Look. It’s been a long time since we had a good Indiana Jones movie to get excited about, let’s face it. Even something half decent, y’know. Dial of Destiny was a bland and soulless money grab, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a war crime…heck the more we think about it, were any of these movies, beyond Ark and Temple of Doom, really any good at all?
OK, so that's a very heated conversation for another time, perhaps, but it's worth mentioning here, as a few minutes with hands-off gameplay footage of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (courtesy of an invitation to Bethesda's recent preview event) has given us the distinct impression that the next great Indy adventure will arrive in the form of a video computer game. Who’d have thunk it?
With MachineGames at the helm, we always expected there'd be a certain swagger and self-assuredness at play with this one – all of it well-earned through three superlative Wolfenstein adventures – and here we see the same level of polish, the same exacting detail in world-building and characterisation, and the same desire to repeatedly commit acts of violence against Nazis…albeit in a much more family-friendly manner this time around.
Indiana Jones, some of you may be disappointed to find out, doesn’t tend to murderize people quite as violently as a certain Mr Blazkowicz, you see – he’s more of a crack you on the head and lay you down to sleep sorta guy – and the reworking of this studio’s signature gruesome deaths into takedowns that Spielberg would be agreeable with, is the first sign that we’re on the right track in terms of nailing the tone of this most beloved of action heroes. This is much more slapstick in its violence, which is exactly how it should be.
The second sign that we may indeed be looking at the good stuff here is that there ain't no aliens or magic fridges in Indy's vicinity. It seems as though this is gonna be an adventure that scales things right back and attempts to capture the old-school Saturday-morning-serial thrill of jumping between planes mid-air or fighting on a truck...rather than any of the OTT sci-fi daftness that's ruined the more recent films. We all know the best parts of any Indiana Jones movie are the bits where he climbs around on moving vehicles and punches stuff whilst looking a little worried that he's gone too far, and it seems the devs here know that too.
This grounded approach - well, as grounded as Indy gets - continues in missions that, as far as we've seen, stick to real world locations. A very good idea! There's an added thrill to exploring actual historical sites, and in the gameplay we're shown we see Indy get to grips with a chamber full of traps underneath the Sphinx, rather than lumbering around inside some made-up tombs that don't carry the same historical weight or excitement. All of these signs point towards a game that's gonna serve us up classic Indy, a game that understands the character, as well as the allure of exploring and discovering, and we couldn't be more excited.
Set between the antics of Raiders and The Last Crusade, this is Indiana Jones in top baddie-smacking, whip-cracking form. He might look ever-so-slightly uncanny valley - always gonna happen with such a recognisable mug - but in terms of cracking wise whilst yanking Nazis to the ground with a whip round the ankles, we're back to the vitality and urgency of mid-1980s Harrison Ford...rather than just 80 year-old Harrison Ford. Sorry, Harrison, please don't hurt us.
The action we're shown relies heavily on Indy's whip, and the most exciting aspect of all here is the presentation's focus on using Indy's wits, tools and natural abilities to solve puzzles and stay out of harm's way. We're told that "Indy's greatest tool is his mind", and this translates directly into gameplay that seems to offer an impressive level of freeform experimentation, both in its environmental puzzles and in its action.
A mission set in the Sphinx shows off a section of gameplay where Indy is stuck inside a classic rising sand trap. In order to escape, instead of a QTE or predetermined path up and out, we're shown the player lifting up a spear from the ground and throwing it so it sticks into the wall of the tomb. Now you can use your whip to grab the spear and move upwards. How much agency do you have in any given situation with this kind of stuff? It's hard to say just now, but it inspires a lot of confidence to see that the dev hasn't just relied on bombastic action or on-rails set-pieces. We may just get to actually use our noggins here, which is nice.
This freeform spirit carries on into what we see of the game's combat, too. Indy can approach scraps with stealth in mind, sneaking up on a Nazi to put them in a chokehold, or lifting a nearby object up to take them down with minimal noise. Hand-to-hand combat is presented in a visceral and highly detailed manner, and MachineGames has lost none of its ability to shift from first person to third in order to capture all of this action with as much style as possible. As with Wolfenstein, there's a real physicality to how your movements and interactions are presented here, a real heft and weight to how you punch, slide and whip around that should make exploring and scrapping a real treat.
Upgrades and skill unlocks are handled through a perk system that allows you to equip various buffs by spending "adventure points". We're shown one perk called "True Grit" which allows Indy one more chance to get up after taking a hit that would normally be fatal. OK, so it's not the most exciting or original upgrade to be fair, but if these are quick to equip and less fussy than constantly hitting menus to spend XP, we'll take it.
Continuing on with the theme of using tools and being resourceful, we also get to explore Indy's archaeological/academic side through his camera and notebook. Your camera is used to study environs, snap clues and work out aspects of multipart puzzles, and it also - according to the devs - can lead to rare secrets that are hidden deeper within missions.
There's certainly, almost unavoidably, a lot of Uncharted and Tomb Raider in the DNA here, lots of incredibly detailed environments, historical details and atmosphere to get lost in exploring, but the main takeaway for us is that MachineGames is making the effort to do something quite clever and exciting with Indy, rather than just presenting another big by-the-numbers AAA adventure. There's even a little Agent 47 on display in how you can set about your tasks. Grab a disguise and work your way into an area before blowing your cover, for example. It's classic Indy in its inherent slapstick silliness, and it translates to gameplay perfectly. Pull on an (ill-fitting) Nazi uniform to infiltrate a compound before lighting the place up? Sounds about right!
We've also been suitably impressed by the characters and dialogue we've seen so far. Indy and Gina seem as though they'll make a smart pairing, there's an emotional aspect in the search for Gina's lost sister, and we also get to see a few delightfully deranged enemies - including a glimpse of the great Tony Todd as Locus. There are a ton of nods to the classic movies - even in the small selection of scenes we are shown we get to see a few recognisable outfits and expressions - and mission locations, whilst new, definitely borrow the look, style and feel of the first three movies.
By making Indy a resourceful hero, by giving us a certain amount of free agency in how we approach scraps and archaeological sites, this could be the closest we'll ever get to pulling on that famous fedora and jacket before accidentally getting smashed in the face with a spinning mirror. It also genuinely comes across as a more fitting and exciting follow-up to the classic trilogy of movies than either of Mr Ford's last two outings managed.