Nintendo Switch - Games You Can Play Right Now

Smash Ultimate. I've played so much couch co-op online with my 15-year-old. And it's "new" if DLC characters count! Minecraft Steve and Sephiroth were both released recently.

*Legion* wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are y'all's favorite Switch games from the last, say, six months that aren't Hades?

Nothing. 2020 was a wasted year for the Switch.

Same. I'm hoping it's just stuff getting COVID delayed.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I don’t know if it got its own thread and don’t really need it because I don’t have much to say, but I just finished Link’s Awakening. It was fun but I had to go to a guide a bit more often than I liked.

That Eagle Tower.

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/psojmn0d5h5bqlg/no+man+-+office+space.gif)

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are y'all's favorite Switch games from the last, say, six months that aren't Hades?

This is not a new game, but Mr. Dragon and I discovered Pode (link to trailer), a delightful little co-op puzzle/platformer that's really rather light on both of those elements. There's also a solo mode that we haven't tried. You play as a star that's fallen from the sky and a rock that is helping its new friend get back up there. We spend most of our time prettying up each level, growing plants and rock crystals. There's even a button to hold hands. Very charming. Only one particularly long and foliage-dense level has caused the Switch to chug a bit.

The puzzles haven't given us much trouble (though one was a bit touchy to execute) and the platforming is all very simple and forgiving - there are no hard fail states. For us it's been a nice chill out game at the end of the day. It's struck me that it might be a good game to play with kids. You can even switch characters with a button press, so if a parent needs to take over to handle a certain bit you don't even need to pass the controller.

Monster Sanctuary!

I can't get enough of Gradiently.

IMAGE(https://www.nintendo.com/content/dam/noa/en_US/games/switch/g/gradiently-switch/gradiently-switch-hero.jpg)

Beautiful relaxing puzzler, challenge your color perception!

Gradiently - casual color puzzle game for everyone.

Reorder tiles in a way they will form perfect gradient.

* 400 beautiful hand-tuned gradients
* Minimal art style
* Full touch screen support
* Relaxing soundtrack

Currently on sale for $2USD, but I was charged only $1, perhaps because I own other titles by Hook Games.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, because playing new games is for chumps.

There's potentially 2-3 superb indie titles releasing this month on Switch.

First up Curse Of The Dead Gods (which has been in Early Access on PC for nearly a year) looks fantastic. Its an isometric Roguelike with deadly & impactful looking combat. Releases on 23rd February.

Next up Blue Fire (which is out in 2 days!), an action style 3D platformer that looks to test your jumping & other traversal skills to the max. The combat is a big part of the game & looks slick enough too.

Lastly Tartapolis which has such a unique look & is a Metroidvania with a huge character taking up quite a bit of real estate on the screen. It got a sci-fi criminal noir style to it & is developed by just two people. This is one I hope really turns out good. Out 12th February.

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Ah yeah, Blue Fire. That was another game that had caught my attention. Gah, so much stuff that looks good.

Tartapolis certainly looks interesting. A curious choice for a protagonist being a huge fellow that seems to lumber about. Something makes it seem a bit risky a purchase, though, so I'll wait and see on it.

Spikeout wrote:

First up Curse Of The Dead Gods (which has been in Early Access on PC for nearly a year) looks fantastic. Its an isometric Roguelike with deadly & impactful looking combat. Releases on 23rd February.

I've had my eye on this one for a while. I don't think I'll be grabbing it at launch, but looking forward to checking it out some time this year. Looks good.

I love it when indies just come out of nowhere. I think not being bombarded by the marketing for months or years in advance as well as smaller devs just not having the budget plays into this.

The Youtube channel 'Get Indie Gaming' has been a fantastic source of info on that front. There are so many excellent looking games that I wouldn't have known about if not for that & select couple of other similar channels.

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch? I love Metroidvania's, Platformers & Arcade Shooters but would play most genres.

The two games I've always thought that got little to no attention that are genuinely great indie titles were Klaus & The Valley (I'm not sure how well The Valley would run on Switch though).

Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch?

Dark Devotion. I think I've sung its praises here before, but it's a Souls-inspired platformer with elements of rogue-lite games, however it's not randomly generated, so you're exploring and deepening your understanding of a fixed space. I really liked it.

That put Curse of the Dead Gods on my radar.

EvilDead wrote:

That put Curse of the Dead Gods on my radar.

Likewise.

Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch? I love Metroidvania's, Platformers & Arcade Shooters but would play most genres.

Sounds like Valfaris might be right up your alley!

DekuDeals says it's currently at its all-time low at $11.24 USD.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch?

Dark Devotion. I think I've sung its praises here before, but it's a Souls-inspired platformer with elements of rogue-lite games, however it's not randomly generated, so you're exploring and deepening your understanding of a fixed space. I really liked it.

