12 Switch Sleeper Hits

This is a list of 12 Switch games you may not have ever heard of. Some more obscure than others.

I’ve played every game on this list to completion on a Switch v2. [Many are in my top 20 sorted by play time](https://files.catbox.moe/zzljyz.jpg).

Many of these games go on deep discount. There’s multiple titles here I purchased for under $5. Refer to dekudeals.

* Tangledeep
* Windscape
* Shiren the Wanderer
* Fates of Ort
* Project Warlock
* Morphite
* Immortal Redneck
* A Robot Named Fight
* Unsighted
* Lumo
* Anodyne
* Castlevania GBA Collection

**Tangledeep** – Imagine Chrono Trigger style graphics & audio in a game that plays like Rogue, with a Final Fantasy Tactics style job system for your character, Diablo style loot, and an overall feeling like this could have come out on the SNES back in the day. Wonderful pixel art, very deep game play, multiple play modes (Including playing as the antagonist!), tons of custom builds possible, pet raising system, NG+ and NG++. Crafted with love, this game blends attributes from some of my favorite titles in a masterful way.

**Windscape** – Windscape is like a low budget indie linear Elder Scrolls lite with low poly Windwaker inspired graphics. I came across it looking for good first person RPG’s in the vein of a niche favorite of mine, King’s Field. This was the best one I played. Things it does well is a memorable sound track, fun art direction, good length, wildly different locales and a variety of weapons. It gets a little repetitive at times and once you figure out the combat it can be on the easy side, but it’s a fun adventure if you like first person RPG’s.

**Shiren the Wanderer** – Another rogue-like, this series originated on the SNES, and had entries on the N64, GBC, DS and PSP. Packed full of content, Shiren is more traditional than Tangledeep but is the product of a professional studio rather than a small indie team, and it shows. Game play may seem shallow at first but the depth becomes apparent the more you play. Systems interact with each other in a myriad of ways, often producing hilarious results. There is a day / night system that dramatically changes how the game plays, and an absolute ton of dungeons to explore, ranging from a few floors to 100! Strategic game play, tons of secrets, a wonderful visual style and a robust challenge have kept me coming back for over 100 hours.

**Fates of Ort** – Fates of Ort is an interesting game. You use a mix of magic and melee attacks in combat, making skill selections and moving around maps in real time. But the action pauses while not moving or attacking, letting you plan your strategy. It looks like an old school late 80’s / early 90’s PC game, which for me is nostalgic. It features a large map that functions similar to Pillars of Eternity and similar games – there are different locations on the overworld map you can warp to, and each node has its own area to explore. The game is odd in that you can ignore about half the levels and still beat the game. Or you can explore every nook if you enjoy the game. Story is basic – Orts is definitely focused around the game play. If you don’t mind the throw back visuals, the combat and exploration is a lot of fun for RPG fans.

**Project Warlock** – This game is a love letter to build engine shooters like Doom and Hexen. No up and down aiming required. There’s a mix of typical guns, melee weapons and magic spells at your disposal. Levels are quick to run through labyrinths similar to the first 2 Doom games. Music is very good and the pixelated retro styled graphics are well done. Animations are a bit choppy, though. There’s a large amount of levels, making this feel like a full featured game and not too short like some indie shooters. There’s a basic weapon upgrade system similar to Doom 2016, and you can spend stat points as you see fit, giving the game a little build variety. Anyone that enjoys games like Doom, Duke Nukem, Hexen and Quake owes it to themselves to try this one out.

**Morphite** – This is one of those games that I know is far from perfect, but I can’t help but love it. It plays like a 6 man indie studio loved Metroid Prime and No Man’s Sky and wanted to make a budget game that draws heavy inspiration from both. Initially the game feels very barebones, as you explore your first planet with a simple pistol and scanner. Eventually you’ll have laser cannons, grappling hooks, grenades, rifles, etc. I love that you can stick to story missions only, or roam the galaxy freely and explore randomly generated planets.
Story is surprisingly deep and present, something a lot of these budget indie games lack. Visuals are a striking neon low poly style that I grew to love. There is an upgrade system for your weapons, your suit and your ship that can modify functionality in more ways than simply increasing damage or health, such as being able to explore boiling hot and freezing cold planets, running faster, new weapons for your ship, etc. For those that enjoy the raw exploration of No Man’s Sky but don’t like being bogged down by hours of crafting and resource gathering, Morphite scratches a similar itch for me. Very well done sound track that gives exploring the low poly alien vistas a meditative feel. This is one of my favorite games on the platform no ones ever heard of. My only big gripe is even after tweaking sensitivity, analog joystick aiming always feels a little jank, especially with joycons. Scored my copy for $2.35

**Immortal Redneck** – I’ve played a few different roguelite shooters, such as this game and Ziggurat, and this is the one I’ve enjoyed most. Solid challenge, good variety of weapons, and multiple long levels to tackle. This is the only game on the list I haven’t beaten, as I find it pretty tough. Took me many tries to even beat the first pyramid. There’s a lot of different starting classes to choose from which changes your load out dramatically. There’s also an upgrade tree where you spend gold acquired during play to boost things such as health, damage and ammo drop % rates, or use gold to unlock more classes. Gameplay is smooth with ledge grabs, running and double jumps. Gunplay is solid, and the weapons are highly varied. Rocket launchers, dynamite, uzis, AK’s, flare guns, unlimited ammo holy ankhs, and much much more. Catchy, well done sound track and smooth visuals that maintain a solid frame rate, both with a well executed egyptian theme. Most replay value I’ve gotten from a FPS game for $5 or less.

