I play video games now because I fell in love with Tomb Raider when I was a kid. And the only reason my mom bought me Tomb Raider for Christmas was because I loved Indiana Jones more than nearly any other franchise. With a long film and video game history that goes all the way back to 1980, Indy is coming back to the medium with MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
I got the chance to watch the hands-off preview at Gamescom, which was made available to the press, and attend a Q&A that followed afterward. During the preview, the press saw extended gameplay, a look into bringing real historical structures to life, learned about how skills are upgraded, got a glimpse of traversal mechanics, a brief on the story, and even got to see the hand-to-hand brawl-style combat.
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Set in 1937 after the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has narrative implications necessary to stand out while abiding by the existing canon, or at least that is the assumption of what we’ve seen so far. The story follows Indiana Jones as he attempts to thwart Emmerich Voss and the Riech. The two seek to harness a power connected to the Great Circle, which refers to mysterious sites around the world that form a perfect circle when connected together on a map.
To start, MachineGames detailed the work that went into bringing architecture like Wa Si Sawai to life. The research wasn’t just set to look at what the temple looks like now but to look into the historical travel logs and photographs that established what it looked like in the 1930s. But it’s not just the large historical architecture. The developers also took the time to note that even the smallest market has been replicated to have the sights and sounds of the 1930s as you walk through it.
That said, the adventure is fictitious, and to match that, Indy does explore a number of temples with no basis in history other than fitting the style of the game. The presentation highlighted the Sunsparker Chamber and your attempt to escape it as it collapsed. Like any good Indiana Jones adventure, finding tombs and exploring them is a part of the gameplay loop. And with the game taking players to Rome, Thailand, Egypt, Shanghai, and the Himalayas, their diversity of landscape and architecture is set to be exciting.
In the temples and the wilderness around them, the player will have to solve puzzles. Some are key to making your way through the environment. Others are important to unlock the secrets in front of you, and, of course, they can also trigger traps. To help you, Indy is equipped with a journal that gives the player clues for traversal and puzzle decryption. Indy also has a camera, which was given to him by the game’s second lead, Gina, an Italian journalist on her own quest. The camera helps you solve puzzles and also helps you explore the world, find hints, and gain new information. Intelligence is just as important to Indy as a character, as is his charisma and ability to get out of even the stickiest situation.
It’s here, during the escape, that the minimal UI in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a noticeable impact. With a minimal HUD, the game’s first-person view aims to be immersive. During traversal, primarily when using the iconic whip, the return on this is slightly iffy for those suffering from motion sickness and visually triggered vertigo. I will have to see more of the traversal mechanics in action for a longer period of time, and the first-person perspective did start to unsettle me, primarily in regard to combat.
While combat with the revolver and whip is done at a distance, the slight blur implemented on the models you fight in hand-to-hand combat makes the moments feel as disorienting as VR, even in the smaller clips we saw. That said, the inspiration behind the boxing is inspired and further shows how MachineGames has aimed to bring elements of who Indy is as a character in other media into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. As you box, you have to dodge, parry, and block hits, making it more than a simple combo.
In addition to tombs, boxing, and the signature whip, Indiana and the Great Circle also balances other key franchise elements into the game. One way is through disguises that allow Indy access to areas, so long as he doesn’t get spotted by specific enemies. Additionally, the developers showed off the skill system, with one specific skill that made me the most excited I’ve been for the game.
In Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, skill sets are reflected by Adventure Points, which you accumulate as you play. To gather Adventure Points, you need to take photos with your camera and find Adventure Books, which add to your pool as you explore the world. The primary skill on display, True Grit, was the moment of hype I had been waiting for since we started learning more about the game.
With True Grit—unlocked by finding an Adventure Book—Indy has the ability to bounce back after receiving a fatal blow. Instead of dying, Indiana Jones has the chance to reach for his hat, and if he picks it up and puts it on, he can rally and catch that second wind. With this cinematic element brought into the mechanics of the game, I’m excited to see more of what can be found both in the main campaign and in moving away from the Golden Path and the open areas that you can explore.
Outside of what I’ve already discussed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is poised to be a standout in MachineGames titles because it also pushes the player to balance how they use their weapons. While you can pick up different tools and weapons in the game to use them against enemies, running into situations with your gun blazing isn’t going to help you as it does in the developer’s other titles like Wolfenstein.
In addition to fostering a different playstyle, the developers mentioned in their Q&A that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the largest game that the studio has ever made. While they didn’t go into detail on the hour count, they established that whether you wander the open world or stay on the main path, the gameplay time is the longest they’ve ever crafted.
While I’m still unsure about the choice to give us a first-person experience, after seeing Indiana Jones in action, the world that MachineGames has developed captures some of my favorite elements of the franchise. The environments look stunning and layered, the puzzles already look the right kind of difficult, and the small touches like Indy’s hat and his whip show that the developers have taken inspiration from the beloved films. With tombs to be explored, snakes to run from, and Nazis to punch, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is shaping up to be fit into the canon but still maintain its sense of adventure.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is releasing in December 9, 2024 on Xbox Series X|S and Pc, and will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
