A New Look at the Upcoming Indiana Jones Game
We got our first real look at the Indiana Jones game that Todd Howard is producing earlier this month, and it looks great so far. According to an interview by Austin Wood of Gamesradar, Todd Howard has been trying to get this game made for over a decade. "I'd had this idea for what it would be like, and the story, what Indy was going after, what period of his life it was in, what kind of arc he was going to have. And as the years went on, I thought, 'Who would be the best studio in the world to make this?' And it was my friends at MachineGames."( Although Howard is the executive producer, the game is being made by MachineGames.) There has been speculation as to if Howard even wanted the game to be announced as soon as it was, but because of the very public FTC vs Microsoft case, there were emails that had been made public. In one of those emails, Pete Hines states: "Anyone who has seen the pitch has immediately said, 'oh my god, I have to play that game right now.” He also goes on to say that the game independent from the films and that Howard is possibly one of the biggest Indiana Jones fans out there. These are two good signs for potential fans, as games made with passion often have a special touch that others can’t quite capture. It may have not been public knowledge the way it was intended, but that doesn’t mean gamers aren’t still very exited for it.
The trailer itself had limited gameplay and was edited more like a cinematic movie trailer. Because of the beloved IP involved, that was probably a good call to get as many eyes and ears on the trailer as possible. This move might even recruit those who might not be huge gamers, but are devoted fans of Indiana Jones. The Steam page confirms that the game will be set in 1937, when Indie is a young man in the peak of his adventuring career. The description notes that “sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power connected to the Great Circle”. This supports the usual good vs evil scenario that Indiana often finds himself in. The game starts with the theft of an important artifact by a man named Locus played by Tony Todd.
The game is named after the central main plot. The trailer introduces this by showing a glimpse of Indiana Jones drawing a globe and dividing it in half. He narrates: “Mankind had built sites of great spiritual significance. If you were to draw a line through these ancient sites around the globe, you’d get a perfectly aligned circle.” The theory is not made up for the game, but rather it’s a real theory that some archeologists have developed. Following some riveting and true-to-character whip sequences, Indiana is shown reading a snippet of script off a stone tablet. He reads, ““Patron of the fallen angels, protector of the circuli magni”… “the great circle”” This last piece on information suggests that there is something (religion/cult/movement) bigger and possibly ancient that is already aware of this theory that will no doubt become a very important point in the plot.
The trailer shows many locations as points of interest including Marshall College, Vatican City, Egypt, Thailand, the Himalayas, and perhaps even China. The companions of the game are introduced as Gina Lombardi (Alessandra Mastronardi) an investigative journalist, and Marcus Brody a British Archaeologist and returning character who is also in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. The main bad guy is Emmerich Voss ( Marios Gavrilis) a Nazi who is also interested in the secrets of the Great Circle. Indiana Jones himself is voiced by Troy Baker, who did a great job on the lines we got from this trailer. He does sound pretty close to a young Harrison Ford, whose likeness was used for the game.
