Video: Watch The Nintendo Indie Highlights Presentation January 2019

So this is a normal article? Let's see.

To save everyone watching it - there's nothing about Untitled Goose Game.

So....nothing good?
Yippee, may finally have some time to work through the backlog

Oof that was rough. Only thing mildly interesting is wargroove and I doubt I'd get it at launch. Pretty lackluster showcase tbh. Hope we get a meaty direct soon

Yep, just War Groove and Goat Sim piqued my interest.

Well everything looks fairly good and new Steamworld. I'm at least fairly happy about this.

Yes wargroove, that was all I wanted. Happy day! Double kick and unruly heroes looks interesting though. I'm going to need gameplay impressions for the new steamworld. Card RPGs are hit or miss for me. All and all looks like some nice games on the way.

Wargroove is coming out soon

Wargroove and Steamworld will be big hits in this house

Well, that was... light on new content.

However, Inmost looked wonderful. That's my pick from this selection.

Unruly Heroes also looked interesting enough to take a closer look at.

Cross Code looked good apart from those rpg number bursts - I hate that design.

Goat Simulator I've not really looked at before, but it does look fun.

While it was disappointing that the video had a load of unwanted filler at the end, it was a good reminder about some of the best indies available. And Binding of Isaac

Okay...that was very impressive for me. Personally, I'm interested in many of the games that was shown off there (Inmost, Wargroove, Forager, Goat Simulator, Cross Code, Steamworld Quest, Metal). This looks like its going to be another great year for Nindies on Switch!

Disappointed in this. Only thing outside of Wargroove that's interesting is Steamworld Quest.

Meh...wasn't blown away by anything, to be honest - the only thing I am interested in is Steamworld Quest (wasn't there a rumour about Image & Form working on a game with this title a couple of years back, by the way?). And maybe Wargroove, though I'll probably wait until it goes on sale to get it. Hopefully we'll get a Direct soon, it would be nice to know what to look forward to between now and E3.

Is this all we get? There are more games launching weekly than in this Direct... Pretty disappointing...

Eh, it was OK I suppose, but I was very intrigued with SteamWorld Quest. I just wish they showed off more stuff I haven't heard about already.

Some fun games where announced. Excited for steamworld quest.

If these indies's not going to be ported to the Gameboy Advance, then im not buying any of it.

Okay, on my watchlist is
• Double Kick Heroes
• Crosscode

Good stuff. New SteamWorld game! Inmost got my attention as well. Wargroove and Cross Code looked good too (although not sure about cross code as it looked a little messy).

😒
Blah.
No latest trailer about My Time at Portia console version.

Btw, What the heck Goat Simulator with Ode to Joy choir ?! 😮😆

Yes Wargroove release date
Really looking forward to Crosscode too. Been wanting it but don’t play games on my computer.

Thankfully they put the Wargroove info at the front for me. So I got what I wanted out of this. Lol

Zoomed through the video as almost everything looks like total trash. 2018 will probably be the best year ever for INDIE games on Switch.

I wanted something on A hat in time and My time in Portia. :/

Been on the fence about Goat Simulatorfor ages, my curiosity literally on and off about it. Well, if I ever get it, guess I know where.

Inmost is a big highlight for me, although I think I saw it announced before. Or maybe it was just PS4 back then? Anyway, looks very promising. Can't but notice SteamWorld Quest and Cross Code either! Double Kick Heroes sounds like an interesting genre hybrid, but I'd like to see more of it in action, game modes and all.

Glad we finally got a release date for Wargroove. The game looks fabulous.

Apathetic to everything else in the video. I was hoping for more info on A Hat in Time, but I guess that's not quite ready yet.

Wargroove looks great and dreamworld looks interesting. I think there has to be some variation on the visual style of some of these games going forward as I’ve got fatigue of that kind of graphical 8-16 bit look. They are kind of blending together

So... That ist Cross Code? The game, that everyone on Steam is hyped about? Nothing for me, though. :/ Inmost looked interesting.

Well, that was completely underwhelming.

I'll consider a physical version of Goat Simulator, but other than that, there's nothing here that tickles my fancy.

Inmost looks like it could be really good...

Disappointed by the Image & Form announcement... The game will probably be excellent, I just have no interest in a card-based RPG.

Inmost and CrossCode are very interesting to me.
Metal seems to be fun, but I'm terrible and dislike rhythm games.
Forager peaked my interest from the description, but the environment and character textures are just too flat for me to get behind.

Great indie games, great presentation, terrible female British voice.

@Sammich
Don't worry.
My Time at Portia has been announced the console version (Switch, PS4 & Xbox One) according to playasia.

Untitled goose game? Dragon marked for death?
Where are the big indie guns?

Wargroove here I come!

