The Nintendo Nindies Spring 2019 Showcase has concluded, giving fans of independent games a ton of new information and reveals about what's coming to the Switch in 2019.
From unknown titles like Overland and Darkwood, to fan-favorite games like Cuphead getting a Switch port, there was a lot to like in the latest Nintendo Direct. Many of these independent titles will come out in the next few months, so there's plenty to play in between Nintendo's triple-A games.
Here's everything shown and announced during the Nindies Spring 2019 Showcase.
NINTENDO NINDIES SPRING SHOWCASE GAMES
Cuphead
Releases April 18
Available for pre-purchase today
Overland
A squad-focused, turn-based strategy game that takes place in the apocalypse. Here's the official synopsis:
Finji delivers a new game from Adam Saltsman, the creator of Canabalt. In this turn-based survival game, players take care of a group of travelers on a post-apocalyptic road trip across the United States. Fight off scary creatures, rescue stranded survivors and scavenge for supplies like fuel, first aid kits and weapons. There are consequences for every action.
Releases fall 2019
My Friend Pedro
Fast-paced, gun running action game. Here's the official synopsis:
Devolver Digital and Deadtoast deliver what is undoubtedly the first game about friendship, imagination and one man's struggle to obliterate anyone in his path at the behest of a sentient banana. Players unleash a torrent of destruction with an incredible level of control over both their weapons and body. They can twist and turn through the air while aiming both hands at priority threats or lining up a perfect ricochet to drop an unsuspecting gangster from behind.
Switch exclusive to release in June
Neocab
You play as the driver of a rideshare company where you'll have to make choices like who you pick up as you look for your friend. Here's the official synopsis:
Fellow Traveller and Chance Agency offer an emotional survival game about staying human in a world disrupted by automation. Lina, the last human driver on the neon-drenched streets of Los Ojos, California, interacts with a diverse cast of characters with individual story arcs. Players must balance their income, sustain a positive rating and manage their emotions, as fulfilling Lina's job as a rideshare driver is the only way they might reunite with her best friend Savy, who's mysteriously gone missing.
Releases summer 2019
The Red Lantern
A story-driven game with a roguelike element, you'll need to survive. Uses the Switch's gyro controls to control direction. Here's the official synopsis:
Timberline Studios, Inc., challenges players to survive the Alaskan tundra with a team of five sled dogs. The Musher becomes lost while training for the grueling Iditarod race and must fend off bears, resist frostbite and take care of the dogs while navigating the wilderness and trying to return home.
Releases later this year
Darkwood
A survival horror game. You'll scavenge and build weapons and resources to survive. Here's the official synopsis.
Acid Wizard Studio and Crunching Koalas set their survivor horror game in East-Central Europe, in a forest possessed by unknown evil forces that corrupt all the inhabitants of the woods: people, animals and even the plants. Players can get new powers by extracting a strange essence from mutated fauna and flora and injecting it into their bloodstream. The game builds an atmospheric, psychological feeling of tension without the usual horror tricks of jump scares and creaking doors
Releases May 2019
Katana Zero
A 2D action game that lets players slash their way through enemies. You can use precognition and have ability to stop and rewind time. However, you'll die in one hit, so be careful. Here's the official synopsis:
Devolver Digital and askiisoft have created a stylish neo-noir action-platformer featuring breakneck action and instant-death combat. Players take on the role of an assassin, the Dragon, to slash, dash and manipulate time to unravel their past in a beautifully brutal acrobatic display. Players can overcome the opposition however the situation requires, as each level is uniquely designed for countless methods of completion. Deflect gunfire back at foes, dodge oncoming attacks and manipulate enemies and environments with traps and explosives. Leave no survivors.
Releases April 18
Rad
A top-down, action game where the player goes around taking out enemies with their bat. They can also mutate into different animals that unlocks new skills. Here's the official synopsis:
As a teenage protagonist, players must journey into the Fallow, an ever-changing, procedurally generated wasteland that holds the secrets of the past and answers for the future. Here, radioactive toxins will randomly mutate your character, giving you powerful new abilities that challenge you to constantly adapt your play style. Using these abilities and your trusty bat, you have been tasked with saving humanity's future by healing the world.
