Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2017
Sine Mora EX
Developer Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufacture, Gyroscope Games
Sine Mora EX is a side-scrolling shoot'em up that provides a unique challenge, where time is the ultimate factor. Mixing classic shooter sensibilities with contemporary presentation, Sine Mora EX is a gorgeous shoot'em up offering both a Story Mode that weaves an excessive tale and an Arcade Mode. From the Steam store page
188 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Aug 30, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
57
Mixed
104 positive · 79 negative
95% range 50–64%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 104 | 79 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
5 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mixed
445 of 694 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 188 · most liked firstThis deserves "Overwhelmingly positive" not "mixed". If that's why you're on the fence, go ahead and pull the triggers, haters don't know what they're talking about. This is a gorgeous, expertly crafted shmup. It runs in a variety of aspect ratios, it has a compelling story, gameplay is superb, I could not ask for more. It's getting dinged in reviews by purists who don't like the time based mechanics, but no rule says shmups cannot deviate from a set paradigm. If that were true we'd never have…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of my favorite games, but they somehow completely botched this steam version, and I can't say that I would recommend it. The speed of the game is linked to frame rate. If you don't have the proper V-sync settings set up through your graphics card, it will run as fast as the frame rate. For me, this meant the game was running 2x as fast, the characters kept talking over eachother, and the game was literally unplayable. I spent awhile figuring out what the issue was, and why my…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just a hot mess. Trying to discern where your hitbox is is impossible. Figuring out what objects you can fly through and which will hit you if you collide becomes error by trial. The game just stops to blab at you for long periods when you should be playing, giving you a story where they haven't given you enough exposition to know who is on which side or who is in the plane at a given moment, just sloppy. Then it puts up wind resistance when trying to fly through a bullet hell pattern. I don't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game looks fantastic, a real work of art, and the gameplay starts rather ok, so I didn't understand at first why it had 'mixed' reviews, but after playing about an hour I get it. The story is incredibly cringe, but more importantly dreadfully boring. It's the first time I felt compelled to stop playing a shmup because the story was getting on my nerves. It mixes animepunk and furry characters in an euro-comic style that really doesn't help to get invested into the (stupid) story. And the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It looks like a lavish festival on screen, but my eyes and hands are in full-on panic mode.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX looks great and has an interesting time-based mechanic, but it never fully comes together. The difficulty spikes feel frustrating rather than rewarding, especially when combined with certain enemy patterns. While it has solid ideas, the overall experience feels uneven and doesn’t quite live up to its potential.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great shmup definitely from the top shelf. Visuals are nice, exhilarating boss fights, interesting levels. Not too long but gameplay is solid, can't expect more from such 3D shoot'em up.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a shame. The core gameplay in this game is pretty fun. They did a great job with the graphics and the in-game presentation... but it's all ruined by some horrible game design decisions. First, they decided to make it so that if you get hit once you lose ALL of your firepower powerups and have to frantically chase them around the screen to regain them. You will get hit... it's borderline inevitable. Absolutely ridiculous. I could see maybe losing 1 powerup when you get hit once, but ALL…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strangely underwhelming. It has been a while since I Alt+F4'ed simply because I was bored. It controls alright with a gamepad (though ships tend to be a little too floaty for their own good), it looks good (and offers some decent 2.5D tricks) and has some good ideas with the non-linear storytelling and time manipulation mechanics. It's in the execution the game just doesn't deliver. It's dreadfully dull. I don't mean this to come off like I hate the thing or that it's the worst game ever, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tl;dr: Pass on this, unless you want a very different but subpar take on the 2d Shmup. This is a difficult game to review, because there are some very interesting ideas. However, those interesting ideas are not executed well. In essence this game is a 2D side-scrolling shmup, with the best point of comparison being similar to Gradius or R-type. The game is difficult like the classic titles in the series so I can't recommend this for newer players, as the game can be punishing in its…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX suffers mainly from some of the misrepresenting delusional game reviews you can find on Steam, so keep an open mind. Now to the game itself. This is a heavily story-based shmup, with said story and great visuals being the strongest points. The writing is surprisingly thick, painting a dark scifi universe - almost feels too mature for the genre. Kept me highly entertained. Perhaps it also helped that the character voiceovers deliver professional quality. The gameplay is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too many issues that combine to suck the fun out of the game. - Bad hitbox indicators and bad distinction between foreground, background and playground makes it hard to