Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the Best Surprise of 2024

Leave it to the world’s greatest archeologist to pull off the greatest adventure of the year! Maybe that’s a little hypebole, but Machine Games crack at the storied Nazi fighting, relic hunting franchise that frankly has seen better days has in one fell swoop dramatically improved both the standing of the Indiana Jones franchise as a whole, it’s history in videogames and the current Xbox lineup which sorely needed a big win.

And granted, to some extent this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Machine Games, known for the excellent most recent string of Wolfenstein games, knows about games where you fight Nazis and how to tell an excellent story in those games. But still, there were a lot of factors and variables where so much could’ve gone wrong. Licensed games, especially ones based on Disney properties, haven’t generally had the best track record.

Going first person for an Indiana Jones adventure certainly seemed like a bold choice where you think the obvious move would be something more akin to videogame franchises heavily inspired by Indiana Jones such as Tomb Raider and Uncharted.

Finally while this game was in development well before being owned by Microsoft, Microsoft’s first-party lineup has not been stellar for oh let’s just say the last decade. There have been good games, but not a ton and not many that would be Game of The Year contenders (and you never know what decisions Microsoft would make about such a game when it came under their portfolio).

In going such a different direction than expected though, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reminds us that indeed, Professor Henry Jones Jr. is not Nathan Drake or Lara Croft. He’s not someone who can or will murder hundreds of people in the course of infiltrating some ancient city. He’s athletic but he’s not superhuman as those characters tend to be. He is at the end of the day, just a dude who gets by on a lot of charm, wit and luck and Machine Games really drilled down on this to make a game that emphasizes this and nails just about every aspect.

And that alone would have been enough for a fantastic game all on its own. But the extra wrapping, the bow tied on top of it all is how much Indiana Jones and The Great Circle captures the vibe of Indiana Jones. A big part of that is certainly Troy Baker in the title role who does an insanely good impression of Harrison Ford. But it’s also callbacks, small details how everything looks and feels and the music, and perhaps most surprisingly, the humor.

Indiana Jones movies have plenty of enjoyable and funny moments. I feel like 99% of games that are based on the franchise, directly or otherwise, do not realize this or incorporate it well enough. It’s an adventure, even if the stakes are big you can have fun and funny moments. That’s what helped make those first three movies so special and it’s a big part of what makes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle so special.

You may think your year is already wrapped up for videogames, and admittedly, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle came pretty late to the party. But if you have a way to play it right now (i.e. either on a current Xbox platform or PC) I cannot recommend it enough it’s easily the best game based on a Disney property this year. Probably the best Indiana Jones game to date and a very strong late contender for best game of 2024. Even if you gotta wait for the PS5 version next year do not miss out on Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.

That’s all for today. I definitely have a plan to post late next week but with it being this close to Christmas there’s always a chance I may not get around to it but then there will certainly be at least one more post before the end of the year so see ya real soon!