Summary
TheNintendo Switchis full of fantastic titles, both from the indie atmosphere and from first-party powerhouses. Sure, there may be some obvious winners; no one will argue with the massive success of games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Odyssey. But everyone knows about those games.
What about all of the other games out there? There are plenty of amazing games on the Nintendo eShop that go unnoticed, either because they were overshadowed by larger titles or because they didn’t have Triple A level publicity. If you want to find some of the best, most underrated games on the Switch, check here first.
Updated July 30, 2025, by Branden Lizardi:Indie games continue to fuel some of the best experiences on the Nintendo eShop. But with plenty of shovelware and Triple A titles hogging the storefront spotlight, these indie delights remain ever too easy to miss. We’ve updated this list with a new entry to ensure you have only the best selection of underrated indie games available.
Described by the developers as a “Taopunk” Sekiro-like game, Nine Sols is an action platformer with quick combat and an outstanding art style. The player controls Yi, who is on a mission to free the enslaved human race from being used as a “brain farm” to power a cyperspace platform.
Nine Sols is a visual marvel, with an amazingly well realized blend of cyberpunk and taoist aesthetics. The fantastic color choice, art style, and fluid animations pair perfectly with the neo-dystopian spiritualism of the storyline. And if all that doesn’t catch you, the sharp combat will.
Nintendo is host to a surprisingly large number of wonderful indie games. And if indies know anything, it’s how to blend genres together in interesting ways. Monster Sanctuary, a monster-collecting metroidvania, is a perfect example of this. You play as a monster keeper, traveling the land to deal with powerful monsters ruining the balance of nature.
And that’s all the plot we need because the real charm is in the gameplay. In combat, monsters take turns performing different attacks, you know the drill. Exploration takes a 2D platformer perspective, where you may use certain monsters to overcome certain obstacles. With tons of monsters to collect and a satisfying world to explore, there’s plenty of time to be lost here.
There are few things more cozy than a good bed and breakfast. So it only makes sense that a game where you play as a charming cartoon bear managing their own BnB would be the coziest. You play as Hank, a young brown bear. After discovering an abandoned building, you decide to fix it up and run a bed and breakfast to encourage humans to return to the forest.
Its colorful cartoon style complements the comfortable vibes of each location you manage. Combine that with the surprisingly engaging plotline, wonderfully charming characters, and an absolute plethora of decorations and upgrades for your BnBs, and you have one of the most enjoyable management games you haven’t heard of.
Like a complicated dish, PlateUp! is a fascinating blend of genres, coalescing into a buffet of fun. This cooperative roguelike game is all about running a restaurant and kitchen. You have tosurvive 15 days, with each day getting busier. The catch? If a single customer leaves unhappy. It’s game over.
It’s all of the chaos of games like Overcooked but with an extra layer of customer interaction (and, in our opinion, not so difficult). It’s the perfect game to play with friends, with each person taking on a different restaurant role. And the roguelike gameplay style is great for playing in small sessions without feeling like you’re ‘not winning.’
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime will offer you one of two things: a unique strategy wrapped in pressure or a memorable level of social synergy. At its core, it’s a cooperative multiplayer action game in which you and your friends need to operate the various controls of a rotund spacecraft. Fight against space monsters and try to stay alive.
Alone, it’s a tense game of strategizing and prioritizing your focus to survive a tremendously hostile environment. But when you get some friends involved, it becomes a game of teamwork. With bright, colorful graphics anda very positive “love” theme, it creates a very wholesome experience from a chaotic setting.
Disney games have always been hit or miss, with many of them being of that ‘movie-made-video-game’ quality we’re sure you’re familiar with. Disney Illusion Island, however, manages to break away from that trend, creating a stylish and engaging open-world platformer game that anyone can enjoy.
Run, jump, and utilize a variety of powers to traverse the map and battle against whatever is in your way. It borrows a lot of design elements from games like Metroid and Castlevania while beautifully implementing a clean and colorful cartoon style.
Inour review of the game, George Foster coins the term “Mickeyvania,” which we absolutely love!
Ape Out is a beautiful example of how not all ‘artistic’ games need to be slow, dramatic, and about emotional nonsense. In Ape Out, you control an Ape as you escape from whatever cage you’re kept in. Bash throw doors, throw people out windows, just Ape Out.
Designed by (in)famous game designer Bennet Foddy (ofGetting Over It acclaim), the construction paper style paired with the dynamic heavy drum backtrack takes the already intense and fast-paced gameplay from ‘a fun game’ and into ‘belongs in a museum’ status.
You most likely first heard of Mini Metro from the mobile game world. But it’s since expanded onto console. Thank goodness, too, because it’s one of the best puzzle games to pick up and play on the fly, making it perfect for the portability of the Switch.
In this game, you are tasked withmanaging a metro system. You have predetermined destinations and must establish train lines between them. The further you go, the more stops you have to link to while only using the limited number of trains and lines. It’s a clever game that really tickles the brain.
Tinykin is ‘Pikmin at home,’ but in many ways, there are few things better than a homecooked meal made with love. That, too, is Tinykin. This indie love letter to the Pikmin franchise has all of the charm of its inspiration while still keeping a unique style and perspective.
You play as Milo, a little guy, as he collects his own army ofthe titular Tinykin. Explore a familiar word from a very small perspective, collect treasures, and take in the charming world at your own pace. It’s an engaging but relaxing experience that everyone could benefit from.
There’s something classic about a good bullet hell game. It’s fast-paced, action-packed, and non-stop engaging. Mixing that with the replayability of a Roguelike, and you have one hard-to-put-down game.Enter The Dungeondoes all of that and even adds an extra helping of humor.
Collect a seemingly endless supply of gun. There are guns that shoot knives, guns that shoot guns that shoot knives, guns that shoot the word “bullet,” and more. When your mind isn’t 100 percent focused on survival, it’s on all ofthe funny quips and conceptsthat will take you numerous playthroughs to fully experience.
