Nintendo’s Indie Bombshell Reveals Some Amazing Games!

The Nintendo eShop is somewhere I find myself frequenting almost daily because there is always something new to checkout and download. Nintendo like to drop Indie Highlights from time-to-time to get us hyped for the latest indie games coming to the Switch, and yesterdays video showed off some corkers. Let’s have a look shall we?

Cuphead – 18.04.2019

Last year Cuphead graced PCs and consoles everywhere with its wonderfully Disney inspired visuals. This 2D platformer is packing tight controls, rock-solid difficulty and gameplay so fine I might leave my fiance for it – Cuphead is definitely one to keep an eye on this April. Oh, and this is a collab effort with Microsoft…wonders will never cease.

Overland – Autumn

Overland is a squad-based strategy game set in a beautifully realised post-appocalyptic, procedural generated United States. The game is set to throw you into the thick of things, forcing difficult decisions on a turn-by-turn basis. Gather supplies? Save your dog? Rescue fellow survivors? Something has got to fall by the wayside. The further west you go on your roadtrip, the weirder things get so you better wear your brown pants just in case.

My Friend Pedro – June

Have you ever wanted to be a male ballerina? How about one who becomes Neo from The Matrix? what about dancing around performing violent acts in the most graceful of ways whilst being guided by a magical banana called Pedro? Well I have dreamed of this my whole life, so I guess you know what I am doing in June. Seriously though, this game looks amazing, check it out.

Neo Cab – Summer

You are the last human Taxi Driver in a dystopian world dominated by automation. You drive around the city picking up a diverse range of characters, each with their own storylines. Balance the games systems, searching for your missing friend and avoid the Capra Corporations ever watching eye. Whilst it may look light mechanically, it oozes atmosphere and the story genuinely sounds interesting. Worth keeping an eye on.

The Red Lantern – Later This Year

Got to admit, the trailer for The Red Lantern did not grab me at first. But as it went on, it touched on some topics I think most people have struggled with. Who do I want to be? Am I a disappointment? How do I prove myself? I started to get invested in the idea of going to Alaska with some dogs and doing some sledding. Trailer ends with a bear attacking and eating your dogs…so I immediately decided not to go to Alaska. The Red Lantern is a story-driven rogue-like survival game where you explore the Alaskan wilderness. Being a fan of rogue-likes, this is obviously on my radar. A very pleasant surprise. Lets just hope the gyro-controls aren’t god awful though…

Darkwood – May

I love a good survival horror game. Darkwood tries to take the genre and throw it on its head. Procedural generation, isometric view and survival elements all look to combine into an experience that might work. I am not 100% sold on this one. Survival Horror is a genre that is so hit and miss that from the snippet of gameplay we saw just isn’t enough to fully draw me in.

Katana ZERO – 18/04/2019

Hoo-boy, where do I start with Katana ZERO? I want to say it is an interesting mix of Super Meat Boy and Strider…kinda. It is a stylish 2D plarformer where you run around assassinating everything in sight using your handy-dandy sword and precognitive powers. Finish a mission, drink some tea, have a nap, go to counselling and take your medication. Rinse and repeat. Gotta say – I am digging this one on so many levels.

RAD – Summer

Coming off the hype I felt with Katana Zero I was thoroughly underwhelmed with RAD. The concept seems fine I guess. Post-apocalyptic top down hack n’ slash where you try to restore the world in a way sort of reminicent of Okami. Mutate in a variety of ways to lay the beatdown on your enemies. From what I saw, it looks a bit bland graphically and the gameplay runs the risk of getting boring kinda fast. First impressions? Probably not for me. You never know though, Double Fine have been known to make some pretty awesome games.

Creature In The Well – Summer

Pinball games are becoming eerily more common nowadays. Whether you are literally playing a game of pinball on your Switch or delving into a Metroidvania you just can’t escape the allure of those paddles. Creature In The Well continues this strange trend by being a top-down hack n’ slash fused with pinball. I don’t really care for Pinball so I am not massively interested in this, but the trailer does sell the premise really well.

Bloodroots – Summer

Bloodroots is a top-down action game where you take on the role of a man known simply as – Mr Wolf. Bring untold destruction on your foes using the world around you and unravel the various mysteries surrounding the western revenge story. I don’t know if you have noticed…but I am not a huge fan of this genre. Once again, this trailer really struggled to hook me outside of it’s bizarre setting.

Pine – August

I am a sucker for a good action adventure game. It has been quite some time since Breathe of the Wild stole my heart, and PINE looks like it might just rush in and fill that void. Open world? Check. Action Adventure? Check. Scavenging, crafting and bartering? Check. All that is missing is multiple animalistic factions and various biomes to explore. Oh, it has them too? Sold.

Super Crate Box – April

Pixel art, endless hordes of enemies and multiplayer unique to the Switch? Look, I am not saying this is a must buy for you and your mates, but this looks like a lot of simple fun. Pricing will determine whether or not I decide to embrace that fun however.

Nuclear Throne – Out Now

I LOVE Rogue-Likes. Heck, my highest rated game so far is Crypt of the Necrodancer. So when Nuclear Throne was announced and released on the same day my heart skipped a beat. Run, gun, ‘splode, loot and die. Repeat endlessly for endless fun. If you have any love for Rogue-Likes then this is the game for you. Oh, did I mention it has a co-op mode?

Swimsanity – Summer

The Switch is built for co-op, so whenever one is announced my ears perk up just a little bit to see what the fuss is about. Swinsanity is a co-operative underwater shooter where you and some mates tackle an oceans worth of challenges across a bucketload of game modes. Worth a gander I think.

Blaster Master Zero 2 – Out Now

Blaster Master is an absolute classic. Considering we have the original Blaster Master in our Nintendo Online Library and the phenomenal remake Blaster Master Zero landed at the Switch’s launch, having a sequel after all this time is unexpectedly amazing. There is a demo for Blaster Master Zero. Pick it up. Play it. Love it. Thank me later. When you are done, pick up Blaster Master Zero 2 because it looks awesome.

Stranger Things 3 – 04.07.2019

I haven’t seen Stranger Things so I have no real connection to this game other than it looks meh. That’s it. Short, sweet and oh so disappointing.

Cadence of Hyrule – Spring 2019

Ok I am going to be straight with you. So straight that I put rulers around the world to shame. I am so unbelievably hyped for this game that words literally fail me. Crypt of the Necrodancer as I have previously mentioned is the highest rated game on this site. It is an almost flawless experience. This Crypt x Zelda fusion looks so good I could cry. Beefed up graphics, Zelda music, overworlds, dungeons, enemies from across the Zelda franchise and more. I need this game in my life more than I need my kids. Sorry guys.

So that wraps up my first impressions of every game announced in the Nintendo Indie Highlight. There are a lot of games to be excited for thats for sure. Rest assured, many of these games will be getting the Toast treatment in the near future. Until then, hit that follow button and join the Toaster.