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So you finally got a Nintendo Switch, just in time for Nintendo to start hinting that the Switch 2 is dropping sometime next year<\/a>. Well, don\u2019t fret\u2014being behind the gaming curve<\/a> can be a good thing! <\/p>\n You might feel like you\u2019re years late to the game, but actually, you\u2019re lucky: You\u2019ve got eight years’ worth of catching up to do, and the Switch library is one of the best in gaming history\u2014particularly if you look beyond beloved first-party properties like Mario, Zelda,<\/em> and Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>to the massive library of indie titles available for download with a single click. (And usually for a great price\u2014especially if you wait for a good sale<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Here are 25 of the best to get you started\u2014from platformers, to puzzle games, to RPGs. And you\u2019re only scratching the surface.<\/p>\n IGN rating:<\/strong> 9<\/p>\n This just-released puzzle platformer has already garnered rave reviews, if not instant classic status. It’s an ingenious twist on the “metroidvania” format: You play as a nondescript blob wandering a darkened forest atmosphere, and your only goal (at first, anyway) is to figure out how to progress to the next screen by solving increasingly complex environmental puzzles. That all sounds simple (and familiar) enough, but what sets Animal Well apart is its singular atmosphere (the pixel graphics are deceptively simple), excellent play mechanics, and quirky sense of humor. <\/p>\n Read the IGN review.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Buy it digitally (<\/strong>24.99<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n IGN rating:<\/strong> 10<\/p>\n A cross between a role playing game and an interactive novel, Disco Elysium<\/em> is as difficult to describe as it is to get out of your head once you’ve started wandering down its myriad winding narrative rabbit holes. You play as a detective who has lost your memory and must navigate a fictional seaside city still recovering from a war years in the past. Through conversations with NPCs that involving branching conversational choices, you come to learn more about your past and discover your place in a strange world where reality (or your sanity) are less than reliable. This isn’t a game for people who love a lot of action and combat, but it is unmatched as an example of interactive storytelling.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($39.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($25.50<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating:<\/strong> 10<\/p>\n Originally an Xbox exclusive, this unique role-playing game puts you in control of Andreas Maler, an artist in 16th-century Germany who becomes embroiled in a succession of murder mysteries that you can solve by investigating the possible subjects through exploration and conversations. The narrative is uniquely open, allowing you to weigh the evidence you collect to decide who to accuse of the crime\u2014whether you think they did it, or who you think is most deserving of being punished. All of this unfolds via gorgeous 2D graphics based on the style of medieval paintings, manuscripts, and woodcuts, giving the impression you’re playing one of the protagonist’s artworks come to life. <\/p>\n Read the IGN review.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Buy it digitally (<\/strong>$19.99<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n IGN rating:<\/strong> 8.5<\/p>\n A standout success from the early days of indie console gaming, Braid <\/em>has finally made its way to the Switch in an anniversary edition with significantly overhauled graphics but the same tried-and-true play mechanics. Braid<\/em> is a puzzle-based platformer (or a platforming-based puzzler?) in which you play as a boy name Tim trying to save a princess, though the story is a lot more complex than it seems on the surface, with lots of text boxes that reveal the hero’s inner thoughts and motivations. But that’s all window dressing for the gameplay itself, which requires you to use a series of evolving time-manipulating mechanics to solve increasingly complex environmental puzzles. If it feels a little familiar in 2024, it’s still a fantastic game.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Buy it digitally (<\/strong>$19.99<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n IGN rating:<\/strong> N\/A<\/p>\n If you grew up with the early ’90s point-and-click adventures from companies like Sierra Games, you’ll adore The Case of the Golden Idol<\/em>, a throwback detective story in which you attempt to solve an archeological mystery spanning four decades by exploring crime scenes, collecting clues, and piecing together the story as you go. You can play in either “exploration” more, which unfolds like one of those aforementioned vintage point-and-click titles as you investigate moments “frozen” in time and across history; or “thinking” mode, which opens a menu of fill-in-the-blank sentences that allows you to fill in words collected in exploration mode to fill out the game’s backstory. (Confused? Here’s a video that explains how it plays out<\/a>.) This is a game that will test your wits and use deductive reasoning to figure out what’s going on\u2014more reflective than active, but still entirely satisfying. <\/p>\n Buy it digitally (<\/strong>$19.99<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n IGN rating: 9<\/strong><\/p>\n Have you ever played Mega Man<\/em>? Shovel Knight<\/em> is kinda like that. Did you ever play Duck Tales<\/em>? Shovel Knight<\/em> is also kinda like that. You play as the titular warrior (guess what your weapon is) on a quest to save your best friend from a group of villains calling themselves the Order of No Quarter. As you progress through each of their themed stages, you\u2019ll navigate unique terrain and perfect your skills\u2014which you\u2019ll need to defeat the boss at the end. And once you\u2019ve finished playing as Shovel Knight, you can replay the game as one of the baddies (most of whom don\u2019t turn out to be quite as evil as they seem). More than simple reskins, these are (almost) entirely new adventures with their own play mechanics and control quirks. I couldn\u2019t stop playing until I had finished all four of them.