Releases summer 2019
Creature in the Well
This action-adventure game is inspired by pinball. A giant creature has trapped the town in an endless sandstorm, and it's up to you to use up to 15 weapons to make it through each dungeon. Each weapon has different ways to interact with the environment. Here's the official rundown:
Flight School Studio challenges players to this top-down, pinball-inspired hack-and-slash dungeon crawler. Players venture deep into a desert mountain haunted by a desperate Creature to restore power to an ancient facility by charging energy orbs and having them bounce around and ricochet to reactivate dormant machinery. They will uncover and upgrade powerful gear to help them save the city of Mirage from a deadly sandstorm.
Will debut in summer 2019
Bloodroots
A top-down action-adventure game set in the old west. Here's the official synopsis:
Paper Cult delivers ultraviolence in a twisted Western revenge tale with a deranged cast of characters. Betrayed and left for dead, Mr. Wolf is hell-bent on finding his attacker and exacting revenge. Players can choreograph spectacular, bloody combos by making use of everything around them, from hatchets and ladders to … carrots?
Summer 2019 release date
Pine
A primal fantasy, open-world action game, Pine lets users explore and fight creatures to survive. You'll be able to craft items, trade and more. Here's the official description:
Kongregate and Twirlbound offer a stirring open-world adventure with beautiful biomes to explore, puzzles to solve and secrets to discover. Players take on the role of Hue, a brave young adult who belongs to the last remaining tribe of humans on the island of Albamare. The island's factions trade and fight with each other over food and territory, while Hue learns about ways to influence the ecology in search for a new home for the humans.
August 2019 release date
Lambier Arcade
Collection of arcade games whose library will grow over time. Here are some of the titles mentioned:
- Super Crate Box - April 2019 release date
- Nuclear Throne - Available today
- Ultra Bugs - Late 2019 release date
Swimsanity
Swimsanity is an underwater co-op game that lets you take on challenges off or online. Here's the official synopsis:
Decoy Games takes a deep dive with this multiplayer underwater shooter with action-packed co-op and versus game modes, all supported by online and local play. The game comes with an ocean of content, with more than 150 challenges across eight game modes. Players can toggle between classic dual-stick controls and motion aiming, whether they're playing locally or online
Summer 2019 release date
Blaster Master Zero 2
A sequel to the original set in outer space. Here's a brief rundown of what to expect:
Set months after the events of Blaster Master Zero, Jason and Eve must venture into the depths of space to stop the mutant infection that's slowly corrupting Eve's body. Thankfully, stopping mutant outbreaks is Jason's specialty.
Available today
Stranger Things 3: The Game
Play local co-op to dive into the plot of Stranger Things Season 3. Here's the official synopsis:
Play through and delve deeper into the events of Stranger Things 3 in a retro-style adventure game from BonusXP. Explore Hawkins, solve puzzles and team up with a friend in local co-op to battle the emerging evils of The Upside Down as one of twelve playable characters from the hit original series.
July 4 release date
Cadence of Hyrule
Crypt of the Necrodancer features Link and Zelda as you slash your way through enemies and dungeons. Here's the official synopsis:
In the latest rhythmic action-adventure from Brace Yourself Games, you can enjoy the gameplay of Crypt of the NecroDancer in the setting of The Legend of Zelda series. As Link or Princess Zelda, players explore randomly generated overworld and dungeons on a quest to save Hyrule, and every beat of the 25 remixed Legend of Zelda tunes is a chance to move, attack, defend and more. From modern-looking Lynels to the Hyrulean Soldiers of old, players must master the instinctive movements of each pixel-art enemy and strategically outstep them in rhythmic combat using an arsenal of iconic items from The Legend of Zelda, as well as the spells and weapons from Crypt of the NecroDancer.
Spring 2019 release date
What do you think of the games shown during this Nintendo Direct? What game are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments section below.
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