impression. ---------- I own Shadowgrounds because the developer made Nine Parchments, one of my favourite games of all time. After playing that I bought a bundle of their games, but the only game I tried out in that bundle was Trine and it didn't interest me much. Shadowgrounds was one of the games that just got completely…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More tactical than I thought it would be. Unlike Shadowgrounds: Survivor, this one forces you to think, learn different strategies, and use different weapons. There's a surprisingly engrossing and fun game here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game shouldn't be on anyone's radar in 2020. Very dated and the bugs creep me out. Frozenbyte is a very good developer and I highly recommend looking at their newer releases.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Low quality janky game, better go play Alien Swarm if you look for something of this kind.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As much as this game is a cheap game like something you'd find in a shovelware bin, it has heart and works somewhat better than you would anticipate. This game is also part of my childhood and I played it even before I played system shock 2. The balance is all over the place, but man this game just works on a core level of feeling good and getting that pseudo-aliens tone down to SOME extent.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little top-down SHMUP. A bit older, but played well the last time I played it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked Shadowgrounds but I must admit that can be my nostalgia making it more enjoyable then it probably is. To start with the positives, the gameplay is good enough for what its worth. Weapon variety may be basic, but it works well, plus you have additional ways to enhance them further. Weapons also have their own different weaknesses, on top of their own strenghts, so they all feel like they have their own role. For example, flamethrower is good vs groups of enemies(mostly wrenchers, 2nd…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Look man, i just really like shooting aliens and i really like top down shooters. Does it show its age? Yes. There's also a cool mini game where you try not to get unintentionally stuck on objects while being swarmed by enemies but ah its fine. I rate 7 sneaky spider aliens out of 10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty neat top down shooter where you really need to preserve those bullets because they don't refill over levels. It makes combat pretty scary when you start running low. The enemies can get pretty annoying, especially when you can't roll away from them due to some small object in the way that gets in the way. Only the first boss gave me any trouble as you are limited with the guns you get. The other bosses are a joke with all the OP guns you get later in the game. Voice acting and story can…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun top-down shooter with a variety of upgradeable weapons, and enough enemy types to keep it interesting. The game is a little janky, and it isn't long, but it's a fun romp through classic early 2000s sci-fi horror tropes. Almost every trope is referenced here, and its done with complete seriousness, adding to the humor. The only cons are 1. no save system and 2. a few gamebreaking bugs. The game saves once you reach the beginning of each level, but my character got soft locked near…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a real shame that the checkpoints are so far between. So it's not good for a small play between other stuff. But that aside it's a very fun and cool game with nice light and shadoweffects that reminds me a very little of DooM 3 :) Play this in first person and it's a very scary game but I can say this also of DooM 3 to play in isometric, just saying my thoughts. Good game !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Refurbished the monster profiles for the brute maulers, wot appear in the 2006 AA shooter video game Shadowgrounds. Video game monsters aren't hashtag sexy hashtag content, but when you need 'em - well, we have 'em. And these specific guys are pretty dangerous and tactically bothersome.
unlabelledView post →Refurbished our character profile for the protag of #Shadowgrounds, a 2006 AA isometric shoot-em-up video game. The game was quite generic, but I felt a TERRIBLE, DARK URGE to explain how the ordnance would work "in reality", without video game logic. Which is mostly useful for #TTRPGs I guess.
unlabelledView post →it's ok. no story to talk about, but it's a quick, mostly fun, romp
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun Shooter. Rund in my N100 perfectly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For me, Shadowgrounds was a nostalgia trip even though I never actually played Shadowgrounds back in the day. It's like a bunch the good parts from early 2000s shooters rolled into one game. That might not be everyone's cup of tea, another reviewer called it generic and yeah, that's probably accurate, but at its core it's a fun game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game and good story. Only the ending rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. If they had done two different endings in which you could decide how to procede, it would be great. My rating 6/10, recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am 32 years old. My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old. When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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