This past week, Digitalchumps was privy to a preview from Bethesda Studios and MachineGames Studio about their game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. While the preview was hands-off, which I’m sure will change very soon, we did get some great insight about the game’s gameplay, timeline, and how it was trying to balance what makes up a good Indiana Jones adventure.
Now, what we didn’t get during this preview is a release date. All the good folks at MachineGames Studio could tell us is that the game is coming out in 2024. I would suspect that it will be around the first of November or somewhere that isn’t near the Call of Duty release date—no reason for Microsoft to cannibalize its studio successes. Of course, this is only a guess. Don’t take it as fact.
We also didn’t come away with an answer about whether the game was going to make it to another console, more specifically the PlayStation 5. What we were told was that it is headed to Xbox and PC, but the announcement felt like it left room for more possibilities. I never fully could grasp why exclusives were ever a thing beyond the 90s. You’re essentially just robbing yourself of more money. Go figure.
Anyway, let’s delve into what we did find out about the game and what you should expect from Indiana’s new first-person adventure. So, grab your whip, put on your fancy hat and leather jacket, and let’s go exploring into this preview.
Scarce details with fill-in-the-blanks
What we know about the story is bits and pieces. We know that the story takes place after Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, which means that Nazis still exist in the world and that World War II isn’t over. It makes sense for Nazis to exist and nothing says fun than taking out some Nazis during the WWII era. They are so punchy.
Anyhoo, getting back to more worthwhile talking points, we also know that the ‘Great Circle’ is a reference to landmarks and ancient artifacts across the globe. When put together, a series of them create a Great Circle around the earth. Beyond that fact, there wasn’t too much time spent on the narrative. I’m glad they did explain the term the Great Circle because quite frankly my thoughts raced immediately to how that was a weird name for an artifact. Oh, look! A great circle. Right next to a so-so triangle. And a bad rectangle? Kidding. It all makes sense now and it sounds much better.
The little we learned about the Great Circle at this event, the more intrigued I am about how that circle can be malicious. If the Nazis want it, it means there is something dastardly it could potentially do. What that dastardly thing might be was held under wraps during the event. You can’t give that away at a hands-off event. It’s like spoiling the whole story.
Now, I like how they have taken the Great Circle and incorporated ancient locations to make up its structure. This works perfectly into the narrative and gave the devs reason to create these familiar locations and landmarks as potential levels for the game. While we only had a taste of what to expect out of these places, the story potential was nonetheless high.
Regardless, I legit want to know more about this circle and why it’s such a McGuffin. It certainly fits in nicely with the rest of Indiana Jones’ movies and stories from the television show. I have to know more!
Anyway, before we move on to gameplay, we also learned that the main villain is a Nazi named Emmerich Voss, who is hellbent on using the Great Circle for some nefarious reason. Why the circle is important to him and how it could support the Nazi regime is anyone’s guess. Along with the story’s villain, we also learn that Indiana won’t be alone in his adventure, as there is another adventurer named Gina who helps Indiana out. She may not be the main character or someone who can be controlled throughout the adventure, but the little we saw of her involvement in the story and gameplay made us think that she is more than just a mindless NPC. Maybe she’ll get her own DLC adventure or game one day. Who knows? But she is certainly a good part of the gameplay and story. Dare I say, essential? I dare.
All the above is where we stand with the story right now. I’m sure there will be more revealed at Gamescom and the near future, but this is certainly a good primer.
Prepare your whip, lock and load, and think things through
The beef in this preview burrito is how the gameplay works. And it’s far more complicated than just shoot, run, complete the level, and move on. It is far more complicated.
While Tomb Raider certainly garnished a large amount of influence from the Indiana Jones saga, the same could be said with Tomb Raider’s gaming blueprint that was used to drive the latest Indiana Jones game. The game is broken up into action, puzzle, and exploration. This is a trio of what has made Lara Croft a household name to gamers since the 90s. This trio fits right into what George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created from the opening of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and everything that came with this saga afterward. This stands true for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle now.
Andddddd…ACTION!
