Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Here’s your first look at whip-cracking action

MachineGames finally showed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle during Xbox Developer Direct, and the game’s depiction of Indy is the spitting image of Harrison Ford in his prime.

In the game, you will step into the shoes of Indiana Jones and take on an adventure that spans the globe during the height of the archaeologist’s career.

Announced in 2021, the cinematic action-adventure takes place in 1937, a year or so after the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. While teaching at Marshall College, Indy wakes one evening to a crash and finds a man stealing, and taking off with an artifact. While on the thief’s trail, Indy becomes aware of sinister forces scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power connected to the Great Circle – a circular ley line encompassing sites of spiritual significance scattered around the world.

The game has you exploring and experiencing things as Indy via first-person gameplay but shifts to a third-person perspective during cutscenes and when traversing. Your travels will not only take you across the continent of Africa, but you’ll stop by the pyramids of Egypt, visit the ruins of Sukhothai temples in Thailand, and explore the Himalayas.

In the globetrotting, narrative-driven action game, you will find a cinematic story set in open-area maps full of things to discover. When confronted by enemies, your whip acts as a trusted companion that can be used to distract, disarm, attack, and traverse the environment. You can also make use of stealth to sneak up on enemies, infiltrate areas, and listen in on some chitchat. Another option when dealing with enemies is to engage in first-person melee via an old-fashioned fistfight, or you can always settle the score with gunplay. There will also be puzzles to solve.

While Harrison Ford’s likeness graces the game, it’s not the actor’s voice you hear in the reveal trailer – it’s that of Troy Baker, a prolific voice actor who, we dare say, provides such a bang-up impression of Ford, he almost fooled us.

The game also features the talents of film, TV, and voice actor Marios Gavrilis as the main antagonist, Emmerich Voss, along with Italian actress Alessandra Mastronardi lending her voice to journalist Gina Lombardi. Gordy Haab takes up where John Williams left off as the score’s composer, and various stunt actors lent their talents to mo-capping the game’s various action sequences (thanks, Entertainment Weekly).

Another familiar face, as you will see in the trailer, is that of the late Denholm Elliott, a renowned film and stage actor who starred as the museum’s curator and Indy’s friend Dr. Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.

“There are a lot of Indiana Jones fans at MachineGames,” said game director Jerk Gustafsson. “Most of us grew up with Indy and fell in love with the movies and the character when we were young. We’ve just got these ties to the character that go back decades.

“But even if you didn’t grow up with Indiana Jones, you know Indiana Jones. He’s a relatable type of hero and a true adventurer. That’s a legacy we want to share and be part of, and we want to build something interesting and genuine.”

Conceptualized and executive produced by Bethesda’s Todd Howard, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set for a late 2024 release on Game Pass, PC, and Xbox One Series X/S.

Be sure to check out the screenshots posted below, and if you missed the developer reveal from MachineGames, you can watch it here.