For a character like Indiana Jones, adventure and exploration are prerequisites. This means putting exploration at the core of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle was a must for developer MachineGames. However, the nature of open-world games, so often synonymous with exploration, means they can often be lacking in the narrative department. A more linear experience allows for better pacing, so the development team has attempted to strike a balance between the two, to create the best possible experience.
In a recent interview, Game Rant caught up with Indiana Jones and The Great Circle‘s design director Jens Andersson. He opened up on how the game attempts to mix linear segments with bigger, explorable areas, ensuring there is ample exploration and plenty of secrets for players to uncover in true Indy style.
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Indiana Jones and The Great Circle’s Structure Explained
Indy’s quests usually involve mystical artifacts that are hidden away in a variety of exotic locations. Finding them is never easy, and his appetite for discovery is something that MachineGames wanted to replicate within Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. Balancing this with a tight, fluid narrative is a difficult task, but Andersson explained that having a mixed structure within the game’s missions allows for this:
”We knew from the start that we wanted to create a game that had both bombastic rollercoaster sections as well as areas where you can explore more freely. Having intense action sequences is such a big part of the movies, so we just needed good ones that worked well as a video game. These linear sections are also great for the twists and turns in the story because you can control the pacing better.”
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Has Plenty of Secrets to Discover
Exploration in video games is usually rewarded, but that reward can take many forms. Players will often find a piece of loot, currency, or even, in some cases, entirely new areas hidden away in the far reaches of the game’s map. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle aims to take this a step further by substantially improving the rewards on offer for those who seek them out. Andersson explained that the game’s emphasis on puzzles and mystery also tied into the exploration:
”The open areas are more about serving exploration, giving the player the opportunity to roam free and explore and to discover secrets. The sense of wonder you get by finding an ancient scorpion-infested tomb in the deserts of Gizeh is much stronger if you didn’t know it was there in the first place. We wanted to encourage players who walk in the opposite direction, not only by a random collectible, but by regularly giving them something more substantial, like a mystery to solve or a puzzle to tinker with.”
Some of the game’s hidden secrets will lead players to uncover new abilities for Indy, and the fact that these abilities, some of which could substantially affect the way the game is played, could potentially be completely missed is an extra incentive for players to find them. If MachineGames sticks the landing, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is on course to be the most immersive Indy video game ever released.
Uncover one of history’s greatest mysteries in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle™, a first-person, single-player adventure set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. The year is 1937, sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power known as the Great Circle, and only one person can stop them – Indiana Jones. You’ll become the legendary archaeologist in this cinematic action-adventure game from MachineGames, the award winning studio behind the recent Wolfenstein series, and executive produced by Hall of Fame game designer Todd Howard.
- Released
- December 9, 2024