Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Preview: Less Action, More Adventure

Machine Games’ first-person action-adventure title, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has two notable tasks ahead of it. First, to fill the painfully growing void of AAA budget swashbuckling games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider. Second, to revitalize this multi-billion Dollar relic of the past that captures the essence of Indy’s original trilogy instead of a soul-sucked thrill-flick like 2023’s Dial of the Destiny. 

So far, Machine Games seems to be on the right track with this game, with a focus on adventure rather than action. Tone-wise, it feels gritty, like Raiders of the Lost Arc, and the first-person perspective looks to create a very grounded experience where you are compelled to think and act like Indy. 

There are a few things worth being concerned about, but overall, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is shaping up to be a captivating and refreshing new entry in this globe-trotting franchise. 

The First-Person Perspective is Justified

GINX was invited to an Indiana Jones and the Great Circle digital hands-off preview event, and I, an Uncharted fanatic, was lucky enough to attend and get a sneak peek at over 25 minutes of gameplay that showcased combat, exploration, puzzle-solving, and traversal aspects of the game. 

The game takes place in 1937, a year after the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The events that conspire here begin after a mysterious figure (played by the legendary Tony Todd) steals a precious artifact from the Marshal College that leads Dr. Jones on another treasure hunt that quickly turns into a more sinister expedition involving - you guessed it - Nazis. 

The gameplay demo that I got to see was the same as the one revealed during Gamescom Opening Live, with just a few extra minutes of footage showcasing Indy and his compatriot Gina traversing through a crypt in Giza to find a precious artifact.

Being resourceful is the key, and both exploration and combat revolve around that idea.

With that out of the way, let’s address the elephant in the room. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a first-person game, but is that a bad thing? Not from what I have seen. For once, it easily sets itself apart from other games in the genre, which game director Jerk Gustafsson also pointed out during the Q&A section of the preview. 

Most importantly, it’s an adventure game first and an action game later, and all the adventure bits seem more immersive from that perspective.

I wasn’t surprised to know that the focus of this game is adventure rather than action, mainly because Indy isn’t an over-the-top action hero like Nathan Drake or a survivor-turned-hunter like Lara Croft. He’s a resourceful archaeologist who looks to get away with his charms and, in worst cases, an old revolver, a whip, and anything he can find in the environment. 

Being resourceful is the key, and both exploration and combat revolve around that idea. Most of the time, you will be hunting for environmental clues, picking up random objects to defend yourself, or sneaking into Nazi-infested areas to find keys or objects of interest, all of which feel more intense from a first-person perspective. 

Indy has two tools at his disposal - his iconic whip and a vintage camera. You can use the camera to take pictures of notable points of interest that provide intel and clues on solving certain puzzles. Moreover, you get something called Adventure Points (XP), which you can use to unlock skills from an elaborate skill tree. 

Machine Games didn't show us the skill tree, but it did give us a glimpse at one of the unique abilities called True Grit, which gives Indy an extra chance to come back from a fatal blow. These are different abilities from the ones you unlock via the skill tree and can only be obtained by collecting these Adventure Books (think of Training Manuals from The Last of Us 2)  scattered across the game. 

Ledge climbing is actually quite challenging in this game.

Given the game’s nature, I assume most of these rare abilities would be defense-focused, providing you more ways to avoid dying at the hands of a ruthless Nazi, instead of something offense-focused like a new finishing move, but do not take my word for that.

Traversal is no slouch either, and Gustafsson pointed out that ledge climbing is actually quite challenging in this game, though they have tried to find a balance between realism and fun. Indy has a stamina bar, which only appears on the screen when you are swinging from the whip or climbing a ledge. I believe the stamina bar can be upgraded via the skill tree, as the one I saw in the demo was massive. 

Interestingly enough, I didn't see any of those infamous yellow paint markings anywhere in the demo. Because of that, I was pleasantly surprised during the Giza crypt section in the demo, where it took Indy a few seconds to find the right spot to throw the whip and reach the other side. 

Having the option to enable or disable yellow markings, just like in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, is a wise choice for a game of this caliber, and I am genuinely excited by its approach to more realistic traversal system and also relieved that Indy would not be able to make unrealistic jumps like Drake. Hopefully, it should lead to some memorable platforming sections.

Not that I had any reservations from the beginning, but after seeing more gameplay, I understand why Machine Games went with a first-person perspective. Such a field of view seems indispensable for the kind of grounded experience this game hopes to offer. 

In the gameplay demo, there is one instance where Indy uses a roller to stun a Nazi, while in another, he uses a shovel to knock them out from behind. I doubt these actions would have felt as frantic and rewarding from a third-person perspective. 

Scrounging the environment for useful objects is necessary even outside the combat. There is a section in the demo where Indy uses a hammer to open a locked chest.

Suddenly switching to a third-person perspective while swinging with the whip can break immersion.

While I am sold on the first-person aspects of the game, I didn't get why the game transitions to a third-person perspective in certain traversal sections. It makes sense for the cutscenes; after all, Machine Games painstakingly recreated Harrison Ford’s face for Indy's character. 

However, suddenly switching to a third-person perspective while swinging with the whip seems unnecessary, not to mention unreasonable. It can break immersion, and the worst part is that the transition looks a bit clunky. It might have been that way because the game is still in development, but I still do not know why it is there. 

I did ask the devs the reason for opting for a third-person perspective for certain gameplay moments, but the question was not approved, so I guess we will never know. 

