The irony of making an Indiana Jones game in the year 2024 is that, inevitably, you're going to be compared to Tomb Raider and Uncharted, two series that were themselves heavily influenced by the Indiana Jones movies. And for sure there are elements of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Gamescom presentation—recently shown to press ahead of its appearance to the public on the conference's show floor—that will be familiar to action adventure fans. For instance, yes, there is a puzzle that involves rotating mirrors in order to redirect beams of light.
But there's another—and for me, more interesting—point of reference for The Great Circle. It's found in MachineGames' past, back when its founders were still part of Starbreeze Studios. "We've been going back a little bit into the history of our own," says game director Jerk Gustafsson in a group Q&A. "You play the game in first-person—it's the primary perspective that you play in—but we do combine this with third-person, so very similar to what we did back in the days with the Riddick games and The Darkness game. And also similar to those games, which were the first games we did that really put a lot of focus on character building and the story combined with exploration in gameplay, that is something we pushed really hard here."
That history certainly shines through in the combat, which is primarily melee based. In a one-on-one brawl it's a series of dodges, parries and counter-punches that all come together through animations that look satisfyingly weighty. But as you'll most likely be dealing with a few guards at once, you've got some extra tools at your disposal too. Indy's whip is used both for traversal and combat—in one scene, set outside the Great Sphinx of Giza, he swings into the fray before flinging the whip at a guard to make him stumble before turning to deal with another. After a quick brawl, Indy pulls out his revolver to quickly dispatch the third and final guard.
As with Wolfenstein before it, though, stealth is also an option. In another section, Indy grabs a bottle lying on the ground, throwing it at a distant wall to distract a guard. Picking up a hammer, he then sneaks up to another for an instant takedown. "We want the player to really feel like they can take on different obstacles or challenges in many different ways," says Gustafsson.
"Stealth is definitely part of that—yes, you can also hide bodies—but also … very intensive hand-to-hand fist fights, which we have been putting a lot of effort into. And that combined also with the whip, which adds another element to the game. So overall all of these tools and different styles of gameplay will provide a mix to play around with."
Structurally, I'm also interested in how open The Great Circle's levels will be. I went in expecting a mostly linear affair, but MachineGames is teasing exploration and side missions as a major element of the game. "We do have these more story-driven, linear levels that we mix up with more open areas that really push exploration and that sense of discovery," says Gustafsson. "There's a lot of extra content—or side content—in this game too. We have focused quite a lot to make sure everything you do in the game contributes to this overarching storyline, but these types of areas we have that let you explore and find things on your own is very much optional as well."
It's an intriguing prospect. Typically these matinee inspired action adventures drag you along from cinematic mishap to action set piece, stopping occasionally for a big puzzle or a fight. And to be clear, this also seems to be the case with The Great Circle—it's a formula that works, after all. But the prospect of being set loose in historical locations, given a bit more freedom to step away from the rollercoaster and choose a less deterministic approach is exciting.
The question for me then is how that balance shakes out—how well MachineGames manages to balance its own history with the conventions of a modern action adventure. It's trying to fit a lot in: puzzles, combat, exploration, story, side missions, and even a disguise system to slip past enemies undetected. If it all comes together, though, we could be looking at another classic from a team that—20 years ago—brought us one of the most beloved film tie-in games of all time.
