Indiana Jones and Everything We Know About the Long-Awaited New Video Game

There’s a new Indiana Jones movie—Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny—so of course that means there’s also a new Indiana Jones video game, because capitalism would never overlook an opportunity like that (which, hey, at least it’s working out for us for once). So here’s everything we know about the (still!) as yet unnamed Indiana Jones game, which was first announced in 2021.

When will the new Indiana Jones game be released?

We don’t actually have a release date yet for the new Indiana Jones game, either. So watch this space for an update.

Is there a trailer for the Indiana Jones game?

Yes, yes there is (insert Phineas and Ferb gif here). Bethesda released the first trailer for the new Indiana Jones game in January 2021:

Is the Indiana Jones game a tie-in with the new movie?

No. Even though the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would make a companion game an easy financial win, the studio is actually doing something else with it. You’ve got to respect that really, they’re giving us more original Indy content instead of going for the cheap and easy cash grab. Then again, maybe an original game will sell a lot better than one based on the movie (I don’t pretend to be an economist/business type) and it’s still all down to the financials. Either way, it’s a win for us.

What’s the plot?

They’re not giving away too much yet, but we’ve been promised the new Indiana Jones game is a fully standalone adventure set in Rome. A date shown in the trailer says 1937, and if that’s when the plot of the game actually unfolds, then it’s set between the two best films in the franchise: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Hopefully this means we’ll get to do some vicarious Nazi, or possibly Italian Fascist, punching through Indy as we take him on his adventure. As GamesRadar’s Alyssa Mercante pointed out, 1937 both marked Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s return to Rome after formalizing Italy’s 1936 alliance with Nazi Germany in Berlin, and saw Mussolini presented with an artifact known as the Sword of Islam—both key events that Indy would likely be very interested in, and have some very strong negative opinions about.

Whether that’s what the game is going to focus on or whether it will be something else entirely does still remain to be seen.

Other clues in the trailer include the books shown on Indy’s desk, especially Ancient Circles and Forbidden Stones, which might refer to the so-called Cyclopean Walls and Giants Tombs—once believed to be built by giants—found across Italy. One Twitter user claims you can see a photograph of one such monument on Indy’s desk, adding weight to this idea. The letter to a priest and blueprints of the Vatican, also on his desk, suggest that at least part of his investigation is taking place in the Holy See, though whether he’ll have the official sanction of the Pope or will be sneaking in under their noses remains a mystery.

There’s also a top secret U.S. government file, implying that he might be working for or with them for this mission—so maybe this game will explain why Indy seemingly breaks his former principles by working directly for a secret U.S. government department in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I may still be bitter about that).

Which platforms will the Indiana Jones game be available on?

Though it was originally going to be released on multiple different consoles, the Indiana Jones game is now exclusive to Xbox and PC. When asked about the change, a representative from Bethesda said that it was about reducing risk in game development, and apparently switching to Xbox Game Pass from a multi-console approach does so significantly.

Who is behind the new Indiana Jones game?

Published by Bethesda, the game is a collab between Lucasfilm Games and MachineGames, best known for the Wolfenstein franchise—so hopefully that means punching or otherwise taking down Nazis and other fascists in various cool ways is going to be a key part of the game. Bethesda Softworks, along with the other ZeniMax properties, was acquired by Microsoft a few months after the game’s initial announcement. It’s unclear what impact Microsoft’s involvement has had on the game; some sources say the decision to make it an Xbox exclusive happened there, though the company maintains this was an in-house Bethesda decision.

(featured image: Bethesda)