The promise of a new and authentic Indiana Jones adventure has been made a few times over the years, and at least with the last couple of movies, that promise hasn’t been fulfilled. Whether Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is going to be able to step in and fill that void is anyone’s guess, but based on everything that we’ve seen so far, it certainly seems like the game is taking great shape, and that fans of the IP may finally have something to be excited about without caveats. We certainly are, which is why we’re going to go over a few of the things that we can’t wait to experience ourselves when Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches a month from now.
PUNCH NAZIS IN THE FACE
If there’s one thing MachineGames’ games never fail to miss the mark with, it’s having a blast killing Nazis, so an Indiana Jones game is sort of the perfect match for the studio, because boy does Indy love getting into it with Nazi scum. What’s particularly interesting about The Great Circle is that MachineGames has designed it to very much not be a shooter, which means first-person melee combat is going to be central to the experience. That, in turn, means we’re going to be socking plenty of Nazis right in their faces, which we can get on board with any day of the week.
MESS AROUND WITH INDY’S WHIP
Indiana Jones never goes anywhere without his iconic whip, and sure enough, it’s looking like it’ll be a crucial part of his toolset in The Great Circle. MachineGames has confirmed that the game features a fully simulated physics, so naturally, we’re excited to get our hands on it and mess around with its physics. The idea of using it in combat to slash at foes or even grab them from a distance is an intriguing one, and one that, if implemented correctly, can meaningfully help elevate the gameplay, while using the whip for traversal and platforming purposes also sounds potentially fun, at the very least.
CHECK OUT INDY’S JOURNAL
What’s been revealed of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle so far has suggested that the game is going to place heavy emphasis on puzzles and exploration, an area where Indy’s journal will also play an important role. True to the movies, the famous archaeologist will frequently be pulling out his journal to jot down things of importance or help navigate a variety of different environmental puzzles as he makes his way through one historical mystery after another. From the looks of it, the game is doing a great job capturing the Indiana Jones, and the journal is looking like an important part of that- so we’re definitely curious to dive deeper into it.
EXPLORE THOROUGHLY
The Great Circle is going to have plenty of linear sections where players will be moving through prescribed, narrative-driven sequences, but MachineGames has also confirmed that the game will also have plenty of larger, much more open-ended areas as well, where players will have the freedom to explore at their own pace. With the game promising a variety of different locations to explore across its globe-trotting journey, and promising to cram each of those locations with plenty of side content, we’re definitely going to be taking our time as we comb through each area.
BE EXPERIMENTAL WITH THE STEALTH
Where the Wolfenstein games were pretty focused in how they allowed players to approach adversarial scenarios, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, MachineGames is placing much great emphasis on player agency and freedom. Stealth was, of course, an important part of the Wolfenstein games as well, but this approach means it’s going to be even more prominent in The Great Circle. What’s caught our interest, however, is the promise of a web of mechanics that allows players to improvise and approach situations in a variety of different ways, something that we’re excited to experiment with and push the limits of as much as we can.
CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL STEALTH MECHANICS
Speaking of different stealth options, while conventional stealth will obviously be a viable way to go in many situations, certain circumstances will call for different methods, which is where The Great Circle’s social stealth mechanics will come into play. No, we’re not expecting the game to give us anything too extensive on this front – certainly not on the level of something like, say, Hitman – but we are curious to find out how it leverages those mechanics nonetheless. Fans of the Indiana Jones movies will know that the Professor is no stranger to sneaking into enemy territories while dressed as one of their own, so yes, we’re absolutely down for some of that in gameplay form.
EXPERIMENT WITH THE IMMERSIVE SIM SYSTEMS
We were certainly taken by surprise when we found out that MachineGames had injected a healthy dosage of immersive sim elements into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, especially since most were probably just expecting an Uncharted-style linear swashbuckling adventure. Now that we know that that’s going to be an important part of the gameplay experience, however, it only makes us more excited for the game. Exploring those aforementioned semi-open world areas, The Great Circle will afford players the freedom to tackle situations in a variety of different ways, and you can be sure we’ll be pushing against the boundaries of those systems every chance we get to see just how much the game lets us get away with.
EXPERIENCE THE SET PIECES
Of course, this being an Indiana Jones game, the linear, cinematic, scripted action we alluded to earlier is obviously going to be a crucial part of the experience, so yes, while we are excited to play around with the game’s immersive sim elements, we’re just as excited to get a tase of its scripted, cinematic offerings. Big, bombastic set piece sequences have been a mainstay of Indiana Jones films for as long as they have been a thing, and now we’re excited to be able to experience that in a game. Of course, the Uncharted series has obviously delivered that in spades over the years, but now, we get to play as Henry Jones Jr. in that style of explosive sequences, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
ENJOY TROY BAKER’S PERFORMANCE
There is no Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford, though funnily enough, The Great Circle is only going to abide by that to some degree. Ford’s likeness is obviously being used, which means Indy will look the way he should, but the actor isn’t playing the role himself, with Troy Baker stepping in with his best Harrison Ford impersonation. That specifically is a part of the game that has piqued our interest. It’s difficult to imagine anyone being able to play the role of Indiana Jones better, but by all accounts, Baker does seem to be doing a great job of emulating Harrison Ford. Whether that remains true for the entirety of the game remains to be seen though.
EXPERIENCE A (HOPEFULLY) AUTHENTIC INDIANA JONES STORY AT LONG LAST
It’s been three and a half decades since we got the last unequivocally good Indiana Jones films. Sure, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny may have some fans out there, but the overwhelming consensus is that we haven’t had a legitimately great Indiana Jones film in a very, very, very long time. The Great Circle is obviously not a movie, but everything that we have seen of it so far seems to be suggesting that it’s shaping up to deliver that authentic Indy experience so many have been desperate for for so long. That’s admittedly a tough ask, but we’re optimistic based on everything we’ve seen so far.