That’s the extent of our official knowledge of this game, but, like any good Indiana Jones mystery, there’s always more to this story. As part of the game’s announcement blog, the copy notes that while few details have been revealed so far, the cryptic teaser “may contain some clues”.
We have been examining the small trailer with a fine-toothed comb, and there are certainly many small details that you may have overlooked. Let’s talk about the most interesting findings.
Part of the game takes place in October 1937
I downloaded the trailer in HD and I’m looking for clues.
It seems that the @machinegames The Indiana Jones project takes place in Vatican City in October 1937, at least in part. You can see the Sistine Chapel on the map. pic.twitter.com/yCYnsXWRNj
– Jordan Oloman (@JordanOloman) January 12, 2021
The main thing we can see in the trailer is Indy’s passport and ticket. The note mentions that he will embark on a “Night Service in Rome” on October 21, 1937. The passport entry fields suggest that he is going there disguised as a “Research / Education” trip, linked to his daily work as professor of Archeology at Marshall College (we can see a coffee mug with the symbol ‘MC’ on his desk). However, we can also assume from the fact that he is carrying his whip and gun that this vacation will not be strictly academic.
Indiana Jones goes to Vatican City
Another concrete detail of the trailer is a gigantic map of Vatican City, the independent city-state of the Holy See. Indy seems to be studying this area in depth, marking areas of interest like the Belvedere courtyard, which is also the site of the Apostolic Library of the Vatican. Vat is positively filled with historical texts and artifacts, which would be of primary interest to our myth-hunting protagonist.
Indy also placed a question mark in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the then Pope Pius XI, and the location of the famous window where he delivers the blessings. I’m not sure what his intentions are, but an audience with the head of the Catholic Church may be out of the question. We can also see some arrows pointing west of St. Peter’s Square, which suggests that this may be Indy’s intended entry point. Not exactly subtle!
The typed note
It looks like Indy is leaving a message for someone – “I’ll be arriving in Rome” pic.twitter.com/jaoQebK6ZI
– Jordan Oloman (@JordanOloman) January 12, 2021
Blink and you’ll lose, but part of what is written on the ‘MachineGames’ typewriter is readable. It seems that Indy has a contact within the Vatican. Here’s what we have so far:
“Father X”
“Let me start … thanks for taking the time to help me … with this written request … I will be arriving in Rome … I have been informed that your contact will be waiting”
We would need a trailer of a higher quality than the compressed Twitter video we’re working on to capture the whole thing. We asked Bethesda about this, but they were unable to provide a direct feed due to a contract with Lucasfilm. Until then, if you have any ideas, feel free to share them in the comments below.
Get ready to punch some fascists
To quote the inimitable Indiana Jones … “Nazis. I hate these guys. A 1930s scenario for the game puts us in the middle of the Third Reich and the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. Benito Mussolini is also in Rome at the moment, supervising fascist Italy, just before World War II, the Axis powers were formally consolidated under the Steel Pact in 1939. Due to the focus on Vatican City, the game could also address the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church during this period.
Given Indy’s propensity for anti-fascism, it would make sense to fight Nazis and fascists while decoding myths and recovering artifacts. It is also a very familiar subject for MachineGames, which has spent the last decade working on Wolfenstein games.
The story takes place between Raiders and The Last Crusade, “at the height” of Jones’ career
Regarding the films, this period means that we are between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1936) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1938). Jones recovered Peru’s gold idol and went to Egypt to thwart the Nazis. As a result, the Ark of the Covenant is now stored, and the United States government is aware of Jones’ activities, having just paid him to retrieve it.
We can see a dossier with strings written on his desk in the trailer, so this operation can also be a collaboration with the government. The website mentions that the game is set “at the height of the famous adventurer’s career”, so it all makes sense.
We can also visit Egypt, Peru and Mesopotamia
Moving away from Italy for a moment, there are a number of references to other places that Indy could be going to in this new adventure. The first thing we see in the trailer is a pile of books. None of the authors’ names leads to anything on Google (except Todd Howard, of course), but the subject is interesting.
The book ‘Myths that made us’ on the front has a slogan on the spine that says “Vol. 1 Mesopotamia ”. Mesopotamia was a fairly large region in West Asia, encompassing Babylon, Palmyra, as well as parts of modern Syria, Turkey and Iraq. One of the most famous myths in Mesopotamia is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which happens to be one of the oldest examples of ancient literature that survived. Indy may well be hunting artifacts or tablets related to this myth, or perhaps the mystery has something to do with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the ancient wonders of the world.
The books show that Indy is also studying Ancient Circles and Forbidden Stones. The slogan in the book Forbidden Stones says “A treatise on corrupted jewelry and the essence of ancient curses”, which provides more details on what Indy may be looking for in Mesopotamia.
Then, in the lower left corner, we can see a small note written by Indy, which says “Pyramids of the Giza Necropolis”, referring to the Giza pyramid complex in Cairo, the last remaining ancient wonder in the world. The yellow pages to the north of this note offer an outline of the Peruvian “Forbidden Idol” recovered in Raiders and a drawing of a Ziggurat, a common structure found in ancient Mesopotamia. Indy wrote “Ziggurat Clue?” around, so he’s definitely studying. Whether he will visit any of these places in the game is still in the air, but it is good food for reflection anyway.
Project Indiana Jones platforms without title and release date
In addition to all the easter eggs we found in the trailer, those who are excited about the game may be wondering what platforms it will land on in the future. Given that Microsoft acquired Bethesda (and by proxy, MachineGames), we can assume that it will land on PC and Xbox consoles. Whether it will be exclusive to these platforms is another matter entirely.
As for a possible release date, the teaser suggests that the game is at the beginning of development. MachineGames tweeted shortly after the announcement, stating that the studio is hiring, so the team is growing and getting ready to deliver this ambitious project, a “completely original story” within IP Indiana Jones.
The only other thing we have to release is the next Indiana Jones 5 film, which is scheduled to be released in July 2022 and will begin shooting in the spring of 2021. Again, we have no idea, but the game may want to complement the film launch.
Plus, there’s really nothing else we can glean from the 30-second trailer that Bethesda sneaked on us. We will keep you informed when more information arrives.
Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.