Combat Doesn't Seem Like the Focus 

From what I have seen, combat looks like a necessity. You can use the whip to unarm the enemy or strangle them temporarily. The revolver is a last resort, but you can pick up enemy weapons to fire back at them. 

Stealth feels pretty bare-bone and works very similar to Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, with some backstabbing animations inducing a strong sense of déjà vu.

Melee combat is more methodical and mainly involves shielding and countering enemy attacks. For better or worse, Indy fights just as clumsily as he did in Raiders of the Lost Ark, though in this case, you can build combos to deliver a knockout finisher. The punches look weighty, though I doubt using the same punching combinations over and over again would remain satisfying after the first couple of hours. 

Stealth feels pretty bare-bone and works very similar to Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, with some backstabbing animations inducing a strong sense of déjà vu. What piqued my interest, however, was the Disguise system, which immediately reminded me of the modern Hitman games. 

Gustafsson explained that you can only change outfits in some areas of the game to blend in with the crowd and enter restricted areas to steal a key or an object. For instance, there was a section in the demo where Indy put on a Clerical outfit to infiltrate a Nazi church.  

 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is Machine Games' biggest game to date.

Sadly, we didn't get any more information about the Disguise system. I assume there would only be one outfit option available in every area, though I hope there are more as it would add more weight to our choices. Still, dressing up Indy in unique attires sounds fun, and I hope there’s a new game plus option where you can wear any of the outfits you collected in the first playthrough. 

Speaking of playthroughs, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is Machine Games' biggest game to date. Gustafsson confirmed this during the Q&A session, though did not add anything else to that answer. 

Wolfenstein 2 takes 10-12 hours to beat, so I assume Indiana Jones would be a 15-20 hour adventure, as it's still a linear game with some side content. You could tread off the beaten path to find collectibles and notes that provide more intel about the artifacts you are looking for. However, you cannot go back and explore previous regions of the game. 

I asked the developers whether there would be optional tombs or crypts to explore, like in the modern Tomb Raider games, but unfortunately, they didn't get back to me directly. However, they did answer someone else's question about puzzle difficulty, which indirectly answered mine. 

The puzzle that Indy and Gina encounter within the Giza crypt is a very basic light-mirror puzzle that you might have seen in countless other action-adventure titles

According to them, puzzles in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be a mixed bag. While some would be straightforward and should be easy to clear, others would require more brainstorming and will test you to the limits. Gustafsson or Torvenius, I cannot remember who suggested that some of the most challenging puzzles would not be part of the golden path. 

This is one aspect of the game that I hope doesn't disappoint, as it could make or break the game for many, especially since combat does not feel like the focus here. 

Elaborate puzzles that feel intimidating and rewarding but do not halt the game's flow would be a great way to make you feel like the legendary archaeologist instead. So far, however, I have not seen anything that blew my mind. 

The puzzle that Indy and Gina encounter within the Giza crypt is a very basic light-mirror puzzle that you might have seen in countless other action-adventure titles and, for some reason, in Resident Evil 5.  

Another area where I am slightly concerned is the game's level design. I adore the Wolfenstein games, but their levels were not exactly memorable to begin with. The only silver lining I could find there was that navigating endless grey corridors and claustrophobic spaces made me far more angry at Nazis, and I put extra effort into decimating them as brutally as possible. 

Indiana Jones is a completely different adventure than Wolfenstein, and we have already seen how diverse some of the environments are. From the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas to the mystifying crypts of Giza and the vibrant forests of Thailand, there is no shortage of unique environments in the game, but how intricately designed these areas would be?

The crypt that Indy and Gina explored in Giza didn't feel as remarkable as I had hoped for. The corridors had underwhelming lightning, and there was nothing, visual or gameplay-wise, going on that piqued my interest. Even the main area where they found the artifact seemed a bit too ordinary, with no intriguing inscriptions or architecture worth gawking about. 

Discovering a lost relic should feel awe-inspiring, and Uncharted and the Tomb Raider games were a marvel of presentation in that sense. I hope this particular section in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was not the best this game has to offer. 

This preview event was limited to the gameplay side of things and gave a pretty decent idea of how all the systems work. You reach a new area. Pinpoint the location of what you are searching for using environmental clues. Realize you need a key to access that lost tomb. Change into a disguise. Sneak into a restricted Nazi-occupied territory to find the key.  Enter the tomb. Solve a puzzle to acquire the artifact. All hell breaks loose. Fight some Nazis. And make a narrow escape. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable loop, one that should work in its favor if all the individual aspects are properly fleshed out. 

With the Wolfenstein games, Machine Games has proved it’s capable of delivering nail-biting stories and spiteful villains, so I’m not too concerned about the game’s plot and the impact of its antagonist on the overall experience. The bar isn’t even too high to begin with, and Emerick Voss couldn’t possibly be a less compelling villain than Major Arnold Ernst Tohst, right?

Gina is not just a damsel in distress either, like most Indy heroines, at least for now. She's an Italian journalist with a compelling motive to join Indy on this adventure, and I’m curious to see how her character evolves throughout the adventure. 

Verdict

With an immersive first-person perspective that makes exploration and traversal feel refreshingly grounded, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is shaping up to be the nerdiest swashbuckling adventure, one that I’m all in for.

Now if only the combat sections don’t overstay their welcome, and the puzzles in the full game are more elaborate than what we have seen so far, Xbox could have a sureshot blockbuster this holiday season.