The Nintendo Switch eShop deservedly has a bad reputation. It’s difficult to navigate efficiently, is a colossal pain to get a refund from, and is loaded with low-quality games. While offering a clear path to indie developers is important and helps to make the Switch a superb console to own, a little bit of regulation and oversight would be welcomed.
In the meantime, here’s a list of a bunch of Nintendo Switch indie games that have been tried, tested, and deemed worthy of buying – especially if you spot them in one of the sales!
1. Super Blood Hockey (Loren Lemcke)
Highlights
- Tough-to-master gameplay
- Superb franchise mode
- Hilarious injuries and untimely deaths
Super Blood Hockey might just be the most entertaining ice hockey game out there right now. Whether it’s contesting its challenges, playing a match against friends, or trying to keep your franchise afloat, it delivers on every level. The centrepiece deserving of the most praise – even with the fast-paced, physical, and strangely skilful on-ice gameplay – is its franchise mode.
You start by building a team from convicts on a limited budget. Your goal is to be able to pay rent towards the end of the season and remain alive as a franchise. Along the way, you’ll attempt to mitigate brain injuries, fear losing fights and player deaths, put skaters into training and dieting regimes, juice up those who need to get better quickly, and perhaps even decide if an injury is too costly to keep players on life support.
2. Merchant of the Skies (Coldwild Games)
Highlights
- Forces strategic open-world exploration
- So much to discover beyond the trade mechanics
- Truly addictive game loop within the quest lines
Merchant of the Skies is a beautiful game, but where it truly captivates your gaming hours is with its expansive map, trading system, and the genuine chance for failure. You need to be strategic because of how much you can carry and how you power your way through the skies. At the same time, you always want to push that little bit further to efficiently harvest, make money, and upgrade.
It may take a few attempts to get to grips with the correct way to go about exploring and expanding, as well as utilising all of the other tools to buoy your trading business, but it’s worthwhile. Along the way, you’ll also encounter a bunch of quirky characters, be sent on quests, uncover rare and precious resources, get to build your own mansion, and even play some mini-games.
3. Raji: An Ancient Epic
Highlights
- Incredible artwork
- Loads of options in combat
- A setting that’s unique in gaming
Anyone who’s a sucker for mythologies or ancient folklore will love to get immersed in the ancient Indian-inspired Raji: an Ancient Epic. The great spirits that you meet, beasts that you battle, and, of course, the demon bosses are all so unique from just about any other game that you’ll find on the Nintendo Switch eShop. It’s made all the more immersive by the stunning art style utilised by Nodding Heads Games.
Set long after a great war between the gods and demons, you’re caught up as a human hoping to fend off the demonic uprising, making use of special powers to do so. Importantly, this isn’t a mere hack-and-slash amidst a novel setting. The combat has a lot to offer from the weapons that you choose to the powers that become available as you progress. Action, platformer, and story-driven game fans should check out this Nintendo Switch indie.
4. Dredge (Black Salt Games)
Highlights
- Masterfully merges fishing simulator with Lovecraftian horror
- Loads to uncover and makes you find your story
- Going out at night can be daunting, but not as terrifying as Dying Light 2
A more recent release, Dredge impressed early and hasn’t let up, even adding wildlife events to make a relaxing sail on the open seas even more enjoyable. At the start, you’ll think that you’re in an open-world fishing game with the aim of paying back a loan to a downtrodden village. Soon, if you disobey warnings against going out at night, you’ll begin to experience strange occurrences that you’re not quite sure are real or in your head.
On top of these cosmic wisps and sudden obstacles, there are menacing sea monsters lurking in the all-too-dark waters beneath your hull. Story dictates that you go out at night, and just as you have your bearings, it’ll essentially have you find your own way in the story. There are side quests, rare fish to catch, a bunch of ways to upgrade your vessel, and so much mystery that you’ll want to go out on just one more voyage before calling it a day.
5. Terror of Hemasaurus (Loren Lemcke)
Highlights
- Very satisfying city-destroying gameplay
- Tongue-in-cheek story of the destruction of the world
- Great fun in kaiju versus battles at home
Another very well realised concept from indie developer Loren Lemcke, Terror of Hemasaurus rocks up with classic retro graphics, sounds, and so much to destroy. In the story mode as the kaiju foretold to bring about the end of humanity’s selfish capitalist ways, you’ll obliterate buildings, throw and punt hundreds of people, and fend off whole armies that seek to stop your onslaught.
With the scaling up of difficulty, staggering of varied enemies, and unlocking of mighty powers, Terror of Hemasaurus remains entertaining throughout its campaign. The additional story elements – including the demise of the developer – keep it light-hearted while always being tongue-in-cheek about the destruction of the world. It’s a good laugh and a very satisfying smash ’em-up game.
6. Monster Sanctuary (Moi Rai Games)
Highlights
- Plenty of puzzles to uncover and solve
- Extensive skill trees for all monsters
- Team building at its finest
Monster Sanctuary may look like one of the millions of Pokémon clones – you even pick a rare starter to open the game – but this indie game on the Nintendo Switch greatly separates itself from that colossal series. The gameplay itself is Metroidvania meets monster taming, but there’s so much to explore, a grand collection of monsters to find and evolve, and a tremendous amount of depth to the gameplay.
The amount of gameplay available when Monster Sanctuary launched was plenty to warrant the price and hours upon hours of gameplay – especially for completionists. Yet, Mo Rai Games opted to release a bunch of updates for their indie smash hit. Already in the game were deep team-making mechanics with custom monster skill trees and item builds, evolutions to unlock at set locations, and a bunch of different biomes to explore.
7. Gibbon: Beyond the Trees (Broken Rules)
Highlights
- Gaming beauty on another level
- Fast-paced fun through immersive environments
- A novel way to traverse the jungles
As soon as you’re in Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, you won’t want to leave; the hand-drawn artwork is simply superb, as are the soundscapes. However, this isn’t just a Nintendo Switch indie that titillates the senses. You can either swing your way through a compelling story that follows a family of gibbons as they try to survive the destruction of their home, or see how far you can get in the all-out Liberation Mode.
The story takes a little over an hour to complete, but every minute is made all the more enjoyable by its controls. You’ll be swinging from branch to branch at high speed, mixing in flips, slides, and even some throws of your fellow gibbons to gain even more momentum. At the end of the run, you get a little stats sheet to show how you did compared to other players to encourage you to have just one more run at perfection.
List of more Nintendo Switch indies that are worth buying
Along with the games highlighted above, all of those on the list below are well worth your time and money, ranking among the very best Nintendo Switch indies available at the time of writing.
- Cult of the Lamb
- Stardew Valley
- Undertale
- Golf Story
- GRIS
- Cozy Grove
- Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
- Hades
- New Star Manager
- Overcooked! and Overcooked! 2
- Hollow Knight
- Retro Bowl
- Wargroove
- Adore
Which Nintendo Switch indie game will you play next? If you’re unsure, choose one of the above titles!