LucasFilm’s recent endeavors on the Indiana Jones franchise have yielded less-than-stellar results, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, the winds of change could be on the horizon, thanks to an Indiana Jones game currently in the works, and a new report suggests that development is making promising headway.
Bethesda’s Todd Howard, who serves as the executive producer of the untitled Indiana Jones game, revealed in an interview with GQ that he’s “midway through executive producing” the game, stating:
They’ve got the whole Nazi killing thing down, and they’re doing a really great job.
Howard is a self-confessed fan of the franchise, with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark being his favorite film. Producing the upcoming RPG, which is being developed by Bethesda Softworks in collaboration with MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games, is a “bucket-list thing” for the American game developer, which hints that fans of the series might finally get a game worthy of Indy’s enduring legacy.
Bethesda announced the game in 2021, sharing a short teaser packed with Easter eggs, including Indy’s iconic bullwhip, his signature hat, and his journal. Since then, details about the project have remained scarce, but we now know that the game will be an Xbox exclusive (despite being initially planned to release on multiple platforms) and will have a combo of first- and third-person gameplay.
The last Indiana Jones Xbox game was 2003’s Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, which was also released on PlayStation 2. Six years later, LucasArts (now known as Lucasfilm Games) developed Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but then decided to release the game on previous gen consoles, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii.
Reviews for both of these games were a mixed bag, with critics and gamers alike offering praise for the varied gameplay but criticizing the motion controls and visuals. In the meanwhile, gamer fans of Indiana Jones had to get their fix with Uncharted.
Earlier this year, Disney released the final Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, to a lukewarm reception among critics and audiences. As one of the most expensive films ever made, Dial of Destiny became a box office bomb, losing Disney about $100 million.
Looking ahead, Todd Howard must be crossing his fingers, hoping that the upcoming video game won’t suffer a similar fate once it launches. As of writing, a release date has yet to be announced.
