Night in the Woods
5 Indie Ports That Should Come to Switch
Night in the Woods is easily one of the standout indie titles of 2017, not only for its bright colorful world, but also its affecting and realistic take on depression and mental illness. Night in the Woods follows a 20 year old cat named Mae, who’s dropped out of college and has returned to live with her parents in her childhood home of Possum Springs. Much of the game involves running around the town as Mae exploring, talking to residents, hanging out with friends, and more.
Night in the Woods absolutely nails that small town feel, and the characters bring the game to life with their quirky, and often nihilistic, personalities. Things do start to go awry, however, as Mae has disturbing dreams and starts seeing ghost-like figures in the town. This means that Night in the Woods has two purposes: unraveling the mystery of what’s happening with Mae, and spending time getting to know her friends. Both aspects of the game reveal more and more about Mae herself, as well as those around her. Night in the Woods has a fascinating way of broaching topics like mental health, prejudice against sexual orientation, and finding self worth. It treats these topics as things that happen, ancillary parts of the characters that you find out about as you get to know them. It’s serious in its tone, but shows how its characters deal with these problems among many others.
The quiet, laid back tone of most of the game is relaxing, and putting the game on Nintendo Switch means you could play Night in the Woods on the go. Like many indie games, this would be the perfect experience to pop in while you’re on the train or out and about, taking a few minutes to explore the town before you reach your destination.
Pyre
5 Indie Ports That Should Come to Switch
Pyre comes from Supergiant Games, the talented developers of Bastion and Transistor. Like its predecessors, Pyre is a memorable experience, albeit for pretty different reasons. The game takes place in a fantasy world, where an affluent country known as the Commonwealth is the dominant power. You play as a Reader, someone banished from the Commonwealth for their ability to read, and cast into an underworld known as the Downside. There, you meet with other outcasts who have to undertake religious trials known as The Rites to win back your freedom to the Commonwealth.
Pyre is much more story-based than Supergiant’s last two games, and takes around three times as long to beat as well. The game is essentially split into two parts: visual novel-like sections where you get story and talk to characters, and the Rites which play out as a basketball-like fantasy sport. The Rites themselves require a fair amount of strategy, as you switch between three different characters on the fly trying to outmaneuver the opposing team to douse their Pyre. Where the game really shines, however, is in how it melds story and gameplay together. Everything you do in Pyre has a purpose, each match of the Rites makes a difference in the abilities of your teammates’, and who comes closer to salvation. There are also some tough choices you have to make in the game as to who gains their freedom, meaning you lose a valuable member of the team but send that character back to their life.
The presentation of Pyre would make it a perfect fit for the Switch, especially playing in handheld mode. The nature of the system means it would also be easier than ever to play multiplayer, with each player using a Joy-Con to play the Rites against each other. It’d be great to see any of Supergiant’s games on the Switch, but at the moment Pyre seems the most fitting.
Undertale
5 Indie Ports That Should Come to Switch
Practically everyone has heard of the indie darling Undertale, and its inspirations from Nintendo titles like Earthbound are clear to see. The game stormed onto the indie scene in 2015 with a mix of heartfelt storytelling, wacky characters, and unique twists on traditional RPG combat. In Undertale you play as a human child that falls into the Underground, an enormous, hidden section under the surface of the Earth.
The game is presented in a top-down retro style, bearing a resemblance to Earthbound. Battles aren’t quite what you’d expect, however, when you run into enemies or scripted events. Instead of traditional combat, Undertale gives you what is essentially small bullet hell levels, as you have to navigate your icon around obstacles and projectiles from the enemy. While you can attack and kill enemies, Undertale allows you to spare pretty much every enemy in the game, if you want to. On top of this there are multiple branching story paths and endings that change based on your decisions, and if you spare characters.
The most impressive thing about Undertale is that it’s developed by one person, Toby Fox. Besides some of the art, he did everything from the witty writing to the retro soundtrack. Undertale was almost immediately a cult classic, and it seems like an obvious fit for the Switch. The game is perfect for a handheld system, like Switch, and everything from the aesthetic to the music matches that Nintendo style. Don’t even get us started on the possibility of Undertale amiibo.
Hyper Light Drifter
5 Indie Ports That Should Come to Switch
Hyper Light Drifter is a 2D action game that draws inspirations from the likes of Diablo and Nintendo’s own Legend of Zelda series. You play as the Drifter, a mysterious character suffering from an illness who can use technology thought long gone by the inhabitants of the game’s world. The game uses fairly ambiguous storytelling as you glean bits and pieces of history and lore for the world as you wander. The combat of Hyper Light Drifter is one of its strongest points, providing a quick and responsive 2D system similar to that of something like Hotline Miami. You have the ability to hit enemies from range with guns, but instead of picking up ammo you replenish ammo by hitting enemies with your sword. This leads to a demanding system that constantly keeps you on your toes and having to stay on the offensive.
This, combined with Hyper Light Drifter’s gorgeous pixel and sprite presentation, really makes it reminiscent of classic 8 and 16-bit games. The soundtrack is also a mix of old school sound with haunting piano melodies, making the entire experience a bit melancholic. Hyper Light Drifter gives you an interesting and mysterious world to explore, while its gameplay systems and presentations evoke the feelings of classics like Link to the Past. It’s yet another indie game that’d feel right at home on the Switch, and it may be the most likely of the bunch to come to the system.
A Super Smash Bros-esque fighter called Brawlout coming to Switch actually features the Drifter as a playable character, meaning he’ll have an appearance on a Nintendo console at least. At the same time the creator of Hyper Light Drifter, Alx Preston, did say he was “looking into” bringing the game to Switch during an exchange with a fan.
Firewatch
5 Indie Ports That Should Come to Switch
Although it’s a much different game, Firewatch is like Stardew Valley in the fact that it’s much more methodically paced, and focused on a relatively quiet setting. The game takes place in 1989, and you play as Henry, a man who’s taken a job as a fire lookout in the Shoshone National Forest following the Yellowstone fire of 1988. Firewatch is a lonely experience, as Henry only has his tower, the forest, and a fellow ranger on a walkie talkie named Delilah to talk to.
The game starts slowly as Henry just goes out on patrols and tracks down rowdy teenage campers, but the unsettling loneliness of the forest begins to set in. Exploring the wilderness of Wyoming is great fun, and the game’s graphical style makes everything absolutely gorgeous. The real heart of Firewatch, however, is the relationship that develops between Henry and Delilah. The game starts by telling you about the rough situation Henry is in, as his wife has started to suffer from early onset Alzheimer’s and has been moved to a home. This puts Henry in a vulnerable place, and the ability to make decisions in conversation helps mold Henry’s personality to your interpretation. Although Firewatch certainly isn’t a horror game, it heavily deals with themes like isolation and loneliness, and manages to inject a sense of paranoia into you at times.
Firewatch’s writing is truly top notch, and the relationship between its main characters is fascinating to see unfold, backed up by great voice acting performances for Henry and Delilah. It’d be great to step back into the wilderness of Wyoming, this time with the ability to take it with you wherever you go.
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