Ok... gotta be the worst Nintendo Direct / Indies ever. Nothing caught my eye

inmost looked interesting but nothing else really

Wargroove, finally.

A bit underwhelming, but cool nonetheless

Also A hat in time @Anti-matter but I was hoping for a release date or even a shadow drop.

Aaaaaand here I am, after my laptop took a nap upon reaching the 10% battery mark. Okay, so - let's get the elephant in the living room out of the way: I was wrong. We good? Good.
Other than that, Crosscode looks neat, Goat Simulator might be a good way to save space on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and other than that... I dunno.
Inmost's drama-driven narrative - from the look of it at least - puts it into award-chasing territory, but artistically-wise it seems the offspring of Owlboy, Shovel Knight, Celeste, Hollow Knight and Ori. That alone is all fine and well in my book. The dash of Limbo in it is what worries and excites me at the same time about it, though.
No other highlights in the Indie, er, Highlights for me for the time being.

Definitely some quality titles there but nothing for me.

Happy to have CoffeeStain aboard!
Really hoping that Puppet Fever can find a way to Switch, despite it's VR-native origins. And of course, their other upcoming/alpha/beta titles look great as well. Nordic representation, yo.

Good show in general. Forager looks like crack cocaine, so I'm not sure I dare touch it, but INMOST struck me as a lovely surprise.

@AlexSora89
We good

That voice over was horrendous. Other than that, like others have said, there seems to be some quality games there just nothing that interests me.

This was extremely underwhelming. Why is almost everything 16 bit now? Just the way it goes I guess.

Cool. A bunch of iOS games

Meh... all looks the same and uninspired... lets just ride that so called "Retro Art" to death.

No Hollow Knight or Flipping Death level game in there.

Crazy that EA Originals is making a more striking "indie" type game than actual Indie studios 🙃

You also have teams of 6 making "Indies" like "Edge of Eternity" over on PC.

@frogopus that was supposed to come out a year ago. Are we sure about the release date?

I’m not saying because of the graphics im saying due to the simplicity of these games.

I can see how Crosscode might look derivative, but its a great game with way more fluid combat than its influences. Would double dip on this one.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember seeing Dragon: Marked for Death featured in the vid. That's coming out this month and it deserves to be highlighted.

Presentation: release date for Wargroove, Heavy Metal Rhythm game (looks neat), then zZZZzzzZZZZzzzz a couple games that wld have excited me 2 yrs ago (like Forager), then STEAMWORLD RPG (yay), then more ZZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzz, close with a 2 min recap of games you ALREADY bought on eshop waiting between AAA releases. Meanwhile, PS4 has RE 2, Kingdom Hearts and DMC 5 in the next few weeks. Nintendo get your $h!t together man. Literally yesterday I was fine with not having any Directs for awhile, since the lineup this year should be packed, but when the lady went "whew, had to take a breath"...feels like Nintendo's head is so far up it's butt it's just finally REALLY annoying now. We want some real news now.

Inmost looks sweet, also Dragon Marked for Death is on the 31st.

Wargroove, and Inmost both look fantastic! Also Steam World Quest genuinely surprised me. Buying all three!

Crosscode, Unruly Heroes and Wargroove look brill! look forward to reading what Inmost is about.

While I agree it was light on content, I will say the games here all looked pretty great. I will most likely pick up 5-6 of these around their launch and truly cannot wait for that SteamWorld RPG. Overall good little showcase, however I am ready for something a little more substantial for the next one

I clicked the comments here thinking everyone would be really happy.

I thought it was great, some good looking indie titles.

That was dreadful.

@Brewsta This NintendoLife. We don’t believe in happiness here.

Some of us liked the games on offer. You are more likely to see those comments on the individual game articles.

I hate the whole "Indies only make 2D pixel-art games" stereotype and know for a fact that some of these are great games but jeez. In 16 minutes I think they showed one new game that wasn't 2D or pixel-art. And it is a port of a five-year-old game. Yep, indies definitely picking up the slack for lazy AAA devs on the Switch.

Why the actual hell does Nintendo dedicate an entire goddamn stream to just indie games? We could've just had them included in a direct, just making it 15 minutes longer, but no. Instead we just got this instead of a direct. Also, WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW DUSK!?

There wasn't too much interesting for me - but I know we are getting some good games this year anyway. Indies too, actually. Just none of what I know about were in this video. Just means I won't get dates for any of them yet.

On the plus side, two games stood out for me in this particular video. The first was Inmost. That looked SO good! And the second was Crosscode. Which - I'd never even heard about until I stumbled across a youtuber who'd sung its praise in a video. By the time I saw the gameplay, I was intrigued but he sold it by talking about the rest of its features. The fact that its coming to Switch WITH exclusive content just makes it a no-brainer now. I can't wait. I just hope it adds either multiplayer or new characters to play as or something.

