That’s the extent of our official knowledge about this game, but like any good Indiana Jones mystery, there’s always more to the story. As part of the game’s announcement blog, the copy notes that although little detail has been released so far, the cryptic preview may ‘contain some clues.’ ‘
We looked at the short trailer with a fine comb and there are many small details that you may have missed. Let’s talk about the most interesting finds.
Some of the games take place in October 1937
I downloaded the trailer in HD and was looking for clues.
It looks like the @machinegames Indiana Jones Project is presented 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) 12 January 2021
The most important thing we can see in the trailer is Indy’s passport and his travel ticket. The ticket states that he embarked on an “Overnight Service to Rome” on October 21, 1937. The passport’s entry campaigns indicate that he is on his way there under the guise of a ‘Research / Education’ trip, related to his day job in Archeology at Marshall College (we can see a coffee mug with the ‘MC’ symbol seen on his desk). However, we can also assume from the fact that he is taking his whip and his gun that this holiday will not be strictly academic.
Indiana Jones goes to Vatican City
Another concrete detail of the trailer is a giant map of Vatican City, the independent city-state of the Holy See. Indy seems to have studied this area thoroughly and indicated interesting areas, such as the Belvedere Courtyard, which also happens to be home to the Vatican Apostolic Library. The Barrel is positively littered with historical texts and artifacts, which would be of paramount importance to our myth-hunting protagonist.
Indy also put a question mark on the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the then Pope Pius XI, and the location of the famous window where he delivers blessings. Not quite sure what his intention is there, but an audience with the head of the Catholic Church may be out of the question. We can also see some arrows pointing west from St. Peter’s Square, indicating that this may be Indy’s intended access point. Not exactly subtle!
The typed notes
Indy seems to be leaving a message for someone – ‘I’ll arrive in Rome’ pic.twitter.com/jaoQebK6ZI
– Jordan Oloman (@JordanOloman) 12 January 2021
Cut and you will miss it, but some of the writing on the ‘MachineGames’ typewriter is legible. Indy seems to have a contact in the Vatican. Here is what we have so far:
“Father X”
“Let me start … thank you for taking the time to help me … with this written request … I will arrive in Rome … I have been told that your contact will wait”
We need a higher quality trailer than the compressed Twitter video with which we pin the whole thing. We inquired about this at Bethesda, but due to an agreement with Lucasfilm they could not feed directly. Until then, if you have any ideas, feel free to share them in the comments below.
Get ready to hit some fascists
To quote the inimitable Indiana Jones … “Nazis. I hate these guys. An environment for the game from the 1930s puts us in the dictatorship of The Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. Benito Mussolini is at this stage also in Rome overseeing fascist Italy, just before World War II 2-axis powers formally consolidated under the Steel Treaty in 1939. Due to the focus on Vatican City, the game may also include the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church during this period.
Given Indy’s penchant for anti-fascism, it would make sense for us to fight Nazis and fascists while decoding myths and retrieving artifacts. This is also a very familiar topic for MachineGames, who have been working on Wolfenstein games over the past decade.
The story takes place between Raiders and The Last Crusade, ‘at the peak’ of Jones’ career
As for the movies, this time frame means we are between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1936) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1938). Jones brought the golden idol out of Peru and was in Egypt to thwart the Nazis. As a result, The Ark of the Covenant is now in custody, and the U.S. government is aware of Jones’ activities, having just paid him to recycle them.
We can see a dossier with derivative strings on his desk in the trailer, so this operation could also be a collaboration with the government. The website mentions that the game takes place “at the height of the career of the famous adventurer”, so it all makes sense.
We can also visit Egypt, Peru and Mesopotamia
If you walk away from Italy for a moment, there are a number of references to other places Indy may be heading to in this new adventure. The first thing we see in the trailer is a stack of books. None of the author names lead to anything on Google (except of course Todd Howard), but the topic is interesting.
The book ‘Myths That Made Us’ on the front has an inscription on the spine, which says:’ Vol. 1 Mesopotamia ”. Mesopotamia was a fairly large region in Western Asia and included Babylon, Palmyra as well as parts of modern Syria, Turkey and Iraq. One of the most famous Mesopotamian myths is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which happens to be one of the oldest examples of ancient literature. Indy could very well be hunting for artifacts or tablets associated with this myth, or perhaps the mystery has something to do with The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the ancient wonders of the world.
According to the books, Indy also studies Ancient Circles and Forbidden Stones. The caption on the Forbidden Stones book reads ‘A Dissertation on Corrupt Jewels and the Essence of Ancient Curses’, which gives a little more detail on what Indy could look for in Mesopotamia.
In the lower left corner we can see a small note written by Indy, which says “Pyramids Giza Necropolis”, which refers to the Giza complex of pyramids in Cairo, the last remaining ancient wonder of the world. The yellow pages north of this note provide a sketch of the Peruvian ‘Forbidden Idol’ found in Raiders and a drawing of a Ziggurat, a common structure found in ancient Mesopotamia. Indy wrote ‘Ziggurat Clue’? close, so he definitely studies it. Whether he’s going to visit one of these places in the game is still in the air, but it’s a good food for thought, regardless.
Untitled Indiana Jones Project Platforms and Release Date
In addition to all the Easter eggs we found in the trailer, those who are excited for the game may be wondering what platforms it will land on in the future. Since Microsoft acquired Bethesda (and through proxy, MachineGames), we can assume that it will land on PC and Xbox consoles. Whether it will be exclusive to those platforms is another question.
As for the potential release date, the teaser suggests that the game is in early development. MachineGames tweeted shortly after the announcement, noting that the studio was renting, so the team grows and prepares to deliver this ambitious project, an “original story” within the Indiana Jones IP.
The only other thing we need to take down is the upcoming Indiana Jones 5 movie, which is scheduled for the July 2022 release and will start shooting in the spring of 2021. Again, we have no idea, but the game might want the film’s release.
In addition, there’s really nothing left we can get out of the 30-second trailer that Bethesda dropped on us. We will keep you informed of more information.
Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.