Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a project in which many companies came together to create something special. As we’ve known for a while, the idea came from Bethesda Game Studios and Elder Scrolls/Fallout/Starfield franchise director Todd Howard, who then selected MachineGames to develop the game. Of course, since the franchise belongs to Lucasfilm, they had to be involved, too.
In an interview published on Lucasfilm.com, Lucasfilm Games Executive Producer Craig Derrick praised Howard’s concept:
For an Indiana Jones adventure to truly shine, it needs a globe-trotting journey with a strong historical element—something grounded in reality yet wrapped in mystique or relevance. With The Great Circle, Todd Howard and the team at MachineGames struck gold by centering the story on a real-world mystery: a number of ancient sites around the world align on a perfect, unbroken circle, yet the reason behind this alignment has eluded people for centuries.
The more I learned, the more fascinated I became with the idea. We delved into what kind of MacGuffin could be linked to all these sites and how each location could be authentically represented within the context of Indy’s life. This process of exploration and discovery fueled the world-building of the game from the very beginning, ensuring that each aspect of the story was both true to the character and engaging for the player.
Later in the interview, Derrick named a specific inspiration for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: 1992’s point-and-click adventure title Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
From uncovering and investigating the central mystery of the story to tackling unique situations along the way and outsmarting traps designed to keep the world’s secrets hidden. We wanted the player’s primary focus to be on using their brains before their brawn, although punching bad guys is also a lot of fun. In many ways, we envisioned this game as a spiritual successor to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and other classic adventure games. It’s about thinking, discovering, tracking down clues, and sometimes just a bit of luck to get through the various traps, tombs, and threats encountered—all while capturing that over-the-top Saturday matinee feel that defines an Indiana Jones adventure.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches on December 9 for PC and Xbox Series S|X, while a PS5 version has been confirmed to be in development for Spring 2025. On PC, the game will support full-fledged path tracing and NVIDIA DLSS 3.5.
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