Hands On With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: A Hopeful Hat Trick

I had to smile when I found myself facing the bald-headed man. He was big, brawny, and in the way of my character: The one and only Indiana Jones. 

It felt like a classic moment from the beloved films: How does our hero archeologist take on a man nearly twice his size? Of course, I could take out my pistol and shoot him, like Indy famously did during his gun versus sword fight scene. Or I could pull out my trusty whip. If only I remembered what key to press…  

As the giant man approached, I suppose I did what Indy would have done: I improvised and grabbed whatever was around me, whether it be a wine bottle, shovel, or club. Then I smashed the items against my enemy’s giant body, which eventually caused him to fall to the ground, knocked out. Triumphant music then played. That’s when I knew the Swedish developer MachineGames had captured some Indiana Jones magic with its upcoming game.

Big Shoes to Fill

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

I’ve long been an Indy fan, having watched The Last Crusade dozens of times as a kid. So naturally, I had high expectations when MachineGames let me play a preview of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, one of the biggest video game titles set to arrive in December. It also marks a rare time when the franchise will receive a modern AAA video game treatment. 

MachineGames is perhaps best known for Wolfenstein: The New Order, which I enjoyed. Like Indy, the Wolfenstein series is often about beating the Nazis. But slaughtering enemy soldiers with machine guns is one thing; developing an adventure-style game around archaeology with less gunplay is another. It made me wonder if MachineGames could successfully translate the feel of the iconic movies into a first-person game. 

The answer became clear as I started the Great Circle, a game that takes place after the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Everything you’d expect from the franchise—the rousing music, the font on the title card, Harrison Ford’s voice courtesy of voice actor Troy Baker—popped up. In fact, the presentation was so good that it made me wish the game was an unpublished Indiana Jones sequel film secretly made in the 1980s. 

(Credit: MachineGames)

The game begins at Marshall College, where Indy teaches as a professor. A mysterious Latin-speaking priest has broken into the college’s museum, which attracts our hero’s attention, causing him to investigate. During my playthrough, I noticed that MachineGames had done an impressive job of recreating Marshall College, a place that’s only been viewed in brief moments in the films. In the Great Circle, players can explore the place as Indy tries to piece together why the mysterious priest stole an ancient artifact from the college. 

The area contained racks of books, life-like museum exhibits, and even Indy’s office; MachineGames clearly spent many hours trying to create an authentic environment true to the Indiana Jones world. The first stage of the game also has plenty of accurate lore. Fans will be heartened to see Marcus Brody, Indy’s colleague, helping our hero navigate the mystery. You’ll also hear mentions of Indy’s old flame, Marion Ravenwood, another favorite from the franchise. 

Duking It Out

Marcus Brody (Credit: MachineGames)

But while the game does an admirable job of maintaining the Indiana Jones feel, it also strives to offer you something new. In this case, the story sends Indy to Vatican City as he tries to track down the mysterious priest. That’s when I found myself as our titular hero, wearing his fedora and leather jacket and equipped with his trusty whip. My goal: To infiltrate the Vatican to speak with a local priest and old friend of Indy’s. The only problem is the city contains hostile soldiers loyal to Italy’s leader, Benito Mussolini, an ally of Adolf Hitler. 

It gave me my first taste of the Great Circle’s actual gameplay. I wasn’t hauling around gatling guns to take on scores of Nazi soldiers like a conventional Wolfenstein shooter. Instead, I was mainly sneaking around, trying to come up with creative ways to incapacitate enemies without firing a shot at all. Or what basically Indy would do. 

The action was essentially a stealth game; I could take nearby objects around me, like a wine bottle, and throw them to create distracting sounds, leading enemy soldiers away. Or I could take the same bottle and bash it over an enemy’s head, knocking them out. The combat was especially satisfying when I found a violin or mandolin and used it to hit the enemy in the face.  

The action can also escalate into an old-school brawl. Like real life, you can’t keep bashing an enemy with a mandolin; it’ll break after one use. In other cases, the enemies shrugged off the first blow, ready to hit back. That’s when I relied on Indy’s fists. Like the films, you can punch your enemies and hear the satisfying smack. But you can’t always button-mash your way through; Indy will eventually run out of stamina. Meanwhile, your enemies will try to block the punches, so you’ll need to carefully time your hits and dodge them all at the same time. 

(Credit: MachineGames)

Why not shoot the enemies? Well, you can, giving you the flexibility to play how you like. In addition to his whip, Indy has access to a pistol and even other guns as you come upon them during a game. But if you choose to use them, expect to be swarmed by other enemies attracted to the sound. I learned this the hard way when the gameplay shifted to Egypt, and I shot a Nazi soldier only to cause five more to suddenly come running my way. 

The action is also interspersed with occasional puzzles. For example, in Egypt—where you can freely roam and explore—I had to enter and escape an area filled with scorpions by lighting several torches and throwing them on the ground. To solve another puzzle, I had to swing with my whip across a pit several times to help me reach a hidden artifact.  

As you progress through the game, you also gain experience points, which can be used to upgrade Indy with new abilities. My favorite was one called “lucky hat,” which allows Indy to survive a fatal blow. This happened more than once during my gameplay: I was knocked to the ground, seemingly dead. But instead, the game gave me a chance to revive myself; all I had to do was search the ground for my trusty fedora hat. Once I did, the game zoomed out and showed Indy putting his hat back on with his classic smirk, ready to adventure once again. 

Am I Doing This Right?

(Credit: MachineGames)

The resulting gameplay is about as faithful as I could hope being an Indy fan. Despite being a first-person game, the Great Circle will often zoom out and feature cut scenes, allowing you to watch Indy and see his signature reactions and mannerisms like you would in the films. 

But while the experience was fun and positive, was it great? Not quite. For one, the combat can be hit or miss; sometimes, the Nazi soldiers would try to fight me with their fists, even though they were carrying guns. In other cases, the fist-fighting felt messy and hard to follow on the screen, causing me to button-mash. 

Another issue is that although MachineGames took painstaking efforts to depict epic environments, including a bazaar in Giza, don’t expect much from the NPCs, which are simply background extras. Bugs in the animations also caused some characters to contort in weird ways, breaking the whole immersion. I also couldn’t help but feel frustration when I wasn’t always sure how to advance in the adventure, making me wonder if I was playing the game properly. But like Indy, I didn’t give up and eventually found ways to solve a puzzle or overcome a patrol of Nazis to reach the objective, unlocking a new phase of the game to my delight. 

(Credit: MachineGames)

I only played the Great Circle for over two hours. So I’m still in the dark about how the story will unfold and whether it’ll match the climatic finishes and wonder of the earlier Indy films. But despite a few frustrations, so far, I liked what I saw; I just hope MachineGames can smooth out some of the combat and deliver enough thrills and exciting gameplay throughout the entire experience, which promises to take place in exotic locations across the globe.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will launch on Dec. 9 for PCs and Xbox before arriving for the PlayStation 5, likely in the spring. Stay tuned for our review.

About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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