Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a 2024 action-adventure video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is based on the Indiana Jones franchise and features an original narrative set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). The story follows archaeologist Indiana Jones in 1937 as he attempts to thwart various groups who are seeking to harness a power connected to the Great Circle, a group of mysterious sites around the world that form a perfect circle on a map. The game is primarily first-person, with third-person being employed for cutscenes and contextual elements such as environmental interaction. The player controls Jones as he navigates through a mix of linear, story-sensitive areas and wider, exploratory landscapes in locations such as Vatican City, the Giza pyramid complex, and Sukhothai.
Todd Howard conceived the game's story and served as an executive producer, considering the game a passion project of his. MachineGames was chosen to lead the project because of their experience creating the modern Wolfenstein games, which also involved Nazis and Axis allies as central antagonists. Development of the game lasted for more than five years. It was designed to be an "adventure-first" video game, and the team was particularly inspired by Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992). Its gameplay structure was inspired by Metro Exodus (2019), and its level design was inspired by immersive sims. Troy Baker provides the voice and motion capture of Indiana Jones, and Alessandra Mastronardi, Marios Gavrilis and Tony Todd are featured in supporting roles. Gordy Haab served as the game's composer, and its original score were recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
Bethesda and MachineGames jointly announced the game's development in January 2021, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. The game was released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in December 2024. A PlayStation 5 version was released in April 2025, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version was released in May 2026. The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the gameplay, level design, story, the performance of the cast, and its faithfulness to its source material. It attracted more than 4 million players. The game received multiple year-end nominations including Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards, as well as Best Game at the 22nd British Academy Games Awards. It received a downloadable story expansion titled The Order of Giants in September 2025.
Gameplay
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an action-adventure game, in which the player assumes control of archaeologist Indiana Jones. The game is primarily played from a first-person perspective, but switches to a third-person view for cutscenes and certain gameplay actions, such as when Jones uses his whip to swing over gaps or when climbing pipes and walls. The player can separately adjust the difficulty of the game's combat and its puzzle-solving and exploration.
Similar to immersive sims, levels in the game have alternate routes for the player to reach their objectives. Some of the levels, such as Vatican City, Gizeh and Sukhothai, are larger, sandbox locations which can be explored freely by the player. In addition to the main quest, they may encounter other non-playable characters who will give them side quests tied to the main narrative, and discover collectibles such as ancient relics and medicine bottles. Through exploration, the player can also collect Adventure Books, providing permanent boosts in the game, improving weapon performance and durability, enhancing Jones's combat skills, and increasing his health and stamina. The gameplay perks provided in Adventure Books must be unlocked using Adventure Points, which can be earned by photographing objects of interest, opening safes and chests, and collecting relics and field notes. The player may also encounter various puzzles, many of which are optional. Photographing a puzzle repeatedly using Jones's camera will provide them with additional hints for solving it. Jones eventually unlocks more tools for exploration and solving puzzles, such as a lighter for illuminating dark areas and lighting torches, and a rebreather that allows him to dive underwater.
The player can choose to use stealth tactics, such as crouching and hiding behind cover to avoid an enemy's line of sight, and hiding bodies from patrolling enemies. Disguises can be worn to access restricted areas, though some high-level enemies can see through disguises; committing crimes such as stealing or behaving menacingly will also cause a disguise to fail. Jones can pick up various objects in the world, such as shovels, wrenches and broomsticks, and use them as makeshift weapons. They can also be thrown to distract enemies. While the weapons in the game are easily broken, some can be repaired. Jones is also equipped with a revolver, though ammunition is scarce. During melee fights, Jones can punch hostile enemies with his fist, or push them away. He can also block and parry incoming attacks, or dodge them. Jones's whip can be used for traversal, puzzle-solving, and combat. Targeting the upper limbs of an enemy disarms them, while targeting their lower limbs causes them to trip and fall towards Jones. All gameplay actions, such as fighting enemies, sprinting, and climbing, consume stamina, which regenerate slowly if he rests briefly. Eating bread and fruits found in the game can provide additional bonuses to Jones's health and stamina, respectively, while using bandages restores lost health.
Plot
In 1937, Indiana Jones returns to Marshall College after leaving his fiancée Marion Ravenwood. A giant man named Locus breaks into the College, steals a cat mummy, and knocks Jones unconscious before leaving. Jones notices Locus's medallion bears a symbol resembling that of the Vatican Secret Archive and infiltrates Vatican City for answers. The city is under the control of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the Blackshirts, who have been working with Nazi German archeologist and occultist Emmerich Voss. Jones meets reporter Ginetta "Gina" Lombardi, who is investigating Voss for her sister Laura's disappearance; the two team up. They discover that a tribe of giants called the "Nephilim Order" have been covertly working for the Roman Catholic Church to protect the secret of the "Great Circle", and that the cat mummy contains a special stone related to it. Voss steals the Order's stones and flees as Jones and Gina stow away on his zeppelin. Jones then explains the Great Circle is a group of sacred religious sites across the world that form a perfect circle, and that he fears that Voss has discovered some secret to its power.
