Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Set between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, The Great Circle sends Indy from the Vatican to Giza to the Himalayas to Shanghai, chasing Nazi archaeologist Emmerich Voss across ancient sites that form a mysterious 'Great Circle' around the globe. MachineGames. The studio behind the modern Wolfenstein games. Brings their first-person expertise to a franchise that most people forgot had games. The result is a globe-trotting adventure that genuinely captures the feel of an Indiana Jones film, complete with the whip-swinging, puzzle-solving, and improvised combat that defines the character.

The level design alternates between linear story sections and larger sandbox areas. Vatican City, the pyramids of Giza, the ruins of Sukhothai. Each packed with secrets, side quests, and environmental puzzles. The whip doubles as a traversal tool and combat weapon, and MachineGames' emphasis on improvised melee combat over gunplay sells the fantasy perfectly. Indy reaches for a frying pan before a pistol, and that's exactly right. The camera from the film series makes an appearance as a hint system, and the lighter illuminates dark areas in a way that adds tension without being gimmicky.

The first-person perspective will be divisive. Some players will never fully adjust to not seeing Indy, even with the third-person cutscenes and whip-swinging sequences. The stealth sections occasionally feel like they belong in a different game, and the AI can be comically oblivious or unfairly perceptive with no middle ground. But MachineGames' reverence for the source material shines through every frame, and the game earned its spot as the highest-rated Xbox console exclusive of 2024. Tied with Raiders of the Lost Ark on Metacritic. Not bad for a video game adaptation.