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Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones game finally received its gameplay reveal during this week’s Xbox Developer_Direct showcase. During the stream, viewers were treated to a full trailer and a gameplay reveal as part of a developer deep dive. There’s just over 13 minutes of footage from Bethesda studio Machine Games, which is handling development for the upcoming release.
Machine Games is the development studio behind the remade Wolfenstein games. The game’s full title will be Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and the story follows Indy as he tries to uncover the mystery of the Great Circle — a perfectly aligned circle that connects a series of culturally significant sites around the globe from throughout history. While gameplay footage shown in the reveal trailer shows you playing Indy in first-person, Machine Games confirms that you’ll get to play in third-person too.
This decision to develop the gameplay in both views appears to stem from the idea that you’re supposed to be Indiana Jones. This is the same idea behind Halo and many other games. Where you play in first-person because you’re supposed to be the character you’re playing as. Game Director Jerk Gustafsson states that you aren’t just playing as Indy, you are Indiana Jones. “You’ll see through his eyes and experience a journey that we hope lives up to the proud legacy of Indiana Jones,” Gustafsson says.
Indiana Jones gameplay reveal confirms chronological placement and more
The gameplay reveal trailer and the developer deep dive give players a lot of information about the game. Including when the game takes place in the chronological timeline. It’s set in between the films Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Putting it squarely in the middle of Indy’s adventures. Players will mostly play the game in first-person “as Indy” but there will be moments where third-person kicks on. This will be limited to cutscenes and environment traversal. Where the camera will take a step back so players get to see Indy’s iconic silhouette.
The game also includes what appears to be a fair amount of puzzle-solving. Which seems fitting given the theme, and Indy’s involvement in unearthing valuable artifacts. Machines Games says this is a global adventure that will take Indy (and the player) to many different locales. Including The Himalayas and Egypt.
As The Verge points out, this game is multiple years in the making. Having first been teased back in 2021. There’s no official release date yet but it is scheduled to be released sometime in late 2024. It’ll be an Xbox and PC exclusive too.
A lot of puzzles are optional
Puzzles are going to be a core part of the game as Machine Games says that “the spirit of discovery is so important to Indiana Jones.” However, not all of the puzzles will be mandatory for game progression. Some of the puzzles will be placed in front of the player’s main path through the story. There will also be lots of puzzles that will be optional for the players that want to experience them. And if that isn’t your thing you can skip those and move on.
That being said, at least some of these optional puzzles are likely to hide secrets and useful items that could help you on your journey. So it might be worth doing them. You can check out the gameplay reveal trailer above and the full developer deep dive below.