I still remember playing Wolfenstein: The New Order on PS4 over a decade ago. Just saying “over a decade ago” for a PS4 game itself makes me want to go to bed, but I digress. I adored it and couldn’t wait to play basically anything MachineGames released. While I did enjoy Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, I didn’t care much for the other games. When Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was announced, I was curious to see how the developer would handle things because you don’t just go all guns blazing in Indiana Jones. I played it at launch on Xbox, and it was a super-polished and amazing blend of multiple genres. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had elements of adventure games, puzzle games, immersive sims, and even a bit of what I love from MachineGames’ releases.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle debuted on Xbox Series consoles and Steam. It was basically unplayable on Steam Deck back at launch, but has since been updated multiple times, with it now being Steam Deck Verified. Ahead of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Nintendo Switch 2 launch, I’ve been revisiting the game on base PS5 and PS5 Pro to not just replay it for trophies, but also prepare for this Switch 2 review.
Replaying Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been interesting, and it has only cemented this as one of my favorite games in years alongside IO Interactive’s Hitman World of Assassination. These are worlds I want to spend time in, explore, and basically soak in everything they have to offer. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle sees you travelling across unique locations, some busier than others, engaging in stealth (this is the rare game where stealth didn’t frustrate me), solving puzzles, and also experiencing one of the more engaging narratives.
The Switch 2 port of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle arrives with all updates included from the get-go. The Order of Giants DLC is sold separately, but I haven’t played that yet. I will likely do it later in the month, meaning that I will focus on the base game here.
If you haven’t played it before on any platform, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a 60 frames per second-only experience on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. It ran with a resolution upscaled to 1800p on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, but the PS5 Pro pushed this to 4K. These are all target resolutions with the actual internal resolution somewhere below those targets at all times. The key here is that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been a ray tracing-only game with 60 frames per second gameplay. This is something very rare for base consoles.
On Switch 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a 30 frames per second target experience, and it also sees quite a few visual cutbacks compared to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions. The resolution target is a lot lower, with it aiming for 1080p docked and 720p handheld. On paper, the port sounds quite disappointing by targeting 1080p 30 frames per second docked compared to 1800p 60 frames per second on PS5, but handheld is more interesting to me.
Resolution and performance targets aside, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2 is a bit lacking because of its level of detail, textures, and foliage pop-in issues. These are immediately noticeable in the opening hour of the game. No console platform delivers a perfect experience here, with lighting and shadows being a bit lower quality than I expected, but on other platforms, that is the price to pay for a higher resolution and 60 frames per second. On Switch 2, the shadow quality, shadow pop-in, and foliage can get distracting. I got used to it for a stable portable experience compared to Steam Deck, but I hope to see this addressed in patches.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Steam Deck isn’t great even now when it comes to performance. It is Verified, but image quality can be very soft in some scenes, and it can’t hold a solid 30 frames per second in some of the busier locations. On Switch 2, the handheld experience is better as far as I’m concerned because of the more stable visual experience and HD rumble 2. It does suffer from performance issues, though, more so in busier locations.
The HD rumble 2 isn’t as nice as the PS5’s haptics and adaptive trigger support, where even the lightbar is used, but it is a big step up above the miserable rumble on Steam Deck. I also want to note that in many scenes, the Switch 2 handheld experience uses graphics settings and textures below the Steam Deck’s default settings. Some cutscenes are noticeably better on Switch 2 handheld compared to Steam Deck, though. The Switch 2 and Steam Deck both have their own advantages, but the upscaling artifacts are quite noticeable on Steam Deck, with the Switch 2 looking more stable, albeit with worse settings in many cases.
I commend the developers for taking advantage of what the Switch 2 has to offer with input options. Not only does Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feature gyro controls, but it also has mouse controls. Mouse controls with a 30 frames per second target aren’t great, but they did the work to implement good mouse controls and also let players select which Joy-Con 2 controller to use as the mouse. While I have my issues with some aspects of the port, MachineGames made great use of the Switch 2 hardware.
In its current state, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a good Switch 2 port, but it feels a bit conservative given the resolution, frame rate, and other visual settings on PS5 and Xbox Series X. If you value the hybrid nature of the Switch 2 for an adventure game with immersive elements, the Switch 2 port delivers, though I hope we see improvements in updates. If you only play on TV and have access to another console, I recommend Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PS5 or Xbox Series X, as those versions are big upgrades in just about every way.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is one of the better Switch 2 ports so far in the AAA space, retaining the game’s identity and delivering a solid experience despite some issues. It isn’t as good as the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 or even the recent Dynasty Warriors: Origins port, but I like it more than Final Fantasy VII Rebirth based on that demo. If you only own a Switch 2, this is an easy recommendation. Hopefully, they will allow for a higher resolution texture pack as potential DLC in the future.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Bethesda Softworks
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