Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2011
The Next BIG Thing
Developer Pendulo Studios
The Next Big Thing is a 2011 comedy graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive. The spiritual successor to Pendulo's Hollywood Monsters (1997), it takes place in an alternate-history 1940s Hollywood where real monsters portray themselves in monster movies. The game follows reporters Dan Murray and Liz Allaire as they uncover a conspiracy within the… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
198 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 3, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
71
Fresh
135 positive · 55 negative
95% range 64–77%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 135 | 55 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
8 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
604 of 726 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 198 · most liked firstI think hating on it at all is nonsense but Geoff definitely served that game up on a platter. Putting it as the final reveal of the Game Awards centers it as the NEXT BIG THING which is an expectation it could never hope to reach
unlabelledView post →The Next Big Thing, is a point and click adventure game developed by Pendulo Studios. Being released in February of 2011 on both PC and iOS devices. Gameplay in TNBT is your standard point and click action. You can walk around the areas fairly freely, allowing you to interact with objects and talk to other characters in the game. Obviously with all point and clicks the game play is not why you are playing. The puzzles in the game are somewhat entertaining as well, some of them really make you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SUMMARY: A beautiful restaurant with great service, but the food sucks. 6/10 You know the kind of point-and-click adventures that are genuinely entertaining and give you that giddy feeling of accomplishment when you successfully solve their challenging but logical puzzles? Well, this is not one of those. "The Next BIG Thing" looks awesome. It has a very good user interface. Dialogues are well written, and often very funny. Voice acting for the two main characters is excellent and at least…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Next BIG Thing is a traditional point and click adventure. I am a big fan of this genre and I usually like most part of games contributing to it, but this game clearly makes an exception. Two of the most important characteristics of graphic adventures are extremely weak. Although the story is indeed original, it doesn't make to capture gamers' attention and is somehow boring, if we exclude the mental trip part between chapters 5 and 6. Furthermore the story (and the game) is REALLY short.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think this theory applies to a LOT of franchises over time as executives chase larger and larger audiences, convinced that their movie/game/whatever could be the Next Big Thing if only they changed it enough.
unlabelledView post →Nothing was stopping them from spending that dev time making an actual game and not The Next Big Thing™️ The fact they're shutting down so soon is pretty good proof they certainly don't see it as the former since this wasn't AAA published.
unlabelledView post →This game is epic. It's so funny and crazy, I wish there would be more like this. I don't even know where to start. Do you like cute and healthy humor? Do you like this kind of animated-movie graphics? Then this game is for you. The story is a huge nonsense and that's why I love it so much. But in the end everything will make sense, don't worry. Uhm, well almost everything... The locations, the events, the characters will look out of the place and crazy first but later you will get used to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my favorite thing about united by a mile is that if you’re 18 and don’t projectile vomit during a game you’re The Next Big Thing and then you wait two years or so and they’re trying to get rid of you
unlabelledView post →not for me. tried twice to play. not engaged first time and gave up after a few hours. second time tried harder. game was not bad, just not engaging for me, but i was determined to finish. but.... for those like me with hearing issues, (relatively mild in my case) the music puzzle was not solvable......being so close to the end i was ticked off at having to give up so late in the game. why not include a skip option for those of us who dont have the ability to solve such puzzles? if your hearing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →14. Puzzle Arena Toshinden Once upon a time, Takara wanted Toshinden to be the Next Big Thing. They failed, but on their way accidentally created the most anime puzzle game of all time. Taunts get you meter, meter is used for big supers, you can play super fast, but there's offsetting like Puyo...
