Indiana Jones Games Ranked from Infernal to Magical

With a character as popular and enduring as Indiana Jones, it’s an inevitability that the iconic adventurer would be adapted into video games at one time or another. Indiana Jones games have in fact been present for nearly as long as the movies themselves, starting with 1982’s Raiders of the Lost Ark on the Atari 2600. Since then, Indiana Jones has appeared in virtually every major gaming generation, with his most recent game being 2024’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Simply put, there are a lot of Indiana Jones games, from the previously mentioned titles to platformers, point-and-click titles, puzzle, and text-based games, and even educational experiences. For the purposes of this article, we’re just going to focus on the particularly noteworthy games that tried to recapture the magic of Indiana Jones across various gaming platforms. Here are the biggest Indiana Jones games ranked.

12. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985)

After the crudely designed Raiders of the Lost Ark, the ‘80s saw the brand pivot to largely text-based on platforms like the Commodore 64 and Apple II. So 1985’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom arcade game was the most ambitious Indiana Jones game of its time, even incorporating music and sound clips from the 1984 movie it was based on. In true arcade fashion, the game is built around repetitive set pieces driven by achieving a high score as Indy rescues children and recovers Sankara Stones from the mines while battling cult leader Mola Ram’s devotees on minecarts and a system of ladder-connected platforms.

While the inclusion of film elements make Temple of Doom a cut above most standard quarter munchers, the gameplay is still uninspired and the control mechanics are poorly executed. A significantly less technically impressive version of the game was imported to a number of home platforms, including the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, making the experience even more subpar. As far as distilling the magic of the movies into a video game, Temple of Doom was a step up from its predecessors, but still a long way off.

11. Young Indiana Jones (1992)

As with many properties of its era, the prequel television series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones received its own video game adaptation. Also like many IP licenses of that era, different games made by different developers were released on separate platforms on the same day. So the NES got The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles while the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive got Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones. Each explored Indy’s adventures as a teenager and young adult. Both games take place during World War I and feature Indy traveling the world before culminating in the future archaeologist taking on the German military directly.

While both Young Indiana Jones titles look relatively good for a standard side-scroller on their respective consoles, it’s the gameplay and design where they fall woefully short. Overly difficult and filled with more enemies and hazards on-screen than can reasonably be navigated, the poor whip mechanics only fuels the already immense frustration trying to play these games. More of a point of curiosity than worth playing, the Young Indiana Jones games are for completionist collections only.

10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (1989)

1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade featured a whole line of video game adaptations, with most of them being absolute late-stage NES garbage. The NES actually got two different Last Crusade games, one published by Ubisoft and the other by Taito, with the Ubisoft version being a monochromatic, clunky mess. The Taito version is marginally better, but still feels like a passionless movie tie-in with everything from level design to enemy programming coming off as phoned-in.

On a much more positive note, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure is one of the best Indiana Jones games released on PC. A precursor to Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts’ Monkey Island games, The Graphic Adventure is a point-and-click adaptation of the movie, immersing the player in its story and giving them a variety of options to interact with it as they search for the Holy Grail. For those who might’ve missed this superior Last Crusade iteration the first time around, it is available to purchase DRM-free on GOG.com.

9. Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures (1996)

1996’s Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures is very much a product of its era and one of the more dated games on this list. Desktop Adventures is a combination of puzzle and exploration games, some randomly generated, as Indy embarks on a relatively low-key escapade sometime in the 1930s. The biggest thing of note about the game’s story is that it includes a passing reference to the crystal skull over a decade before fans saw that come to fruition with 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

One advantage that Desktop Adventures has over the NES and Sega Genesis games listed before it is that, for all its simplistic and repetitive design, it’s at least playable. This lower difficulty and ease of access is likely due to the game being targeted at younger players, which is welcome here after struggling to beat a single level in Young Indiana Jones. That said, Desktop Adventures feels only a slight cut above the educational games starring Indy that had existed since the ‘80s, elevated this time by its rudimentary exploration sequences.

8. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (2009)

Originally intended to be a tie-in game to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull before being extensively delayed and heavily reworked, 2009’s Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is a weird beast. Set in 1939 the game has Indiana Jones race Nazi artifact hunter Magnus Voller around the globe to recover various relics, especially Moses’ biblical Staff of Kings. The game was released for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable.

Staff of Kings falls into the same pitfalls that many third-party developers experienced producing games for the Wii and DS, namely in trying too hard to utilize the hardware’s unique control capabilities. Both the motion controls on the Wii and the use of the stylus on the DS make for an overall clunky gameplay experience that was dead on arrival. Though a bit better in that regard, the PS2 and PSP versions of Staff of Kings still provide a largely uneven game, with entertaining moments obscured by more frustrating sequences.

7. Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (1999)

The first 3D Indiana Jones game was 1999’s Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, released for the PC and Nintendo 64. Set in 1947, the game features Indy racing Soviet soldiers around the globe to stop them from acquiring an ancient Babylonian device reputedly more powerful than a nuclear weapon. A 2D game bearing the Infernal Machine name was also released for the Game Boy Color in 2001, with faster-paced action befitting its presentation and mechanics.