dodge stuff. - Regularly enemies just blend into the background as well to make that worse. - Game relies on time=health mechanic to give you some survivability in an otherwise "1 life per credit" setup, but then in several places (and with 1 of the powerups) just decides to instakill you anyway no matter how much time you have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an A-Tier shmup but there are some things you need to know to fully enjoy it (in order of importance): 1) The way DX9 was implemented in this game seems to cause all kinds of problems on modern Windows setups, up to and including making it completely unplayable. Thankfully the fix is very easy as long as you don't waste your time troubleshooting red herrings: if you are on Windows, just get a DLL from the DXKV project and drop it into your game folder as explained in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Straight up trash. Don't bother. Positive: -Decent graphics (esp. in 4k) Negative: -Absolutely forgettable plot, story, and characters. -Too long for a shoot'em up -Too hard while playing, too easy while continuing (can start at last checkpoint with 9 lives each time you are "game over") Absolutely pointless to play in 2021. Avoid it even for free.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As for almost every shoot'em up outside these days, way too hard for the casual player. Very frustrating as I love the genre but every single time I try one of these, I play for an hour then give up because it just feels impossible. I mean, why so many bullets? Seriously. Too bad because it's pretty good actually.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd like to preface this review by saying I'm not generally a fan of Bullethell Shoot-em-ups, so take that how you will. Pros: - Boss fights - Interesting scenery Cons: - Lack of an interesting plot - The timer - Level design in certain areas - Credit system Sine Mora is a game where trial and error will get you further and further into the game but it strips away any feeling of triumph after finally beating a stage by introducing you to more and more frustrating level design choices.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades I have seen many people who think making a shmup is an easy task. But the reality is obviously way different than that. Making a shmup is as hard as any other game and if you are not careful, you can easily screw up and create something that ends up being vastly inferior to the other games in the same genre. Case in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you ever wandered around shmup communities for long enough, you'll see that the mere mention of this game will make some gamers pale and inmediately insult it. Like if it were kusoge and that were an absolute fact, an axiom. Does it really deserve it though? I took it upon myself to open it and experience this with no external input and purely using keyboard, and there is some cool package in there. This is a game that has taken a lot of previous game decisions and attempted to transform…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The art direction, visuals, story, mood and atmosphere are as good as the game design, gameplay and mechanics are bad. A shame, because this EX edition was the occasion of fixing the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The time-limit mechanic in this game makes it immediately unpalatable. It's a completely unnecessary component of the game. I really like the artwork and it isn't that the timer is so difficult to keep up, it's just an annoying contrivance in an otherwise cool game that ruins it for me. Refunded.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is what you get when a developer that doesn't understand STG's tries to make an STG. I'd be fine with it being slow... if it were even remotely interesting. Devs: 1. Don't force a massive set of custscenes down our throats with lingo that makes zero damned sense to anyone but pilots. Frontloaded, story rich is fine... but you have to EARN a reason for us to care, and almost immediately, or it's just dead weight. 2. This is an STG. Bullet sponges are only fun when you have halfway…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unbalanced design and punishing gameplay
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although I am pretty terrible at shoot-em-up games I love playing them. I enjoy both the classic ones as well as more modern titles. My wife and I played a little bit of this one, but got so frustrated because instead of lives it features more of a timer based gameplay that is usually featured in racing games with checkpoints. This will probably appeal to some people, but it just wasn't that fun for us. It has very nice graphics featuring animal characters with voices. The story was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is simply the worst Shmup I have ever played gameplay-wise, but it certainly isn't lacking in the visual department because this is one of the best looking shmups I have played sofar...but graphics don't mean anything if the gameplay is lacking. The level design is frustrating because of weird hitboxes and questionable design choices. Everything is in 3D, so it's hard to estimate how big the hitboxes are. The time slowdown mechanic isn't a game mechanic but a punishment because you lose…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Somehow Sine Mora EX is even worse than the original: there is some kind of synchronization issue that makes the game run at 2x speed for many players, the mouse does not work in the menu screen, and the game takes a lot longer to start. Otherwise, I did not notice any difference between the two versions and I am not sure why EX needed to be made. Mouse controls flat out do not work in either game - even with sensitivity maxed out, you cannot get from one end of the screen to the other without…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At time of writing, this game does NOT work properly on modern hardware. I've tried this on a desktop PC with a 5800X and a 9070 XT and also on a laptop with a 5800H and a 3060 Mobile. Seemingly at random points in certain levels, the game will go from running fine at 60fps (which its capped at), to suddenly dropping down to the mid 30s or less and also frequently having textures and objects either start rapidly flickering or just disappearing entirely. This is often followed by the visuals…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, I've never played a game that the story was so odious it killed my desire to play. This is the type of game that requires no story to begin with, but then to saddle it with inane banter that has no meaning is like getting slapped in the face, repeatedly. Sure you can manually fast forward but having to do that 99% of the time is another annoyance. Honestly, this would be a better game if they just cut all that crap out.