Category: Video Games

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the newly titled next video game starring everyone’s favourite whip-wielding archaeologist, is set in the year 1937. But where does that place it in the grander Indy timeline? Well, we know it’s set in-between the Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, the first and third films in the original trilogy respectively. But it’s a little more complicated than just that, with other films and games coming both before and after Dr Jones’ latest adventure. Let’s take a quick look at his story so far, the artifacts he’s already discovered, and the relationships he’s forged (and broken).

What’s Come Before

The first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is set in 1936, but it isn’t actually the earliest chronologically. That would be The Temple of Doom, which takes place a year prior in 1935. Indy’s journey to deepest, darkest India would see him go in search of a mystical stone in order to help a nearby village from a dangerous cult who have been kidnapping their children and practicing black magic.

Along the way, Jones would survive attempts to have his heart stolen by the cult in honor of the Goddess Kali, but would eventually have it taken (figuratively) by Wilhelmina “Willie” Scott in a short-lived romance. Willie would not be mentioned again in the Indiana Jones series, apart from a photograph seen in the 1957-set Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so it’s unlikely we will see her resurface in the Great Circle.

Indy was seemingly very busy in 1935 though, with video game Indiana Jones and The Emperor’s Tomb also set in that year. Acting as a prequel to The Temple of Doom, it follows Indy as he goes looking for the titular tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. It also sees Jones take on what will become an all-too familiar foe for one of the first times: the Nazis.

The Nazis would once again be Indy’s opponents in the race to uncover the Ark of the Covenant in Harrison Ford’s first appearance as Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Set one year after Indy’s Asian expeditions of 1935, he would actually lose the race to find the artifact, but ultimately win by remembering to close his eyes and keep his face. This would lead to the destructive powers of the ark being stored away for safe-keeping in a cavernous government facility.

On this journey Indy would reconnect with Marion Ravenwood, a former romantic interest who would become a current one again after the two get tied up fighting the Nazis in Egypt during 1936. Despite the reigniting of their feelings, the couple wouldn’t last long together, with developer MachineGames confirming that they have separated just before the events of The Great Circle. They would eventually rekindle their relationship years down the line in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but for now Marion is out of the picture and almost certainly will not feature as part of the game.

What to Expect

That leaves Indy in a particularly lonely place in 1937 when it comes to the beginning of the Great Circle, then. Marion is nowhere to be seen and at this point in his life he’s still estranged from his father, Dr Henry Jones Sr., who he won’t reconcile with for another year yet until the events of The Last Crusade.

One familiar face who can be spotted in the reveal trailer is that of long-time friend and confidant Marcus Brody. A museum curator with a shared passion for archaeology, Brody appears in both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, so we know that he’ll survive the events of the Great Circle no matter what happens. Also, the Nazis are back to ruin Indy’s day. He loves those guys!

But what will be the objective on Indy’s adventure this time around? The circle itself seems geographical in nature rather than referring to any specific artifact. Here’s what Jerk Gustafsson, game director at MachineGames, says can be inferred from the title in an interview with Lucasfilm:

“A “great circle” is any circle that divides a sphere in half. On Earth, the most well-known one is obviously the equator. But they can exist from any point really, and are used heavily in aviation when plotting your course. It turns out there is a very real and mysterious great circle that is not the equator, but one that connects many of history’s greatest historical sites such as Giza, Easter Island, Sukhothai, Nazca, and many more. Their connection has remained a mystery, and this provides the perfect adventure for our game.”

What’s to Follow

1937 remains a mysterious chapter in Indy’s life for now then, but what we do know is what will happen the following year. The Last Crusade is the next part in Indy’s story after The Great Circle and takes place in 1938. It sees him once again facing off with the Nazis as they race to find yet another lost treasure in the lead up to World War Two, which will start one year later. That treasure is, of course, The Holy Grail, the cup of Christ that is believed to be the source of immortality. It’s an interesting choice of relic for the Third Reich, but it would be Indy who chooses wisely in the end, however, with his Nazi captors paying the ultimate price for their greed.

So, could the Great Circle somehow link to another very famous mythological item in the form of The Round Table from Arthurian legend? Could this very tangential link I’m creating to King Arthur’s Knights and the knight who guards The Holy Grail in The Last Crusade be something that triggers that quest one year later? Probably not, I’m just having a bit of fun with it.

Will the Great Circle end with Indiana Jones confronting a mob boss on a stormy Portuguese coast just like how the first 1938-set scene of the Last Crusade plays out? That’s perhaps a little more likely.

Either way, the early signs of MachineGames’ new Indiana Jones adventure look very promising and – crucially – faithful to the thrillingly adventurous nature of the two fantastic films it is bookended by chronologically. There’s plenty of 1937-set blank pages left to be filled by the Great Circle, then, when it releases later in 2024.

Simon Cardy loves Indiana Jones more than most things in this world. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.