unlabelledView post →10 years ago I made my dream come true: I built an indoor skatepark business. Now I’m on to The Next Big Thing: my own board game Someday I will be on a big stage performing my music, time will tell #indieRockstarLife
unlabelledView post →Our heroes are Dan Murray and Liz Alistair are journalists in Hollywood. Dan is a seasoned journalist while Liz the innocent newcomer. In popular cuture, seasoned person is often potrayed as self absorbed person. This game is no different Dan is very unlikeable, he constantly brag about himself (often about banging women) and he is prone to talking in third person " Dan Murray....." despite of this, everybody likes him. Unfortunately the game didn't explain or show good reasons…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm amazed at how many good reviews this game has. With how great the art style is, and the great reviews, I was excited to play! I'm a huge P&C game lover, and this one... gravely disappointed. The only strong suit, imo, is the art style. The voice actors sounded awkward and, apparently, they think talking fast = humor. Or something. The characters are forgettable and annoying, the story is boring, and the puzzles are both too easy and illogical. I've never been so disappointed with a P&C…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this game. Especially since it comes from Pendulo Studios - the minds behind the timeless classic Runaway. Their signature art style is once again on full display here, and honestly, it's stunning. The beautifully detailed, hand-drawn 2.5D aesthetic still works wonders in a modern adventure game. Visually, The Next Big Thing is everything you’d expect from Pendulo: vibrant, stylish, and consistently impressive. But unlike Runaway, The Next Big Thing is just... ungh.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game, but I just can't. I was hoping for a great adventure game in the style of Broken Sword and Monkey Island, but I was very disappointed. The game stats with little to no explaination of how the gameplay works. The storyboard is meant to work as a notebook and chapter divider, but it is just confusing. And who is the narrator? I played this game for approx. 5 hours, and after getting frustrated with characters that don't make sense, I had to stop after arriving at the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fully-remote Brighton based indie @brightrockgames.com (devs of Galacticare), is looking for Senior Game Designer to help them develop the Next Big Thing™. ✅ Unity 🌍 Remote UK and Europe only 🔗 remotegamejobs.com/jobs/brightr... #gamejobs #gamedevjobs #indiedev #gamedesign #remotegamejobs
unlabelledView post →It's... BAD. Perhaps for kids no older than 16... if you're an adult with a minimum amount of books, movies, games and/or real life experience on your back... I'd say you won't enjoy this game very much. - Too short. - badly written characters - bad jokes too - terrible (and ultra-predictable) plot
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Didn't Take-two hail mary release Kerbal Space Program 2 in early access then throw a fit when the niche space simulator game wasn't the Next Big Thing?
unlabelledView post →Buggy as hell. Unplayable. Utter waste of time and money. Clearly a scam. Probably malware. Uninstalled after the 234523453463455003456th attempt at passing the stupid unbeatable bugged idiotic flower "puzzle" (which wasn't the first so-called "puzzle" to require a walkthrough because it didn't make any sense whatsoever; using a chicken with a pulley in the middle to improvise a makeshift zip-line - for an example of a classic archetipical "absurd" graphic adventure puzzle - makes sense -…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like adventure games and don't give this game a chance, I find you to be very dis.....concerting. All jokes aside, the game pays homage to era gone by with an enjoyable and comedic story. The puzzles are pretty straight forward, but if you do get stuck, there are lots of options to help you power through built into the game. I do have to mention that there is one puzzle in particular that is pretty rough. It's been a deal breaker to some on the game, but I looked up a tutorial on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game with a horrible, horrible game breaking rythm puzzle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The puzzles were ok, rather easy and based on common thinking, but it was too short (I finished it in 2 playthroughs) the story was nothing special and the humor was bad imho. I miss old school poin&click adventure games :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pros + gorgeous looking and colorful hand drawn comic book style background artwork and character models + good character animations + game nods to classic Hollywood movies and monsters + some puzzles easy to solve and enjoyable + well made long cartoony cut scenes + many different cast of characters + decent voice acting + nice musics + there are three difficulty options. easy, medium and hard. easy mode has in-game hints and hotspot highlights cons - frustrating mini games with ever…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was thrilled playing this one. Pendulo Studios definitely learned a lot from their previous games. I enjoyed the story from Beginning to End, although a teency bit disappointed that although it says it's about all the Hollywood monsters, there were very few characters. There were more robots than monsters to be honest, and they (the robots) all look the same. I guess I can imagine making 3D models just for background could prove to be harrowing (but what about Eva Morte and the Grim Reaper).…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →1-sentence review : Nothing exceptional but the story and puzzles are pleasant, so if you're into point'n click adventures without too much expectations, you'll have a good time. Pros : - Decent story - Decent puzzles - Charming characters - Good artistic direction, in cartoon style Cons : - There's no strong points to this game, there's no must-do nor must-see - Lacks a bit of originality
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have loved the Pendulo Studios' games I've played so far (The Runaway series). They've all been corky humorous with likeable characters and excellent artwork. This game follows in the same vein, but have stepped up the wackiness and plot-line compared to the previous games. They might have taken it a slight bit too far in this one, but I still enjoyed it immensely. I found it to be a bit short, which is "dis....concerning", and a bit too easy. It seems to me that this was planned to be a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would have loved to play this but no option on the music. Its very loud and overshadows the characters voice. No option to mute music or at least turn it down. If it gets an update to do so then I would play otherwise I blew $2
