Indie World: March 17, 2020 Rundown

Nintendo’s latest Indie World came at a somewhat auspicious time, a period in which increasingly severe international quarantining seems to have led to a lot of people kinda needing some new, downloadable entertainment (it has also impacted Source Gaming, so apologies for this coming out a day late). Nintendo’s offerings, many of them advertised as timed exclusives, show a fairly wide array of genres, tones, and art styles. They were also rather neat, too. Here they are:

Games

Blue Fire: a visually sumptuous action adventure game, with a focus on exploration, collecting materials, and upgrading. Releases as a timed exclusive “summer 2020.”
Baldo: an open world action-RPG inspired by JRPGs and the films of Studio Ghibli (an accidentally included line on the fact sheet explicitly references Ghibli on the condition that the reference is “allowed”), emphasizing characters, puzzles, and a large playtime and mystery. Releases as a timed exclusive “summer 2020.”
I Am Dead: the latest puzzle game published by Annapurna Interactive (and developed by Hollow Pond) stars a recently deceased elderly museum curator who teams with his ghost dog, X-Ray vision, and the ability to read people’s memories to solve a mystery threatening his island hometown. Releases as a timed exclusive “later this year.”
B.Ark: “family focused” cooperative space shooter, starring a cast of adorable pets who battle aliens in tiny ships. Releases as timed exclusive “late 2020.”
Cyanide & Happiness – Freakpacopylse: an adaptation of the Cyanide & Happiness series, filled with the its aggressive comedy sequel. Timed exclusive “this summer.”
Summer in Mara: farming game set in an open ocean, in which you take care of one island while exploring, solving mysteries, and going on (up to 300) quests in others. Releases as a timed exclusive “spring 2020.”
Quantum League: multiplayer FPS in which you get aided by clone characters who mimic your actions in each round (like ghost racers in racing game time trials), requiring you to plan out how your various strategies can stack up. Releases “late 2020.”
The Good Life: the long in the waiting SWERY game is a charming looking “debt repaying RPG” set in the British town of Rainy Woods, whose denizens turn into animals at night. Releases “2020”
The Last Campfire: the newest game by No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games is a large adventure game about a character exploring a dark forest to find their way home. Some of the team had previously worked on classic Wii indie release LostWinds, which this game’s art style evokes somewhat. Releases “summer 2020.”
PixelJunk Eden 2: exploration game by Pixeljunk Eden and Eden Obscura director Baiyon, in which the inky, gooey, sensorially dynamic world is made procedurally, based on your actions. Releases “summer 2020.”
Faeria: card game, whose Switch release comes with (initially free) DLC. The game’s fact sheet is somewhat cagey, both describing an “affordable” DLC plan and boasting that the game’s cards can be acquired in-game. Releases March 2020.
Eldest Souls: at least Dark Souls-adjacent boss rush hack ‘n’ slasher, boasting large customization, exacting difficulty, and a grim visual style. Releases as a timed exclusive “summer 2020.”
Montage: Blair Witch (“summer”), Ghost of a Tale (“spring”), Sky (“summer”), Sky Rocket (later today!), Superliminal (“summer”), Wingspan (“spring”), Dicey Dungeons (“2020”), Bounty Battle (“summer”), Moving Out (April 28)
Exit the Gungeon: the sequel switches the top down perspective of the first game into a 2D shooter set in constantly shifting and unique elevators, while retaining its bassy beat and visual energy. Releases as a time exclusive later today!

In addition, several of these have skins exclusive to the Switch version, some of which are timed. Nintendo has also set up an indie focused Twitter account, @IndieWorldNA.

Wolfman’s reaction: “Timed exclusive.” The phrase came about a lot during this Direct, and I find that interesting. It’s a noticeable reversal from 2017, even when indies still flooded the eShop. Back then, a lot of high profile games – the great Hollow Knight and decidedly less great Yooka-Laylee, for instance – were coming out a year afterwards, often a result of developers either lacking access to Switch kits or having pledged to devote resources to older, tested consoles. So for a while, in the eyes of some of the Nintendo hardcore the console seemed to be getting scraps from Steam, Sony, or Microsoft. And, well, that wasn’t really fair; a lot of games got a serious second life on the Switch. Successes became even bigger ones, while more cult games got another chance to shine. The system’s odd; the PlayStation and Xbox stores are certainly fine for selling smaller games, but the Switch has become distinctly indie friendly for a lot of reasons.

And so, in 2020, we find ourselves watching a Nintendo presentation where most of the games are coming to Switch as their first and potentially most important destination. And a lot of these timed exclusives look great, with I Am Dead, Baldo, and Summer in Mara looking especially strong. Actually, this selection seemed really good in general (with the exception of Cyanide & Happiness, which I found unpleasant and kind of impenetrable). While we have the more “expected” pixel art games, a something drawing from the Soulslike aesthetic, and yet another indie crossover fighting game, there are RPG’s and open world games and multiplayer projects – even SWERY is here! But a lot of them are coming in with that specific promise: the Switch comes first, and then your other systems. It’s a low key boast about the system’s worth as a space for smaller developers, and arguably about the commercial power these games and this machine have. And that’s really fascinating, honestly, especially in contrast to the way console publishers brag about AAA experiences being set to their system. I imagine it’ll probably pay off now, as we’re stuck in various states of quarantine and desperate for new, accessible experiences. But it probably would either way.