**A Robot Named Fight** – Old readers will probably guess Super Metroid is a favorite of mine. They’d be right. This game plays like a randomly generated Super Metroid. It’s a blast. I got my ass kicked hard by it despite being a Metroid veteran, so expect a challenge. Enemies hit hard and your arsenal is minimal early on. There’s a variety of upgrades to locate like a traditional metroid game that gradually unlocks new areas despite the randomly generated levels. Lots of fun / tough boss fights featuring enemies made out of random blobs of meat. Graphics are on point, looking like it could have been a last hurrah on the SNES in 96. Lots of fun if you enjoy the Metroid side of metroidvanias.

**Unsighted** – This is an extremely fun game. It plays like a retro styled 16 bit metroidvania with a top down perspective like old Zeldas or Hyper Light Drifter. In fact you could tell me this game was made by the same folks that did HLD and I’d believe you – they feel very similar. That’s a good thing, as HLD is one of my favorite indies. Combat lets you utilize a combo of melee, ranged guns, and dodge rolls. Boss fights are a blast. There’s a few different ways to customize your play style, including equipping different passive effect chips, and choosing which specific weapons to use. Compared to HLD, to my delight Unsighted leans a little more heavily on metroidvania style design. HLD has a pretty open world while this game is a little more curated and linear due to upgrades unlocking previously inaccesible paths. Very well made game head to toe, with a moody sound track and gorgeous pixel art. My only complaint is the game pushes LGBT themes and it was kind of awkward playing it in front of my elementary aged kid, but those scenes don’t make up *that* much of the game at least.

**Lumo** – This is one of those games that made me explore a new to me genre – isometric adventure / puzzle games. They seemed to be a lot more popular in the 80’s and early 90’s than recent decades, so having one with a modern presentation and design ethos is a good way to ease into the genre. There’s no real combat, boss fights, etc., it’s just you, a single wizard, exploring a bunch of isometric rooms, figuring out how to get past various puzzles and hazards to explore the full game. It’s charming and well crafted, and a great game for introducing kids to gaming. Very low pressure as there are no lives or time limits, controls are simple, and if you mess up you start back in the same room immediately. It’s the type of game where you can enter a room and immediately understand the objective with no text or tutorials. There’s some hidden secrets to uncover, like the tapes tucked away in secret areas.

**Anodyne** – Imagine if the dudes in japan that created Zelda: Link’s Awakening decided to make another GBC Zelda, but used a bunch of acid during the development process. This is about what you’d expect. It’s an odd and surreal adventure with more emphasis on exploration and dialogue and less on combat and puzzles, though there are vestiges of vintage zelda in certain rooms. Equipped with a broom of all things, our character will travel through all sorts of strange and deformed worlds and experience all manner of oddities. Do not go into this expecting tight dungeons full of combat and puzzles like Link’s Awakening – It’s very common to go 3 or 4 screens in this game without fighting anything or solving a puzzle. It’s meant to be strange and atmospheric and emphasize the overall journey more than moment to moment combat. That said there are some basic upgrades to find, keys to locate, puzzles to solve, areas to unlock and bad guys to dispatch with your broom of doom. If you enjoy it, there’s a sequel that blends that 2D Zelda style game play of the first with PS2 styled 3D free roam areas you may enjoy.

**Castlevania GBA Collection** Forgive me for including such a big name on my list, but I feel some may overlook this in the era of Hollow Knight and Ori. This 3 game package includes some of the best Metroidvanias on Switch – obviously leaning more towards the vania side.

* Circle of the Moon was one of the first metroid style vanias. It was made by a different team than SotN. Often overlooked in favor of Aria, Circle blends the classic gothic style of traditional Castlevania games with the metroid style game play that would dominate their designs for decades. Compared to SotN it feels much closer to say, Castlevania 4 in its movement and abilities, levels just happen to be arranged non-linearly. While audio and visuals are less technically impressive than the other two, IMO the moment to moment game play is the best. The card system adds variety like AoS soul system, challenge is strong, and the Castle design is the most focused of any metroid style Castlevania. No second castle bloat like in HoD or SotN, the castle design in CotM is tight and efficient. Multiple play styles unlock as you beat the game, something all 3 GBA CV’s had in common.

* Harmony of Dissonance was the weakest of the 3. While the graphics are much better than CotM and the Castle, having two layers, is massive in comparison, it does a few things worse. Much less challenging, the Castles end up feeling bloated and too large at times, the magic system presents significantly less variety, and the audio suffered on a technical level due to the devs devoting so much cartridge space to graphics. It’s still a fun metroidvania with classic upgrades for unlocking new areas, like slide kicks, double jumps and an item letting you see in the dark. After CotM I was so excited for this I actually emulated the japanese release before it came to the US. Might be the weakest of the three, but it’s still a solid metroidvania. Additional play modes unlock after completing the game, and there are multiple endings for Juste as well.

* Aria of Sorrow is the highest rated of the bunch, and it’s very good. While I prefer CotM to it in some ways, Aria improves the graphics and audio compared to the earlier two titles, and introduces the now famous Soul system. Bosses are much better than HoD, with a challenge more similar to CotM, if not harder at times. The Castle does not feel bloated at all, and is crafted with care. Not only one of the best Castlevania titles in the long lived series, this is one of the best metroidvanias on Switch.

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Hope you learned about a new game with this post that sounds fun.

by lower-brinstar