Indiana Jones and the Great Circle gameplay shows the whip-wielder traveling all over the globe and solving puzzles in first-person action

Rebecca Spear
·3 min read
2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Indy buried in sand.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Indy buried in sand.

What you need to know

  • It was revealed back in Jan. 2021 that Bethesda was working on a new Indiana Jones game.

  • Today during Xbox Developer_Direct livestream, we go to see over 10 minutes of new gameplay for the highly anticipated adventure.

  • Players take on the role of Indiana Jones as he tries to unravel the titular mystery of the Great Circle.

  • The game will be coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass later this year.

During today's Xbox Developer_Direct livestream, gameplay was finally shown for Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game, officially titled, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle... kind of lame, but true. Despite the generic-sounding title, the gameplay that was shown looks far more promising.

The gameplay premiere opened by showing our favorite explorer in a tight spot, buried in sand somewhere in Africa while talking to the evil Emmerich Voss and his group of ne're-do-wells. This is followed by quick cuts of various locations and first-person gameplay where Indy is doing typical tomb raider things like solving elaborate ancient puzzles, fighting enemies, shooting guns on top of a plane, or crossing rickety bridges.

So what's the story? First off, you'll want to know that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. This means that we have a more youthful Indy than we've seen in the latest movies.

A man shows up at the school Indy teaches at and steals a relic. After the man gets away, Indy takes on a quest to learn more about this man and why he stole the item he stole. Indy ends up at the Vatican and eventually travels all over the world while trying to unravel a complex mystery that centers around the titular Great Circle.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle mysterious man.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle mysterious man.

As explained by developers, players will need to use their wits to solve puzzles and get around enemies. What's more, the developers say that the game was developed with the intention of allowing players to find different ways of achieving their goals. So players are encouraged to get creative and find unique ways of solving various challenges whether that be with puzzles or battles.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle ancient ruins.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle ancient ruins.

"I've wanted to make an Indiana Jones game forever," said, Executive Producer Todd Howard. "I had this idea for what it would be like and the story, what Indy was going after, what period of his life it was in, the arch he was going to have. And as the years ran on I thought, 'who would be, like, the best studio in the world to make this?' and it was my friends at MachineGames. 

"I can remember pitching LucasFilm on the game and being a little bit nervous because, look, it's Indiana Jones, and their response was just overwhelmingly positive and just that excitement has just bled through the whole project and they have just been so trusting and so supportive of everything we want to do with the game.

"It's been a long time. I've been a fan of this my whole life and I couldn't be more excited to share with you what the team here has been up to."

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be releasing later this year for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass. We were also promised that more game information will be coming soon.

  • To see the Indiana Jones section of the Developer_Direct, go to the 33:07 timestamp on the video above.

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It was first revealed that Bethesda was producing a new Xbox-exclusive Indiana Jones game back in early 2021. MachineGames, known for the latest Wolfenstein series, is the exact studio working on the action-adventure.

For those of us who are long-time gamers, it's exciting to see a new Indiana Jones game that matches the adventurous spirit of older titles. This is not by any means the first Indiana Jones game that has come out. But for many, it could be the first one they've ever played since it has been over a decade since the last whip-wielding globetrotter's console title was released. Even then, the last game was LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues in 2009, which was hilariously fun but wasn't the same kind of realistic action many people wanted from the Indy franchise.