As someone who grew up hearing the full Indiana Jones theme song every time my father received a phone call – as he’d frequently get caught up in the melody of his ringtone instead of actually answering – it’s safe to say the franchise holds a very special place in my heart.
When given the opportunity to scope out a hands-off digital preview event for Indiana Jones And The Great Circle as part of Gamescom 2024, I was intrigued. Would it stack up to the legacy? Would Troy Baker’s dulcet tones feel Indy enough? Would there be snakes? There’s surely got to be snakes, right?
Now, I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m pretty happy with what I saw. So far the answers to the above are: yes, yes, and surprisingly no… But there’s still time.
The developer-led preview featured a reasonably extensive gameplay preview, followed by a Q&A with MachineGames game director Jerk Gustafsson and creative director Axel Torvenius. Set just after the events of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the game comes in swinging, with an array of puzzles, precious relics and perilous encounters that immediately feel evocative of the original films.
During the short snippet, we watched as the always rugged Indiana Jones ventured deep into quicksand-filled caves, donned disguises to evade enemies on missions (namely, a priest garb that would have Fleabag fans feeling very happy), and liaised with a series of companions including Gina Lombardi – an Italian investigative journalist hunting down answers.
Read: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle lands in December 2024
Whipping the mechanics into shape
While faithful to the energy of the source material (at least, save for the current lack of snakes), the translation of that energy into game mechanics was where my interest was piqued.
Indy’s all-important whip, for instance, could have very easily been a whirling success, or wind up cracked. From what little we saw, it seems like MachineGames has achieved the right balance, with the tool allowing you not only to face off against enemies, but also scale and scope out your environment in order to evaluate next steps with greater insight.
According to Torvenius, the whip proved particularly frustrating in earlier iterations of the game, but achieving fidelity was a huge focus for the team.
Other inclusions in the preview helped reiterate Indy’s legacy as an adventurous professor, as opposed to an overinflated Marvel-esque hero. The use of a camera and journal to capture and sift through references gives the game an academic feel in one moment, before inevitably returning to a spot of Nazi-punching – Indy is a multitasker.
“Indiana Jones is also not a superhero, he’s a ‘non-superhero superhero’, in a way like I think Spielberg said once,” said Torvenius. “So we really also try to be very grounded in how we do movement, and how we actually navigate through the world.”
These mechanics will be integral to the experience, especially when it comes to facing down the puzzles and environmental factors along the journey. Deductive reasoning is much easier when you have a reference point, and considering the path to Indiana’s skill growth lies in the acquisition of Adventure Points when you successfully uncover a clue’s purpose, it’s all the more important to keep track of everything you uncover.
How well does Indiana Jones And The Great Circle evoke the essence of the films?
Regardless of how well the footage was cut together, or how impressively the whip cracks, the biggest hurdle for this game is going to be satisfying the legion of Indiana Jones fans who have a fervent desire to see the energy of the franchise carried through.
Striking that balance between an iconic series of films and something entirely new can be a challenge – as seen by the less than stellar reputation of the last couple of films. Translating the franchise into game form adds an extra layer to that challenge, so it feels all the more necessary to stress the kind of respect required to rise to it.
“We have a great passion for the character, for the IP, for the original stories and movies,” said Torvenius. “That’s what we want to catch, that’s what we want to portray … Obviously a huge help here, and a great resource for us, has been that we’ve been working together closely with Lucasfilm to make sure we are on track.”
The connection between MachineGames and Lucasfilm was evident even from the opening moments of the footage we saw, with noticeably familiar atmospheric choices. Troy Baker’s Indiana feels closer to Harrison Ford’s than any impression I’ve seen roaming around the back of TikTok, and the expansive world feels pulpy and era-appropriate in its richness.
There are also nods aplenty to the original films – with a personal favourite being that with a specific skill, when Indiana is downed, his hat falls off. Crawling across to the hat and donning it once more replenishes your health enough to keep going. It was welcome to see that the significance of the outfit goes beyond cosmetics.
Above all, though, the sense of adventure and fun is clearly imbued into the game’s core. Both Torvenius and Gustafsson agreed the game is more of an “adventure-action” game, rather than the other way around.
Read: The biggest news from Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live
While there are still a few minor bugbears that I noticed during the gameplay portion of the preview – the shift between first and third person feels a little disjointed, and some of the cinematics seemed a little less refined than I’d expect – on the whole, I left the preview feeling pleasantly surprised.
If nothing else, I look forward to the opportunity to share the experience of playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle with my Dad, because if there’s anyone who can assure me that the standard has been upheld, it’s an ex-ancient history teacher with a decades-long Indiana Jones obsession.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release for Xbox Series X/S and PC on 9 December 9 2024, and in Autumn 2025 [Southern Hemisphere] for PS5.
