The wait for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is almost over — the game launches on December 9th — so developer MachineGames is providing a deeper look at how the archaeological adventure will actually play. The Wolfenstein studio released a nearly 15-minute-long video, which seems to give a very good idea of what to expect in the full release. That includes plenty of cryptic puzzle solving inside of ancient ruins, and lots of using a whip in both combat and traversal.
While the exploration is obviously at the heart of the game, the new video makes it look like there will be quite a bit of variety to the combat as well. The hand-to-hand brawling looks a bit like a boxing game, but you can combine it with the whip to pull enemies towards you like Scorpion in Mortal Kombat. And there are plenty of other fun details, like an excellent adventure journal and an old-school camera that can take photos and provide puzzle hints. If nothing else, it should fill that Tomb Raider or Uncharted shaped hole in your gaming time.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is arguably Xbox’s biggest release of the year, following other notable first-party games like Hellblade II, Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion, and the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. While it’s coming to Xbox and PC this year (it’ll be on Game Pass day one), the Great Circle will also be launching on the PS5 in the spring of 2025.