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($39.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($31.45<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating: 9.5<\/strong><\/p>\n Fez<\/em> is one of the most mind-expanding games I have ever played, a hybrid of platformer and puzzler in which you play a little dude living in a two-dimensional world who suddenly gains the ability to see in three dimensions. As a player, this means you have the ability to, with a tap of the shoulder button, rotate the world on its axis; when viewed from a different angle, platforms that once seemed out of reach are an easy jump away, and hidden doors are revealed around the back side of a tree trunk. You set off on a quest to explore your new, wider world\u2014and to save it\u2014and you\u2019ll need to use your new abilities to their fullest if you want to figure out how to do it. There are no enemies to defeat, only interlocking levels to navigate and traverse between, and a handful of nigh-impossible puzzles to solve. There\u2019s even an alien language you can learn to decode (or, if you value your sanity, you can just look up hints online). Also, the music totally slaps.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($14.99<\/a>) <\/p>\n IGN rating: 7.9<\/strong><\/p>\n The gorgeous rhythm game-slash-interactive music video plays like a dream (because, conceptual spoiler alert, it kinda is one): You play a young woman chasing (or running from) a bunch of stylish baddies across forests and cityscapes, training your reflexes and tapping buttons at just the right moment in time to the synth pop soundtrack, which sounds like a whole album\u2019s worth of Chvrches B-sides. If you just want to race through it, you can finish it in about two hours, but the gameplay and the tunes are so addictive you\u2019ll be coming back again and again, stretching for that high score.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($12.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($24.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating: 8<\/strong><\/p>\n Like Shovel Knight,<\/em>\u00a0The Messenger<\/em> takes one of the best games of the \u201880s and betters it by fixing everything that was broken or frustrating about it. This time, the original model being iterated upon is Ninja Gaiden<\/em>, a classic NES platformer in which you play as a ninja fighting to avenge the death of his father by jumping, flipping, climbing walls, and stabbing a countless number of infinitely generating enemies. It was one of my favorite games as a kid (I was so into the story I even read the novelization), but I was never good enough to beat it, even with the help of a Game Genie, because it\u2019s fiendishly difficult. The Messenger<\/em> offers basically the same gameplay, but with helpful additions like more frequent save points and the ability to enhance your armor and weapons. Sure, it\u2019s easier, but it\u2019s hardly easy\u2014and the kooky storyline, rife with self-aware humor commenting on the inherent absurdity of gaming in general, only makes it better.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($16.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating: 8.4<\/strong><\/p>\n The product of a single developer, Joakim Sandberg, Iconoclasts<\/em> has all the platforming polish of a game produced with a big team, but the idiosyncratic quirks that suggest a singular vision at work. You play as a young engineer in a techno-dystopian world where mechanical know-how is outlawed and the ruling class controls access to energy-supplying \u201civory\u201d with literally religious fervor. OK, so the story is a bit of a head-scratcher (I\u2019ve finished the game and barely understand it), but the gameplay is absolutely fantastic: A Mega Man-influenced Metroidvania in which you use your stun gun and wrench to blast and whack enemies and solve complex environmental puzzles. I loved every minute of it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($19.99<\/a>) <\/p>\n IGN rating: 9<\/strong><\/p>\n If you love Zelda<\/em>-likes, Death\u2019s Door <\/em>is one of my favorites, and was one of the best games of 2021. In this isometric adventure, you play as a soul-collecting crow in the employ of Death himself. When your latest reaping goes wrong, you become an unwitting investigator into a vast conspiracy that spans life and death as you make your way through three dungeons to collect enough soul power to open \u201cdeath\u2019s door.\u201d The game offers a marvelous mix of exploration and combat\u2014perhaps a bit too much of the latter; unless you\u2019re a lot better than I am, you\u2019ll need to grind your way through scores of regular baddies to upgrade your spells, defenses, and weapons until you are strong enough to take on the big bosses. But the oddball humor, quirky characters, and melancholy atmosphere will make doing so a pleasure.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($19.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($19.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating: 10<\/strong><\/p>\n Celeste<\/em> is a breathless platformer in which you play a young woman facing fears both literal and metaphorical as she climbs to the summit of a mystical mountain. There\u2019s not much more to the story than that, yet this award-winning game has one of the most affecting narratives I\u2019ve ever experienced, probably because making my way to the emotional ending involved powering my way through some of the well-designed, punishingly difficult, yet somehow never frustrating platforming I\u2019ve ever experienced. The game is built on a single, deceivingly simple mechanic\u2014your character\u2019s ability to string together multiple jumps before your stamina drops and forces you to touch solid ground again\u2014that you\u2019ll have to master with precision if you hope to make it to the summit. Best of all, if you ever get stuck, the game allows you to access a deep menu of accessibility options that can help you across a rough patch. (Though I found finally clearing a screen after dozens of deaths or more\u2014my total death count for the entire game was in the thousands\u2014so satisfying, I never turned them on.)