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is driven by the action. Jones will have at his disposal his whip and pistol. The whip will allow him to disarm, disrupt, and attack enemies, while the pistol will certainly put a definitive ending to any ongoing attackers. There is also a melee option but the demonstration didn’t get too deep into that portion of the game.
MachineGames Studio Lead devs Jerk Gustafsson (Game Director) and Axel Torvenius (Creative Director) talked about their approach to the action in the game, as the whip will be versatile in what it can accomplish, while the pistol will be a last resort to get out of a sticky situation. I cannot remember there ever being an Indiana Jones game led by its pistol, as it was always a second thought with go-to gameplay mechanics. It’s mostly been about whip and surviving without getting destroyed.
One interesting note was that stealth is heavily used and recommended in the game. I mean, if we learned anything from Wolfenstein, it’s that you don’t go all CoD on a situation. Sometimes, you just have to sneak around and think things through before going in guns blazing. The duo of devs talked at length about how stealth is important and how alerting enemies of your presence is not always the best course of action. It seemed like it would be a disadvantage in the game because there are a lot of enemies at any given point.
Now, just because the game discourages you from locking and loading, that doesn’t mean you can’t devise a plan of attack with your actions. The game seemed very flexible with creating multiple solutions to get through a level. For example, there was a level where Indiana had to swing and move between posts to avoid enemies but also could ditch the whip at one point and take out enemies without needing to completely avoid them. They showed off a few situations where the player could go off the beaten path to find a more suitable solution to enemies and obstacles and wasn’t just stuck with ‘one way’ of doing things. I was highly impressed that it seemed a lot less linear than expected. For a game like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the devs could have ditched any sort of alternative methods of getting through levels and enemies and depended solely on the whip or pistol, or even went a quick time event route, but they didn’t.
As Gustafsson and Torvenius explained, adventures have a larger range of actions and options. Putting a player on a linear path makes the experience quick, lifeless, and just another interactive movie that we have seen before. It makes sense, and giving the player options makes the world of any Indiana Jones game seem a lot bigger. You have a big-time character, you need a big-time adventure, and the best way to do that is to put the controls/faith in the player’s hands. It seems like this is the route that MachineGames Studio took.
Puzzling Discoveries
Returning to my comment about Tomb Raider, developer Crystal Dynamics has made a living from balancing action and puzzles with Lara Croft’s adventures. They have a great blueprint for fitting puzzles into their gameplay and have yet to make a bad Tomb Raider experience (at least the newer ones) because of it. Their series feels like an adventure should feel and every puzzle stop feels like it’s progressing the story of whatever Tomb Raider game you might be playing.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seems to have hit that particular stride, at least with what we saw in the preview. While we were treated to some bits and pieces, the biggest time we spent during the preview in a puzzle situation was with the Sphinx in Egypt. It was interesting to see and feel how large it all was and how it fit into the narrative.
This particular part of the preview started with Indiana Jones having to go and acquire an artifact key to unlock the main underground door of the Sphinx. The Nazis had acquired the key in their dig and Jones needed to take it back by sneaking into their tent in a disguise to snag it. Now, the disguise portion of the game is quite clever, as Jones has gone all Snake from Metal Gear Solid 3. If you’re not familiar with the disguise element in MGS 3, then – A. What’s wrong with you for not playing that game? and B. It’s extensive and what Snake wears in particular environments dictates how he is seen by enemies. Clever as shit, right?
Well, the disguises in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seem to go the same route, as Jones can choose to wear things to get by enemies, but doesn’t have to do so. Life is harder if he doesn’t. Let me caution this comment with the fact that we only saw this once during the preview and the rest was described to us by the devs. I would like to assume that this is MGS 3 complicated but I cannot guarantee it. Regardless, the concept is neat and it adds a bit of movie flair any Indiana Jones fan is familiar with Indiana Jones doing this during the saga.
