It's a dark and stormy night in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and my demo session begins as I make my way through the halls of Marshall College. Someone has broken in, leaving a trail of muddy footprints and destruction in their wake. I'm following in pursuit of the mysterious trespasser, but I can't stop myself from getting distracted by my surroundings. I quickly veer off my intended route when the sight of a door slightly ajar is impossible to resist investigating. I'm rewarded for my detour with the discovery of some correspondence penned by Marcus Brody – a fellow lecturer and friend of Indy's – that really hammers home where I am. As someone who grew up watching the Indiana Jones movies, and daydreamed about becoming an archaeologist right up until university, I can't help but appreciate the level of attention to detail.
I feel like I've been transported directly into the location where Indy famously taught a lesson about a Neolithic burial site to an infatuated audience in Raiders of the Lost Ark. As creative director Axel Torvenius tells me, bringing Marshall College to life was a matter of "pure research", examining the location in the movie "frame by frame" to capture how it's portrayed. "We've been working closely with Lucas Film games throughout as well," Torvenius says. "Getting access to their archives, we could see photos from the sets, concept art, all invaluable material when you're trying to recreate something like that."