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Next BIG Thing is a good old-fashioned point-and-click adventure game, in the same general genre as Monkey Island 3. The production values are good. The voice acting is decent. The backgrounds and art are quite good, if not stunning, as you can tell from the screenshots. But it doesn't have to be stunning, since a game like this succeeds or fails on the strength of its puzzles and writing, no the artwork. Unfortunately, puzzles and writing are where it falls down. To begin with, the world…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Focus got a big problem for their game building engine, the fps is constantly unstale and lower than 30 fps, it makes your eyeballs hurt so much you want to stop playing it immediately. All of their games have this problem. In this case, I would not play the game and would not buy any more of their games. I have to give it a NO.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I found the interface to be really lazy, usually in a point and click you have options to inspect or talk to etc. but in this you just click on things and it's a surprise what your character will do. I didn't find it very intuative and gave up on it pretty quickly as a result.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has amazing visuals that work well for the gameplay. Great voice acting ties in well with the overall visuals. Puzzles are fun and challenging and move the story along well. So why do I not recommend it? well about a third of the way through the game it just freezes. I have tried everything to fix this its but its definitely a defect in the game. Makes me sad too because its a sweet game!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good point and click adventure, completed in 8 hours without the use of any walkthroughs or hints. Not the most difficult pnc but certainly worth a playthrough. My Score - 8/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Back in the day, this game sparked my interest in weird horror flicks, and I've never been the same.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The good: Interesting world, good art and music, unique characters, some funny dialogue and moments The bad: The dialogue is absolutely insane, much of the time it's like it was written by aliens who weren't sure how language worked, much less English. The puzzles are either overly simplistic, or ridiculously convoluted and nonsensical, and I never really felt a sense of accomplishment for figuring any of them out. Overall: I think it's worth playing if you liked the first game (this is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In a world fantastical, where quirks run wild, The Next BIG Thing, a tale beguiled. Monsters and reporters in a bizarre affair, A point-and-click journey, beyond compare. Liz Allaire, a reporter with sass, Dan Murray, a cynical lad with class. In an alternate 1940s, a world so absurd, With humor and puzzles, a laughter stirred. Creature celebrities, a Hollywood dream, In this animated realm, nothing's as it seems. Whimsical dialogues, absurdity in flight, The Next BIG Thing, a pure delight.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another great Pendulo title. The top quality game. Story - 10/10 Puzzles - 7/10 (would be 10 if not for the super-annoying musical puzzle) Graphics and sound - 10/10 Overall fun - 9/10 Pity they don't make them like this anymore.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Next BIG Thing is an attempt at a comedy adventure game that is, to put it frankly, dead at arrival. I don't know if the developers of the game tried making one of the "so bad it's good" stories and if they did, I might simply not be the target audience since I don't enjoy them. I can only tell what I see, and what I saw with this game is a brutally unfunny mess that fails at every type of comedic timing they attempted. I won't go in to every single detail of the story, because I just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is not a horrible game, it is just not very exciting and the dialogues are cringy. It seems like the writers/developers tried too hard to be funny :/ The production is pretty good. The graphics look nice. But the story is boring and after i got stuck because of a bug, I did not really feel like restarting the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved the concept of the game, but the execution ? Not so much. It bored me quickly. A disapointment.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an enjoyable little game, with a really unique setting that's a lot of fun (would totally be happy to play other games set in this world). It's fairly well-designed; dialogue is subtitled and skippable, which is really important to me, since I read fast. Voice acting and character design are pretty solid across the board. Other reviews have said the puzzles didn't make much sense but I found them, on the whole, fine. Also, I've played a couple of Pendulo Studios games and this is the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the 4th Pendulo game I have finished. The story is fun and fresh, the graphics is cartoon-like (which I love) and the adventure has some hilarious moments. There are some quite original parts, like when you get stuck in the thoughts of one of the characters and you need to find a way to get out by collecting memories, interacting with family members, growing notebooks (yes, no mistake here) and some absurd stuff. It took me about 5 hours to complete the game, although I was in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For me, the strongest points of The Next BIG Thing separating itself from other point and click games are the bright, colorful graphics, the humorous dialogue between characters, how they interact with objects and the very helpful hint system. Highly recommended for casual/point and click gamers.