Is it me or Cross Code looks AWESOME?

Inmost really stood out to me and was my highlight of the show. I just watched the trailer again and it looks very good. It's published by Chucklefish, those behind Stardew Valley and Wargroove. .

@lifepsychedelic Oh yeah some indie 3D can be bad for sure. But still, at some point these games blend together.

@blacksheeplio Going by its reviews on Metacritic it seems to be a very good game. I'm looking forward to it. I really like that modern 16-bit style, like Stardew Valley and Golf Story. I wish more indies would go for tush instead of the 8-bit look.

After watching some Crosscode gameplay it is now on my radar. Looks like it could be a great time!

I've got to say, Wargroove looks so good.

Wow! So mixed reviews ey. I liked the presentation, it's a nice bread crumb of an insight into what's to come.

But the voice over, Ughhh just so try hard. WHY DON'T NINTENDO HIRE ALEX FROM NINTENDO LIFE!!!
"Helloooooo there lovely peeeeeople" beautiful.

Insert petition for all Nintendo directs to be voiced by Alex from Nintendo Life

@frogopus I fully comprehend that but being, you know, indie, you'd think they could come out with a better art style. Growing up with these graphics I always found it awesome when a new game released with said graphics. It's just getting old and to be quite frank most of the pixel art is not very good. There is a lot of beautiful things that could be created with that art style. To me it just seems kinda phoned in the last couple of years. I'm not even a graphics snob either. Maybe I've just grown too old and sinycal for this hobby of mine.

@Pod
I was really hoping for Gunman Clive to come on board. Bertil Horberg (I don't have umlauts on my keyboard, sorry) needs - no, deserves - to be supported in whichever manner possible.

Looks pretty good! Glad to see a handful of what appears to be quality titles, instead of a truckload of shovelware.

Goat Simulator.... the "Dan" of video games.

Dear Nintendo,

Please for the love of gaming, offer a better solution to the Switch's home screen. I've purchased at least a dozen indie games since the launch of the Switch and I have lost track of the vast majority of them. Hell, I'll even take the Wii U's menu screen or something similar to it. I hate having to open a separate menu just to access my games. The Xbox One and PS4 do the exact same thing and it's just as garbage on those systems.

R/S
A gamer with too many games

Double Kick Heroes sounds awesome. Can't wait to find out which other artists are featured. Gojira definitely got my attention! Good on their marketing for that namedrop!

Inmost looks to be something special. War Groove we already know should be astounding.

Really, everything shown looks fun, I just have to be more selective due to budget. I'm more than happy with 2019's known lineup of games. Anything else announced is just icing on a lovely gaming cake.

I couldn’t make it through the video; the voice-over made it unwatchable. How can anyone get basic intonation so completely wrong on every sentence?

@AlexSora89
I totes agree.
Although, this highlight reel did bring some of his pals from Skövde to the table, namely CoffeeStain studios. And while Goat Simulator isn't my cup of tea, I'm interested in the other things they make.

Hopefully they'll get hold of Bertil sometime.

@Painkiller_Mike
I hear ya!
While I generally appreciate the sleek simplistic design of the Switch menus, you just get NO overview of your game collection.

I'd like somethinbg like the shelves on Good Old Games. Though on GOG, you don't get to sort your games by hand at all. Which is just infuriating as well.

@Pod Agreed. I love the simplicity as well but wouldn't be great if you could swipe the way you can on a cell phone to access your apps? When docked you could just hit a button to swipe screens.

Went in with low expectations (always a good thing to do ), but got 4 highlights for me out of it!

Wargroove (insta buy), crosscode, inmost and unruly heroes!

And maybe steamworld quest, but let’s see how the mechanics work before saving up for that one

@Painkiller_Mike
Worked for Wii and Wii U, so I don't see why not.

Although, Nintendo actually revealed that functionality for the Wii menu almost an entire year before Apple even announced the first iPhone. And now Nintendo just maybe felt like they're... "moving on" or something?

@gcunit yeah I liked the look on Inmost too, kind of H P Lovecraft vibes.

Wargroove feb 1st makes me happy too.

@Pod I guess so. Just would be nice if they moved on to something functional.

WAGROOVE!!! THE ONLY ANNOUNCEMENT WE NEEDED!

Meh, more games with the 16 bit looking graphics (with a couple of exceptions). Maybe Unruly Heroes stands out as it looks good, but was hoping for something better. The highlight reel of past Indie games had better choices than the new ones. Heck, after seeing this, would have preferred some ports from PS and Xbox systems instead. Thought Lucky's Tale would have been announced.

A few interesting looking games. What on earth was wrong with that narrator, though?

Inmost was the only thing that caught my eye. Everything else was boring.

