We review a selection of ten independent court titles in the Nintendo Switch eShop ideal to close the year.
Nintendo Switch is the reference console for independent court games. Its hybrid format and the ability to play wherever we want have made sales more prominent on this platform than on others. Whenever and wherever you want in portable format, with facilities for local multiplayer and, in moments of greater tranquility, on the TV via the Dock. For all this, the Nintendo Switch eShop has to its credit great jewels that you cannot miss.
At Meristation we once again select ten new titles that cannot be missing from the console’s memory card, for the competitive price that independent games always have, for their wide variety of proposals at all levels (playable, narrative, sound) and because there is an indie for every type of person.
Wingspan
A successful board game created by Elizabeth Hargrave in which cards and strategy go hand in hand as different birds move through their habitats. The game, a great pitch, makes the leap to Nintendo Switch with the possibility of playing five people at the same time, the presence of real sound recordings and the same and addictive development as the original game. An entire experience in company.
To the Moon
To speak of To the Moon is to make it of one of those independent games that has the capacity to excite and not leave indifferent. The opening proposal is already revealing: two doctors go through the memories of a man about to die in order to achieve, even if it is artificially, his last wish. An interactive walk with puzzles and with a special sensitivity at a sound and visual level that does not go unnoticed. You have to play it.
Kentucky Route Zero
The full version of an episodic adventure in which magic spills over onto a secret highway. An antique furniture dealer who has to make a final delivery, who ends up lost and ends up meeting a haunted television repairman, a boy with a giant eagle and some musician robots. Surreal? We haven’t told you almost anything. Simply that we are facing a unique game, in the literal sense, capable of surprising from beginning to end. And that cannot be explained without playing.
Streets of Rage 4
Come back in the middle of 2020 and do it as the mythical Streets of Rage saga has done very rarely. A beat’em up like the old ones, with a recreational soul but infinitely improved and tastefully modernized. Streets of Rage 4 is everything a return of a mythical saga should be, capable of trapping you for hours with different levels of difficulty, characters and modalities. With a multiplayer like those of yesteryear and with a wonderful soundtrack.
Horace
The initial approach of a robot collecting a million pieces of garbage may not sound like the most attractive. But it would be an unforgivable mistake to pass up a game of such caliber for a prejudice like this. Horace’s game system, full of different proposals, surprising minigames and moments that come from all kinds of genres is one of the most satisfying that we remember. With a visual section that catches from the first moment and a challenge that is worth trying to overcome.
Trine 4
Side scroll with a great interaction with the stage, three types of heroes taken from the best medieval fantasies and an obvious improvement over the previous installment. Trine 4 became one of those game that is worth enjoying on Nintendo Switch because of how it fits with the hybrid format, because of the mix of action and puzzles that it left such a good taste in the mouth in the first two installments and because of an audiovisual aspect that it’s just lovely. And with multiplayer, of course.
Stardew valley
To talk about the indie scene is to talk about some of the most successful games in this sphere. And Stardew Valley is one of them without any doubt. Focused on all types of players, from those who want to disconnect to those who want to invest hours and hours in managing their farm in the best possible way. Now, with update 1.5, it is a good time to get into the game, with local multiplayer, new options and advanced missions to develop.
Stela
Stela is an impressive side-advance adventure where the protagonist is chased by the shadows, as well as many other enemies in the middle of an ancient world that is in full swing. An interesting game system with puzzles that we must solve by manipulating our environment, a spectacular soundtrack and a gloomy atmosphere that leaves no one indifferent. The cinematic touch of the experience and the contrast of locations do the rest.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
Shovel Knight is another of the great classics of the indie world. This is the prequel to the original game, starring the knight Specter, precisely one of the enemies of the base title in which we have a lot of content ahead of us. It can be purchased as part of the Treasure Trove Edition or on its own, and Specter’s action and special moves make it feel like a different game than our beloved Shovel Knight. The retro style and the soundtrack are still of a very high invoice.
Shinsekai: Into the Depths
We close our review of the ten ideal indie titles to close 2020 with a Capcom proposal that mixes platform adventure and action with metroidvania elements, set in the deepest part of the ocean as the only survivor in this ice age in which the surface is frozen. Adapting to the world around us, with a first-rate setting and many classic elements of the genre such as exploration, character enhancements and backtracking, it is worth discovering more than one different and surprising setting.