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The unique case of a shmup that you want to play because of its compelling narration, stunning art and dense atmosphere. I think one can easily love it for what it is, despite some gameplay shortcomings. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39372135]Lists of Niche is dedicated to finding games on Steam with roots in classic consoles, computers and arcade machines. We categorize them in helpful lists that will hopefully grant some insight into gaming's history, too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In community guide Dev responded to query about playing from where left off and says ' Just hit "continue game" in the play menu to start from the last stage completed.'. Tried this, just starts from beginning again. So, the time mechanic just sucks and you end up in unwinnable situations......and then have to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Plus I don't expect comprehensible stories from shmup...but this one is literal 'wtf'. Stick with vertical shooters is my advice.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX is an updated version of the original that was released back in 2012, bringing some new game modes, full English voice overs, and updated visuals to name a few. Unlike some other shoot 'em ups based on one hit deaths, Sine Mora EX has a unique time mechanic where you need to complete the stage within the time given. If you get hit you lose time, however destroying enemies and collecting certain power ups increases your time. I did have an issue where setting the graphics quality…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In many ways, this game is a joke. -Terribly short. -There is also time. You have to be careful about time. -You also have lives. If you lose them all, you start from the beginning. +But if you choose the last level of those who have passed , you continue. -You struggle with the control of the plane all the time. -The battles are short. -Sometimes you can't see the enemy bullets. +Interesting bosses and not bad design. +- The story at times becomes boring. -They can destroy with just one blow.…
negative · 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 →My Video Review is available here: https://youtu.be/1STDwo2CZS4 Can I recommend Sine Mora EX to non-hardcore players with their families? There are for sure many pros - original game concept based on time, useful power-ups, time manipulation ability, wide variety of enemies, variability of the environment, precise controls, beautiful graphics and atmospheric sounds along with dubbing. However, there are also the cons that I can hardly overlook - hard to follow story, frequent flying through…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →With every breath in my hyperventilating lungs, I want this game to go ♥♥♥♥ itself.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3 words. Forced mouse acceleration. This game is basically unplayable with a mouse. Imagine trying to navigate through a flowery bullet hell pattern, and every little movement you do moves you a random distance. Pure insanity. It's a shame too. It seems like it would be great if not for forced mouse acceleration making it unplayable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →mildly better than the non-ex variant due to understandable voicaovers. the gameplay for the first few levels was fun enough until a hilariously badly designed part just nuked me. so... still not fun
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very mediocre shoot'em up.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the presentation and music. Especially the former point stands out a lot. Not many of these kind of games look that good. Same with the really interestingly designed bosses. But... The gameplay is really not good for shmup standards. Nothing seems balanced and the difficulty is crushing and unfair. You often dont have enough bullet time which seems kinda thrown in as a way to make it more fair but it feels tacked on. And the fact that you lose almost all your upgrades with a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short review: .... .... Man, it's really difficult to rate this game. Basically, it's a classical shoot em up with the time twist instead of lives. Gameplay would be good, but the whole time idea is both an hit and a miss. Storywise though, the game is interesting with its WWII theme set in a semi futuristic fantasy world, very grim but otherwise a complete mess to understand clearly what's going on. So... yes, it's a thumbs up, but it may be not your cup of tea, even as a fan of the genre.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5/10 + voice acting + story + graphics - gameplay is just meh... Nebula Fighter 3D is still the best of this type of game iv ever played