Arriving at a Nazi dig in Gizeh, Jones learns the Order has been working with Egyptians for thousands of years prior to the Catholic Church's foundation. The pair then finds the Idol of Ra to take its stone, but Voss recovers it and leaves Jones for dead in the desert. Gina rescues Jones and the pair travel to the Himalayas, where they learn the third stone has transported a Nazi battleship from South America to the Himalayas. After finding Laura frozen to death, Jones is captured by a Nazi colonel named Viktor Gantz. Gina sets off a grenade, which allows Jones to escape but sends the Nazi battleship skidding down the mountain. Jones is able to use the third stone to open a portal, transporting them to Shanghai in the midst of the Japanese invasion of the city, where Gantz dies. After hijacking a Japanese fighter plane, the pair travel to the nearest Great Circle ruin in Sukhothai, Siam. Locus confronts them during their search, warning that the Great Circle's secret must never come to light, but Jones ignores his warnings. Voss attacks them as Jones collects the stone. As they escape, Gina is captured.
Seeing that Jones attaches more importance to Gina than the stones, Locus helps him follow Voss's trail. At the last site for the Great Circle, the Ziggurat of Ur, Locus summons the Nephilim Order to attack the Nazis, allowing Jones to rescue Gina. Ignoring Locus's warnings, the pair travel deeper and find Noah's Ark. Voss captures them and reveals that the Great Circle is related to all of the flood myths in history, with God granting Noah the power of the Great Circle to travel around the world to collect two of every animal and eventually repopulate the world. Voss intends to use this power to help the Nazis take over the world. Voss activates the Great Circle's power, causing another Great Flood. Voss brawls with Jones before being killed by the unstable power of the Ark. Locus teleports the Ark away through another portal, averting the flood. Afterwards, despite sharing feelings for each other, Gina parts ways with Jones for the sake of her career.
In a secret ending, Jones discovers a hidden mural showing all of the locations on the Great Circle pointing to the South Pole. There, footprints in the snow are seen leading away from Noah's Ark, suggesting that Locus has survived.
The Order of Giants The Order of Giants downloadable content takes place during the Vatican City portion of the main game. Indiana Jones encounters Father Orlando Ricci, a young scholar who is researching a legendary figure known as the Nameless Crusader. The Nameless Crusader's helmet and armor were ensconced in a secret chamber under a palace built by Pope Paul IV. Ricci was barred from the palace and he prevails upon Jones to search it and then visit him at his family estate in Rome to share his findings. Jones locates the armor and a key that opens a passage to the underground tomb of a giant named Junia, which holds the first of three pieces of a carved stone cylinder.
As he travels to Ricci's estate, Jones notices that Mussolini's Blackshirts are also looking for Ricci. Ricci and Jones deduce that the other two pieces of the cylinder can also be found in the secret tombs of two other giants: Abgal, an undefeated gladiator known as "the Minotaur," and Gibborim, the Nameless Crusader. Jones retrieves the cylinder pieces while encountering members of a modern Cult of Mithras lurking in Rome's sewers.
The cylinder reveals that it is a key to the resting chamber of the still-living Abgal. Ricci absconds with the cylinder and is exposed as the head of the Cult of Mithras. Ricci's goal has been to find Abgal and sacrifice him to gain enlightenment. Jones pursues Ricci into the temple, defeats the cult, and unseals the gate that leads to Abgal's chamber. Ricci ambushes Jones, but as the cultist attempts to stab Abgal, the giant awakens and strangles him. Abgal then raises his chamber into the center of the Colosseum and challenges Jones to a fight. Jones wins and then makes his way back to Vatican City.
Development
The game was executively produced by Todd Howard, a game director at Bethesda Game Studios known for his work on role-playing video games such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Howard, an Indiana Jones fan, had previously pitched such a game to franchise creator George Lucas around 2009, although the project did not move forward at that time, partly because Bethesda did not have the resources to develop it. In addition, Lucasfilm wanted to publish the game, a role that Bethesda sought to fill, and the two could not come to an agreement, so Howard and his team moved on to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). Since 2016, Disney, the owner of Lucasfilm, has opted not to self-publish its games and started licensing its franchises to external partners. Negotiations between Bethesda and Lucasfilm started again in 2019, after John Drake, a friend of Howard, was appointed as Disney's VP of Business Development and Licensing for Games. The Great Circle was Lucasfilm's first non-Star Wars game in years, and the first Indiana Jones game since Indiana Jones Adventure World (2011).