<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($19.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($34.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN review: 9<\/strong><\/p>\n This is tops on every list of the best indie games of the past decade, and with good reason. You play as Zagreus, a child of Hades (yes, that one), on a hopeless quest to fight off the endless hordes of hell, escape the underworld, and reunite with your mother on Earth. And when I say hopeless, I mean it: By design, you\u2019re going to die a lot <\/em>playing this game (repeated failure being a hallmark of the \u201crogue lite\u201d genre<\/a>; each time you die, you\u2019ll carry over some of your strength, loot, and experience to the next run). While a game designed to kill you over and over and over and over<\/em> might sound like a slog, Hades<\/em> makes it fun as, each time you set out to be slaughtered, you\u2019ll suck a little less, and progress a little farther. And that\u2019s not even taking into account the fantastic story, which develops slowly over time as you talk with (and occasionally slaughter) your fellow citizens of hell; the narrative is unparalleled for the genre, presented with pitch-perfect voice acting and memorable character designs.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($24.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($29.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN review: 8.8<\/strong><\/p>\n If Hades<\/em> didn\u2019t turn you into a glutton for punishment, Cuphead <\/em>will finish the job. It\u2019s a \u201crun and gun\u201d shooter in which you play as a guy with a cup for a head. (Just go with it\u2014the game\u2019s old time-y cartoon visuals and humor are half of the fun, and even spawned an animated Netflix series). You\u2019ve accidentally sold your soul to the devil, and you have to work for him as a bounty hunter if you want to get it back. This entails taking on 16 bosses (90% of the game is boss fights), each more frenetic than the last. As you progress, you can upgrade your weapons and gain more health, and you\u2019ll probably need it: Claiming each boss\u2019s soul requires quick reflexes, a good memory for patterns, and a lot of determination\u2014before I hit a wall after a dozen or so victories, I\u2019d died something like 300 times. It\u2019s the hardest game I\u2019ve ever played.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($19.99<\/a>\/$26.99 with the Delicious Last Course<\/em><\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($29.99<\/a> with The Delicious Last Course<\/em>)<\/p>\n If you prefer a puzzle game that will put you in a Zen state (or maybe activate your OCD), this recent release is a winner. Each of its many puzzles presents you with a scene of objects in disarray\u2014a messy toolbox, or an overcrowded bookshelf. It\u2019s up to you to decide how to put them back in order. How you go about it will depend on how your brain works, and what says \u201corganized\u201d to you; every puzzle has multiple solutions, and finding one that works is like scratching an itch\u2014entirely satisfying, until it triggers another itch a little to the left.<\/p>\n Check it out on IGN<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($14.99<\/a>) <\/p>\n IGN rating: 8<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how to describe this game, and watching the video above is probably only marginally helpful. But basically, you are an undead demon assassin guy and you have to make your way through hundreds of precariously designed levels as quickly as possible by using the powers granted to you by a mountain of weapons, which you activate by burning through a deck of playing cards, in the hopes of winning a place in heaven. Sacrificing a particular gun\/card will grant you a special move, from an extra jump to a burst of smashing speed, to help you traverse the hazardous terrain. The point is to finish as fast as you can. No, I don\u2019t understand it either, and I\u2019ve already played it. But once you\u2019ve oriented yourself, it\u2019s a good time\u2014and the story is fun too.<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy it digitally <\/strong>($24.99<\/a>) | Buy a physical copy <\/strong>($39.99<\/a>)<\/p>\n IGN rating: 7.5<\/strong><\/p>\n A chill RPG built around golf was not exactly on my list of must-haves when I got my Switch, and yet here we are. You play a determined golfer who has one last shot at living out their dreams of glory on the greens\u2014but doing so will mean exploring, traversing, and conquering eight unique courses that mimic the sort of lands you\u2019d venture through on a traditional fantasy adventure. It\u2019s just that this time, instead of battle monsters and summoning demons to fight battles for you, you\u2019re teeing off and perfecting your putt\u2014in between side quests you can take on to help out the weird characters you meet along the way. Because while you might not expect much in the way of plot from an ostensible sports game, this one isn\u2019t kidding about the word \u201cStory\u201d in the title. This one is packed with funky humor and otherworldly vibes that will appeal to Earthbound<\/em> fans. Stardew<\/em> who?<\/p>\n Read the IGN review<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nAnimal Well<\/em><\/h2>\n
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut<\/em><\/h2>\n
Pentiment<\/em><\/h2>\n
Braid: Anniversary Edition<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Case of the Golden Idol<\/em><\/h2>\n
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove<\/em><\/h2>\n
Fez<\/em><\/h2>\n
Sayonara Wild Hearts<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Messenger<\/em><\/h2>\n
Iconoclasts<\/em><\/h2>\n
Death\u2019s Door<\/em><\/h2>\n
Celeste<\/em><\/h2>\n
Hades<\/em><\/h2>\n
Cuphead<\/em><\/h2>\n
A Little to the Left<\/em><\/h2>\n
Neon White<\/em><\/h2>\n
Golf Story<\/em><\/h2>\n