During the November 2023 Indie World Showcase, it was revealed that many intriguing indie titles are coming to the Nintendo Switch over the next year. One of the show’s biggest announcements was that Outer Wilds — a critically acclaimed sci-fi game about exploring a solar system throughout repeating time loops — is finally coming to the Nintendo Switch next month.
A Nintendo Switch port for Outer Wilds was first teased in 2021 and intended to be released during the summer of that year, but it did not make that release window. We did not hear much else about the port until now outside of a mention during one of publisher Annapurna Interactive’s own showcases. An Indie World Showcase segment dedicated to the game showed some of its physics-based spacefaring gameplay in action on the Switch, and it seemed to look nice and run at a solid frame rate. Called Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition, this version of the game comes with the Echoes of the Eye DLC and will launch digitally on December 7. It will get a physical Switch release sometime next year.
Outside of Outer Wilds, other notable indie games like Core Keeper, Moonstone Island, Planet of Lana, Heavenly Bodies, and Backpack Hero also got Nintendo Switch ports confirmed during the show. We also learned that Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution, a Game Boy Advance game that went unreleased in the early 2000s, is finally being finished and released on Nintendo Switch.
There was some brand new stuff shown off too, like Humble Games and Memorable Games’ card-based investigation game On Your Tail, the point-and-click photography adventure game The Star Name Eos, and more. Those who want to play something new should also know that some of the games featured during this Indie World Showcase were shadow-dropped following the presentation, like Howl, Backpack Hero, Enjoy the Diner, Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist, and a demo for Death Trick: Double Blind