Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Is The Missing Raiders Sequel Everyone Wanted
Filling in the gaps.
There’s a secret level in the new immersive first-person game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. In it, the famous opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark are faithfully recreated, from Indy brushing the spider off Satipo’s back, to the moment where the gold idol is switched, and, of course, the massive boulder that chases Indy out of the temple. Fans are posting side-by-side screenshots of the game and film, and the result is impressive.
But the Raiders tribute is really just the tip of the spear when it comes to what makes The Great Circle such a treat for Indy fans. While the gameplay is excellent and the historical mystery immersive, the most crucial detail is the way the game positions itself as a direct sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. You may think sequels to Raiders already exist, but within the Indy timeline, none of the films are really proper follow-ups. That means The Great Circle is doing something the movie franchise hasn’t been able to do for over four decades.
The Great Circle is set in 1937, one year after Raiders. The Last Crusade is set in 1938, the flashbacks in Dial of Destiny are in 1944, and the majority of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in 1957. And although it was released after Raiders, The Temple of Doom occurs before it, in 1935. So when it comes to Indy’s development as a character, there’s been very little to tackle the fallout of his experiences in Raiders. Spinoff books have referenced it, but until now, we’ve never seen the direct aftermath of Indy and Marion’s reunion.
In The Great Circle, Indy is troubled by Marion’s absence, and we learn that things didn’t quite work out between them at the end of Raiders. Indy’s angst about this failure informs much of the game. Would he have taken on this assignment if he wasn’t feeling restless? Marion isn’t mentioned in The Last Crusade, which always felt strange. The Great Circle goes a long way towards fixing that, without having off-screen relationship dynamics crowd the story. The game treats Indy like a real person, which means he’s a little fragile throughout his adventure.
This isn’t to say The Great Circle is a simulation about Indy working out his post-breakup depression, but relative to the other movies, this is the closest to a raw Indy we’ve ever seen. It’s also the first time we’ve got a version of Indy who’s just back from his biggest adventure of all. The world-ending stakes of Raiders were never really topped in any of the other movies, and now Indy, fresh from retrieving the Ark of the Covenant, has to figure out what the rest of his career and life looks like.
Indy (Harrison Ford) and Marion (Karen Allen) in (relatively) happier times.
So while The Great Circle gives Indy a new companion in Gina Lombardi (Alessandra Mastronardi), we’re still getting a proper post-Raider Indy for the first time. It also helps that although Harrison Ford doesn’t voice Indy, veteran video game actor Troy Baker does a spot-on impersonation. Gamers will know Baker’s work from The Last of Us and Uncharted, but for movie fans, he sounds just like the Dr. Jones we know and love.
The Great Circle is a spectacular game, but it’s also a piece of Indiana Jones lore we never knew we needed. And given its success, we wouldn’t be surprised if MachineGames tries to fill in another gap in Indy’s story some day soon.
