Indiana Jones and the Great Circlemay have solved the yellow paint dilemma for good. On social media, “yellow paint” has become a kind of shorthand for what some players see as excessive hand-holding in video games. Often, it manifests itself as actual yellow paint, slathered all over interactable objects like climbable walls and ladders. Some players and game devs argue that this kind of design is ostentatious, breaks immersion, disrespects intelligence, and limits freedom. Others hold that it’s strictly necessary, since players are too obtuse to figure out where they’re supposed to go otherwise.
Although the debate appears to have been reignited by theResident Evilremakes, which introduced yellow paint even where the original games had none, yellow paint has since infected many major releases:Dying Light 2,Horizon Forbidden West,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the list goes on and on. Butone major 2024 game seems to have gotten away without yellow paint, even though it’s got all the mechanics that usually demand it. Despite having pretty complex platforming, lots of ladders, and bundles of breakable containers,Indyforgoes the primary colors entirely, but still finds a way to make hints work.
Indiana Jones & The Great Circle Uses White Paint
Subtle, But Effective
Instead of garish yellow paint,Indiana Jones and the Great Circlesplatters climbable platforms with white- at least some of the time. It’s a lot more subtle to begin with, so it doesn’t feel overtly handholding, even though it’s easy to spot. There’s still a sense of satisfaction when the player chooses to investigate it and discovers their suspicions were true. Besides that, it’s much easier to believe that a streak of white paint might’ve been left behind than that someone went on a rampage around the Vatican with a can of Pantone 012.
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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle valiantly attempts to recapture what makes the movies special, and like Indy himself, it usually lands on its feet.
But more importantly,Indiana Jonesdoesn’t rely entirely on white paint. It also uses other subtle cues, like torn rags flapping in the breeze, platforms jutting out oddly, strange holes in the wall, to tell players where to go. Sometimes, it’s a voice line from Indy that draws attention, and sometimes, it’s nothing at all. Ladders are just ladders, and anyone who’s ever played an action-adventure game before intuitively knows that they can be climbed.
It’s a method that works well forIndiana Jones and the Great Circle, mainly because of where the majority of the game takes place. No one’s going to bat an eye at a bit of faded white paint on an ancient ruin, a military encampment, or an archeological site. It may not transfer one-to-one into every game, but it reveals a design mentality that other AAA games could stand to learn from.Make the visual cues fit the environment, but stand out slightly, and they’ll be obvious and accessible without sacrificing the sense of organic discovery players get from figuring things out on their own.
Useful Indicators Can Still Be Subtle
Indy Goes Above & Beyond White Paint
But the creative approach to subtle visual cues goes beyondIndiana Jones and the Great Circle’s platforming - it applies to puzzles, too. From the very beginning of the game, players have the opportunity to setthe level of detail they want to see in puzzle hints. The puzzles are relatively simple, so long as the player reads all the associated documentation, even on the highest difficulty setting. But the player can always request more detail in their puzzle hints by snapping a picture with the in-game camera.
Thecamera inIndiana Jones and the Great Circleis one of the most ingenious pieces of game design in recent memory. It has many functions, but the most important is to provide the player with extra hints on puzzles. The great thing about this is thatthe amount of information revealed is always under the player’s control, regardless of their difficulty settings. If they just want more detail on one particular section of the puzzle, they can snap a photo of that one item. If they still need more, they can keep taking pictures.
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This makes every single puzzle in the game accessible to players who prefer a little more guidance, while also preserving the challenge for others. It seems like an evolution of a much earlier hint system: the one introduced byMetal Gear Solid. Players were free to come up with solutions to puzzles or secrets to boss battles on their own if they preferred, but they could also make a simple codec call if they wanted more answers.
Once again, the player decides the amount of help they’re given, and can choose each time they encounter a puzzle instead of making a blanket decision in the form of a puzzle difficulty level.The Great Circle’s hint system goes even deeper, because by simply aiming the camera, the player is able to decide exactly which element of the puzzle they want to get a hint about.
Great Circle Proves That Games Can Have It Both Ways
Accessibility, Subtlety, & Discovery Coexist
Most games today seem to takeone route or the other. Either they make ostentatious displays of accessibility, holding the player’s hand through even the most minor decisions, and slathering every interactive item in yellow paint, or they become deliberately obtuse, making every discovery a struggle, and turning the most innocuous choices deadly. The former approach makes a great game for a wide audience, but the result feels forced, and the player railroaded. The latter limits a game’s scope, but each discovery feels intensely rewarding, even if the player has to consult multiple guides to get there.
ButIndiana Jones and the Great Circleproves thatAAA games don’t need to choose either or. They can have incredibly customizable levels of hints and puzzle help, starting with difficulty levels, and extending to a dedicated hint-dispensing mechanic that players activate at will. They can easily replace bright yellow paint with subtler cues that fit the environment they’re found in. They can preserve the joys of organic discovery without making it a chore.
In many ways,Indiana Joneswas one of the greatest unexpected surprises of 2024. It lived up to almost every single fan expectation,from its movie accuracyto its excellent gameplay and visuals. Going forward, it should be a point of inspiration for AAA games everywhere. Developers could stand to take a lot of cues fromIndiana Jones and the Great Circle, but if they pick just one, let it be its excellent, well-balanced tutorial and hint system.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a first-person action-adventure game developed by the creative team at MachineGames. Set in 1937 between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, players take on the role of the titular globe-trotting adventurer/archaeology professor Dr. Indiana Jones, as he races across the world to stop a dangerous organization from utilizing the power of the mystical Great Circle.