Just looked up a trailer. Interesting, reminds me of Blasphemous, a very NSFW Souls-like Metroidvania side-scroller that is also on Switch. It's on my wishlist, but I'm thinking I'll wait until well after I've finished Salt & Sanctuary for that. I'll be adding Dark Devotion to my wishlist as well.

“Games you can play right now”

Zwickle wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

That put Curse of the Dead Gods on my radar.

Likewise.

Me too. I also can't say enough how delighted I am it's not yet another "awesome pixel-art" game. Give me cartoony, give me cel-shaded, but I've entirely had my fill of pixel-art, no matter how skilled the artist. Dead Cells was awesome and I'm content to let that be the last pixel-art game I play for a while. Between Hades and Curse of the Dead Gods, I'm hoping for a resurgence of cool, detailed art styles.

LeapingGnome wrote:

“Games you can play right now”

I admit that I had missed that those games aren't out yet.

Spikeout, you're off topic! [whistle] Yellow card!

I appreciate it. Blue Fire went on my wishlist.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch?

Dark Devotion. I think I've sung its praises here before, but it's a Souls-inspired platformer with elements of rogue-lite games, however it's not randomly generated, so you're exploring and deepening your understanding of a fixed space. I really liked it.

Oh yes, I think you did mention that before. I'll keep an eye out for it coming on sale. I do enjoy learning an environment as opposed to the randomly generated ones.

Ted wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch? I love Metroidvania's, Platformers & Arcade Shooters but would play most genres.

Sounds like Valfaris might be right up your alley!

DekuDeals says it's currently at its all-time low at $11.24 USD.

I have Valfaris on PS4 & couldn't get into it after an hour or so. It felt a bit dated. I should maybe give it more time.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

“Games you can play right now”

I admit that I had missed that those games aren't out yet.

Spikeout, you're off topic! [whistle] Yellow card!

Referee!!

Spikeout wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch?

Dark Devotion. I think I've sung its praises here before, but it's a Souls-inspired platformer with elements of rogue-lite games, however it's not randomly generated, so you're exploring and deepening your understanding of a fixed space. I really liked it.

Oh yes, I think you did mention that before. I'll keep an eye out for it coming on sale. I do enjoy learning an environment as opposed to the randomly generated ones.

Ted wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Are there any indie games really under the radar that people would recommend on the Switch? I love Metroidvania's, Platformers & Arcade Shooters but would play most genres.

Sounds like Valfaris might be right up your alley!

DekuDeals says it's currently at its all-time low at $11.24 USD.

I have Valfaris on PS4 & couldn't get into it after an hour or so. It felt a bit dated. I should maybe give it more time.

This same thing happened to me. I bought it on PS4. The controls were a little too lag'y for what the game was requiring. It is a damn unforgiving game and had fun with it to a degree, but eventually, I got too frustrated.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

“Games you can play right now”

I admit that I had missed that those games aren't out yet.

Spikeout, you're off topic! [whistle] Yellow card!

It's too late. The integrity of the entire thread had been compromised.

Coldstream wrote:
Zwickle wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

That put Curse of the Dead Gods on my radar.

Likewise.

Me too. I also can't say enough how delighted I am it's not yet another "awesome pixel-art" game. Give me cartoony, give me cel-shaded, but I've entirely had my fill of pixel-art, no matter how skilled the artist. Dead Cells was awesome and I'm content to let that be the last pixel-art game I play for a while. Between Hades and Curse of the Dead Gods, I'm hoping for a resurgence of cool, detailed art styles.

I'm right there with you. I will reluctantly play pixel art games if they are good enough. It works more as a turn away for me.

EvilDead wrote:
Coldstream wrote:
Zwickle wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

That put Curse of the Dead Gods on my radar.

Likewise.

Me too. I also can't say enough how delighted I am it's not yet another "awesome pixel-art" game. Give me cartoony, give me cel-shaded, but I've entirely had my fill of pixel-art, no matter how skilled the artist. Dead Cells was awesome and I'm content to let that be the last pixel-art game I play for a while. Between Hades and Curse of the Dead Gods, I'm hoping for a resurgence of cool, detailed art styles.

I'm right there with you. I will reluctantly play pixel art games if they are good enough. It works more as a turn away for me.

I'm fine with pixel art as long as it's at least as good as something like the recent game River City Girls. I'm definitely not a fan of low res abstraction or 8-bit pixel art like Axiom Verge.

I love pixel art, but I agree about Axiom Verge. That game was just ugly. I prefer to see games go for HD pixel art with a full 16-bit colour palette rather than try to mimic the limitations of the NES. Nobody made games in 256x224 back then as a design choice.

Huh, I didn't think Axiom Verge was ugly outside of the main character.

But I am all about using more color palate, for sure.

Apparently 3D World and Bowser's Fury are out in the wild. Broken street date and maybe a ROM I saw mentioned earlier? So spoilers on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Be careful out there this week.

Better watch out for spoilers about [checks notes] a Super Mario game that's 7.5 years old.

Haha well mostly the Bowser's Fury part, obviously.