The 200 / Best Indie Games of the Year on Nintendo Switch [2023 Edition]

Showing 1 to 50 of 200 total entries

Sea of Stars

In practical terms without flaws, and filled with thoughtful and creative touches from top to bottom, this game truly is a star

DAVE THE DIVER

Astoundingly varied and deep, dripping with funky charm, and both challenging and approachable. It’s fantastic

Moving Out 2

While mostly staying true to the formula of the original, there’s just enough new polish and fun to make it worth a fresh look

DREDGE

This is simply a nautical adventure that continues to surprise, somehow both placid and often tense, routine and yet full of nasty surprises

Spin Rhythm XD

Sporting a ridiculously fitting killer soundtrack, and incredibly satisfying controls, this is a must-have music title

Wargroove 2

If you’re a fan of strategy games in the vein of Advance Wars, Wargroove 2 makes an outstanding case for your attention

Blasphemous 2

Building on the foundation of an already-solid predecessor, Blasphemous 2 soars to new heights of brutality

Nuclear Blaze

A creative take on a puzzle platforming adventure that’s challenging but fair, and has plenty of secrets to discover along the way

Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth

If you don’t mind the sometimes glacial pacing of the adventure aspects, the art and story here are top-tier within the space

Blanc

This mesmerizing adventure in black and white is both accessible and brilliant for sharing with a friend or tackling solo

Vampire Survivors

This addictive mix of dodge-em-up and roguelike sensibilities has many imitators but clearly stands as the best in the space

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Absolutely one of the most original games I’ve played recently, this story-driven affair swings for the fences and somewhat gets there

PICROSS S9

While no new enhancements have been made to this flagship puzzle series, it remains as the king of its subgenre hill

Teslagrad Remastered

Taking the masterfully-made original to spruce it up a little and add some additional challenges makes a great game better

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

In many ways playing out as a more mature and deeper Choose Your Own Adventure take, Harmony offers great dynamic storytelling

Train Valley 2: Community Edition

This follow-up offers the same smart and polished management challenges as the first, but adds loads of new content and variations

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

Undoubtedly different and wide open for possibilities based on your choices, this is a text-heavy but interesting affair

Bleak Sword DX

Certainly not for those lacking in skill and patience, Bleak Sword DX distills the likes of Dark Souls into a lo-fi and brutal arcade-like action game

Ash of Gods: The Way

If you’re up to the strategic challenge, Ash of Gods tells a compelling story and will push you to improve your tactical skills

Shadows Over Loathing

Continuing the weird style and sense of humor from “West”, Shadows Over Loathing turns the uniqueness dial to 11

Gunbrella

There’s no doubt that it does some things differently, and there’s merit to that, but Gunbrella just falls short of next-level greatness

The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo

While its puzzle solutions aren’t typically intuitive, there’s no question its unusual art style and humor carry the experience

Marble It Up! Ultra

Delivers pretty well what you’d want to see in a follow-up with added features, unlockables, secrets, and challenges

Tents and Trees

Taking the base Picross formula and adding in some extra rules and complications works out quite well here, indeed

Lucy Dreaming

A more retro-than-typical style of interface, cheeky humor, and great voice acting helps to lift this adventure up

This Means Warp

While co-op space survival has been done, This Means Warp’s roguelike unpredictability steps it up a notch

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story

Whether you’re familiar with League of Legends of not, this “boy and his beast” platforming adventure is a good time

subpar pool

A clever mix of cuteness, solid top-down pool, and plenty of challenges that encourage trick shooting make for some fun

Fate/Samurai Remnant

While perhaps the Switch may not be the ideal platform for such a gorgeous and intense game, but the experience is still solid

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Sporting spacious stages, plenty of opportunities to grind and show your technique, and a thoroughly hip look and feel, it’s a treat

Speed Crew

If you’re looking to test your friends and family for coordination in the pits repairing cars, this is a winner

Killer Frequency

While perhaps its VR-ish setting is only minimally functional, the parts that deliver like the voice acting, suspense, and humor work wonderfully

Disney Speedstorm

While I wouldn’t go as far as saying there’s a new Mario Kart competitor on the market, Speedstorm is still quite compelling in many ways

Pirates Outlaws

With its smart and generally quick play, plenty of heroes to unlock, and a bit of roguelike flair this deckbuilder has a lot going for it

Rob Riches

A satisfying budget puzzler that’s visually polished and constantly changes things up, while crucially properly introducing new mechanics

DRAINUS

While there’s a learning curve to its style and upgrade systems, this neuvo retro shooter is compelling

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

Another gorgeous and generally rock-solid JRPG experience, though not terribly different from its predecessor

Piczle Lines 2: Into the Puzzleverse

While the fundamentals of the Lines experience haven’t evolved much, the addition of theming and loads of puzzles of various sizes has appeal

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Delivers a mix of rural character, old-school adventure, and some legitimately chilling revelations

The Pale Beyond

While certainly quite text heavy, this sea-faring survival adventure sports strong character development and moral quandaries aplenty

Ugly

While mechanically it can be tricky at times as you work through larger puzzles, the dynamic nature of your mirror works nicely

Cassette Beasts

Granted, in many ways it’s another variation on the “creature collector” RPG subgenre, but it is able to differentiate itself nonetheless

Nightmare Reaper

If you’re looking for a pretty crazy and bloody good time, and don’t mind the retro FPS look and feel, this delivers

Steel Defier

A tight and generally pretty smart take on the dodge-em-up that manages to impress at its pretty humble budget price

Void Scrappers

Until Vampire Survivors arrives on the Switch, fans of that style of play will handily get their essential fix with this

Children of Silentown

Forgoing the typical adventure tendency towards humor, Silentown instead sprinkles in a sense of foreboding that’s refreshing

Alien Death Mob

This budget twin-stick shooter delivers a novel main game, but the magic is in 4 twin-stick takes on arcade classics

Howl

While it can take a few beats to really groove with its strategic play, Howl looks great and provides a fair challenge

Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2

Featuring characters more unfamiliar to American audiences, the pacing of this beat-em-up is also quite unique

Kingdom Eighties

You can hear the elevator pitch now: Kingdom micro-strategy meets Stranger Things… and it works

Showing 1 to 50 of 200 total entries

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