When I think of developer MachineGames, I think of dual-wielding shotguns in its Wolfenstein games, sprinting down tight corridors with guns blazing as the walls get a fresh coat of Nazi blood. After all, MachineGames' entire portfolio up to this point has been built on the brazen revival of Wolfenstein--a series of five no-holds-barred, blood-soaked action thrill-rides. And damn did it do it well. It's why I was caught by surprise when seeing its next game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, is putting an emphasis on more methodical combat that will have you solving puzzles and using the environment as your weapon, rather than shooting your way out of every scenario and being covered in Nazi blood in the process ('tis a shame).

"It is always a big challenge to go from something known, into the unknown of what the Indiana Jones game was for us," Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's design director, Jens Andersson, told GameSpot at Gamescom 2024. "It's tough, because the way [MachineGames] is used to working--how we build levels, how we design enemies--everything is coming from this action [focus]. And now we're coming at it from a different side. So it took a long time. Like, honestly, a really long time for us at company meetings and stuff, talking about 'What is this game trying to do?'"

Don't worry, you'll still get to shoot your share of Nazis in the Great Circle, but as Indy, it's your wits, your mitts, your whip, and maybe the occasional rolling pin left on a kitchen table that will be your primary tools. In putting you in the shoes (and hat) of the globe-trotting Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Jr., your agency as a player isn't just action, but exploration and investigation. It's a molding of genres and mechanics seldom seen all in one game, let alone a first-person one.