Indiana Jones made the transition to 3D much better than some of his contemporaries, with much of the gameplay echoing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, especially with its similar targeting system. However, the game also suffers from many technical hiccups shared by its peers, most notably the unresponsive controls and frustrating camera placement and movement. Still, Infernal Machine set the template for Indiana Jones games moving forward, with subsequent 3D platforms in the franchise refining its approach to the legendary property.

6. Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009)

While the first Lego Indiana Jones game was released the same year as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it stuck to adapting the original movie trilogy. The following year saw the inclusion of levels based on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2009’s Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. The sequel also revisits the preceding films, albeit with differently designed levels based on the first three movies.

While the inclusion of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does complete the adaptation, at least as the franchise stood at that time, Lego Indiana Jones 2 feels inferior to its predecessor. The charm is still there, but the level designs for the original trilogy’s games were superior in the previous game while the overall formula becomes more apparent. All in all, Lego Indiana Jones 2 is definitely a good game, but doesn’t live up to the bar set by its predecessor.

5. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (2008)

After producing a number of highly successful Lego Star Wars games, it was only a matter of time before developer Traveller’s Tales teamed up with LucasArts to adapt Lucasfilm’s other big cinematic property. 2008’s Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures brings the Lego games familiar family-friendly sensibilities to the original Indiana Jones film trilogy in style. With a greater emphasis on humor and puzzle-solving, Indy and each movie’s extensive cast become playable, many sharing distinct abilities to help with level progression and recovering collectibles.

The Original Adventures successfully transposes the gameplay formula from Lego Star Wars to the iconic archaeologist while still keeping the presentation distinctly recognizable to Indiana Jones. Though the more intense bits and imagery from the movies have been watered down or removed entirely to cater to younger gamers, the overall aesthetic and adaptation of the source material offers a fun twist on the movies. A cozy game for fans of any age, Lego Indiana Jones celebrates the original movies’ legacy with its own comedic sensibilities.

4. Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures (1994)

After publishing the well-received Super Star Wars trilogy that brought Lucasfilm’s iconic space opera franchise to the Super Nintendo, it stood to reason that Indiana Jones would get the same treatment. Rather than release individual games based on each film, LucasArts wisely packaged them together into a single title with 1994’s Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures. True to its name, the game serves as a compilation of highlights from the original Indiana Jones trilogy, divided across 28 levels.

Like the Super Star Wars trilogy, Greatest Adventures is faithful to the look and feel of the cinematic source material that it lovingly draws from. However, also like the Super Stars Wars trilogy, it is likely more difficult than modern gamers may be accustomed to, with enemies dealing out punishing damage and the slightest mistake being potentially deadly. Still, when it comes to channeling the familiar visual and auditory comforts of the SNES era into the world of Indiana Jones, Greatest Adventures masterfully satisfies.

3. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992)

Refining and expanding what it had done with the PC version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, LucasArts’ 1992 PC game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is the ultimate point-and-click Indiana Jones game. Set in 1939 on the eve of World War II, Indiana Jones learns the Nazis are searching for the lost city of Atlantis to use its energy source to develop powerful weapons. Teaming up with psychic Sophia Hapgood, Indy scours the Mediterranean for a way to discover and access Atlantis and prevent the Nazis from achieving their own war-minded goals with its technology.

Every major narrative point-and-click game to follow, including the countless Telltale Games throughout the 2000s, owes a foundational debt to Fate of Atlantis. The combination of engrossing storytelling, engaging puzzle-solving, and action set pieces elevated what was possible for the genre. While point-and-click games might not have the same cultural cache that they did in 1992, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was the high-water mark for gaming adaptations of the franchise for years.

2. Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb (2003)

Over 20 years later, 2003’s Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is still the definitive third-person Indiana Jones game. Set shortly before the events of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the game has Indy travel the world to stop a mythical Chinese black pearl capable of great power from falling into the wrong hands. This culminates in Indy confronting Nazis and a Chinese crime syndicate in a fabled part of China for the fate of the world once again.

Emperor’s Tomb completely refines and improves upon what Infernal Machine had introduced years earlier when bringing the gaming adventures of Indiana Jones into 3D. These improvements really are noticeable with the technical presentation and combat gameplay compared to its predecessor, including the new mechanic for Indy to use improvised weapons during hand-to-hand fights. While the camera placement still left a lot to be desired, it is a marked upgrade from what was even more frustrating in Infernal Machine.

1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024)

Outside of educational games and re-releases, Indiana Jones had been away from video games for well over a decade by the time Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was released. Developed by MachineGames, who previously revived the Wolfenstein franchise in 2014, the game has Indy mulling over his recent break up with Marion Ravenwood when Marshall College is raided by a formidable figure and has a relic stolen. This puts Indy on another globetrotting adventure, investigating numerous ancient sites forming a circle around the world linked to a devastating biblical power.

While moving the perspective to first-person marked a departure from most conventional third-person or side-scrolling Indiana Jones games, players quickly acclimatized to this change. Faithfully evoking the Raiders of the Lost Ark era of the franchise, Troy Baker is the best actor to play Indiana Jones outside of Harrison Ford, both perfectly voicing and motion-capturing the legendary adventurer. Though the puzzles in the game feel a bit forced, the action holds up with Great Circle more of a first-person brawler than a shooter, keeping in line with the franchise’s sensibilities.