Indiana Jones and the Great Circle premiered its launch trailer today, December 2, ahead of its release next week. The trailer is a three-minute deep dive into the story, characters, and locations featured in the game. It features brief glimpses at the landmarks that'll feature prominently: the Vatican, various ancient temples, and a murky swamp. It also features a refresher on the designs of Emmerich Voss, its villain, and what Indy will need to do to stop him.

It's also the first time any trailer for The Great Circle has featured such an extensive look at gameplay. In the three-minute preview, Indy can be seen solving puzzles, swinging across chasms, and tripping enemies, all with his signature whip. A small amount of the game's combat is also visible, with Indy engaging in gunplay, both on foot with a rifle and on a boat with a mounted machine gun. He can also briefly be seen fighting enemies in what appears to be hand-to-hand combat.

Although the launch trailer is out now, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle won't be released until December 9. those who preorder the Edition may enjoy up to three days of early access. The trailer also reaffirmed a release window for the PS5 port, which is due out in Spring 2025.

Indy's Launch Trailer Sets High Hopes For His Next Adventure

What To Expect From The Great Circle

In the comments, fans and prospective players are almost universally optimistic about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle after this latest trailer. One , writing with the name SneezingEagle, compares it favorably to the Indy adventures of their youth: "Used to love the old Indiana Jones games back in the day, High hopes for this!" It's indeed true that Indiana Jones has had more than its fair share of video game adaptations, but that part of the franchise has been defunct for over a decade.

Others cite George Lucas' (Indy's creator) and Steven Spielberg's (the original director) apparent involvement in the game, a good omen for fans of the film series. The game is also purported to include almost four hours of cutscenes, which bodes well for the kind of detailed, globetrotting adventures portrayed in the films. Still others took the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Tony Todd, the prolific actor who played Locus in The Great Circle. Todd ed away in November 2024; this will apparently be his final role.

Screen Rant's Take: High Expectations Can Be Risky

We've Barely Seen Indy In Action

Simply put, based on the latest trailer, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looks really good. It's the next best thing to the Uncharted sequel we're never getting. As a history lover and a lifelong fan of the film series, I can't wait to explore its lovingly rendered historical landmarks, or to solve arcane puzzles and get to the heart of its ancient mystery. But we've seen worryingly little gameplay at this late prerelease stage. Even its "gameplay reveal" trailer wasted too large a fraction of its runtime on cutscenes, which are, ittedly, very impressive. They focus mainly on gorgeous vistas of ancient ruins or beautiful landscapes.

But anyone can make a game look good, especially in a trailer - it's a bigger challenge to make a game play good, and I just haven't seen enough definitive evidence that The Great Circle has achieved that. Gameplay snippets in the launch trailer are brief and uninformative: Indy uses a whip to cross a gap, and the scene cuts away mid-jump. He flicks his whip at an unmoving Nazi, who falls to the ground unceremoniously. He runs across a battlefield, under fire, but doesn't return a shot.

My concern is that the gameplay footage thus far has focused on spectacle over substance, and we have no way of knowing how the game actually works between its big set pieces. But at the end of the day, set pieces are what Indiana Jones is all about, not to mention a great way to market your game. I'm not counting Indiana Jones and the Great Circle out completely - I'm still optimistic, just cautiously so.

Source: Bethesda Softworks/YouTube (1, 2)