Nintendo Indie Showcase Reveals New Shovel Knight and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Nintendo Directs are always something that fans are looking towards when it comes to new titles for the Switch. Normal Nintendo Directs don’t have the time to talk about smaller titles coming to the hybrid console, so Nintendo decided to switch up their plans with an Indie World Showcase, spotlighting new games coming out that aren’t underneath the first or third party umbrella. 

Nintendo uploaded another Indie Showcase, which had fans guessing about what would come next for independent titles on Nintendo Switch. With 22 minutes of Nintendo independent titles being revealed, here’s what players were shown off. 

The Jet Set Radio spiritual successor Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was announced to come to Switch and some more gameplay showing off the title. Developed by Team Reptile, the minds behind Lethal League, the baseball fighting game, players will find themselves starting in a sprawling city, with visuals reminiscent of Jet Set Radio. 

Armed with a jetpack and spray paint can, the player needs to recruit new members into their posse to make a name for themselves by tagging over other gangs’ graffiti while avoiding the long arm of the law. However, the visuals and concept aren’t the only things that were inspired by Jet Set Radio, as they’ve managed to bring on the composer for the original games as well, Hideki Naganuma. The music composed by Naganuma fills the title with immense amounts of funky beats that players can listen to on their in-game phone while they take to the streets to lay their claim. 

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk launches on Nintendo Switch in 2022 as a timed console exclusive. This means that PC players will have to wait a bit longer for the game to make its way to their desktops. 

Developed by Scandinavian studio Something We Made, TOEM: A Photo Adventure is a relaxing, laid-back journey through environments based on the countryside of Something We Made’s home. The player will encounter multiple characters and creatures to help with their only tool, the camera. 

With its isometric, hand-drawn style, the game is extremely visually appealing and will charm anyone who sits down to play it. Most problems can be solved with the camera. From snowy mountains with friendly yetis to an urban landscape, the player journeys through multiple areas. 

TOEM aims to be a game that players will launch to unwind and relax while embarking on a feel-good journey that puts living in the moment and helping others out through the game’s world. TOEM: A Photo Adventure launches on Nintendo Switch this fall. 

Devolver Digital’s Loop Hero is coming to Nintendo Switch. While the game sounds like a music-themed rhythm game, Loop Hero is a fantasy game that the player has to build. Seeing that the main character is stuck inside a time loop, the player has to build the environment around the hero, help them fight enemies, and navigate the treacherous world they’ve found themselves in. Using cards, loot, and other items, the player will aid the hero as they trek through the time loop, finding their way out of the temporal prison they’ve been encased in. Styled after early PC titles, Loop Hero is coming to Nintendo Switch this holiday season.

The next title in the FAR series, Changing Tides, switches out the land vehicle from the first game for a ship. An apocalypse has flooded the world in this new adventure. Now, the player is tasked with journeying across the never-ending ocean. 

Players must complete puzzles, interact with the world, and maintain their ship to conquer the storms, enemies, and environment in this new entry in the FAR universe. The game is also accessible to players who haven’t completed the first entry in the series and people looking for more adventure after playing the first game. FAR: Changing Tides is coming to Nintendo Switch in early 2022.

For players looking for a more story-driven title, Necrobarista: Final Pour might be the game to scratch that itch. This anime-styled game tells the story of a coffee shop that sits in the middle of life and death, with the soon-to-be passing able to share one last drink with the living before heading off into the afterlife. 

This visual novel is certain to keep players invested while exploring in a first-person mode, as well as unravel the story of the shop that the player works at. Final Pour also comes with a new studio mode, where players can make their own stories using the characters from the game. This allows them to concoct new combinations and flavors to their liking if what the game provides isn’t enough with the addition of an extra episode. Final Pour launched as a timed exclusive on Nintendo Switch, meaning players can pick the game up right now.

Become the guardian of the grove! Players will control Concord, the grape, as he must stop an evil known as the rot from destroying his hometown. Players will rebuild the town, fend off enemies, complete puzzles, and engage with the fruity townsfolk if they wish to keep their home safe. 

Players will use a handful of skills to save the island and use their intuition and charisma to inspire the townsfolk to help Concord on his adventure. Garden Story launches on Nintendo Switch as a timed console exclusive. Players interested can pick the game up now and head off into a sweet, fun-filled adventure that they can grow themselves, much like the characters in the game.

Dating Sims have become more into the norm in gaming, and this one is no different. What seems like a dungeon crawler is more romantic, as the weapons that the female protagonist picks up turn into datable boys for the protagonist to take out. 

The Dungeon crawling system allows players to make money fighting enemies, which can give gifts to the weapons the player meets, letting them build relationships with their weapons and increase their power the more they fall in love. With many weapons to woo, the player will have their hands full if fighting monsters isn’t enough to keep them busy. Boyfriend Dungeon has launched Nintendo Switch, letting players seduce their swords immediately. 