Back to the Sphinx, once Jones acquired the key, the preview shifted to a series of puzzles and traps that Jones and Gina had to traverse. Figuring out one puzzle, such as trying to open a cage door, meant that other elements of the puzzle were unlocked. For example, Jones found a way to unlock the first cage door in the Sphinx, which led to the floor underneath him falling. While the door was unlocked, spikes at the bottom of the new floor prevented Jones and Gina from opening and progressing. The puzzle turned from a simple unlock to having to find a way around the fallen flooring. The solution for this particular puzzle was finding a loose ceiling tile, using the whip to get up there, and then eventually opening the door from the other side. The game didn’t provide many hints as to what the solution might be, so you’re going to have to use your noggin.
While I won’t get too far into the specifics of what we saw, I will say that if the puzzles throughout the game are anything like the Sphinx, then you should expect them to fit nicely into the narrative. They’ll also be clever and make you work, which, again, is very Tomb Raider. The scale of the puzzles seems to be extensively detailed with moments where you’ll pat yourself on the back for figuring them out more than beating your head against the wall.
Exploration is encouraged
One of the bigger themes of this preview session was how the world of Dr. Jones is a big one. While the game probably isn’t going to go Elder Scrolls in terms of size, regardless of Todd Howard’s involvement, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle appears to be more than just a small linear world with nothing but a story inside it. There are side quests, artifacts, and goodies lying around, and places to go. The promise during this hands-off session was that this wasn’t just going to be a campaign and done. This was going to be a ‘more to explore’ situation and other puzzles to solve along the way.
This sense and guarantee of exploration was pushed further by the inclusion of adventure points in the game. If you explore, solve side quests, and get as much out of the game as possible, you have the opportunity to upgrade Indiana Jones and his skills through adventure points. Any game that includes a point system and skills tree means that you have more to do than just the story. Prove me wrong in the comment section below (lol).
Some objects will encourage you to look around and take in the environments you explore. Those objects include a journal for writing details and notes to revisit and a camera for capturing objects and ancient paintings/clues. The tools beyond whip and pistol are encouraging for exploration. Hopefully, they pan out and become these great ways to open up the Indiana Jones gaming world.
Anyway, there appears to be a big world to explore, which includes the Sphinx, the Himalayas, and even the Vatican. The devs said this was a much bigger world than anything they had done to date in their gaming portfolio. Only time will tell and our snooty reviewing opinions.
Graphically gorgeous
Maybe we were watching the PC version of the game, maybe the Xbox version – who knows??! It wasn’t revealed to us, but regardless, this game looks positively gorgeous. From cutscenes to environments, and even lame Nazis that should be punched in the face at every moment, the game is stellar looking.
I was particularly impressed with the lighting and environmental details. Since this is a first-person game, there is little need to work on main character details outside of cutscenes, so having cool enemies and very active environments is essential to engaging and pulling in the player. I think that MachineGames Studio nailed this and I hope that the Xbox (and whatever other console it could potentially be on) replicates exactly what was shown at the preview.
This might be the most gorgeous game that has landed on the Xbox system not called Hellblade.
One quick side note, Troy Baker and crew were fantastic with their delivery. Actors help to sell video game stories and bring the player into the world better. Baker and crew did a fantastic job of making this feel like an Indiana Jones adventure. I can’t wait to see more of them.
On that good note, let’s wrap this preview up.
It’s okay to be excited
While Indiana Jones and the Great Circle have been met with some skepticism and worry due to unknown factors, mainly that MachineGames Studio and Bethesda have been radio silent about any details, from what was shown at the preview it’s okay to be excited. This game is shaping up to be something special and certainly looks to be on the right path to do the saga justice.
Of course, the only way to know for sure is to get our hands on it and see. There are a lot of unknowns that need to be answered. The big ones were certainly addressed, but I want to know how it feels to use the whip and pistol. I need to know more about the mechanics and how the overall gameplay flows. And also, that story is important. Seeing that play out will be vital to this game’s success. Until getting our hands on it is a reality, I can only say what it looks like from afar.
It looks and sounds spectacular.
Until we meet again, keep your hopes up and watch for more details about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It’s okay to get excited.
