Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a faithful but flawed experience BethesdaWhile a new look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle revealed some clever gameplay systems that nail the tone of a classic Indy adventure, I can\u2019t escape the concern MachineGames is having to rush this one out the door. It\u2019s been 15 years since the last Indy game hit store shelves. As a lifelong fan of the franchise, the break has been nothing short of excruciating. While Uncharted no doubt helped fill the void, the announcement of Bethesda\u2019s new project back in 2021 was the most exciting news that year. Finally, a new Indy experience on modern hardware. Better yet, it\u2019s helmed by some of my favorite developers at MachineGames. The rebooted Wolfenstein series is absolutely peak, and I won\u2019t hear otherwise. Since that reveal three years back, however, the team has remained relatively tight-lipped. Until now that is, as we\u2019ve been able to see a good chunk of raw gameplay for the first time, teasing a globetrotting, Nazi-punching romp much like you\u2019d expect. It\u2019s got a blend of clever mechanics that not only look refreshing for a mostly first-person adventure game but also fit the IP tremendously well. There\u2019s the expansive cast of characters, all written with that trademark wit, you\u2019ve got some hard-hitting brawls Indy would be all too familiar with, there\u2019s no denying it\u2019s representing the source material incredibly well. But coming out of the preview, I couldn\u2019t look past one thing. Still quite rough around the edges in terms of presentation and performance, the game nonetheless remains committed to a 2024 release. I certainly hope this one isn\u2019t being rushed out the door before it\u2019s truly ready. Adorning the iconic fedora First things first, let\u2019s be clear: this is an Indiana Jones game through and through. Everything you\u2019re doing in the moment to moment is completely authentic to the legendary archaeologist. You\u2019re not exactly mowing through dozens of Nazis like you would in Wolfenstein. It\u2019s a clear departure from MachineGames\u2019 previous work, and the experience looks all the better for its unique approach. At the center of it all is Indy\u2019s journal. Serving as a menu system of sorts, it\u2019s here where you\u2019re able to collate various scraps of information throughout your journal. Say you find a note tucked away on one table, then a key elsewhere in a bar; reflecting over your journal may help you piece together how the two are related and what secrets they may unlock. Indy also carries around a camera, letting you snap quick pics of various artifacts, enemies, or particular sites of intrigue. In doing so, you\u2019re able to learn a bit more about the subject in focus, further pushing not only the narrative, but tons of optional content too. Rather than holding your hand through much of the game\u2019s adventure, the onus appears to be on the player more often than not. It\u2019s on you to figure out solutions for puzzles. It\u2019s your job to unravel bigger mysteries by connecting the dots. While the golden path is sure to lay things out in a simple enough manner, tons of optional content may be completely missed if you\u2019re not exploring every nook and cranny and intuitively figuring out the next steps, just as Indy would. Just like the films, the game is indeed very heavy on puzzles. Expect plenty of head-scratching as you reflect light in the right directions, place the right artifacts on the right pedestals, adjust paintings to the correct angle, it\u2019s all core to the overall pace of the game. All up, it looks to be an authentic take on the heroic figure, one that places much more of an emphasis on this adventure-style gameplay than the action. Though that\u2019s not to say there isn\u2019t still plenty of Nazis to rid the world of. Whip-cracking combat Set between Raiders and the Last Crusade, this is Indy at his best. Then 38 years old, he\u2019s seen a great deal already and just at the tail end of his physical prime, so there\u2019s plenty of action at hand and he\u2019s not shying away from any of it. Hand to hand combat is the biggest focal point, with far more to it than just button mashing. Indy has an array of different strikes to throw, with timing and combinations both vital. Of course, enemies can block and dodge before returning some strikes too, so there\u2019s a balance of offense and defense in any one on one encounter. Mixing up your attacks, you\u2019ve always got Indy\u2019s trusty whip to fall back on too, and he does carry a revolver around. Just don\u2019t expect this to be a true FPS with Indy carrying around a dozen magazines for a full-auto rifle, that\u2019s not true to the character and not what MachineGames is striving for here. That said, you can indeed pick up weapons in the environment. So if you\u2019re quick on your feet, whipping an SMG out of the hands of a Nazi can make it yours in short order. Beyond guns, a great deal of work has been put into combat environments too, giving you plenty of options in how to approach any given fight. In one stage you might pick up a beer bottle and bash it over the head of an enemy nearby. In