Highlights
- Microsoft's 2024 Developer Direct unveiled new details about Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, including the game's release window and first-person perspective.
- The Great Circle needs to get the whip combat right to capture the spirit of the franchise and allow players to engage in iconic Indy action sequences.
- The whip in The Great Circle will serve multiple purposes, including traversal, combat, and distraction, and has the potential for dynamic action sequences if implemented faithfully.
Microsoft's 2024 Developer Direct unveiled more details about Indiana Jones and The Great Circle than any teaser before it. The trailer and overview presents fans with a lovingly crafted world that appears to capture the classic sense of adventure inherent to the franchise. However, there's one element that The Great Circle absolutely has to get right.
A Bethesda-published Indiana Jones game was announced back in 2021. The 2024 Xbox Developer Direct unveiled The Great Circle's 2024 release window and a smorgasbord of new footage for the game. This included the reveal of the title's full name and its first-person perspective. The Great Circle, taking place between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, will have Indy adventuring across the world to investigate a phenomenon where numerous sites of significance align in a circle around the globe.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's Place on the Timeline Explained
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been revealed, and every facet of it hearkens back to golden age Indy - including its place on the timeline.
The Great Circle Needs To Get Whip Combat Right
To cement this adventure as an all-time Indy classic, The Great Circle will need to capture everything that comes to mind when the fantasy of the franchise is thought of. The character of Indiana Jones has been faithfully recreated, with painstaking detail in creating Harrison Ford's likeness alongside Troy Baker's fantastic voice impression. Trailer footage has also shown all the ways players will be able to put themselves in Indy's shoes, from solving puzzles to escaping perilous traps in ancient ruins. In addition, plenty of time was given to how Indy's iconic whip will be used in the title, something that The Great Circle needs to get right to capture the spirit of the series.
What We Know About Indy's Whip In The Great Circle
Indy's whip was front-and-center in The Great Circle's original teaser—and the understanding of its significance has continued into the latest trailer. MachineGames' gameplay overview told fans that the whip's main purposes will lie in traversal, combat, and distraction. The gameplay footage so far revealed has confirmed this, with Indy using his whip to swing around, traverse ziplines, and attack foes. There appears to be at least two ways of attacking with the whip, as the footage shows Indy using it to trip one combatant and pull another toward him.
The Great Circle Needs To Capture the Indy Fantasy With Its Whip Mechanics
These features give fans much reason to put faith in how MachineGames will represent the whip. Allowing gamers to topple and grapple enemies with the whip will play into fantasies of filling the adventurer's shoes. Cracking the iconic bullwhip and sending goons to the ground with a Wilhelm scream already looks like great fun. In addition, the potential utility could make for some death-defying mid-action strategies typical to Indiana Jones flicks. It's unclear as to how swinging will work and what can-and-can't be latched onto—but if there's enough room for player experimentation, it could allow for some truly dynamic action sequences.
However, there's still a great deal of pressure for the weapon to be implemented as faithfully as possible. The Great Circle is not only the first game in the franchise after a 12-year gap, but it's coming off the back of box office disaster Dial of Destiny. The contentious fifth entry in the franchise puts it on the shoulders of The Great Circle to 'redeem' the series. Considering how central the whip is to Indy's identity, it needs to have all the trimmings expected of it.
In this respect, the whip should allow players to do most of what it's known for in the films. This has already been seen to some extent, but the use of the whip to disarm enemies or to keep them back would be a solid addition. With how much the medium of gaming has been inspired by Indiana Jones, The Great Circle is an opportunity for Indy himself and his most iconic tool to get their best videogame depiction yet.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny releases in 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
