MachineGames knows they can do Indiana Jones right because they did Riddick & The Darkness right

I guess we all actually needed that reminder.

MachineGames design director Jens Andersson had a rather modest boast about why fans should trust them to do Indy justice Indiana Jones and the Big Circle.

In an interview with Xbox Wire, Andersson reminded us:

“We knew from the start that this was an extremely important challenge. Luckily this isn’t our first rodeo. Large parts of the team have worked together on story-driven first-person games since “The Chronicles of Riddick” and “The Darkness”. “I also think the Wolfenstein series surprised the world because it had a very interesting and likeable character in BJ Blazkowicz, so we have a lot of experience with that.”

In fact, the first thing most gamers will remember when they hear the name MachineGames is the last decade of Wolfenstein games. But as Andersson pointed out here, MachineGames’ founding came in the wake of Starbreeze Studios’ 2011 reboot syndicate.

None other than Starbreeze founder Magnus Högdahl came to MachineGames, and with him came the team that made it happen The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay And The darkness Video games. Starbreeze acquired Overkill and became known for that payday Franchise. While these studios each went their own way, Wolfenstein Fans know full well that it was MachineGames that truly inherited the staff with the DNA of video game storytelling and character development.

Creative Director Axel Torvenius also agreed. In the same interview he said:

“One important thing that has been part of our DNA for a very long time – and definitely helps create great characters – is that we put story at the center. We always start with a strong narrative and always end with a narratively strong ending. And our experience is to tightly link these stories with solid gameplay.

What matters is the perfect mix of strong cutscenes and interesting gameplay, driven by an interesting, complex character with many nuances who evolves over the course of the game. A good story survives all and that’s why we always focus a lot on getting the story just right.”

And lest you be too young to know or too old to remember, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was hailed as an outlier at the time of its release as a rare good video game adaptation of a film or television show.

This sort of thing happens a lot more often these days, among people like: Alien: Isolation, Robocop: Rogue Cityand the Walking dead, Batman ArkhamAnd Shadow of Mordor Franchises. So the expectations are much higher than being more than just a lazy cash-in. But Indiana Jones and the Big Circle The previews have continued to be impressive since the official reveal and it really feels like MachineGames is still holding back on what they’ve actually achieved so we can find out when it releases this month.