Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will once again see the titular action hero battling against Nazis while in pursuit of ancient artifacts when it releases later this year, but the writer and director of some of the most beloved Indiana Jones games of all time thinks the franchise’s reliance on Hitler’s armies is a “mistake” and a “creative lapse.”
In an interview with Time Extension about the creation of the classic point-and-click adventure title Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Hal Barwood, who wrote the game’s story and served as game director, had some choice thoughts on how the franchise has progressed since the release of Fate of Atlantis in 1992. Namely, he thinks the franchise has become formulaic. He said he was disappointed with the most recent film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, for once again featuring Nazis as villains, as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade did before it.
“I think as the Jones’ universe became formulaic to the people who were involved with it in film especially, but also in games, they just thought Nazis were an inherent part of that world,” Barwood said. “I didn’t think so at all. I just think it was a tremendous mistake to have Nazis in Dial of Destiny, and I just thought that resurrecting and rehashing that material was not a good idea.”