The Metroidvania series Axiom Verge returns with Axiom Verge 2, putting players back on the alien world that the first game took place in. This story is a prequel to the original. The player takes control of a woman on a mysterious planet, being empowered by micro machines which might make her powerful but are slowly chipping away at her humanity, making her less of a human and more of a machine. The player is tasked with finding out what’s going on, as well as discovering a way home while fighting against the world that’s slowly changing her. 

The Metroidvania styled platforming and combat leave exploration up to the player, letting them explore the world to their heart’s content. If they’re skilled enough, they can continue without searching for abilities that could help them progress later in the game. However, Axiom Verge 2 incorporates more than its predecessor, letting the player flip between two different worlds, making for more intricate puzzle solving. The player can also hack into the world, giving them the ability to change how enemies function, making for easier and more effective combat. Axiom Verge 2 makes its way to Nintendo Switch, letting players embark on their journey to discover the origins of the Axiom Verge universe. 

Shovel Knight is stepping into a new dimension, unwillingly, that is. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon sees the titular hero finding his way into the Pocket Dungeon, a world that doesn’t play by the same rules that the normal world does. However, for puzzler fans, this will be something that they should keep their eyes on as Pocket Dungeon is a part dungeon crawler, part puzzler. 

The player will have to think strategically if they plan to make their way out, by grouping up enemies to unleash attacks that affect the group, much like matching puzzle games. The player will also encounter new bosses during their adventure, some coming from the original Shovel Knight title and new bosses found only in the Pocket Dungeon. The game also includes 10 characters to choose from, all with their special abilities. 

Players can choose between Shovel Knight, Shield Knight, Plague Knight, King Knight, and more! However, each character plays the game differently, meaning that players will have to think on their toes if they’re familiar with playing a different character first. Shovel Knight also comes with a multiplayer mode, where two players will take one another on to clear the board, and bury their foes in rows of blocks and enemies if they plan to take victory in the battle mode. The game also comes with extra functionality for Switch users, as playing the game with any of the Shovel Knight amiibos will unlock a fairy that will help the player during their adventure. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon launches on Nintendo Switch this holiday season. 

Strategy and town building has never been so relaxing until now. In this procedurally generated strategy game, players are tasked with inhabiting an island with structures that they have to choose from. The place the buildings go will affect the town’s score. The higher the score, the more the island can expand. 

A single island could house a massive community of people who will thrive for generations to come through careful thought and precise placement. However, clearing one island isn’t the end of the session, as finishing an island will see the player moving to another one to restart the process. This casual yet relaxing town-building game will see players making the city of their dreams when Islanders: Console Edition ventures to Nintendo Switch as a timed console exclusive.

The massively popular action title Metal Slug is back, but with a tactical twist. Taking notes from games like Xcom, Metal Slug tactics sees Marco, Fio, Eri, and Tarma taking to the battlefield once more to destroy the enemy forces of Donald Morden with their combined firepower and the Metal Slug itself. Players will be happy with the game, as it will retain everything that made the original so great. This includes the highly detailed pixel art, the rocking soundtrack, and the over-the-top action that made the original metal slug series so popular in the first place. 

However, just putting the Metal Slug characters in a tactical situation isn’t enough to spice up the game, as Metal Slug Tactics comes with a twist to the tactical strategy formula. With a new move called Sync, players who put the character in the right spots will be able to deal extra damage to the enemies in the game, giving players the same sense of teamwork that playing the original 2D side-scrolling game had when playing with a friend. 

With the minds behind Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge behind Metal Slug Tactics, the game will blow away fans with detailed visuals and fully animated cutscenes and character images that add more to the art faithfully recreated from the original titles. Metal Slug Tactics launches on Nintendo Switch in 2022. 

From the minds behind Rez: Infinite and Lumines come Tetris Effect: Connected. While the game was recently delayed, the Connected update will now be available on Nintendo Switch. The game takes players on an audio-visual journey where they will experience the original block-stacking puzzler like never before, as every turn, twist, drop and line clear adds to the song’s backing track. 

The better the player plays, the more the song comes together until the player is enveloped into a dreamlike state where stacking blocks becomes the one thing they’re focused on. Included in this new version of Tetris is the Zone mode, where time will stop, allowing players to stack and clear more than the maximum amount of lines that the game allows, making for sights like an Octris, a Dodecatris, and the Impossiblitris. 

Connected also includes some new modes to increase the game’s replayability. Modes like Classic Score Attack, which use the same rules as the Teris World Championship, replicate the original competitive matches fought on original copies of the NES version. Score Attack is an updated version of the competitive mode with hard drops, bonus points for T-spins, Ghost pieces, Zone battle, which sees players making their play by stopping time. 

Connected has three players fighting bosses based on astrological signs. The players can fight back while the boss can change the playing field by removing spinning or shuffling the board. The game will merge all three boards and stop time, allowing for a three-person zone mode, where they can clear lines to their heart’s content, which will defeat the boss in its tracks. The multiplayer function is also available in crossplay, letting players from Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox play connected. Tetris Effect: Connected launches on Nintendo Switch Oct. 8. 

