How Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Changes How We Watch the Indy Films

Minutes after we first meet the famed archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, carefully stepping on the right stones and evading deadly beams of light, we know Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones has an eye for details. Exploring alongside the man in the hat via Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is no different. The acclaimed video game from Bethesda and MachineGames, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, is packed to the brim with cool elements for virtual adventurers to encounter throughout your globe-trotting journey, including The Order of Giants, the new DLC. Set in 1937, the game helps to flesh out Indy’s personal growth between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, and establishes key relationships that change the way we watch the original films.

If you don’t have the eagle eye of Dr. Jones, here are some of our favorite connections we were able to dig up!

Spoiler warning: This article contains narrative spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. So to quote Dr. Jones, if you haven’t played yet, “Don’t look, Marion! Keep your eyes shut!”

Every time I begin The Last Crusade, I always ask myself: wait, where’s Marion Ravenwood? The Great Circle fills us in in no time at all, opening with a stunning recreation of Indy’s quest to retrieve the golden fertility idol as seen at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The unforgettable boulder chase takes on a new meaning in-game as it’s punctuated by the disembodied voice of Marion. Seemingly crushed by the boulder, Indy awakens from his bad dream, safe in his office, but alone; Jones recently returned from his latest adventure in Siwa to find Marion gone.

This time, Indy tries to lose himself in his work, but as he packs, he finds a gift from Marion: a journal still in its wrapping. Despite Marcus Brody’s encouragement to process his emotions, Indy crumples the note and chooses adventure once again. This tension helps flavor Indy and Marion’s fraught relationship beyond the films, recharacterizing their arc in Raiders in which they transform from seemingly scorned ex-lovers to surviving the wrath of God together (now that’s a compatibility test). That “enemies to lovers” plotline is enriched by The Great Circle as it lends a rare softness to Jones’ character, illustrating the nuance during the in-between moments of the iconic couple. While the two argue in Raiders over who really hurt who and Jones seems to laugh it off, instead we’re afforded a glimpse into the Jones we’ll later see return in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The return of Ms. Ravenwood near Akator is all the more emotional for audiences and Indiana alike knowing that he’s missed her in waking and dreaming moments for almost twenty years. Later in the game, a hallucinatory sequence again includes the voice of Marion, and even the discovery of the headpiece to the Staff of Ra — a Ravenwood family heirloom fans have seared into their memory from Raiders, once again proving Marion still burns in Indy’s mind.

Indy’s love life is further complicated when Gina Lombardi arrives in The Great Circle, searching for her missing sister. A sharp-witted journalist, she truly gives Dr. Jones a run for his money, becoming a close friend and almost something more. From sharing a charged moment in Sukothai to a long overdue kiss while departing Ur in the endgame, Jones’ sensitive side shines through. Although he will eventually learn in The Dial of Destiny that the road of adventure ends and family can be as good a treasure as any golden idol, the Indiana we see in The Great Circle isn’t quite there yet. For now, adventure remains his first love.

Marion isn’t Indy’s only estrangement. The badgering relationship between the Jones’ Sr. and Jr. is my personal favorite part of The Last Crusade. Completing a side mission at the Vatican in The Great Circle expands upon familial tensions between the two before their eventual reunion at Castle Brunwald a year later in 1938. Opening a Nazi safe in the Vatican reveals an intel report done on both generations of the Jones family in order to “investigate possible connection between subject’s research and son’s excavation.” We come to learn the Jones boys have been “estranged for many years” and as such are “unlikely [to] be working together” further heightening the familial and comedic tensions between the two about a year before Indy crashes into his old man (literally).

Also, if you happen to have good ears and bad aim and accidentally shoot the tail fin of your Shanghai escape plane, Indy will exclaim — “They got us!” — just as his father Henry Sr. does down the line following their airship escape. Some excuses are evergreen.

For fans of The Temple of Doom, there’s another Indy ally alluded to in the game. As players make their way through Marshall College, a bulletin board features an ad for the “Grand 1937 Dance” with “Music by Willie Scott,” Indy’s insect-averse heroine and lounge singer from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, who opens the film with a Mandarin rendition of “Anything Goes” at Club Obi Wan in 1935, Shanghai. We’re not exactly sure how Willie got the gig at Marshall — I can only assume Dr. Jones had a hand in the dance’s talent selection. Furthermore, travelling to the shelled-out streets of Shanghai, Indy finds himself caught up in a Japanese bombing run, scrambling to a nearby plane in order to escape. Hurtling through the city, Indy and Gina fly over the burned-out remnants of the very same Club Obi Wan, aptly named after another famous Lucasfilm hero: Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. Passing the dragon mouth from which Willie Scott emerges, Indy remarks that club owner and antidote holder “Lao Che won’t be happy!” Throughout my play time, details like these make the films feel like part of an expanded, thriving universe spanning the whole franchise.

The Great Circle makes reference to several of Indy’s old adventures and compatriots proving just how well-travelled and well-known our favorite globetrotter truly is — and adding plenty of nods and deep cuts for fans who have followed Indy beyond the films.

For instance, Father Antonio calls Indiana “Henri” as he references a familiarity between them during WWI. Fans of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series will recognize it as Jones’ old nickname. Elsewhere in the building, the Vatican Treasure Room includes references to archeologist Andrés Uribe from the Dark Horse comic series Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold. Uribe was infamously disgraced by Jones’ rival René Belloq.

Should you rifle through the villainous Voss’ excavation camp in Gizeh, you’ll find a letter from Marya Smirnova, an old journalist friend of Indy’s from the comic book Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Pyramid, set throughout the late 1920s. Smirnova’s letter proves the importance of trustworthy friends as she refuses to ally her writings with Voss, and urges him to see Dr. Jones’ work in a more positive light.

Exploring Indy’s office and inner sanctum is a true treat, and my favorite was finding a map of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye attraction at Disneyland, which turns 30 this year and takes place two years before The Great Circle. Depicting the watchful god Mara and the Fountain of Eternal Youth, Chamber of Earthly Riches, and Observatory of the Future, the map serves as a great example of how expansive the wide world of Indiana Jones storytelling can be.

Whether playing through the main story or opening the right drawer in a side room of the Vatican, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is packed with insights into the world of Indiana Jones, with rich details that redefined many of my preconceptions about Dr. Jones throughout the franchise. While these details were my favorites, I’m sure there are many I missed, and some that may still be lying out there undiscovered… but I’ll leave that to the real archeologists.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants is available now for Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 5, PC, and Game Pass and will be made available on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

Finn Rollings is an Animation PA, writer, and avid Yoda collector at Lucasfilm.