Nintendo Switch Nindies Showcase Summer 2018 — Into the Untitled Goose Breach

Nintendo had a good idea when they decided to mostly stop including indie games as part of their Nintendo Directs to instead provide Nintendo Nindies Showcases, a Direct-style presentation dedicated to them. This cut down on complaints whenever the zanier fans who wanted one AAA game announcement after another on their Directs felt blindsided by indie game showcases, even though Directs rarely followed that format. A separate presentation also allows for indie games to not be overshadowed by larger games.

It’s also become important to highlight these due to how well indie games have performed on Switch. Every week or so, a report is released from an indie developer or publisher mentioning how well their titles have done on the platform. It’s why more and more of them are releasing for the system, enough to, well, necessitate highlighting them in a separate showcase.

If you’ve been following indie games for years, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Hyper Light Drifter. This pixel-based action RPG was crowdfunded and eventually released on several other platforms to an excellent critical and commercial reception. Anyone who’d rather play it on a handheld system after the Vita and Wii U releases were cancelled, or still haven’t purchased it yet and would like to, will have their chance to get the Switch version next Thursday, September 6th.

Towerfall is another indie game that achieved a good critical and commercial reception on other platforms, and it’s coming to Switch with new features. This version will include all the original and add-on content from previous ports, and will add a six-player mode, four new Variants for gameplay options, and Madeline and Badeline from Celeste (which featured some of the same developers). The port will release on September 27th.

Treasure Stack was also shown, a fast-paced puzzle game where players have to use quick reflexes and organizational skills to complete stages. It will have a single-player survival mode and multiplayer that allows for up to 2-to-4 players to compete. It will release on Switch and PC sometime in the winter, and cross-platform play will be included.

Just in case anyone thought all the games shown here would be 2D sprite-based titles, Zarvot, a 3D game involving cubes, was shown. This is an arcade-style game where players go though several levels to cheer up another friendly cube in the story mode, but it also has a multiplayer mode where various friendly objects can battle against each other. One such object will be the Joy-Bot, named after the Switch Joy-Con, which will unsurprisingly be exclusive to the Switch version. The game will launch first on Switch in October.

Mineko’s Night Market was announced for Switch before this showcase, but this was the first opportunity for several to see how impressive it looks. It’s an adventure game where players control Mineko, a girl who can explore an island, partake in jobs, complete quests, and more in preparation of a weekly Night Market. It takes place on an island inspired by Japanese culture, with four different regions. The game was originally planned for release this year, but will now arrive in early 2019, first on Switch. Perhaps it will make for a good substitute for Animal Crossing until a new installment arrives.

Popular party bushido brawler/platformer hybrid Samurai Gunn is receiving a sequel aptly called Samurai Gunn 2. The gameplay resembles its predecessor’s, and will retain the four-player versus mode. But this version will also have a story mode that allows for solo and co-op play. The game will release for Switch (and PC) sometime early next year.

Bullet Age was also shown, a co-op action game with a colorful art style which features a mix of sword fighting and gunplay. It will prominently feature platforming and upgradeable weapons, and will utilize the Switch’s HD Rumble features. The game will release as a console exclusive for Switch in November.

The World Next Door was confirmed for Switch, an action-adventure game with an anime-inspired art style with puzzle-style battles. The game will feature branching dialogue choices and a reputation system, which developer Rose City Games promises will affect the relationship between protagonist teen girl protagonist Jun and the other characters. This will be the first indie game published by Viz Media (who typically handles anime and manga) when it arrives in early 2019, when it will also release for PC and Mac.

Levelhead is also coming to Switch, a platformer that will start as a single-player game where players will research how to build their own levels. Once they’ve done that, they can construct and share the levels they create. The levels can be completed by one to four players, but the game will notably only have local co-op. It’s due for a release in November for Switch, Steam, and mobile platforms.

The name King of the Hat sounds like it would fit Super Mario Odyssey, given Mario’s use of Cappy’s powers in that game. But it’s actually the name of a crowdfunded hat-based party game where players have to crush each other’s hats to become, uh, king of the remaining hat. The game will release for Switch and PC early next year.

Perhaps the weirdest game announced during this showcase was Untitled Goose Game, a title which combines stealth and open-world sandbox elements with geese wreaking havoc. Basically, the main goose here is a jerk, though there’s no word on whether Goose Howard will be unlockable. The game is due for release in early 2019 on Switch and PC.

This wasn’t a long presentation, but Nintendo still relegated several games to a montage, and notable titles were among them. The Ninja Gaiden-inspired The Messenger (which is now critically-acclaimed) will release tomorrow, August 30th, while the much-anticipated Switch release of Undertale will arrive on September 18th. Supergiant Games also announced Bastion and Transistor for the system, which will arrive on September 13th and in November, respectively. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is also coming to the system in October, notably without the Twitter implementation because Twitter blows chunks now. Inti Creates’ Dragon Marked for Death was also shown, which will arrive on December 13th.

A much-needed channel dedicated to indie games launched right after the showcase, which focuses on providing promotion and info on new and upcoming indie games. Several indie developers were worried about their games eventually getting lost on the Switch’s online shop, but this will ideally help prevent that in the future.

The final announcement of the show was for the Switch version of Into the Breach, a turn-based strategy game that was a critical hit when it released for PC earlier this year. Here, players will use mechs to battle the invasion of the Vek aliens and protect the world’s civilians. The game released shortly after the conclusion of the presentation.

This Nindies Showcase was only slightly longer than the last one, but still short for a Nintendo presentation. Titles several watchers (and not just me) were hoping to see didn’t show, like Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (which isn’t an indie game per se, but features nods to several of them) and the recently announced Streets of Rage 4. But they still showed plenty of games, and those titles could surface at PAX West this weekend, so it’s not a big deal.

Now, the biggest issue to worry about will be whether there are too many indie games releasing for Switch too quickly, which runs the risk of several games being buried. This hasn’t been a problem yet, but it will become one if this torrent of indie releases continues at this current pace. Hopefully they’ll find a solution.

If you want to watch the presentation, feel free to do so here. It’s short!