New Indiana Jones game: Everything we know about the new MachineGames adventure
It's been over two years since the new Indiana Jones game from Bethesda Softworks was announced, and we barely know more than that. We're expecting some fresh news at an Xbox Developer Direct on January 18, complete with a long-awaited glimpse at its gameplay. Our weakness for the action hero means that despite the sparse intel, it's already made its way to our list of upcoming Bethesda games - but all we can do right now is go over the facts.
The Indiana Jones game for Xbox Series X is in development at MachineGames, the studio responsible for Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus. We also know that Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard has a hand in production off the back of his work in Starfield. Elder Scrolls 6 is in the works, too, so it seems Bethesda has all its spinning plates more than full up at the moment.
We don't expect this Indiana Jones game to be among the new games of 2024. However, while Bethesda is on record saying that its Indiana Jones game is in "very, very, very" early stages of development, a Microsoft leak suggests it's been on the cards for the studio for awhile. To support its bid to get the Xbox Activision deal passed, Microsoft released improperly redacted internal documents from 2019 that prove Bethesda once hoped to get Indiana Jones out by end of Financial Year 2022.
Now that 2024 is fully in swing, we can't wait to learn more. In the meantime, keep reading to find everything we know so far about one of the biggest upcoming Xbox Series games in the Xbox Game Studios line-up.
Indiana Jones game news
Bethesda's Indiana Jones game is a confirmed Xbox exclusive but was originally multiplatform
Wolfenstein and Indiana Jones fans perk up their ears after new job listings at MachineGames
Todd Howard has been trying to get the Indiana Jones game made "for over a decade"
Indiana Jones game teaser video
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 isn't confirmed
"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 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.
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, 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. "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.
