Lucasfilm and Machine Games are making an Indiana Jones game called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but what even is a Great Circle?
Game director Jerk Gustafsson said in a blog post that a “‘great circle’ is any circle that divides a sphere in half,” and Earth’s best-known one is the equator. These “great circles” are used in aviation for navigation purposes, he pointed out. There is a “very real and mysterious” great circle on Earth that connects many historical sites such as Giza, Easter Island, Sukhothai, Nazca, and more.
“Their connection has remained a mystery, and this provides the perfect adventure for our game,” Gustafsson said.
The Great Circle takes place in 1937 and is set between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. “We wanted to explore where Indy would be at this time, having just separated from Marion, being sort of lost again, adrift in his own obsessions with his work,” Gustafsson said.
The game takes place in a first-person perspective, with some third-person elements. The game’s Steam page mentions that there will be a “dynamic mix of linear, narrative-driven gameplay and open-area maps” featuring traps, puzzles, enemies, and Indiana Jones’ most feared reptile: snakes.
The game will also of course feature the adventurer’s trademark whip, and Gustafsson spoke about the lengths that Machine Games went to in its development. The team opted to create a “fully simulated whip, which made it challenging from a technical perspective, but we gained that gritty and realistic feel to it that is so important to us.”
Troy Baker voices Indiana Jones in The Great Circle, with Tony Todd portraying someone named Locus. Batman voice actor Marios Gavrilis plays the villain, Emmerich Voss, and Alessandra Mastronardi (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) plays Gina.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches in 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. It’ll be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
