Let’s be honest here. Indy has had it rough lately. You’d know what I mean if you’ve seen Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But there may be good times on the horizon yet, with Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames’ upcoming game based on the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Thus far, we have only seen snippets of the game, but recently, we were given a hands-off preview ahead of its showcase at gamescom 2024 in Germany, showing us our most in-depth look at it yet. Based on the roughly 20-minute gameplay-centric video we were shown and the subsequent Q&A with the developer, I came away optimistically impressed, though with many questions as well.
Making a New Indy
MachineGames aren’t strangers at all when it comes to iconic franchises. After all, they have been the stewards of the modern Wolfenstein games — starting with 2014’s Wolfenstein: The New Order — while also having developed content for Quake and Quake II. Still, getting the reins of an Indiana Jones video game adaptation is a whole different story. But the team are excited by the challenge, calling it the biggest game they have made in terms of scope and content.
Jerk Gustafsson, Game Director on the Great Circle, spoke about the lengths the team went to be as faithful to the Indiana Jones series as possible. The studio specially worked with LucasFilm while developing the game, getting access to their archives to ensure that they were setting the right tone — especially important considering the game takes place between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and is considered a direct sequel to Raiders.
One of the challenges they faced was with Indy himself. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle introduces new characters, with scans made from the actors portraying them; this wasn’t the case for Indiana Jones. As Harrison Ford was well past the age of Indy in the game, scanning him was out of the question. Instead, MachineGames examined past footage and meticulously hand-crafted the character into life. Troy Baker may embody him now, but seeing Indy here looks like we’ve returned back in time.
And the idea of being Indiana Jones is core to the entire game. We’ve had games inspired by the franchise in the Tomb Raider and Uncharted series, but players never had the chance to truly be in the boots of Indy, not even the previous Indiana Jones games. It’s why MachineGames chose a first-person perspective for the Great Circle; the developers want people to “experience the world through his eyes” as Indy explores ancient dungeons or tries to solve tricky puzzles.
The studio is also eager to move away from the intense action setpieces involving B.J. Blazkowicz and focus more on the adventure aspect of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle—even calling the title “a MachineGames adventure”.
Exploration
We’ve known for some time that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will take place in several locations, such as Egypt, Vatican City, and Thailand, but now we’ve been given more details on the scope of these locales.
What was shown looked incredibly dense. Not only were the environments intricately designed aesthetically, but it seemed like there was at least one thing of purpose within. There was a big emphasis on picking up notes to help with puzzles or items like hammers which can break locks. For curious explorers, there are things like maps or keys to find which will unlock certain areas. A lot of the environments were also shown to be reactive. Indy can pick up a torch to unveil a hidden path or lodge a spear into a wall from which he can use his whip to swing.
At this point, I’ve only been talking about the linear aspect of the game, but while there is a golden path, there will also be open areas that allow players to stray off the main path.
You’ll be able to find new missions, mysteries, and secrets to undertake as you explore the surrounding area. A snippet from the preview showed Indiana slowly making his way through a lively Arabian marketplace before encountering a particular vendor — likely a precursor to a mission. And the best part is that MachineGames also confirms that players can return to a previously visited location if they have unfinished business.
However, exploring an area sometimes isn’t as straightforward. Inevitably, Indy will come across restricted areas that he can’t access, and that is where disguises come into play. There are several disguises that Indiana Jones can don, such as a clerical outfit for the inner sections of the Vatican.
Though these outfits may let you enter guarded areas, players will still need to be cautious of people who could identify them as trespassers. Our guided preview saw Indiana Jones wearing a worker’s uniform to infiltrate an enemy camp to obtain an item. As he entered a tent, a commander asked him to pass along a bottle of alcohol, and he got progressively angrier when ignored. The order was obeyed soon enough, but I suspect there will be more scripted sequences like this to test players for other disguising sections.
Disguises are mainly driven by the story, but Creative Director Axel Torvenius says that you can change outfits at any given time. However, it remains to be seen how the game reacts if you put on a disguise at an inappropriate moment.
Puzzles
It wouldn’t be Indiana Jones without puzzles, and they are a big part of the game. Jerk says that the puzzles in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are made to feel rewarding to players when they solve them, and the game contains a mixture of small challenges and complex brainteasers. But if you don’t like puzzles, he also mentions that the difficulty setting will affect the complexity of puzzles.
For the few that were shown, puzzles appear quite similar to how they are in Uncharted 4, though MachineGames takes it a notch higher. Like Nathan Drake, Indy also has a journal, and as you gather clues and notes from your journey, they are stored there for your reference when needed. But the game has an additional element — the camera.
The camera lets players snap photos of points of interest. Doing so will have Indy reveal historical insight or more importantly, unveil clues that may help solve a particularly challenging puzzle.
Using it also gifts players something called Adventure Points, which you can use to upgrade Indy. These points are used in conjunction with items called Adventure Books. You can seemingly find them out while exploring, and in our preview, Indiana Jones picked up one called True Grit 1 which gives players a second wind if they picked up Indy’s hat after being felled by an enemy.
While it was mentioned that there are dozens of upgrades available that let players customise their Indy, unfortunately, the developers weren’t able to go into much detail about the Adventure Books. A few things remain unclear on how upgrading your character would work. If you miss the first edition of a book, are you locked out from the second? Are these abilities only for combat? — many questions remain.
Combat and Stealth
Since we are on the subject, let’s talk combat. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is very different to the gun-heavy gameplay of the Wolfenstein series, instead choosing to balance fistfights, gunplay, and stealth.
Hand-to-hand combat feels very much like a more action-based version of Kingdom Come: Deliverance — more in-your-face and less shuffling around to keep your distance. Indy can block, dodge, grab, or parry when engaged in a brawl and it is all about mixing these moves well so that you can land a finisher. It’s all governed by a stamina bar that you need to keep in mind, though I’ve not seen enough to judge if stamina management is more lax or up to Souls-like levels.
Combat is meant to be dynamic too. You can creatively go about your way with combat by combining the whip, revolver, or anything within reach. One part of our preview showed Indy using the whip to take an enemy by surprise before grabbing a rolling pin to finish him off. The location plays a role as well. If you are fighting near a hole or ledge, you can push them and watch them cartoonishly fall in.
If anything, gunplay wasn’t as emphasised as much for the combat. Yes, Indy has a revolver that he constantly has with him and can pick up dropped weapons from enemies, but not much was said about how scarce ammo is for the gun or if there are any other weapons that Indiana Jones can hold. We’ll see for ourselves once the game releases.
And finally, there’s stealth. Players are encouraged to use the environment to the fullest when sneaking around enemies. There are multiple objects strewn around that you use to distract, stun, or subdue foes. In typical movie fashion, the game seems more liberal with stealth. We saw Indy knock out an enemy so hard with a hammer that it broke, but his colleague was none the wiser despite the noise.
Interestingly, MachineGames did allude that enemies’ bodies can be hidden, so there is a hint of extra depth to the stealth system for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, though we’ll have to see how the mechanics play out when the game launches.
When will Indiana Jones and the Great Circle release
Seeing the preview has made me more excited to experience Indiana Jones and the Great Circle when it comes out. So when does it come out? Well, you’ll be able to play it on 9 December 2024 and more excitingly, PlayStation owners will also get to join in the fun in Spring next year.
In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the game with great anticipation through updates on X (formally Twitter) and YouTube.
Visuals courtesy of Bethesda Softworks.
