Top 60 / Best Indie RPG Games on Nintendo Switch

Sea of Stars

In practical terms without flaws, and filled with thoughtful and creative touches from top to bottom, this game truly is a star

Stardew Valley

Possibly one of the most successful indie games ever made by a single developer Stardew Valley is wonderfully calming...

Nobody Saves the World

One of the things I love most about indie games is their tendency to bring surprises to the table of some kind. Drink...

DREDGE

This is simply a nautical adventure that continues to surprise, somehow both placid and often tense, routine and yet full of nasty surprises

Dodgeball Academia

While I’ll admit that when you mention a game with the name “dodgeball” right in the title you already have my attention...

Children of Morta

While I have played (and generally enjoyed) a ton of roguelikes of all flavors on the Switch I can’t say any of them has...

Loop Hero

The thing I tend to love most about indie titles is their ability to surprise with remixes of gameplay elements you’ve n...

UNSIGHTED

Unsighted is interesting to me, in part because at just a casual glance, or even just a very short play session, I belie...

Tails Of Iron

This is a title that hit me a bit out of nowhere, took my lunch money, and is now making me earn it back one challenging...

Eastward

When it comes to pixel art action-adventures the normal standard that is compared against would be The Legend of Zelda: ...

Crown Trick

Among the many genres and subgenres roguelikes have managed to infiltrate I can’t say that a tactical turn-based adventu...

Indivisible

Probably one of the things I appreciate most in an indie game is for it to surprise me, and with its unwillingness to be...

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns

While fans of the old school original game likely won’t even need to read this review, it’s worth noting that though som...

The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse

While I know there are people out there who’ve kind of gotten tired of the label roguelike being thrown around I continu...

Transistor

As the follow-up to Bastion, Transistor has some of the same base elements as an action-oriented RPG but they're very di...

Bastion

While people with access to other systems may well have played Bastion before since it's been around for a number of yea...

West of Loathing

Don’t let its simple stick figure look fool you, this is an odd, funny, and extremely worthwhile gem of an adventure worth your time

Shadows Over Loathing

Continuing the weird style and sense of humor from “West”, Shadows Over Loathing turns the uniqueness dial to 11

Guardian Tales

While its gacha game essence and free-to-play screens may be irksome, the story and gameplay are spot on

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

While it very much feels like a traditional JRPG, there’s just a flair to this title that pulled me in

Young Souls

With the volume of titles I’m typically reviewing on a weekly basis I’ll admit that anything that calls i...

Golf Story

This is an excellent golfing RPG with much more working in its favor than against it. It is full of humor, strange an...

Gerda: A Flame in Winter

Discover the challenge of navigating Nazi-occupied Denmark in this historically-inspired indie

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

Another gorgeous and generally rock-solid JRPG experience, though not terribly different from its predecessor

Black Book

Whenever you see new titles show up in a genre that seems to be currently having its moment you end up taking a moment t...

The Outer Worlds

Before fully getting into why I think this is an excellent title, and a breath of fresh air I’ve been needing on Switch,...

Cardpocalypse

While deck building and battling games were never something I got into physically, I’ll admit that in the digital space ...

Moonlighter

One part Zelda-esque combat and dungeon exploration and another part shop simulator Moonlighter is a title that looks gr...

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

While this RPG is turn-based and has more of a classic JRPG feel to it, there's no question that its comic book art insp...

Cassette Beasts

Granted, in many ways it’s another variation on the “creature collector” RPG subgenre, but it is able to differentiate itself nonetheless

Jack Move

Fans of Cyberpunky vibes, turn-based battling, and a bit of techno-jargon being thrown around should enjoy this one

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition

Damn RPG lovers, the Switch has been a terrific return to Nintendo fully delivering a variety of options in this genr...

ANNO: Mutationem

If you enjoy exploration and world building with a cyberpunky edge, you'll likely find ANNO to have some appeal

tERRORbane

When it comes to adjectives I like to see associated with games, weird and funny are pretty high on my list, though I’ll...

Rise of the Third Power

There’s no doubt that for many the 16-bit era was where JRPGs really exploded into the mainstream, so titles that bring ...

Kitaria Fables

Family-friendly action adventure titles have a fair amount of representation on the system, but with its cute characters...

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Remasters of past games, even ones that are at least somewhat revered, can be a tricky business. Giving everything a vis...

Nexomon: Extinction

While there have been a few stabs at taking on Game Freak and the Big N’s mega-franchise they’ve tended to be at the hig...

CrossCode

Where CrossCode excels is in its scope and ambition. The game world is large, relatively varied, and absolutely crawling...

Tower Of Time

Genre-blending is one of the things I appreciate most in the indie space, at least when it is well-executed. In the RPG ...

Rune Factory 4 Special

With a bit of a window remaining until the release of Animal Crossing, if you’ve been looking for something relaxing and...

Cat Quest II

Meow let me tell you about a purrfect game for fans of furry cuteness and action RPG action. While perhaps it isn’t a ve...

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows

In terms of downsides I’d say there aren’t many with the primary concern being whether you’re looking for something that...

Windscape

Though I may have felt a bit conflicted on how to score Windscape, I like its concept, most of its simple but workable d...

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

The game’s main character, Alex, is a pretty major departure from a typical hero in the genre, a generally reluctant hip...

Super Daryl Deluxe

For me there's something really funny about such an unassuming (and honestly dumb-looking) burnout of a kid looking to s...

Batora: Lost Haven

With its combat forcing you to move between a twin-stick shooting style and slashing, Batora manages to keep itself interesting and varied

OneShot: World Machine Edition

A game that, from presentation to play, simply does its own thing…

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

While the visuals and flashy style of the series have continued to evolve nicely, the story will probably be inaccessible for the uninitiated

The Last Hero of Nostalgaia

Channeling a low-res Souls-like vibe, sprinkled with ample humor to lighten things up, it knows what it wants to be, though not for everyone

Trinity Trigger

With its classic look, structure, and support for 3-player co-op ala the classic Secret of Mana, Trinity Trigger has appeal for the right crowd

LISA: The Painful - Definitive Edition

Decidedly old-school in look and execution, it’s the dark and sometimes disturbing nature of the journey that holds appeal

The Smile Alchemist

Combining together an upbeat tone, some fun characters, and a mix of puzzles and crafting this keeps things light and fun

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

While there have been quite a number of dungeon crawler RPGs on the Switch none of them has quite convinced me to sta...

Choice of Life: Middle Ages 2

Landing somewhere between Reigns: Kings and Queens and a Choose Your Own Adventure, this has narrative merit

Redemption Reapers

With its own take on tactical combat, combined with a generally darker tone and story, there’s room for some appeal

The Cruel King and the Great Hero

It’s great that this far into the Switch’s lifespan there are enough RPGs that even genre fans don’t necessarily have to...

MONARK

I’ve got to admit, there are games that I review that I don’t really get, but sometimes they can still make quite an imp...

Heroland

Full of quirky and unusual characters, and built on a somewhat unusual premise of there being a hero amusement park of s...

Dungeon Stars

Despite the game’s limitations and the performance hiccups I can’t deny that there’s a quality to Dungeon Stars that abs...

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