I didn’t always love my time with Another Code: Recollection, but I love that it exists. Nintendo is generally conservative with its remakes, updating the graphics and controls while usually leaving gameplay and story largely unchanged. That’s not the case here, though, as developer Arc System Works took a huge swing with this dual remake, completely modernizing a pair of extremely niche puzzle adventure games with revamped exploration, a new third-person perspective, and a reworked script with decent voice acting. The developers clearly care about Another Code, and it’s awesome to see a huge publisher bring back a small series like this. But even with all of its improvements, Another Code: Recollection falls short of greatness due to lackluster puzzle design and a predictable story that leans too heavily on convenient amnesia tropes.

Another Code: Recollection is a full-blown remake of the 2005 DS game Trace Memory (now known in North America by its Japanese and European name, Another Code: Two Memories), and its Wii sequel, Another Code R: Journey Into Lost Memories, which hasn’t seen a North American release until now. This remake smartly treats these games as two halves of the same story, both following the endearing teenager Ashley Mizuki Robins as she works to uncover forgotten memories from her childhood.

Recollection tosses away the outdated top-down gameplay of the DS original and the strange point-and-click-sidescrolling hybrid of its Wii sequel, replacing both with a modern third-person perspective and fully explorable 3D areas. Think Life Is Strange but for a younger audience: You’ll listen to Ashley’s entertaining inner monologue as you walk around examining objects and locations, talking to characters along the way to learn more about the central mystery and advance the story. It even has some supernatural leanings like Life Is Strange, but its themes are aimed more toward young teenagers compared to its modern adventure game contemporaries.

I finished Another Code: Recollection’s fairly basic story in just over 13 hours , and Ashley is the key element that really makes it work. She’s extremely likable and relatable from start to finish, as she struggles to navigate complex relationships with her family while also dealing with classic teenage clichés like dreams of playing in a rock band. But she also expresses emotional maturity and compassion beyond her years with a genuine desire to take care of those around her. I rooted for her throughout the story, and I really hope we see her in a brand new adventure in the future.

While Ashley soars, much of the overall mystery around her falls flat. There are only a couple meaningful characters in Two Memories’ story, leading to a very predictable outcome that’s heavily foreshadowed the whole way through. Journey Into Lost Memories somewhat avoids this issue thanks to a much larger cast of characters — many of whom have enjoyable side stories that directly weave into the overall plot — but both halves still rely too heavily on tired amnesia tropes.

Most revelations take place when Ashley or another character simply happens to remember something at a convenient time, usually triggered upon entering a new location. Flashbacks occur constantly, and by the end I was exhausted by this haphazard method of storytelling, especially when the twists it’s building to were often unsurprising. The reworked ending of Journey Into Lost Memories is at least a highlight, giving Ashley’s story a stronger, warmer, more emotionally resonant sendoff, but the overall tale seems better suited for a newer audience that hasn’t experienced the twists and turns of every Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, and Life Is Strange like me.

Where Another Code: Recollection really falls short, however, is in its puzzle design. The puzzles have been completely reworked for this remake, and I was hoping for some solid brainteasers that made use of the atmospheric environments in interesting ways. But unfortunately, puzzles feel like a bit of an afterthought here. They come in a handful of varieties, but none of them are particularly exciting. There are scavenger hunts where I had to search around an area for some item I needed to progress, a few puzzles where I had to take a photo and bring it to the right location, and a lot of quick time events where you follow button prompts that appear on Ashley’s Switch-shaped gadget. There are also a couple of motion control puzzles where the gyro controls didn’t work as well as I would’ve liked them to, but thankfully those are few and far between. Puzzles feel more like fetch quests or checklists than actual challenges, which was disappointing, but they are at least all short enough that I was never stuck on their monotony for long.

What makes the underwhelming puzzles even more of a missed opportunity is the fantastic new built-in hint system. You can turn hints on or off at any time in the settings, which is great for folks who just want to bypass the puzzles completely. There are three steps to the hint system: a generic hint, a detailed hint, and finally the puzzle solution. I could choose which of these three hints I wanted to see, giving me the exact amount of help I wanted. There’s also an optional navigation tool that displays an arrow telling you exactly where to go next. But such a great hint system feels wasted when the puzzles are so basic.

Fortunately, Another Code: Recollection is about soaking up the excellent vibes and atmosphere as much as it is about the story or the puzzles. Two Memories’ mysterious mansion is begging to be explored, and Journey Into Lost Memories’ Lake Juliet instantly took me back to summer camp as a kid. I was genuinely sad to say goodbye to that place and those characters when the journey came to an end, as it perfectly captured the feeling of a chapter of childhood coming to a close.

Recollection is also lifted somewhat by its presentation. Conversations are engaging thanks to their unique comic book panel style, most scenes are well voice acted with your choice of English or Japanese dubs, and the piano-filled soundtrack is easy on the ears. Some environments could benefit from a bit more detail, but the cutscenes that play during important story moments almost always look very nice. The new art style also captures the tone of the characters and story very well, and it was exciting to see these long overlooked games remade with such a high level of care.