Nintendo’s latest Indie World showcase has come and gone, serving up another busy, breakneck run-down of indie titles for the first Switch of the year. Obvious highlights include a release date for the highly anticipated Oxenfree 2, as well as a first look at Blasphemy 2, but you’ll find a full breakdown of everything that was on display during the show below.
Mineko’s Night Market
The lovely looking Mineko’s Night Market from Meowza Games is part narrative adventure, part social sim, all inspired by Japanese culture. It promises a mix of exploration, puzzle solving and rural life – and cats! – Prepare as the player for a weekly trip through the titular Night Market. After a long wait, it has finally got its release date and it is coming to Switch on 26th September.
my time in sandrock
Developer Panthea Games brings another helping of the well-received My Time at Portia life-sim action, this time shifting from the original’s idyllic island setting to a post-apocalyptic desert 300 years after most of the world’s technology has passed. The destroyed. As well as general farming and socializing, Sandrock features more detailed combat scavenging missions in ancient ruins, mini-games, and more. Expect it on the Switch “this summer.”
Plateup!
Despite obvious similarities to the much-loved Overcook, Plateau seeks to carve its own niche by adding a mix of chaotic top-down, rogue-like progression and cooking management to cooperative kitchen action. Essentially, after each successfully completed “shift”, in which up to four players must work together to fulfill customer orders, players can reorganize their kitchen and increase efficiency and automation when the next shift begins. You can apply any unlocked upgrades to improve your game. Platform is coming to the Switch this October.
calico quilts and cats
Calico’s Quilt and the Cats is an adaptation of the acclaimed tile-laying board game Calico. The basic premise is that players must place patches to create color and pattern combinations that create aesthetically pleasing and importantly cat-attracting quilts. Local and online multiplayer is supported for up to three friends, and the game also features ranked matches against random players, weekly challenges, cat customization, and more. It’s switched on this fall.
necrodancer rift
Announced last August, Rift of the NecroDancer is a standalone rhythm game set in the same universe as the acclaimed Crypt of the NecroDancer. The Rift, however, differs significantly from its predecessor, trading top-down, rhythm-based dungeon-crawling for Guitar-Hero-like lane combat, where players must fight a host of monsters with different movement patterns. It features five characters, each with their own mini-game and story, and is out later this year.
animal well
Animal Well is a pixel-art Metroidvania from developer Shared Memories that sees players exploring a surreal and dangerous maze full of secrets and animals. There are puzzles to solve, new abilities to gain, and it is designed as a “layered experience” where dedicated players can uncover more elaborate puzzles and secrets – some of which may have gone unnoticed for years. may be given or may require community cooperation to resolve. Animal Well is out this “winter” on Switch.
crime at
Crime O’Clock from developer Bad Seed is a time-travel point-and-click-style game in which players attempt to prevent crimes by scouring large, evolving maps for clues. Each map represents one of five interconnected ages – the Steam Age, the Atlantean Age, the Information Age, the Lost Age, and the Aeon Age – and solves different cases in each, through a combination of action and puzzles The story will be taken forward. Crime O’Clock has 40 cases to solve across time and space and arrives for Switch on June 30th.
Teslagrad 2
The sequel to the well-received physics-based puzzler from 2013 developer Rain Games, Teslagrad 2 delivers another blast of puzzly platform action where players – in the role of a young Teslamancer named Lumina – must overcome challenges and defeat powerful creatures. Must use electromagnetic power to defeat. as they explore a wild, untamed land. The insanely beautiful looking Teslagrad 2 launches today on Switch and is joined by the upgraded Teslagrad Remastered. They are available for purchase separately on the Switch’s eShop or as a two-game bundle.
shadow on loathing
Shadows Over Loathing, the sequel to developer Asymmetrical’s 2017 Wild West stick-figure comedy West of Loathing, sends players on an open-world adventure to find their Uncle Murray – an investigation that soon turns into a shadowy discovery. takes a turn with a plot of apparently Eldritch origin threatening to bring about the end of the world. Shadows Over Loathing launches today on the Switch’s eShop, and a physical version is coming in the autumn.
cynical 2
18 months after developer The Game Kitchen announced it was working on a sequel to its gorgeous, gothic action-platformer Blasphemy, the first trailer has surfaced. Blasphemy 2 sees the return of its predecessor’s edgy hated hero The Penitent One for More Souls-esque Metroidvania action – this time fueled by distinctive new weapon choices – and it’s coming to Switch this summer.
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signal
It’s been a long long wait for Oxenfree 2: Lost Signal, but developer Night School Studios has finally confirmed that it will launch on July 12th. This second supernatural adventure focuses on new protagonist Riley Powerley, who returns to his small coastal hometown of Camena to investigate a series of mysterious radio signals. There are new features – including a walkie talkie conversation system – a strange cult attempting to open a portal between worlds, and much more. All will be revealed when OxenFree 2: Lost Signal arrives on Switch in July.
Cult of the Lamb, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, and A Little to the Left DLC
all brand-new – which concluded with a fleeting montage of Paper Trail, Sannar, Brotto, Escape Academy: Complete Edition, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Break, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and Little Kitty, Big City – Nintendo It also took a few minutes to show off some impending DLC for some already released indie games.
Tidy-em-up puzzler A Little to the Left, for example, is launching its paid Cupboard and Drawer DLC in June, which includes 25 new puzzles, new illustrations and scenarios. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is bringing its free Puzzlers Pack DLC to Switch this “spring,” which includes two new playable characters, new puzzle-like quandary challenges, 20 new rune-modified hats to buy from Mr. Hat, and more. New relics included. Chester’s shop.
And finally, the update for Cult of the Lamb’s free Relics of the Old Faith arrives on April 24th. It adds “dozens” of new items to the dungeon-crawling management sim, along with new relics, enemies, and remixed dungeons guarded by new versions of the base game’s four Guardian Bishops. It also includes new cult buildings and followers to recruit, a new unlockable quest, as well as new Permadeath, Gauntlet, and Boss-Rush modes playable after completing the game.