Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is celebrating its one-year anniversary today, December 9, 2025. Below, we look back at how it uniquely translated the adventurous and comedic spirit of the original movies in video game form.
There are several expectations that come with an Indiana Jones video game–it’s a legacy franchise and a known quantity, having chugged along across various media since the franchise’s inception in 1981. Among the checklist items for any Indy game are whip-swinging traversal, puzzle-solving in exotic locales, and fascist-punching action.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle certainly has all of the expected elements, but studio MachineGames went far beyond what anyone thought an Indiana Jones video game could be. In a post-Uncharted world, it would be hard to blame a AAA studio if it just followed Naughty Dog’s cinematic game formula, made Indiana Jones basically Nathan Drake with a fedora, and called it a day with little shame.
