Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the "biggest game" MachineGames has ever made

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle preview tomb
Indiana Jones is going well beyond the boundaries of the Wolfenstein games. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

What you need to know

  • I recently saw a preview of MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, with the developers showing gameplay as Indy explores different regions around the world. 
  • During a group Q&A session following the preview, game director Jerk Gustafsson and creative director Axel Torvanius confirmed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the largest game the studio has ever made. 
  • MachineGames previously worked on multiple Wolfenstein titles, and has also contributed to remastered versions of Quake, Quake 2, and DOOM II.

Players' adventures with Indiana Jones are going to be quite substantial. 

As part of a preview for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, game director Jerk Gustafsson and creative director Axel Torvanius explained that the game is going be fairly big. While the duo eschewed providing an explicit range of playable hours to expect, they both stated that it will be the biggest game MachineGames has ever built, with Gustafsson noting that would be true even if players stuck to just the main path. 

A lot of this is due to how the game is structured. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle unfolds across multiple locations, from Egypt to the Himalayas. Some of these historical sites are linear main missions, but many also provide the opportunity for exploration. There's optional puzzles to solve and treasures to find, which can help Indy progress further as he earns more money and unlocks new skills. 

As shared during Gamescom 2024, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is launching on Dec. 9, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. A PlayStation 5 version is also coming in Spring 2025.

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MachineGames has a long history of Nazi-killing games

Voss is Indy's rival, and he's working with the Nazis. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle pits players against some less-than-scrupulous characters, including Nazis and their accomplices. Fortunately, Indy has tools like his whip and revolver at his disposal, helping to continue a long tradition of inventive Nazi-killing in MachineGames' titles. 

The studio previously worked on three Wolfenstein games, starting with Wolfenstein: The New Order in 2014. This work continued with the launch of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus in 2017, with a smaller, more experimental game, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, being co-developed with Arkane Lyon and launching in 2019.

MachineGames has also closely collaborated with its sister studio id Software under ZeniMax Media. MachineGames and id Software partner on the development of the id Tech engine, and have also worked together with the team at Nightdive on the remasters of Quake, Quake 2, and DOOM + DOOM II.

Headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, MachineGames also recently expanded with a second studio, opening another office in Sundsvall. This second studio is expected to be fully staffed in 2025.

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Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

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