Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - first person adventure from MachineGames

[Ezekiel]

Those modern wannabemovie cutscenes are like looking at a bad cg movie, very uncanny.

Yes, Harrison Ford likeness and expressions look so weird.

 

[Ezekiel]

What the fuck is that bullshit at 3 minutes? Call that comedy? In the movies, the comedy always felt... I don't know. What's the word? Ancillary? No. Help me out here.

Well, until Last Crusade. That movie screwed up the comedy, brought it front and center almost, upped the silliness.

 

[Spike]

What the fuck is that bullshit at 3 minutes? Call that comedy? In the movies, the comedy always felt... I don't know. What's the word? Ancillary? No. Help me out here.

Well, until Last Crusade. That movie screwed up the comedy, brought it front and center almost, upped the silliness.

More natural...? The comedy felt natural because it was happening alongside this cool adventure. When you go about your life seriously, like at work, funny things naturally arise in your day-to-day and they're nice surprises. It's like that, I think you're trying to say...?

 

[Be Kind Rewind]

I hate how The Last Crusade doomed Indiana Jones into just being about the Nazis.

Yidiana Jews was always a kike appropriation of Anglo-American pulp, they might continue to push the German genocide messaging as kikes do on a genetic impulse but at least this faggot shit is emasculating Harrison Ford's character now.

 

[Ezekiel]

I hate how The Last Crusade doomed Indiana Jones into just being about the Nazis.

Yidiana Jews was always a kike appropriation of Anglo-American pulp, they might continue to push the German genocide messaging as kikes do on a genetic impulse but at least this faggot shit is emasculating Harrison Ford's character now.

To be honest, when I try to think of commentary about Germans and the Jews in the trilogy, I only remember the book burning festival in Berlin in Last Crusade.

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Morgoth]

With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, MachineGames is taking inspiration less from Uncharted and more from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay: 'We've been going back a little bit into the history of our own'​

Features
By Phil Savage
published 19 minutes ago
MachineGames' latest has the potential to be much more than a first-person Tomb Raider.

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."

Indiana Jones
(Image credit: Bethesda)

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 biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

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.

 

[Morgoth]

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a Nazi-slapping mechanic​

A hands-off preview highlights Troy Baker's spot-on Harrison Ford impression.​

jessica conditt
Senior Editor
Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:00 PM GMT+2·6 min read

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set in 1937, in the space between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, and it’s being developed by MachineGames, the studio behind the most recent Wolfenstein installments. So, of course the game’s main enemies are Nazis, and obviously it has a robust range of Nazi-punching mechanics. What makes The Great Circle intriguing, even after just a 30-minute hands-off preview, is its lighthearted interpretation of classic Indiana Jones tropes, leaning into the series’ humorous tone and adding twists like open-handed Nazi slapping to Indy’s repertoire.
When it comes to combat, Indiana has a whip, a revolver and his fists (or palms). His whip appears to be the most useful tool on his belt, allowing him to swing across gaps, activate levers, and pull in enemies nice and close for a one-two punch. Hitting a Nazi with the whip briefly incapacitates them while they’re reeled in, setting up an advantageous close-quarters melee situation. Hand-to-hand combat requires precise timing in order to land knockout combos or finishing moves, and on top of throwing punches and slaps, Indy is able to block and defensively parry. In fistfights, the game’s first-person perspective crops in extra tight, filling the screen with punchable Nazi surfaces and enhancing the tension behind each blow and dodge. He can also pick up objects and hit enemies with them, and in pre-recorded gameplay footage, it all looks supremely satisfying.

MachineGames
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn’t just an action game, though. Many of its encounters can be approached with stealth mechanics, where players sneak past guards and perform silent takedowns without fisticuffs or gunfire at all. The revolver is really a last-ditch option in each scenario, game director Jerk Gustafsson and creative director Axel Torvenius said. Otherwise, puzzles are a pivotal component of gameplay.
Indiana is joined on his adventures by Gina, an Italian journalist who’s searching for her sister, and together they encounter a variety of logic and spatial puzzles. Some are quick, like finding an alternative entrance to a sealed room, and others are more involved, requiring a few minutes of focus to fully understand.
The preview focused on Giza, Egypt, showcasing bustling outdoor marketplaces, a depressing Nazi meeting room and a vibrant temple hidden beneath the sands of the Great Sphinx. Here, Indy and Gina had to catch the sunlight with a series of ancient mirrors, lining them up one by one until the beam bounced to the proper place. This particular puzzle room seemed straightforward and slightly clever (though maybe that’s just because The Mummy is one of my favorite childhood movies), but there are apparently more challenging riddles in the game, too. The most complex puzzles are hidden, requiring some light exploration in various regions, and they’re not necessary in order to complete the main storyline. These bonus riddles are just some of the many secrets to find around the game’s world.

MachineGames
“I don’t really like too difficult puzzles myself,” Gustafsson said. “I like to just enjoy the experience and not be so challenged by them. That said, we do have a mix [of puzzle difficulties] because I like a lot of variation. It’s not like we have some unique puzzle mechanic that goes across the entire game. We tried to create every puzzle in a different, unique way.”
There are also difficulty options for the puzzles overall, allowing players to choose how complex they’ll be throughout the entire game.
Indiana has a notebook that fills up with evidence, objectives and photos that he takes while investigating various relics around the globe. The camera is an essential tool in The Great Circle, and each snapped pic can unlock new clues and trails to follow. Indy also carries a lighter, which functions as a flashlight and can set stationary torches ablaze. His play style is customizable, with dozens of upgrades available as the game progresses. One potential upgrade is True Grit, an ability that allows him to recover from a fatal blow by crawling toward and grabbing his fedora within a certain amount of time. You know, classic Indiana Jones stuff.