another, you might find a brick, a wrench, whatever it might be. There\u2019s almost always something to grab to put the odds in your favor. Much like the Wolfenstein games too, stealth is a key component here. While it\u2019s unclear if combat is entirely optional in some scenarios, it does look like you can sneak past certain encounters if you time things right. Making this a true Indy experience, however, devs have taken some inspiration from the Hitman franchise with a clever disguise system. Much like how Agent 47 can don different attire to suit the mission at hand, Indy can dress himself up in different outfits to help approach whatever sticky situation he\u2019s in. Not only can this help you access areas you otherwise wouldn\u2019t be able to, but it seems to help avoid combat as well, as you simply walk right past enemies without them batting an eye. While it all comes together to form a well-rounded package that represents the hallmarks of the franchise, it\u2019s not without its downsides too. In particular, traversal does look quite rigid in the gameplay we\u2019ve seen. Not that Indy\u2019s ever been a parkour expert, but maneuvering through the environment isn\u2019t quite as smooth as you\u2019d want it. The worst offender is when the whip comes into play while moving through the stage. Anytime you\u2019re latched onto a surface, the game jumps from first-person to a third-person perspective. While this camera trick seems solid enough in slow-paced, purely exploration-focused chunks of the game, it simply isn\u2019t appealing in the opposite scenarios. When intensity ratchets up and you\u2019re swinging from one ledge to another to quickly get the jump on an enemy, having this bizarre pullback and push forward in the span of a few seconds is far from ideal. The same applies when in fast-paced action set-pieces too, especially if you\u2019re jumping across gaps one after another. So while it\u2019s quite rough as it stands today, hopefully there\u2019s a solution before the game\u2019s finished off. It\u2019s worth mentioning the \u2018Adventure Points\u2019 system too. Clever naming, right? Unlike other games that do away with progression systems and virtual currencies, Indy is weirdly leaning into it. Every relic you unearth, every activity you complete, it all accrues a certain amount of Indy XP, so to speak. These Adventure Points can then be exchanged for new skills and upgrades that make Indy even more Indy. Admittedly, it\u2019s a core pillar in plenty other contemporary titles, but the lack of creativity here leaves plenty to be desired. Can\u2019t we just have a regular globe-trotting adventure without the need for progression systems? As for the rest of the game\u2019s issues in this preview build, well on that, I\u2019m not so optimistic about a quick fix. Running away from that boulder Release details for The Great Circle have been oddly hard to come by. When the first proper gameplay dropped earlier this year, Microsoft committed to a 2024 release. We\u2019re now in August without a set date, yet even in this preview, devs remain steadfast. That gives us a four-month window to work with from this point, obviously not much time at all in the world of game development. While we\u2019ve praised the authentic game design and its consistency with the overall franchise, it\u2019s crucial to note an evident lack of polish this close to its planned launch. For a current-gen-only title, it looks to be struggling quite a bit when it comes to performance. Texture pop-in was extremely noticeable throughout the presentation, as was overall render distance. There looks to be some odd motion blurring and depth of field effects to try mitigate the issues, but they\u2019re nonetheless apparent. Obviously this is an early build and there\u2019s still time, but not much of it. With the window closing on 2024, I\u2019m just not entirely confident this one will be in the best shape at launch, should it be pushed out in a few short weeks. A delay to 2025 could help immensely. Not for nothing, I also tried asking four relatively straightforward questions about the game in a developer Q&A. Not a single one was approved, so make of that what you will. To me, it shows the team is still oddly keeping cards close to their chest, despite now being the time to really start divulging information, if it is indeed committed to a 2024 release. We\u2019ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out in the coming weeks. For now, Indy fans can rest assured they\u2019ve got an authentic Indy experience on the way here. As a lifelong fan, I\u2019m thrilled with how it\u2019s all been approached. But for everyone else, as a fan of the industry, I\u2019m concerned The Great Circle may need a little more time in the oven, and it\u2019s not getting it. I\u2019d love nothing more than to be proven wrong later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a faithful but flawed experience BethesdaWhile a new look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle revealed some clever gameplay systems that nail the tone of a classic Indy adventure, I can\u2019t escape the concern MachineGames is having to rush this one out the door. It\u2019s been 15 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}