MachineGames’ modern Wolfenstein games are renowned for their gratuitously violent and rapid-fire gun combat. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a hilariously over-the-top game with dual-wield shotguns that can blast a Nazi’s head off from ten feet away. It was quite surprising then that the studio’s follow-up game, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, not only often shies away from gun combat, but largely avoids.
“It was one of those features that we were so afraid of,” design director Jens Andersson told us in a new episode of the FRVR Podcast. “Especially since MachineGames’ pedigree of Wolfenstein, coming into making Indiana Jones with a team primed to make more gore with heavy weapons, running and gunning… And then: ‘Oh, we’re going to make a family friendly adventure.’ That was very tough.”
Andersson explained that this became even harder as MachineGames needed mechanical and narrative ways to dissuade high-skill players from gunning everyone down without making guns feel bad to use.
“That was non-negotiable because we have a lot of people at Machine that love guns. They love everything about guns. They have people that professionally compete shooting. Gun Nuts. Obviously, you know, from Wolfenstein games that interest has been satiated. And at the game time, you have so many fans of Quake and other shooters out there. So we can’t make gunplay bad, that wouldn’t have been acceptable.”
“The whole breakable weapons system got in very late, but when we saw how effective it was, that’s when we started putting all this weird stuff in.”
Design director Jens Andersson
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle doesn’t make it hard to shoot Nazis in the face. As Andersson explains, “a headshot still needs to kill, more or less”. Ammo isn’t exactly scarce, either. However, MachineGames makes it so that reloading is quite slow; it’s much quicker to grab a broom next to you or another object and thwack the quickly approaching horde of goons than it is to fully reload your weapon and keep shooting. In FPS games, you’re taught that switching to your secondary is faster than reloading, but here your secondary is simply turning the gun around and breaking it over a soldier’s skull.
“We had so many designs to try and get around that [issue of reducing shooting]. For example, a GTA star level system when you shoot someone and reinforcements of coming in. Because we were so afraid that this would be the default thing that the player would do. They take down a guy, they see a gun on the floor, and they clear the whole area with just guns,’ the designer explained.
This led to the creation of the game’s extraordinarily effective, fun, and almost slapstick melee combat system. Every environment is filled with makeshift weapons from cast-iron pans to wrenches to mandolins. All of these weapons are satisfying to use, especially when they crack in half as you wail on a Nazi soldier, but focusing on melee combat and weapon durability was something that MachineGames was also worried about.
Andersson explained that the breakable weapons were “a bit controversial, but at the same time it fit with the nature of the game.” They explained that the mechanic allowed for “opportunistic, chaotic combat” that allowed players to feel like Indiana Jones would against an army of Nazis.
“We penalised shooting so much in that game. I know a lot of people are frustrated about that, but many more people love it… The thing that really fixed it was that we made melee combat so interesting, fun, and easy. Not easy challenge-wise, but just it’s easy to get into. You stealth up, you hit someone from behind, the breakable weapon system was super important to do that. ‘Oh, there’s a new weapon, it’s a fly swatter, I want to try this.’ So rather than considering pulling your gun, you’re always encouraged to play the game as Indiana Jones would, which is the greatest success we could have had. So people choose it over guns, even when guns can be more effective.”
Andersson explained that breakable weapons were added “late” into the game, they were the solution to the problem of guns, but they were not part of the original design intent. “The whole breakable weapons system got in very late, but when we saw how effective it was, that’s when we started putting all this weird stuff in. The violin, all of this weird stuff that makes it a little slapsticky, but not slapstick.”
Now available on PC, Xbox Series, PlayStation, and even Nintendo Switch 2, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the best adaptation of the iconic film character since The Last Crusade. It’s a thrilling, engaging adventure that brings the world of Indy to life, and MachineGames’ beautiful slapstick combat is the perfect combination for one of cinema’s greatest characters.
For more from our discussion with Andersson, read about how The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was actually cancelled without its devs knowing. Additionally, find out how Indiana Jones’ brilliant Lucky Hat mechanic came to be.
