Nintendo is pretty well known to market their games through their occasional Nintendo Directs. Along with digital presentations on its games, the company also occasionally highlights indie games (or, Nindies, as it insists on calling them) that are coming out on Nintendo platforms. On Monday, Nintendo held an Indie World Showcase to show off the independent games coming to the Nintendo Switch. For the people that somehow missed out on that and don’t want to spend 20 minutes watching a video, here’s the rundown on what was shown.
Opening the presentation was the reveal that Risk of Rain 2 will be coming to the Switch later this summer. Risk of Rain 2, by Hopoo Games, is a drastic departure from the previous game. While the games share roguelike and loot collecting elements, Risk of Rain 2 switches from something like a run and gun 2D platformer to a 3D third-person shooter, with a much greater emphasis on multiplayer.
In an industry full of dismal post-apocalyptic games, Pixpil is bringing a more heartwarming and hopeful take on the post-apocalypse with Eastward. A dad-like figure finds a girl in an underground facility and they go on adventures through decaying cities on a quest to learn about her past and the strange creatures that descend on towns.
Wide Right Interactive brings some more shoot-em-ups to the Switch with Freedom Finger, coming out in the Fall. You control a giant spaceship in the shape of a hand that has the bird out until it seizes control of an enemy ship. By grabbing an enemy ship, you use it as a power-up to shoot in new bullet patterns until you get bored of it and toss it at another enemy. It has a weird Adult Swim cartoon vibe to it, but I don’t know, it’ll probably be alright.
Röki by Polygon Treehouse has a young girl wandering around a wilderness based on fairytales. It’s a 3D adventure game with a picture-book-esque art style that is slated to come out in the winter.
Runic Games is bringing the cooperative dungeon crawler Torchlight II to the Switch on September 3rd. The game features pets as AI controlled companions and the Nintendo Switch version of the game will come with a Pet Unicorn. Pre-ordering it on switch gives a Pet Yapper. Torchlight II was also presented with a goofy animated trailer of its characters playing the game as they go around a world falling apart, in a demonstration of what the Switch can do.
Are you one of those people wishing longingly for Skate 4 or a good modern Tony Hawk game? Well, Skater XL by Easy Day Studios promises to take up the mantle with a more advanced board control and physics system. Gotta wait until 2020 to see if it makes good on the promise of a well-made skating game, though.
Puzzle-platformer Youropa by frecle opens with the sudden destruction of Paris and its ruins floating in the air. What should be a bleak cataclysm is contrasted with the fact that you play as a goofy looking figure reminiscent of Human Fall Flat. The laws of gravity bend around your character as you walk along the sides of floating ruins to rebuild the world in Winter.
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened by Chromatic Games brings a fusion of tower defense and action RPGs to the Switch. Play with friends to defend dungeons anywhere, anytime. This one is a timed console exclusive, coming out in February 2020, so if you’re not interested in the Switch version, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.
The Touryst by Shin’en is a game with voxel-based visuals where you get to go out and enjoy a virtual vacation! Nah. On your vacation, you also get to explore and platform around mysterious blocky shrines with the occasional monster. Besides, November’s a bit late for a tropical vacation, don’t you think?
Skellboy is an action game by Umaiki Games releasing December 3rd where a dead hero rises from his grave to fight monsters, seizing their weapons and body parts on the way. It’s got a neat visual style where sprites are rendered as flat cardboard figures wandering a 3D plane, which is sorta reminiscent of Paper Mario.
In EarthNight, by Cleaversoft, dragons have taken over the Earth and humans were exiled to space. In a procedurally-generated platformer, a 14-year old and a middle-aged photographer skydive to Earth in an attempt to take things back. It’s an auto-runner game that aims to make people rethink the auto-runner genre. EarthNight is planned to come out later this year.
But you might be wondering: “are there any indie games out now that I can play?” Well, I mean, there’s plenty of good indie games on the Switch store already; I will never stop shilling Lucah: Born of a Dream. However, the Indie World showcase also introduced games that came out that very day and can be downloaded right now!
SUPERHOT, the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years, has finally come to the Switch. Time only moves when you do in this game, demanding attention and precise movement as you try to kill all the enemies in a slowly moving world. The developers are pretty great too.
The Hotline Miami Collection, by Dennation Games, also finally arrives on the Nintendo Switch, offering the two Hotline Miami games in one package. Hilariously, the trailer manages to go out of its way to avoid showing the ultraviolence these games are known for.
After the Hotline Miami reveal, the Indie World video ended things off with a sizzle-reel of other games that didn’t get full trailers. Blasphemous, Close to the Sun, Cat Quest II, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, Creature in the Well, One Finger Death Punch 2, WHAT THE GOLF?, KINE, HYPERCHARGED: Unboxed, Northgard, SPARKLITE and Munchkin: Quacked Quest are coming out throughout the rest of 2019. Spiritfarer, Best Friend Forever and PHOGS! are also coming out in 2020.
Yet that’s not the end, because one more surprise was shown off at the very end. Moon Studios’ gorgeous platformer, Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition, will be coming out on September 27th. Much like Cuphead, it is a surprising shock of an indie game under Microsoft appearing on the Switch. If you’re a fan of indie games, the Nintendo Switch continues shaping up to be a platform with a lot of variety.
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