Taking a page out of the base building and survival titles, Astroneer comes to Nintendo Switch. Players will step into the shoes of an astronaut exploring a vast solar system. Players will also build bases, run electricity, and salvage materials through the dense caves and surface of the planet. When they’re through with the planet they started on, they can take to the skies and fly to one of the six other planets in the solar system, each with its caves and surface biomes. The game has been out for a while now, developing a sprawling community online, as well as a fully-fledged wiki, meaning that help isn’t too far if the player chooses to seek guidance. 

Astroneer also comes with multiplayer for up to four people, letting friends work their way through the galaxy together. However, all isn’t what it seems, as the solar system the player resides in is hiding secrets that can be uncovered if the player is brave enough. Astroneer comes to Nintendo Switch in January 2022. 

For players looking for a more complicated game or just love wine, Hundred Days are the game for them. Giving players complete control of a winery, the player is tasked with perfecting every aspect of the winemaking process. The vines grown to the production of the bottles are up to the player. Whether the player makes the Moscato of their dreams or focuses on the production of Pino Grigio is completely up to them. 

Money made from selling their product is used to expand their winery, as the player is tasked with choosing their buildings and gardens. This simulative and realistic approach to making wine may seem like something that would be complicated, but the game tailors to both experienced and beginners who want to make the wine of their dreams. Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator is coming to Nintendo Switch this holiday season.

Slime Rancher is also making its way to Nintendo Switch. The game follows Beatrix LeBeau, a young woman who has her sights set on a planet a thousand lightyears away from Earth. Her mind is set on attempting to make a living, starting a ranch for slimes. 

Slime Rancher is an alien farming sim, where the player has to raise food for the slimes, collect the slimes they find in the wild, and protect their ranch from baddies who want to eat the slimes for lunch. Money earned in the game is used to make life more comfortable and upgrade LeBeau’s Vac-Pack, her all-in-one tool for ranching slimes.

A game that seems to be after Smokey the Bear’s heart, LumbearJack has players taking the role of a bear with an ax. This puzzle game sets players on the journey of a bear who’s using his ax to destroy an evil corporation that is dead set on ruining the bear’s forested home. However, the bear isn’t the only victim of this devious corporation, as the wildlife is looking to the bear to help them come out on top. The bear will knock some sense into humans who aren’t doing the environment a service and dismantle the tyranny of the corporation. LumbearJack launches on Nintendo Switch next year. 

Before the 1889 Paris World Fair, mysterious islands started appearing in the ocean and disappearing shortly afterward. A group of explorers aims to bring treasures found, but it might be more than they bargained for. Curious Expeditions 2 is a rouge-like story game that sees the players traveling to these mysterious islands to uncover what could be there. However, the player will have to rely more on their turn-based skills if they aim to survive. 

Not enough resources will cause rifts in the group and characters falling in and out of loyalty to the expedition. The game also takes notes from titles like Oregon Trail, which has the character conduct illnesses or come across scenarios that need to be accounted for before continuing their journey into the unknown. While the combat is turn-based, some tabletop RPGs are injected with dice being used for combat. The journey may be rough, but the story alone and the treasure to be found might be worth it to attempt the daring trip to the mysterious islands, as Curious Adventure 2 launches on Nintendo Switch.

A party game for the ages, Gang Beasts makes its way to Nintendo Switch. Players will dress up their characters in wacky costumes and fight either with their friends or against their friends, as they aim to become the champion of the beef city, fighting on moving trucks, flying blimps, falling elevators, and a Ferris Wheel. Players will use their physics to punch, hit, and grab their friends, hoping to knock them unconscious so they can throw them off of the nearest obstacle, making them the victor of their match. Gang Beasts launches on Nintendo Switch in the fall of this year.

Developer Chuckle Fish has been hard at work on their new action-adventure title called Eastward. The game tells the story of an unlikely duo, a man John and a girl named Sam. After the world has been devastated by a horrible toxic presence, the human population is at an all-time low, and for the unlikely duo, they hope that the outside world will be more prosperous. The two travel Eastward, meeting fresh faces, exploring cities, and battling monsters as the last remaining bastion of humankind. 

With John’s frying pan and Sam’s psychic abilities, the two might have a fighting chance against the toxic presence lurking in the shadows if it doesn’t catch up to them first. The game sports a beautiful pixel art style and modern 3D lighting to make the environment pop, with visual environment cues from games like Octopath Traveler. The game is also composed by legendary composer Joel Corelitz, the same composer behind the soundtrack for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding. 

Eastward seems to be shaping up into an astounding action-adventure RPG title. Fans looking forward to the game will be happy to know that Eastward is coming out for Nintendo Switch on Sept. 16. 

This wraps up the Nintendo Switch Indie Showcase, making waves as it features many titles for fans to sink their teeth into. While there’s still no word about the next Hollow Knight game, the games shown off here have something for every kind of player, from puzzlers to action titles, from relaxing adventures to simulators. The Nintendo Indie Showcase didn’t disappoint. 

Source: https://www.esportstalk.com/news/nintendo-indie-showcase-reveals-new-shovel-knight-bomb-rush-cyberfunk/