MachineGames
I’ve seen some angry chatter online from people who don’t like the first-person perspective in The Great Circle, citing a desire to actually see Indiana as he does all this cool stuff, just like in the movies. I don’t think these people have much to worry about — not only are there plenty of cutscenes featuring Troy Baker’s utterly impressive 1980s Harrison Ford impression, but parts of the game are in third-person after all.
“When it comes to a character like Indiana Jones, I want to play the character and I want to be the character, I want to look through and explore the world through his eyes,” Gustafsson said. “To me that’s a very important part of what we do here. For me, it was a very easy choice. But also, we do mix in some third-person elements here. We have very much come back to our own history with games like Riddick and The Darkness where we also did this mix between first-person and third-person perspective. We do that for this game, too. Everything is not first-person, even though the core experience is in first-person.”
Torvenius added, “There’s a great opportunity here as well for us because we do have a large section of the game that is mystery, it’s solving puzzles, being up front and close to ancient relics and ruins and scriptures. So it adds an intimacy to the adventure to some aspect, that you can get really up and close and can really inspect things, which is actually pretty nice how it plays out in the game.”

MachineGames
Even in first-person scenes, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looks, sounds and feels right so far. Baker’s Indiana Jones is nearly indistinguishable from the early film versions, his voice drawling and gravelly with a sarcastic bite. There’s a dry humor built into his interactions, as is fitting. In one scene, he’s introducing himself to a woman who has an intricately designed eye patch; she seems to be indigenous to the jungle they’re sitting in.
“I’m an archaeologist,” Indiana says.
“Another one,” she replies, clearly unimpressed.
It’s a quick moment from a short preview, but it sets a solid tone for the game as a whole: dry, lighthearted, and a little punch-drunk in between all the actual punching. Or you could say, a bit slap-happy amid all the slapping. Either way, these Nazis won't know what hit them.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9. It'll be available on Game Pass Ultimate, and it's also coming to PlayStation 5 in spring 2025.

 

[Lemming42]

That remark about the revolver being a last resort is pretty encouraging, and the disguise system sounds cool. I really hope the times they force you out of stealth are sparse.

The unarmed combat looks fun too, sort of like a first person version of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

 

[ADL]

If they're not bullshitting about Butcher Bay, this could actually be pretty good. They're saying all the right things.

 

[DemonKing]

I still can't believe how fugly they made his female companion. 30s era Indy always ran around with hot straight white chicks not lesbian gender studies majors.

 

[Morgoth]

IGN dorks were impressed with a gameplay demo.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Infinitron]

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I still can't believe how fugly they made his female companion. 30s era Indy always ran around with hot straight white chicks not lesbian gender studies majors.

Part of an effort to make Indiana Jones more 'correct'. This what I expected from Machinegames after what they did with the Wolfenstein franchise. Doesn't help that Disney probably also has influence in the development of the game.

I wonder how this game will compare to the classics such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, or Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.

 

[-M-]

I wonder how this game will compare to the classics such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, or Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.

The project lead on both those earlier games was Hal Barwood, who was college buddies with George Lucas at USC. He wrote The Sugarland Express for Steven Spielberg and helped with the scripts for both Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Before Fate of Atlantis, Barwood threw out an idea by Chris Columbus (writer of Gremlins, The Goonies and director of Home Alone, Harry Potter) because it wasn't good enough for him.

This new one has...

...executive producer Todd Howard conceived the game's story.

Plus we all know what happened to Machinegames. The Wolfenstein sequel had something like four hours of cringe-inducing cutscenes, and the less said about Youngblood the better.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Todd Howard came up with the story? Then we really should not have any high expectations.

Dial of Destiny will probably not be the only massive decline in the Indy IP fans have to swallow these current years.

 

[Alienman]

One thing I have noticed about this game so far, is that everything shown, has been in very tight and linear corridors. It seems extremely claustrophobic. I'm curious why.

 

[sser]

One thing I have noticed about this game so far, is that everything shown, has been in very tight and linear corridors. It seems extremely claustrophobic. I'm curious why.

I've seen parts that seem more open, including verticality and stealth sections, fwiw.

Either way, I still don't "expect" much out of these games. Most of the Indiana Jones games are basically in the good enough for me category. I've even replayed Emperor's Tomb like three or four times. As long as it has a good story, punchy combat, and decent puzzles, that's enough. My biggest hangup on this one was the first-person, but it actually looks quite well adapted and with seamless transitions into third-person whenever doing things that would otherwise be very discombobulating.

 

[deuxhero]

Flashlights are literally older than Dr. Jones: He was born July 1, 1899, months after the first design was patented January 10, 1899. No reason for him to be using a lighter as a light source, especially since it will highlight how non-flamable all that vegetation is. He could have bought a sub-6 inch pocket flashlight (less than 6 inches in length) for less than 50 cents! It would also be a perfect excuse to have the in-game flashlight be a typical video game flashlight (since it is a tiny, battery powered, incandescent bulb). What's the point of wearing a coat all the time if you can't keep a basic every day item in it?

Here's an ad from 1932,

 

[Alienman]

When a 1930s homewife see the bottom right ad

 

[sser]

Rule of Cool™

 

[Spike]

Just replay The Emperor's Tomb on PCSX2. There, I just saved you $59.99 and a goyslop of a time.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Every gameplay segment they show, looks very janky with the transitions between third and first person. No one asked for this, Xbox fans have been asking for big budget third person action adventure games, not first person...