Game of the Year 2024
I’m passionate about action-adventure games, especially the first Tomb Raider before the reboot, as well as the Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed franchises. When I learned that Machine Games was developing the upcoming Indiana Jones game, published by Bethesda Softworks, I was very excited. Having particularly enjoyed the Wolfenstein games published by them, I was impatiently awaiting this new title. As a Game Pass subscriber since its launch, I found it great that this game was available on its first day on the platform.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review Rating | Graphic: Bethesda
I often look at reviewers’ ratings, but I don’t actually read or watch their reviews. I think if I want to play a game, I will, regardless of what the reviewers think. I usually wait a bit before playing new games because, let’s be honest, most modern games don’t perform very well on PC the day they come out. This game was different, as it was pretty well optimized for a Bethesda game (which usually have a few bugs).
Marshall Open Chess Tournament Posters
To avoid any spoilers, I will not share any context regarding the different scenes in the game. This will remain for the players to discover. Now let’s look at some interesting positions.
Do these positions look familiar to you?
Diagram 1
The game does not clearly state whether it is White or Black to play. However, close inspection shows that it is Black’s turn. For a player, if the black pieces are on the player’s side, it is obvious that it is black’s turn to play. From a chess point of view, it is also up to Black to play since there is a forced checkmate in two moves; White’s move would therefore not be logical because they can win by capturing either the knight or the bishop.
Diagram 2
In this position, it is certainly Black’s turn to play, as White has a one-move checkmate threat. Yet there is something strange, and our CEO and co-founder, IM Sagar Shah, noticed it immediately. Indeed, this is the famous position of Nigel Short’s King’s March against Jan Timman.
This is the exact position of the Short–Timman game played in Tilburg in 1991.
Diagram 3
This position is unlikely to come from a practical side. Black can win in a thousand different ways. The fastest being a checkmate in two moves.
The last position on the table that had…
…three positions on it
Diagram 4
It’s once again up to Black to play. This is probably the longest chess puzzle in the game, requiring more than two moves to solve.
These are some chess positions and puzzles that I encountered in the game. It is very likely that there are more. For example, my friend and I discovered two different positions where the game’s camera changed movement, moving the situation forward. I found a pawn endgame and my friend discovered another endgame with a knight and a bishop.
As I told my gamer friends, taking the original concept of Tomb Raider (not the reboot) and Uncharted, improving it mainly on close quarters combat and old-school video game puzzles, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle exceeds all my expectations. If you have a powerful PC or an Xbox Series X, you will enjoy the game even more as it is visually appealing.
Honors Trailer – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | Video: Bethesda Softworks
