Introduction: The Indiana Jones series of films, as well as many other works it produced, is among the most bellowed franchises in Hollywood. However, its path through the world of gaming has been a bumpy, protracted ride and each new title comes with plenty of risk. The latest game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seems to have managed to find the Goldilocks zone that navigates between the familiar and the new. With it, the entire Indi Jones series could see a strong resurgence but also offer a possible scenario for other sleepy pop culture franchises from the late 20th century.
Article: There are a few films in the history of movie-making that manage to go beyond a legendary status. Films like that usually belong to franchises that are so massive that they are more akin to a corporation than a simple work of art. Star Wars is one such example, but there are other series that have just as big of a footprint in the collective mind of the audience. However, not all manage to transcend the series’ original form in equal measure and even become forgotten for a generation or two. It could be argued that Indiana Jones is one such series. When the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, came out in 1981, it immediately became a huge hit, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. The charm and potential for sequels were immediately crystal clear, so its principal creator, Steven Spielberg, got to work on subsequent films. Even before the 1990s, the Indiana Jones series was a huge phenomenon not just in movies, but also in other media.
However, this is where the franchise found some more challenging moments. The television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles tried to expand its appeal and provide a more in-depth look at the main character and his early adventures. It did not find a lot of traction, while a similar fate followed video game adaptations. Since the 1980s, there have been over a dozen of them, all carrying fitting names, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis from 1992 or Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb from 2003. Few of these managed to find their place among either big sellers or critically acclaimed titles. Now, nearly 15 years after the last big Indi Jones game, the world got its latest globetrotting adventure – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Unlike many games before it, this title was determined to try new things and break out from several stereoptical solutions for an Indie Jones title. The result managed to pull off something that delicately blends the familiar and the novel, offering what can be a blueprint for a modern action-adventure game based on a huge franchise.
Back to the Roots
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was made by the developers at MachineGames, while its publisher is the huge gaming company, Bethesda Softworks. The team at MachineGames got the opportunity to set its game into an original narrative, that is taking place between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Set in 1937, the game follows a doctor of archeology, Indiana Jones, as he tries to understand the Great Circle, a collection of mysterious locations that can link up into a circle of immense power. To do that, Indi Jones travels the world in the game, finding real-life locations from Connecticut to Vatican City, Iraq, and Thailand. All the while, true to the series, evil-doers and corrupt forces are trying to activate the Great Circle as well, setting everything into a giant and dangerous, globe-spanning race. The plot, which sounds very reminiscent of the early Indiana Jones trilogy, clearly struck a chord with the players, many of whom are fans of the original films.
Whip-based Action
The game, which has been in development since 2021, decided to apply some interesting choices for its gameplay mechanic. First, unexpectedly, the game is played in the first-person perspective, even though the modern take on the Indi Jones series – which is the Tomb Raider games – uses the more action-friendly third-person. However, The Great Circle does switch to this third-person perspective for environmental puzzles or more complex traversals. On the other hand, following faithfully the source material, the signature whip that Indi Jones carries is a big element of the game. It can be a tool that the players use to traverse some obstacle or activate something from a distance, but also it can be used in direct combat as well, just like in the films. As for the fighting part of the game, Indi can take on enemies directly or apply a range of stealth mechanics to avoid any kind of physical altercation. This combination of choice-based gameplay, followed by a distinctive narrative and many exotic locations with custom puzzles and obstacles makes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feel like a big, AAA game with plenty of content. That is why the standard gameplay time should offer between 16 and 30 hours of playtime.
Strong Post-Launch Period
The game came out on December 9, 2024, and appeared on Windows and Xbox Series X/S, where it is a timed exclusive. The PS5 version should come out in the first part of 2025. So far, the critical reception to the release has been mainly positive, with reviewers noting its familiarity with the source material, along with innovative game design. On Steam, the game has a “Very Positive” rating after over 1,200 reviews and reached a concurrent play count of 8,148 on its first day. The same is a very good result for a single-player game made in a traditional AAA manner. However, besides the strong launch, the title also shows, just like Black Myth: Wukong and other big single-player games of 2024, that there are a lot of eager players in this market segment. Furthermore, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s success is great news for the wider franchise, being that it demonstrates a way to combine elements into a fresh product that goes beyond the narrow movie fan audience. For many, the choices that The Great Circle made could have sounded risky, especially the focus on the first-person perspective. But, the game once again underlines that working with even the most popular source material demands a level of daring and unexpected decisions by game developers. This should be a big lesson for other half-forgotten franchises and a way how these too could get back into the public limelight through the medium of gaming.
Author: Ivica Milaric, game designer and assistant professor of game design at the Novi Sada Academy of Arts, Republic of Serbia