Nintendo has just held what is likely their last conference of the year. Focusing on indies, their Indie World was a small carousel of interesting, very diverse games—some already known and a good handful yet to be announced. All of them from third-party companies, but no less intriguing for it. So, to ensure you don’t miss a thing, here’s a summary of everything that was presented during this event, highlighting the most interesting aspects.
Even with the year winding down, Nintendo isn’t calling it quits just yet. With the pending release of the Super Mario RPG Remake, they still have room for a few games in December, as they’ve proven in this Indie World showcase.
For this year’s end, they’ve unveiled two games. Firstly, “A Highland Song,” a game developed by Inkle that previously had no set release date. It invites players to step into the shoes of Moira McKinnon, a girl fleeing through the Scottish Highlands to the beat of music, with the narrative of her story unfolding based on the elements she discovers along the way. On the other hand, “Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition,” the classic space exploration game by Mobius Digital, is now arriving on the Nintendo Switch to reach a new audience. “A Highland Song” will be released on December 5th, and “Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition” will follow on December 7th. Both games are available for pre-order starting now.
Certainly, the bulk of the showcase focused on introducing games slated for 2024. The first arrivals will be “The Star Named EOS,” “Blade Chimera,” and “Moonstone Island.” “The Star Named EOS” is a puzzle game where players reconstruct photos of their deceased mother to manage their emotions. “Blade Chimera” is Lady Bug’s new game, known for metroidvanias, offering an action-platformer with slight puzzle elements. “Moonstone Island” is a farming game with combat reminiscent of “Slay the Spire” and procedurally generated environments. All of these are set to arrive sometime in the spring of 2024.
Moving into the summer of 2024 and beyond, they introduced four more games. One among them is “Core Keeper,” already in early access on PC since March 2022, set to release on Switch in the summer, hinting at its launch date. The other three games are “Shantae Advance,” a new installment in the Shantae franchise planned 20 years ago; “On Your Tail,” an investigative game set in an Italian vacation town with anthropomorphic animals; and “Death Trick: Double Blind,” a detective game set in a circus.
But the most interesting thing, of course, was what was under the seat. In this case, there were two games. On one side, Howl, a game about a strange plague that spreads through sound, where we’ll embody a deaf woman and have to create routes, making sure to dodge our enemies. And on the other hand, Backpack Hero, a peculiar roguelite where our power and abilities are determined by how we organize our backpack.
To wrap it up, they’ve served up a classic mix of games. Announcing the arrival of games like Planet of Lana, Enjoy the Diner, Heavenly Bodies, The Gecko Gods, Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist, Urban Myth Dissolution Center, and Braid: Anniversary Edition.
The result is a decent Indie World, without big announcements, beyond the acclaimed Outer Wilds. But that’s Indie World for you. A conference to give visibility to smaller studios and developments. And in that sense, this Indie World wasn’t a great one, but it was a fruitful one.