Steamworld Quest... I don’t know... I’m not sure I liked what I saw but, so far, all Steamworld games have been great so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I can see more. It might turn out to be as awesome as Steamworld Heist.

In the end it was a very forgettable highlights video. Nothing interesting there. (In my opinion, of course)

I don’t know why everyone is so hyped about Wargroove. I didn’t liked what I saw in that video. I’ll need to check some more information to see what’s all the hype about.

And what is with Nintendo allowing these Indie developers to overcharge on eshop. Example: Goat Simulator is listing for $30, should be no more than $20, more in line with the other systems. Binding of Isaac is on sale for $20 this week, but normal price is $40. It was never that much on the other consoles. Should be $20 normal price, before the sale.

@Bunkerneath War Groove is definitely a look out! And judging by your profile pic, you might like RPGs so I would recommend to watch the video (it is not even long, 16min) and maybe there will be one or 2 games which you like ;D

@Heavyarms55 YOU GOT IT OTHER ME!

Wow I sure hope there’s a real direct, cus that was pretty so so. I think it’s time for another shovel knight caliber indie. It sounds like Celeste was that, and I suppose hollow wad pretty cool, but it’s time for some real bangers

@luke88
I think she might be a woman! (laughtrack)

@maruse It is what you would get if Advance Wars and Fire Emblem had a baby, and that baby was a tactical genius and professional artist.

Turn based tactical strategy with its own campaigns, but also immense customization. Not only can you make your own maps, but you can make your own campaigns, complete with cut-scenes!

I understand if that isn't your cup of tea. But many of us played and loved Advance Wars and Fire Emblem during the GBA days, and this game seems to take the best of both, mix them together, and then add more goodies to the mix. That is why we are so excited!

@Heavyarms55 Thanks!

I don't dig the customization and create your own campaign thing... So not very interested on that front.

I do like strategy games though, so I'll keep an eye on it.

@AlexSora89 Maybe I misunderstand you, but you do know Gunman Clive is already on the eshop, right?

Over 1000 games in under two years. Like most here, i was not overwhelmed. But I know my wish list is not going to get smaller in the months to come.

@Pod Couldn’t they have got Dame Helen Mirren?

There were a few good games shown there, with CrossCode being my favourite, Inmost coming second for me.

@maruse I believe you'll also be able to share your custom campaigns. So even if you don't like making your own, you will be able to play other's creations.

Nintendo is promoting Wargroove, an indie game that ripoff their Advance War. Other companies would take legal action but Nintendo is just happy someone is doing the work for them so they can spent time working on mobile games that earn money.

She sounds like the sun from Teletubbies!

Looks good. Most games seem interesting. Especially Inmost, Wargroove and Double Kick Heroes. Might even get that skilift game for the lols.

I usually love these indie highlights but apart from Wargroove and possibly Inmost, this was very disappointing. Really dull.

@gcunit
You mean Switch eShop?

@Pod
That's what I said in my above comment - I do believe the HD version of GC, I mean the Switch HD version, is still MIA. I personally have the game in all released formats so far: mobile (on my Xperia Play, although it's not my main phone anymore), 3DS, and Wii U. But I personally need the Switch version to replace the Wii U iteration, because why not have both portability and HD visuals in one tight package?

@AlexSora89 Yes - Switch eshop.

https://twitter.com/BertilHrberg/status/1074785973505064961/photo/1

I'll be getting that metal game and Inmost looked cool as did unruly heroes and will probably find their way onto my switch. I'll be keeping an eye on cross code too

@gcunit
If I could like your comment more than once, I would. You've made my day!!

@AlexSora89 I'm amazed someone as crazy for Gunman Clive HD on Switch as you are could have missed it, but very happy to help

@AlexSora89
Ain't no good reasons, s'true.

So, enjoy.

@Heavyarms55
That, and it even surprised me that folks here weren't more hyped about it. Advanced Wars is one of the best Games of all time, and this is a true remiscences to this classic masterpiece...

That paired with Chucklefish, as a Starbound-Fan i'm really hyped they introduced the Floran (Starbound Race) into WarGroove.

It's kinda sick, because next week will be released two of my absolute most wanted Indie Games, which were onpar with Games like Metroid 4 and Bayonetta 3 to me, Dragon Marked for Death and War Groovve.....

But back to the Topic:
I liked almost every of this games, but besides WarGroove i would say CrossCode and the new Steamworld Game looks the most interesting to me!

@TheLightningYu Advance Wars is one of my favorites of all time. But it is somewhat niche and it has been a LONG time since we have had another entry. I suspect some people have forgotten about it.

Aside from inmost, most of them looked lame

@gcunit
Needless to say, I already helped myself to it as you can see in my comment for today's drama bomb.

@Pod
I already started doing so!

Double Kick Heroes!