Summary
In a few months time, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on Xbox Series consoles and PC. Developed by MachineGames, the team behind theWolfensteinreboot series, it’ll mark the first true AAA title for the iconic movie hero.
That said, whenIndiana Jones and the Great Circledoes launch, it’ll look remarkably different from what anyone could have anticipated. It’ll feature a first-person point-of-view, with third-person being reserved for platforming segments. More so, it’ll also have a heavy emphasis on hand-to-hand combat.
In other words, don’t expect Indy to go full Nathan Drake with a variety of weapons. And, according to MachineGames, that’s by design.
Why Would Indiana Jones Use Guns?
In an exclusive interview with PC Gamer, Jens Andersson, the design director at MachineGames, and Axel Torvenius, the game’s creative director, shared the thought process behind the Great Circle’s gameplay.
“Indiana Jones, he’s not a gunslinger, right? He doesn’t go guns blazing into situations,” Andersson said. “So it could never be a shooter, should never be a shooter. But hand-to-hand combat, that makes total sense.”
Indeed, the character of Indiana Jones is, at his core, an archaeologist, student, teacher and lover of history. Giving him guns would be a disservice to who the character is, and MachineGames has recognized that.
Andersson added, “He’s not a fighter, that’s not his nature, even though he ends up in fights all the time. He’s an unlikely hero, lucky—how can we replicate that into gameplay, make the player feel that humor, how do we get that across?” And so, the developers have stated that Indy’s hand-to-hand skills are rather chaotic, as well as creative. Per the interview, all sorts of items from the environment can be used in combat, including a banjo.
The Chronicles Of Riddick Inspiration Is Real
It’s important to mention that many of MachineGames' talent helped develop The Chronicles of Riddick video games, which featured some visceral first-person combat sequences. That previous experience is lending a hand with the development of Indiana Jones.
“We’ve been going back a little bit into the history of our own,“game director Jerk Gustafsson said in a separate interview. In other words, expect less Uncharted and more Riddick when it comes to the gameplay side of things. That inspiration is very evident in the gameplay shown, as it does very closely resemble the type of engagement that Riddick had, without all the blood and gore, of course.
Either way, it’s refreshing to see how much reverence is being put towards the Indiana Jones IP. MachineGames could have forced a square peg in a round hole, but the studio opted to honor who Indiana Jones is as a character at his core. The result is a game that looks a lot like the movies, even if the first-person perspective does take some time getting used to. The Chronicles of Riddick inspiration is simply the cherry on top.
