Game News Video Games Reviews & News
Related Articles
The Indiana Jones game was a surprise reveal in January last year, and we’re sorry to say that beyond an intriguing teaser trailer we haven’t had much more in the way of details since then. Could E3 2022 be the time for MachineGames and Bethesda to finally reveal more about their new archaeology adventure game? We’re studying the E3 2022 schedule like it’s an ancient map to lost treasure.
The Indiana Jones game is being developed by MachineGames – the studio behind the rebooted Wolfenstein series – in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. MachineGames’ twisted sense of humor could be the perfect match for the hero that enjoys a oneliner as much as a gunfight, and it definitely knows how to make action addictive. Then there’s the official announcement on StarWars.com promising “a wholly original, standalone tale set at the height of the career of the famed adventurer.” That height of the career bit suggests you can cross “angsty teen Jones” or “grizzled old Jones” off your Indiana Jones game bingo cards.
Indiana Jones game teaser video
pic.twitter.com/XSaIwjgiOFJanuary 12, 2021
See more
The announcement of the new Indiana Jones game came in the form of a teaser video that was packed full of tantalizing hints about where the Indiana Jones game might take us.
There are lots of things we’d expect to see, a passport, the hat, the whip. More intriguing are what appears to be a plane ticket to Rome and the date 1937. That date places the game’s timeline between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. From the date and location, we can expect Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini to merit at least a mention in the game, and the notes on the desk also hint at links to the Vatican and the US government.
The books on show are Ancient Circles, Myths that Made, and Forbidden Stones. Rome isn’t exactly short on ruins or a history of myths and legends for the game to pull from, but the links to the Vatican suggest Indie could once again be on the trail of a holy relic. As our writer Alyssa Mercante noted in her Indiana Jones game teaser trailer deep dive, Italy is home to prehistoric stone walls dotted across called Cyclopean Ruins, birthed stories that the lands were once inhabited by giants. Some of those Cyclopean Ruins can be found just outside Rome in west-central Italy.
Indiana Jones game release date
“A new Indiana Jones game with an original story is in development from our studio, MachineGames, and will be executive produced by Todd Howard, in collaboration with LucasfilmGames,” tweeted (opens in new tab) Bethesda when the game was announced.
“It’ll be some time before we have more to reveal, but we’re very excited to share today’s news!”
So no release date was given for the game. We’re still waiting for updates on space RPG Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, so the Indiana Jones game joins the significant slate of upcoming Bethesda titles that we’re desperate to know more about.
While we don’t have an exact release date right now, there is a new Indiana Jones movie in production. While the film was slated to release in 2022, it’s since been delayed to June 30, 2023. If Bethesda wants to tie into the hype of the movie, it could be some time until we see the game release.
Indiana Jones game release platform
Because this is a Bethesda title, the new Indiana Jones game could be an Xbox Series X and PC exclusive. Which begs the question of whether PS5 players will get a chance to play the Indiana Jones game. Microsoft bought Bethesda for $7.5 billion last year, the exclusivity of all its future titles in doubt.
A recent podcast suggested that the game would be an Xbox exclusive, but that hasn’t been confirmed by Bethesda as of yet.
Indiana Jones game developer
The new Indiana Jones game is a collaboration between MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games.
“We’re developing a new Indiana Jones video game!” MachineGames tweeted (opens in new tab). “As huge fans of the franchise, it’s a tremendous honor for us to create a brand-new Indiana Jones game with a completely original story. We’re very excited and can’t wait to share more in the future!”
MachineGames is known for its reboot of the Wolfenstein series – so it has experience with characters who like punching fascists – and it’s a safe bet that the Indiana Jones game will be first-person, and heavy on the action.
Indiana Jones is also famous for his encounters with the Nazis, and MachineGames has had plenty of fun finding new and horrible ways to dispatch history’s greatest villains in the Wolfenstein games. B.J. Blazkowicz has used everything from laser weapons to a super-soldier body with built-in stilts. It’s likely Indiana Jones will stick to more traditional methods of fighting fascists, using his whip, his pistol, and his knack for survival to take on any enemies he may encounter.
What we want from the Indiana Jones game
First of all, here’s hoping that the collaboration with LucasFilm means that Indiana Jones will at least look like Harrison Ford. There’s nothing worse than loading up a game based on an iconic movie series only to see a generic handsome dude replacing the hero you were hoping for. Expecting Mr. Ford to record all the dialogue is a bigger leap – it’s hard to imagine he’s in need of work offers these days – but we’ll take a perfect looking Indiana and a decent vocal impression over an unrecognizable face.
We also want to see Indiana Jones’ ingenuity reflected in the gameplay. The movies were never about him just racing in and shooting up the place, he employed a mixture of stealth, disguises, and puzzle-solving to track down treasures, and was more likely to grab his whip than his pistol when it came to a fight. OK, fine, when it comes to the gameplay we’re basically saying we want Uncharted, but the Indiana Jones version. Is that so wrong?
Whatever Bethesda and MachineGames have in store for us, we know we’ll be waiting a while to see more. That gives us plenty of time to rewatch the movies, work on our Sean Connery impressions, and go back into the therapy to try and repress as much of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as possible.
This could be a big addition for our list of upcoming Xbox Series X games.
