Creating an Indiana Jones video game is a daunting task. It’s not just that you have to honor an iconic film franchise that fans are very protective of; you also need to make it stand out from Uncharted, a beloved series that is already ostensibly a thinly veiled Indiana Jones adaptation. It’s a challenge, but one that MachineGames seems to have cracked with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Ahead of its latest trailer reveal at Gamescom Opening Night Live, I got a deeper look into the upcoming action-adventure game. While previous looks have focused on story, the latest presentation gives a much deeper look into its combat, exploration, and more. While there are some parallels to Uncharted, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels more indebted to Wolfenstein, Hitman, and even The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. That makes it feel much more like an Indiana Jones game than a boilerplate tomb-raiding adventure.
Tools of the trade
Set after Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Great Circle begins at Marshall College, where someone steals a priceless relic. Jones teams up with photojournalist Gina to recover it, only to discover that there’s a wider conspiracy at play that goes through Nazi territory. With the help of some companions, they set out on a globe-trotting adventure that involves the villainous Emmerich Voss and the titular Great Circle, a ring that connects the world’s biggest landmarks (an idea that came from producer Todd Howard).
There’s some familiar gameplay here. I saw Jones shimmy up walls and do some platforming through tombs, not unlike Nathan Drake (a hero clearly modeled after Jones). A thrilling opening sequence sees him escaping a tomb that slowly fills up with sand, running and sliding as rocks collapse around him. However, the gameplay presentation stresses that The Great Circle is much more unique in a way that feels fitting for Indiana Jones.
That starts with his toolkit. First, there’s his whip, which can be used for platforming, combat, and puzzle-solving. In one clip, he picks up a trident and tosses it into a wall, creating a grapple point that allows him to cross a gap. In another section, he sneaks his way into a collapsed tomb by lowering himself near a hole in a wall and climbing in. MachineGames gets a lot of use out of that tool that goes beyond just yanking guns out of Nazi hands.
In addition to the whip, Jones carries a camera that has a few uses. Players can use it to take photos of landmarks or clues, which are stored in a constantly evolving journal. Photos also grant players Adventure Points, a currency that can be spent to unlock skills earned by collecting Adventure Books. Touches like that make the adventure feel like it’s more tailored around the franchise, rather than Indiana Jones getting squeezed into a template.
In fact, The Great Circle looks less like Uncharted and more like Hitman at times. There are immersive sim touches to it that stand out. For instance, Jones can don disguises to break into locked areas. Some levels allow for some open-ended approaches, too. In a clip exclusive to the press presentation, I saw Jones infiltrate a tomb. Three guards stand outside of it. He decides to deal with them by swinging off a grapple point, taking down one guard with his whip, knocking the one next to him out with punches, and finishing the third off with his revolver. MachineGames notes that there are a lot of ways to deal with situations like that, from stealth to going in guns blazing.
From Wolfenstein to Riddick
Improvisation is the key and it seems like there are a few fun ways to achieve it. One clip shows Jones picking up a rolling pin off a chair and smacking a guard over the head with it (another shows him doing the same with a shovel). One stealth sequence shows him tossing objects around a room to distract enemies in gameplay that calls back to MachineGames’ Wolfenstein titles. The developer also cites its work on The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay as a guiding inspiration here, and that certainly shows in its creative approach to first-person action and exploration, as well as its occasional third-person switches.
Take its combat, for instance. While MachineGames is known for its high-octane shooting, that’s not Jones’ primary means of battling. Instead, his main tool is his fists. He can punch, parry, block, hit combos, and even perform finishers in first-person. In one fight, I watch him knock a helmet off a Nazi’s head before pummeling him with some stiff hits. That close-quarters action sets The Great Circle apart from other games in the genre, making battles feel more up close and personal.
There’s a greater emphasis on puzzle-solving too, which is perhaps its biggest parallel to Uncharted here. The Great Circle is filled with environmental puzzles that’ll require some clever thinking and a good memory (that’s where the camera comes in handy). In one section, Jones finds a statue of a historical figure associated with Jesus. He pours a bottle of wine into a receptacle in front of it, revealing a number. Later, Jones finds a statue of Jesus surrounded by levers with numbered positions and uses that clue to solve it. Puzzles require some logic and reasoning to solve, though their difficulty can be toggled down independent of combat.
All of this is a major evolution for MachineGames. While the studio has always specialized in first-person games, this is its biggest swing yet. The studio says that The Great Circle is its largest and longest project to date. It’s full of sidequests, collectibles, and secrets spread across some open-ended areas. This isn’t a studio simply sticking to its formula and tossing an IP skin over it. I get the sense that MachineGames had to think bigger and more outside the box to properly capture the grand vibe of the films. The end result is promising, showing that Indiana Jones isn’t just going to be Xbox’s own Nathan Drake. He’s getting the star treatment he deserves.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches on December 9 Xbox Series X/S and PC. It’s coming to PS5 in spring 2025.
