One of the big remaining question marks in games for this year is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. While still insisted by Xbox and developer MachineGames as releasing in 2024 with no solid date, we’ve yet to get some real solid looks at the whimsical adventure game starring our favourite archaeologist. How will it play and feel? What does it look like outside of the story trailers we’ve seen thus far? Thanks to recent showings at Gamescom and a behind-closed-doors hands-off presentation, we finally have an idea of what players can look forward to later this year.
Featuring a slice of gameplay that showcases Indy delving into an Egyptian tomb and other shenanigans, backed by a Q+A with Game Director Jerk Gustafsson and Axel Torvenius, it looks like MachineGames are about to drop another hit.
The game isn’t even out yet and the globe-trotting nature of the title is already very apparent. In June, we got a look at Indiana and his companion Gina exploring the Himalayas. Now situated in Cairo, Indiana Jones infiltrates this Egyptian tomb in search of answers within. We’re shown how the camera works in-game, used not only to capture points of interest but record information for your journal. Photographing oddities in the world may even net you Adventure Points, a skill point currency used to upgrade Indy and better your journey.
These tomb interiors are gorgeous; sunlight seeps through cracks in ceilings. Scriptures on temple walls are faded from centuries of decay. Torches that line walls will hit Indy just right and suddenly I’m flustered over young Harrison Ford again. That’s the thing though; Gustafsson and Torvenius tell us that this recreation of Indiana Jones isn’t done via any modern face-scanning technology. That’s not quite Ford himself, that’s their faithful and gorgeous recreation. You could’ve fooled me. Troy Baker’s performance and ever-recognisable voice aren’t as prevalent in this gameplay look. He’s consumed the Indiana Jones Role and just is him, sounding like Harrison Ford all those years ago.
It’s important too that he looks the part. There’s also a lot of room and eras to explore that would work for the lore of the series. Curious about this, I queried just why 1937 was when the studio chose to situate the game. Set just a year after Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first and most iconic of the franchise, this is very much an attempt at a continuation of that prime period for the archaeologist. “The Indiana Jones that we get to see in the game is the same Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark,” details Jerk Gustafsson. To infer a little bit from the pair and answer simply: Indy is badass. Early Indy is at his most badass. It’s early days and we’ve only seen limited looks, but I hope that rings true. What I’m yet to see is more trademark quips from Jones and whether Baker portrays that Harrison Ford charm well enough to withstand a 10-20 (or however long The Great Circle may be) hour-long experience.
When it was first announced that MachineGames was tackling Indiana Jones, my first thought was “Of course.” The nazi-killing fun of Wolfenstein can easily be translated to the tamer nazi-punching affair of the beloved Lucasfilm franchise. That DNA rings true in the combat and stealth sections we were presented with. There are cool takedown animations that are reminiscent, if a little tamer and less bloody, of the studio’s earlier work. Stealth sequences can see you bopping the back of Nazi’s heads with hammers or throwing something to distract one soldier while you take out another. Hand-to-hand combat is also emphasised with timing and parrying a big focus. My favourite little touch? If you get knocked down you can get a quasi-second chance at life where you look for and grab your fedora and you’re back on your feet. Down but not out. Incredibly silly but fun and reminiscent of the iconic moments where Indy would as a last-ditch effort grab his hat before a temple door shuts behind him.
Ripping a page right out of their previous works, there are even sequences where you can equip disguises to get through a story segment. We see Indiana Jones dress up as a priest to enter a densely populated area where he’d otherwise arouse suspicion. Selfishly, seeing a representation of Harrison Ford in a priest get-up got me flustered and did wonders to my Catholic guilt. We were also told that outside of these scripted sections where you’re called to don a disguise, you may very well do well to use them in other periods of the game when it’s more open. Though it won’t be developer IO Interactive levels of depth, I’m sure, the Hitman fan in me has their appetite whet for what other stealthy, disguise-wearing gameplay sections I can get stuck into.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is incredibly promising thus far and this look has only made me more keen to see what’s ahead. It looks to be incredibly ambitious, with both Jerk Gustafsson and Axel Torvenius saying it’s their biggest and longest game yet. This rings true if we’re to believe and understand the teases of the depth of the side missions and offerings you’ll find in between the main story path.
The biggest question mark for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is still the fact that it doesn’t have a release date outside of 2024. When asked about this at the showcase, they were very tight-lipped, asking us to tune in to Gamescom this week. By the time you’re reading this, we might already have said date.
For now, stay tuned. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on December 9, 2024 for the Xbox Series family of consoles and PC.
About the Author
Charlie Kelly
She/Her, They/Them
Charlie loves her video games as much as she loves dumb, charming JRPG protagonists: probably way too much. You can often catch her spending too much time being emotional over LGBT stories in games. She also thinks Yakuza 6 is the best one.
