Indie games old and new appeared today
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Nintendo aired a new Indie World Showcase today, spotlighting some new and previously announced projects coming to Switch. Cards, crabs, and Making the Band all made the cut, as the publisher and Switch maker showed off what’s on the way.
20 games were on the docket, including four that are out today. A few brand-new reveals were also in store, like noir-meets-Metroid adventure Gunbrella and the Soulslike Another Crab’s Treasure starring a crab.
It wasn’t the most explosive showcase, especially if you were holding out hope for some Hollow Knight: Silksong news. But as always, I walked away from this showcase with a couple more games on my To Watch list, and at least a few I’m going to download and check out this afternoon.
Here’s the full rundown of everything shown today.
Every game shown in today’s Nintendo Indie World Showcase
- Ooblets: Glumberland’s cozy, chill farming and monster-raising sim makes its way to Nintendo’s handheld this summer. Dress up, play arcade games, and then duke it out in dance battles.
- Batora: Lost Haven: This action-RPG takes a puzzle-y, nonlinear approach to the usual Diablo style. Balancing body and mind seems key to surviving the journey. That’s from Stormind Games and Team17, out this fall.
- ElecHead: Nama Takahashi’s adorable little puzzle game ElecHead hits a system that seems just perfect for it. Using the lil’ robot guy’s head and body, you solve a bunch of puzzles involving tricky floors and traps. That’s on Nintendo Switch this fall.
- Soundfall: The first “available today” of the Indie World Showcase goes to Soundfall, a rhythm and dungeon-crawling hybrid from Drastic Games and Noodlecake. Explore the levels, pick up the loot, smack enemies, and do it all to the beat for extra power. It’s got over 140 songs and, importantly for some, up to four players in local or online multiplayer.
- Wildfrost: A new tactical roguelike deckbuilder from Deadpan Games and Chucklefish is on the way. Wildfrost has a Norse mythology vibe to it, with some great art and what looks like a tactical approach to putting cards on the table. I’m intrigued to see more of this as we get closer to its holiday launch window.
- Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: This summer, armies of little dudes can be slammed against each other on a whim, and on the go. Totally Accurate Battle Simulator is headed to Nintendo Switch, so you too can be a callous and uncaring god, seeing if a few boulder guys can beat a mammoth.
- Gunbrella: This new game from Gato Roboto developer Doinksoft and Devolver Digital might be my highlight of the stream. A noir-punk Metroid-style game where the protagonist has a gun, that’s also an umbrella. Say no more. But do please keep me updated and apprised as this aims for a launch on Switch next year.
- We Are OFK: We got a decent look at Team OFK’s Making the Band-style narrative adventure today. Released as weekly animated episodes with interactive music videos, I dig the vibe and look of this a lot. The series starts this summer, as Itsumi Saito and her friends embark on their journey to make it big.
- Silt: Giant fish! Big teeth! Silt looks frightening. But if you’re somehow not terrified of the deep, and you should be, Silt is coming to Nintendo Switch in June.
- Mini Motorways: From Dinosaur Polo Club, this Mini builder lets you organize the routes and highways cars take on their daily commute. Much like predecessor Mini Metro, this looks like a deceptively straightforward but ultimately engrossing puzzler. It’s out today on Nintendo Switch.
- Wayward Strand: This narrative adventure from Ghost Pattern has a real look and style to it. Follow along as an intrepid young journalist explores a flying hospital, in what looks like a cozy but probably very sad story. It hits Switch on July 21.
- Cult of the Lamb: We didn’t learn too much new here, but Cult of the Lamb continues to look good. I was impressed by my time with it at PAX East 2022, and will definitely keep my eye on it, for whenever it lands this year.
- Another Crab’s Treasure: From Aggro Crab, makers of dystopian dungeon crawler Going Under, it’s Another Crab’s Treasure. Be a crab. Fight other sea life. Acquire new shells. Profit? This new action-adventure crabwalks onto Switch next year.
- OneShot: World Machine Edition: Leading off the closing montage of indies is OneShot, a bit of a cult classic on PC that’s coming to Nintendo Switch. I hesitate to say more, but fans of Undertale and Inscryption should take note. That’s coming to Switch this summer.
- Gibbon: Beyond the Trees: Another out today, this game from Broken Rules has a narrative journey about a lost gibbon on a dangerous journey. Hopefully it isn’t heartbreaking!
- Idol Manager: Manage and train a stable of idols on Aug. 25. I didn’t get too strong of an impression from this, but it looks appealing to folks who like sim-narrative games, like the Princess Maker series.
- Card Shark: Devolver and Nerial’s game about getting away with cheating at cards has two pieces of news. In the showcase, it was confirmed to have a demo out today. And right after, the team locked in a date of June 2!
- Cursed to Golf: This golf roguelike certainly made an impression in my PAX East demo. We didn’t see too much today, but it’s one for golf fans to keep an eye on this summer.
- A Guidebook of Babel: Since this popped up in the montage, I didn’t get too much info about this. Even so, I dig the art, and it seems to have some kind of puzzle-solving going on too. I’m keeping my eye out for more info as we get close to a fall release date for this.
- Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition: This under-the-radar hit from Sigono is coming to Switch, and doing so today. Its mixture of narrative and puzzles with some great art and mysteries put it on my backlog, and with a Switch version out today, it’s about time I got to playing it.
