The first details and gameplay of the new game about “Indiana Jones” became part of the nightly presentation of the Xbox Developer_Direct – the first presentation of the games of 2024.
Three years ago, Bethesda announced that the Swedish studio Machine Games, famous for the series of shooters Wolfenstein, is developing a new game about the famous archeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones with an “original story” produced by Todd Howard himself (executive producer). And now, finally, we have a full announcement — and it is really called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (the day before, Lucasfilm lit up the name with domain registration).
Plot and gameplay details
The first-person action adventure takes place in 1937, chronologically between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Last Crusade (1989). And Indy will again face the Nazis (where else without Nazis). Actually, the main enemy is the Nazi Emmerich Voss (screenshots below), “maniacally obsessed with the human mind and manipulating it” (Wolfenstein vibes). In this case, Indiana will be accompanied by journalist Gina Lombardi, who will pursue her own interests. Actually, everyone has the same goal – to be the first to solve the secret of the mystical Great Circle, which connects spiritually important places around the world and is one of the greatest mysteries of humanity.
Players are promised a journey “full of discoveries, unforgettable adventures and intricate puzzles” – it will begin with an attack by an unknown person at Marshall University and the theft of an important artifact. To get it back, you will have to go a long way, which includes the medieval streets of the country-museum of the Vatican, the mysterious pyramids of Egypt, the snow-covered Himalayas, the temples of Sukhothai – individual locations can be seen in the gameplay video.
The game combines linear and free movement mechanics – players will be able to freely explore individual locations in search of secrets. And the developers promise a lot of confusing puzzles and spectacular skirmishes in each of these locations. Certain scenes will use a third-person perspective, for example when digging out gutters or walls.
Important detail: Indiana Jones in the game is voiced by American actor Troy Baker, known for his roles as Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite and Joel in The Last of Us trilogy. And the whip will become one of the key mechanics — the iconic attribute will be used both for overcoming obstacles and for banal scavenging of scoundrels.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released in 2024 (the exact date is still unknown) on PC and Xbox Series X|S and will immediately appear on Game Pass. And finally, a bit of “betrayal”: judging by the description of the game on Steam, Ukrainian text localization, unlike Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, is not planned here, while the Russian one is mentioned. You know what to do — increase the share of Ukrainians in Steam and politely annoy the developers.
