Best Switch eShop Games 2018

If you thought 2017 was a big year for Nintendo Switch, you're about to have your metaphorical socks blown off because it's only the start of the year and we're already racking up an impressive lineup of games. We've already shared our recommendations on the biggest retail games headed to the Nintendo Switch in 2018, but now it's time to show some love to those smaller titles making their way to the Switch eShop.

The 'Nindies' revolution is in full swing, and 2018 is only going to further cement Nintendo Switch as the home for independently developed games. From blood-soaked platformers and colourful roguelikes to physics-bending bridge builders and heart-wrenching puzzlers, Switch already has an overflowing schedule, and these are just the ones we know about right now...

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Night In The Woods - 1st Feb

One of the most critically acclaimed indie games of 2017 is about to take over 2018 - and Nintendo Switch for that matter - when it launches on the platform in February. It's one of those games with a central mystery we really don't want to ruin for you, but imagine if Wes Anderson made a game, sprinkle in some of Life Is Strange's melancholic Americana and you're just scratching the anthropomorphic surface. A 2D adventure game with bags of personality you simply need to own.

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Dandara - 6th Feb

The Metroidvania subgenre might be a crowded tier of Nintendo Switch, but that doesn't mean there's no room for innovation and new ideas. Take Dandara, which sees you exploring an open-ended world of full of mysteries to un-mystify and oppressed people to un-oppress. The big mechanical selling point here, however, is the power to defy gravity and walk, leap and clamber across almost any surface, creating a unique sense of player agency to all that exploring and combat. A Switch sleeper hit waiting to happen.

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Gal Metal - 8th Feb (Japan)

Music-rhythm games are a staple in Japan, but when you take that genre, give it to the creative mind of Tak Fujii and throw in the motion controls of Nintendo Switch, you know you're in for a treat. Gal Metal is all about unlocking your inner little drummer boy/girl by turning your Joy-Cons into virtual drumsticks. TLDR: you're a drummer in a metal band and you need to use your perfect percussive timing to fight an alien invasion. What more do you need to know?

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Owlboy - 13th Feb

One of the most hotly anticipated indie games of the last few years, Owlboy is finally set to arrive on Nintendo Switch in February. Despite the fact Nintendo's new platform hadn't even been announced when the game was originally released on PC, its colourful pixel art and challenging platforming mechanics are pure Nintendo in inspiration. Being able to fly, fling objects and explore as a half-human/half-owl creature already has us sold, never mind the ability to play it in handheld mode.

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Fe - 16th Feb

The 3D platformer is a well-worn path in 2018 - and a tough one to walk considering the likes of Super Mario Odyssey and Yooka-Laylee already on Switch, but Fe aims to do something a little different by introducing the power of song. The creatures that inhabit the dark Nordic you'll be exploring can all be controlled by the power of your voice, ranging from birds and bears to all manner of plant life. It's rich almost Gothic aesthetic brings a new artistic dimension to the humble 3D platformer when it leaps onto Switch this February.