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most beautiful shmup of the HD era. And it's nice to play, too !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX is a side-scrolling 2.5D shoot-em-up having short sessions leading to boss fights and bullet hell situations. The story is mainly given through text and I have to confess I stopped reading it after the first 1-2 missions. Pros: + Amazing visuals, the gameplay evolves in 2-D but the rending is 3-D. Colors, aesthetics and design of environment and bosses are all excellent. + Boss fights can be intense and challenging. + Very nice music and sound effects. + Even if short there is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →And this is 9$ ?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great shoot'em up game. Things like time manipulation, power-ups and a lot of different weapons ensure for a broad game with a lot to offer.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What I can appreciate about Sine Mora is how the central plot element becomes the central game mechanic in a very fluid and innovative way. Sine Mora is a game about time control, and its central game mechanic is that you never lose health, but time. If you take damage, that's time off the clock. If you kill enemies, that's time added to the clock. You are essentially invincible, but lose powerups and the game if you ever get hurt enough times that you run out the clock. A clock that is always…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX (2017) is the remastered version of Sine Mora (2012). Sine Mora was a modern-ish spin on classic horizontal shooters. This takes me back to the arcades of the 1980's and 90's but with updated graphics and sounds. If side-scrolling shooters aren't your thing, this isn't going to be of any value to you. But if you like the classics you can probably get some fun out of this for $10 or less. I'd have dumped that much in quarters into an arcade machine like this back in the day.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →All in all very frustrating. The graphics are beautiful and the story is interesting. But the difficulty isn't fair at all. Something about the speed feels off, I never feel in control and keep dying. And if I don't die, I keep running out of time. Never felt that I mastered the gameplay, just trying to somehow survive. There is some interesting in there, but it's buried underneath a very frustrating gameplay.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →172 - Sine Mora A shoot 'em up game set in a world of anthro characters locked in a fierce war between factions. It follows two parallel stories, both dealing with revenge. An extended version of the game called Sine Mora EX was released years later to more modern platforms.
unlabelledView post →Disclaimer: I'm not a shmup expert. I didn’t enjoy Sine Mora EX. The only things I liked were the choice of planes and weapons in Arcade Mode, one creative boss, and the original damage system based on remaining time instead of lives. That’s about it. Everything else fell flat. The 3D graphics are outdated—even in the EX version—and haven’t aged well. A clean 2D art style would have been a much better choice. The soundtrack is forgettable, and the sound effects lack any impact. The story…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Dark Souls of shoot em Up Git Gud
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sine Mora EX pros: //fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on //good amount of action and special effects cons: //a lot of difficult battles/boss battles //some overpowered enemies //some enemies have unfair attacks //could use more health drops and powerups //sometimes too many hazards that make it difficult to evade //can't change aiming direction //good game Personal Suggested Purchase Price: $0.99 Or Less During Sale
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm new to shut em up and I think it's good. For the last achievement, doing a stage in Insane without picking up anything and at the end of each part a score coin may drop and you are forced to pick it up, it feels so bad...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unnecessary complicated mechanics. Story was kind of so so and game felt short.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having played this back on the 360 I can say this is an excellent, beautiful, and very unique shmup. A lot of people will claim the main time mechanic works against you, in response to that I say beneath layers of sweat and tears, "git good". It's genuinely one of the most difficult shmups I've played but it's worth every second. I hate to say "Dark-Souls-like" but it really does beg you to come back for more after it shoves your face into the dirt for the 20th time. The set pieces alone make…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is genuinely an exceptional game - in no little part thanks to its story - that is marred by a bad reputation and a controversial "life" system. Other reviews went into it already, but it's rather true: you get punished for playing badly and rewarded for playing well, feeling like you're fighting an uphill battle when you mess up and lose your power-ups. Then again, the (Hungarian) voice acting, flavor, artwork, worldbuilding and story in this game is superb. The story is a little hard to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are several reasons not to like at as a shmup fan. The game is full of those cheap gotcha moments, the movement doesn't feel accurate enough for the amount of projectiles you have to dodge, lastly it puts weight in the story and nobody cares about it in shmup games. There's nobody I'd recommend this to.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a 45 yo father, probably one of the oldest people playing this game. I am a single father to my Son, who is 14 now. My son got this game from his uncle, so we installed it on his computer and he started playing. By the end of the week he had 24 hours on this game. This was horrible for me, as it was already hard for me to find ways to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching YouTube. So I decided to make a Steam account and get this game to see if I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I first played this on mobile actually and its one of a handful games that ive found and played on every platform ive had from android to 360 to x box one and finally PC. A go to quality gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I now understand all the negative reviews.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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