Given that pretty well anyone who grew up in the 80s is likely not only well aware of Indiana Jones, but also a big fan, this is the sort of title that warms the hackles of my jaded gamer heart. Having spent more than a fair number of days over the decades enjoying the grand adventures that Indie and his comrades would go on, I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of trying to capture that same sense in gaming, but none before have ever been this well or fully realized, let alone available to play on a handheld device. Having played quite a lot of the game on my much more powerful PC, I won’t act as if there weren’t some obvious visual compromises made to bring this adventure to the Switch 2, but where it counts I can’t say I really mind.

One of the smartest things the developers did in the game was to open with a tutorial that essentially lets you play the iconic opening sequence to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Getting to live that experience was a real thrill, and the fact that the majority of the game’s base mechanics are pointed out along the way is just brilliant design at work. Granted, for people like me who have every shot of that sequence committed to memory, it also throws out the first indications that compromises in detail were very obviously made to get this running on Nintendo’s feisty-but-constrained system, but at least for the most part the frame rates remain smooth and at no time does it feel like your in-game performance is being held back.

As you might expect, the game has a focus on some essentials for this franchise, which include some great storytelling involving a mix of history both real and fictionalized, globe-trotting adventure that will take you to some extreme ends of the Earth, some thoughtful puzzle-solving, and some periodic jaw-dropping set pieces that will stick with you for quite some time. Well, and you can assume a fair amount of Nazi punching, whacking, shooting, and generally abusing as well for added flavor. You’ll need to be pretty smart about all of that though, as once alerted they have a tendency to respond in force, so since you’re having to lone wolf your way through this adventure, you’re best off being sneaky, and making as much use of anything you can grab as possible to help put them all down as quickly as you can.

For me the bar for comparison, both in terms of core gameplay and how well it translated to play on the Switch 2, was the excellent conversion of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. With that in mind, there is a bit of a point of divergence when making that comparison, with both titles having their own relative strengths depending on your tastes. If you’re looking for intense and satisfying combat, Tomb Raider absolutely gets the edge, not just featuring more variety, but also by making Lara an almost super-human force at times, capable of taking on all comers when things get crazy. By comparison, Indie needs to rely on stealth and ambushes, and while you can survive things getting sticky your chances of consistent success are far lower. That said, the scope of this adventure is massive by comparison, not merely constrained to one island but spanning the world. Along with that you’ll have the opportunity to meet far more characters, pretty well all of whom have fantastic voice acting work elevating the experience, and far more interesting and wild action sequences to work through and be thrilled by. While perhaps the Switch 2 isn’t the ideal console to experience the game at its absolute best on, the quality that counts is still easily present, and the opportunity to enjoy it on the go is hardly something to be discounted when it comes to value.