Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2

How quickly things change in the world of video games. Last year, at this time, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had just landed on PlayStation 5, one of numerous internal Microsoft productions also released on competing consoles during that period. A year later, the world's most famous archaeologist lands with his most recent adventure (DLC included) also on Nintendo Switch 2, but this time we might be facing one of Microsoft's last forays into the territory of multiplatform games.

Following recent internal changes at Microsoft, the new EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma, has announced a comprehensive revolution of the brand, which also includes an almost total revision of first-party titles. It is not yet clear whether future internal productions will all be exclusively for the Xbox ecosystem or if some will be "granted" to PlayStation and Switch users as well. While awaiting the fate of Xbox exclusives, however, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has concluded its multiplatform tour with its arrival on Nintendo's flagship, Switch 2.

Between the Great Circle and the Order of the Giants

Professor Jones, in addition to being a universally appreciated archaeologist, is also a master of style, but unlike what he did in the past on Xbox and PS5, for his debut on Switch 2 he decided to present himself in a single version. No Deluxe Edition on the Nintendo console, but pre-order bonuses and a single edition sold at a price of €69.99 both in digital and physical format. The good news for collectors is the presence of the entire game within the 64 GB physical cartridge (just enough for the 59.7 GB size of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2). The content inside, quite obviously, is the same as already seen on Xbox Series first and then on PlayStation 5.

Even on Switch 2, Dr. Jones will have to embark on the search for the Great Circle in an adventure, set shortly after the events of the first film in the saga, which will take him from Marshall College where he teaches to Rome, to investigate in the Vatican, and then again to Egypt, Peru, Shanghai... In addition to the Great Circle, on Switch 2 the intrepid Jones can also track down the Order of the Giants, which is a DLC also already available on other consoles. The additional content is sold for €19.99 and offers a parallel adventure that can be activated by talking to a certain character in one of the initial levels of the base game (don't worry, there are more precise indications in the relevant menu).

How is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2?

Let's start with the technical data: MachineGames' game runs at 1080p in docked mode and at 720p in handheld mode. In both cases, the FPS are locked at 30 frames per second. This latter solution was adopted to avoid overly fluctuating FPS, and from our point of view, it is a commendable choice, especially after having experienced most of the adventure. We felt few moments of struggle during our test, nothing that ever compromised the experience. The game runs natively at a lower resolution than the other console versions, and a trained eye can notice the difference in terms of detail, but apart from the impression that there are slightly fewer people in crowded areas, no other type of "reduction" or cut was necessary to make it run on Switch 2. There are no graphics options in the Settings, so you cannot deviate from the configuration provided by MachineGames even if you wanted to.

If desired, however, it is possible to use the Joy-Cons 2 to control Indiana's movements and attacks through the gyroscope (even limited to aiming only) or mouse mode. The mouse-like control requires some adaptation (and not too large hands), but it has already proven functional in other first-person titles on Switch 2, while the gyroscope control did not seem particularly comfortable to us, but things could improve following an already planned day-one patch. The trade-off for all of the above is the ability to play Indiana Jones and the Great Temple in handheld mode, previously reserved for PC handheld owners. Certainly at the cost of some compromises, but Indiana Jones's latest adventure also made it to Switch 2, and that was by no means a given.