MachineGames may have been strongly associated with first-person shooters over the years thanks to its work on the Wolfenstein series, but as the developer has made abundantly clear by now, its next game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn’t going to be one, even though it is first-person and is going to have guns.
In a recent interview with Edge magazine (via GamesRadar), creative director Axel Torvenius spoke about the same, explaining that the upcoming action-adventure title doesn’t “encourage gunplay”, with the focus being on “trying to use your wits and your whip.”
“We do not encourage gunplay,” Torvenius said. “It’s not being pushed as the primary way forward. The primary way forward is always trying to use your wits and your whip.”
Torvenius went on to talk about how having an Indiana Jones game focused on shooting wouldn’t have felt true to the character, before shedding more light on how the Great Circle will try to “emphasize the danger level” of using a gun.
“Indy doesn’t have superpowers. Very often, you can tell that it’s not easy for him to be in a fight,” he said. “At the end of the day, he’s a teacher and a somewhat clumsy archeologist. He just happens to have this passion that puts him in these weird situations constantly with enemies and traps.
“It wouldn’t be true to the character to have him constantly shooting camps for all enemies constantly, and the team at MachineGames wants to emphasize the danger level. We’ve been trying to capture that sense that, if you need to engage in combat, it’s very dangerous to be shot at. It’s also very dangerous to shoot at enemies, because they will have an alarm system and reinforcements coming in.”
Game director Jerk Gustafsson went on to add that though the game will have plenty of guns in it, given how “loud and dangerous” they are, players will be encouraged to adopt a variety of different options- like using guns as melee weapons.
“We have a game where there’s plenty of guns in there but you choose not to use them, because it’s too loud and it’s too dangerous,” he said. “You can pick up a gun and switch it to use as a melee weapon. That’s a very in-character use of a gun for Indiana Jones.”
Clearly, even though first-person shooters have been MachineGames’ bread and butter in the past, the studio is looking to deliver a different kind of gameplay experience with its next title- one that feels truer to the property that it is based on. For instance, the game is also set to feature open areas with immersive sim-style elements and even social stealth mechanics. Read more on that through here.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches for Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9, and for PS5 in Spring 2025.