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Twenty Twelve One Four Ah, this game. I played it around 2012, I remember loving it, and now, a decade later, found that it is on Steam - and just couldn't resist getting it. And it is still absolutely delightful. The best thing this game has going for it is its' characters, Dan Murray and Liz Allaire, especially Liz Allaire. She's insane in the most charming way. But Dan is amusing too - he's a jerk, but everyone around him still loves him anyway. And these two weirdos - and the overall…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Characters were pretty entertaining, each fit their archetypes & the writing for them fit their personalities to a tea. The story/universe it's set in was great as well, imo the main villains plot was actually pretty smart (despite one factor w/o going into spoiler territory). Figuring out where to go wasn't too hard, a few solutions you need to think outside of the box a little to figure them out. Puzzles weren't too hard, besides 2 (one of them being rhythm based & honestly whoever designed…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the worst Point and Click games I've ever played and I've played hundreds. This game tries to be funny but is not at all funny. Lacks the substance, storytelling and entertaining puzzles of other P&C games. Gave it a good couple of hours but could not bare it any longer. There is virtually no logic to some of the early puzzles and the dialogue is banal. The male character is a verbal punchbag for the lead female character, which is not a healthy message for young impressionable minds.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a 2,5/10 I am hardcore point & click -lover, but even that did not manage to keep me on board with this crap of a game. I know it is quite harshly said, but I want to be blunt. Especially because the reviews are "very positive". Don´t be fooled by that! The game was a big mess and it often felt like the devs had very different games in mind and that is why the story, mood and style of the storytelling is all over the place. Yuck. It felt like a chore to get through. The "puzzles"…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Didn't really enjoy this game at all. It's from Pendulo who did Yesterday (which I liked), but nothing about this game was good. The storyline, the attempts at comedy, the characters, the puzzles. Avoid.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Verdict ✅ Recommended A fun, stylish point-and-click adventure from Pendulo Studios (the Runaway devs). Not life-changing for me, but definitely a good time. 🎬🕵️ Personal context ⏱️ Finished once in 2019, about 6 hours. I enjoyed it, but I’m not fully sure I’ll replay it again. Quick signals 💸 Value: ✅ "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" 💰 🖥️ Requirements: ✅ Minimum 🎨 Graphics: ✅ Masterpiece (cartoony adventure vibe done right) 📖 Story: 👍 Good 🎮 Difficulty: ✅ Simple ⏱️ Length: ✅ 2–5 hours…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The premise of this game is what piqued my interest and I'm glad to say that it lived up to my expectations. This is a hilarious adventure that takes you to movie sets, mansions, museums, tombs, labs and more. The voice acting is spot-on and the writing is sharp. The game looks fantastic too; I really liked the 3D cel-shaded aesthetic and the animations, although not perfect, were miles ahead of other point-n-click games with stiff movements. Gameplay-wise, I admittedly had to rely on a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A charming, amusing and very well produced point & click adventure set in a fantastical golden age of Hollywood setting. The story is funky, the art and animation beautiful, the characters memorable and the voice acting terrific. Puzzles are a bit on the easy side, but if anything, this just helps the story move along at a good pace.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great adventure game, 2D styled artwork and a well written storyline.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game kept crashing and I lost all my progress, multiple times. Maybe it's just my computer but after the fifth time it froze and then crashed it wasn't fun to keep trying anymore. Makes me sad because I loved the art style and characters' dialogues.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fun game to pass the time, it's not complicated compared to other games in the genre but the story is interesting enough to overlook that. side note: buy it on sale or included in some games package.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, huge step up from Pendulo’s Runaway series. Spot on story, comedy, characters, and puzzles. If this was released 10 years earlier it might have been an unforgettable classic. Pretty much everything about this game is a massive improvement over the Runaway series. It still suffers from the wonky input controls, but the writing is by far a huge step up. Story has fairly straight forward plot, reporters must thwart a politicians evil plans. But the clever setting takes you to a variety of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm not the biggest fan of point-and-click adventures, but loved Discworld and Grim Fandango. This game got some good reviews, so I thought I could give it a try. Bought this game at a Steam sale. The good: Conversations and reactions are very funny. The graphics are very satisfying for a point-and-click adventure. The bad: Slow animations, gets boring. Caught myself doubleclicking more and more. Conversations get boring very fast. And puzzles based on luck contrary to logic. Conclusion: I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a pretty good adventure game. not very long but has a nice smooth story. At the right price it's definatly worthed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →no n no no n on oonno nonooooooo noo no no no no no no THE GAME IS CRAO
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty decent game overall, with the exception of the "get the band to play the tango", which is obtuse and certifiably insane thanks to the randomness and strict timing. (Hit drums, count to eight, hit violin, count to seven, hit bass, count to six, hit piano) It was made worse due to a bug where my cursor would consistently disappear after activating the second instrument, so impossible to trigger the 3rd instrument until after I had completely restarted the game. Overall: It's no…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Next Big Thing is one of the dumbest adventure games I've played in recent years. So much of the dialogue is obnoxious or dumb or doesn't make sense. Whoever oversaw the English translation needs to figure out the distinction between "closed" and "locked". The "ayo" thing gets old and annoying immediately. Multiple characters exclaiming "What a guy!" is stupid and grating. Discrepancies between voice-overs and subtitles.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played 10 minutes and put it down. The pacing is terrible and the male lead incredibly annoying. The "jokes" in the intro fell completely flat.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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