Nintendo Indie World Recap: The Switch Is Getting an Oxenfree Sequel, Fez, and More
Games News Nintendo Switch
Nintendo’s regular indie showcase Indie World wrapped up earlier today; no surprise, but there were a lot of neat games shown off. Here’s a quick rundown of everything announced at it, and hey, if you want to watch the full show, here it is.
Road 96
Road 96 is a stylish first-person game with a procedural narrative from French studio DigixArt. You can seemingly take 148,268 different routes throughout the game, encountering any number of characters and scenarios as you weave your own road trip. Inspired by “road movies from the ‘90s,” it looks like it’s really pulling on all the tropes to fill the game to the top with possible outcomes. It’s coming to Switch later this year.
Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield
Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield is a 3D side scrolling runner set in a futuristic Detroit that has you performing parkour to awesome beats. If that sentence doesn’t sell you on the simple but awesome idea of the game, maybe looking at it will give you a feel. If you want to get hands-on, a demo is dropping on the Switch today, with the full game releasing on May 19.
Last Stop
Last Stop is one of two Annapurna Interactive titles that were announced for the Switch today; you could probably tell they were publishing the game just from looking at it. From the creators of Virginia, Last Stop is an anthology of sorts, consisting of “three entangled stories,” as the trailer puts it. These characters seem tangled up in some supernatural stuff and the game looks like if a movie were a game, to be honest. I’m excited to check out what this is when it comes to the Switch in July.
Hindsight
The other half of the Annapurna equation in this showcase, Hindsight seems to be an emotionally-driven time travel story, where the items of the protagonist’s past bring them backwards to her memories of them as she ponders what to let go and what to keep. I’m already prepared to openly weep when I play this later this year.
OlliOlli World
OlliOlli is back and with a new vibrant art style! Promising the same silky smooth skating gameplay of its predecessors, OlliOlli World also has branching levels that allow you to just chill and explore while meeting the game’s new characters. It all looks very cute and, importantly, rad as hell. Can’t wait to play this one when it comes out this winter.
The Longing
Maybe the strangest game announced, The Longing puts you in the shoes of a servant waiting 400 days for your master to return. Inspired by a legend the developer came across when exploring a game, the game’s twist is, I guess, that you are actually waiting 400 real days for the return. Looking forward to the GDQ runs on this one.
I guess you can leave well enough alone and come back to the game in 400 days to see what the payoff is but the developer is hoping you check in and improve the quality of the poor little guy’s life by doing tasks and decorating his cave. It’s a weird one but has a striking art style and you can check it out yourself when it drops later today.
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
TING:WD, a game I only heard about in the last week or so, seems like a parody of puzzle games that I can get behind. It’s got a lot of Portal energy to it from the brief trailer that we got and I’m always here for more Portal energy.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
The new TMNT game is coming to Switch! While we got most of the same footage from before, there was a smidge more gameplay on display, and predictably, it still looks very good.
Cristales
Cristales, a time-bending 2D RPG, looks fantastic—seriously, you should really just look at it. Boasting a lovely art style and cool time mechanic that lets you move enemies forward or backwards in time, this game’s begging to be a hit. Make it a hit when it comes out on July 20.
Getsu Fuma Den: Undying Moon
Konami’s reviving an NES game from the ‘80s that was never released in America, which, hey, okay! This hack-n-slash roguelite is another incredibly stylish game, with a style reminiscent of ukiyo-e paintings. It’s Dead Cells meets Japanese art and looks awesome. Unfortunately the game won’t be out until next year but it’ll surely be a hit when it does land.
Aztech Forgotten Gods
Developed by a Mexican studio, Aztech Forgotten Gods seems to be blending history and sci-fi to make a kickass “Latinx-Futurism cyberstone colossus fighter.” Yes, that does sound like it completely rules. Protagonist Achtli wields a huge cybernetic arm while she explores Mesoamerica and kicks all kinds of ancient god ass. Aztech Forgotten Gods is coming to Switch later this fall.
Skul: The Hero Slayer
Skul: The Hero Slayer is a fast-paced action roguelite with a cool retro aesthetic where you can switch abilities by switching skulls. There are 90 characters to play as which seems guaranteed to provide hours upon hours of entertainment.
Montage of Upcoming Games
Next we got a montage of a whole slew of games, including a House of the Dead remake coming later this year and a neat looking exploration game called Beasts of Maravilla Island which is releasing in June. Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective, which looks like a Where’s Waldo? Illustration came to life, was also a highlight and is releasing this spring. A rally racing game called art of rally is coming this summer as well as an adorable game called KeyWe in August. A game called Weaving Tides was shown off and comes out in May. Something ominous and weird called ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights is coming on June 21. And Fez is out on Switch today! Here’s some of what was shown during this montage:
Oxenfree II Lost Signal
I cannot believe this exists. Oxenfree II Lost Signals is the sequel to Night School Studios’ 2016 hit about a night on a haunted island spent by some teenagers with problems to work through. That game’s really good, and yep, I’m excited for this one now. It’s releasing later this year.