MachineGames is working on a sequel to a game that was timeless and unforgettable in its time, and growing up to that will be no easy task…
Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick spoke in an interview on the Lucasfilm website about how much he loved Todd Howard’s concept, as he serves as game producer on the next adventure of the beloved treasure hunter: “For an Indiana Jones adventure to really shine, world-class, you need a journey that has a strong historical element… something grounded in reality but shrouded in mystery or relevance. Todd Howard and the MachineGames team struck gold with The Great Circle by centering the story on a real-life mystery: several ancient sites around the world form a perfect, unbroken circle, but the reason for this alignment has not been revealed for centuries.
The more I learned, the more fascinated I became with the idea. We looked at what trinkets could be tied to these locations and how each location could be authentically presented within the context of Indy’s life. “The process of exploration and discovery fueled the game’s world building from the start, ensuring that every aspect of the story was true to the character and engaging for the player,” said Derek.
He also talked about how The Great Circle is intended to be a spiritual sequel to LucasArts' 1992 game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (which was a point-and-click adventure game): “From uncovering the central mystery of the story and investigating it to solving unique situations along the way to avoiding traps that hold the secrets of the world, we wanted players to use their wits before their strength, although beating up the 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. “The game is about thinking, exploring, finding clues and sometimes a little bit of luck to get past traps, tombs and various threats – all while capturing the great Saturday night atmosphere of an Indiana Jones adventure,” Derek added.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on December 9 for Xbox Series X and PC (it will also be available on Xbox Game Pass), and it's already official that a PlayStation 5 port is in the works (presumably by Disney at their request: they also own Lucasfilm Games), which will arrive sometime in the spring.
