RELATED: Nintendo Switch Games To Play if You Like Wii Sports
Unsurprisingly, the iconic The Legend of Zelda series returned on the Nintendo Switch, and the latest main-series title, Breath of the Wild, is already being touted as one of the best entries in the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda series. However, the game was released nearly five years, so many players are now looking for more of the best adventure games on the Nintendo Switch.
Updated on January 11, 2022, by Jack Pursey: The gaming industry finally got its first look at the next Legend of Zelda game last year. The game is currently known as “the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” is due to release this year, and the short trailer has done more than enough to tantalize Switch owners.
Unfortunately, there is still no confirmed release date for the game, so it could still be many months before the game hits stores. So, to tide players over until then, we’ve expanded this list to include some more of the best adventure games on Switch.
20 Pokemon Sword And Shield
One issue that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has invertedly dealt Nintendo is that fans want a Breath of the Wild-style open world in many of Nintendo’s other I.P.s now, particularly Pokemon. So, when Sword and Shield was released and had a very similar structure to previous games in the series, many fans were disappointed.
Despite this, Sword and Shield still thoroughly deserves a spot on this list as - although it failed to reinvent the series in a way that fans hoped - it still provided a visually stunning modernization of the classic Pokemon formula.
19 Metroid Dread
Metroid Dread was released in October 2021 and garnered the opposite reaction from fans as the aforementioned Pokémon Sword and Shield, in the sense that Metroid fans were delighted to play a modern entry in the series that stuck to the franchise’s roots.
Along with classic side-scrolling gameplay, Metroid Dread also incorporates newer elements of the series, such as the melee attack and free aim that were introduced in 2017’s Metroid: Samus Returns.
18 Paper Mario: The Origami King
Paper Mario: The Origami King was developed by Intelligent Systems and released in July 2020 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. Like every game in the Paper Mario series, fans were hoping that The Origami King would reach the sky-high quality of the franchise’s first game and were disappointed that it fell short.
RELATED: Paper Mario: The Origami King: The Most Well-Hidden Collectibles (& Where To Find Them)
Still, The Origami King is another solid entry in the long-running Paper Mario franchise and is well worth playing for fans of Marioor the RPG genre in general.
17 Hades
Hades was released in September 2020 and immediately turned heads with the way it seamlessly blends multiple genres together, including action-adventure, action-RPG, dungeon crawler, and roguelike. As the name suggests, the game’s story and lore are based around Greek mythology, with the protagonist being Zagreus, the son of Hades.
The quality of roguelike games is heavily dependent on their gameplay mechanics, which is what makes Hades one of the genre’s very best releases, as the game’s excellent combat makes fighting through numerous rooms of enemies and bosses a joy.
16 Death’s Door
Death’s Door is an excellent choice for fans of The Legend of Zelda’s top-down perspective days, as Acid Nerve’s game is clearly inspired by titles like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Death’s Door is simple in terms of gameplay mechanics and combat but thoroughly ambitious in terms of its visuals, level structure, and boss design that collectively helped make the game one of 2021’s most memorable adventures.
15 What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch has become a cornerstone of the so-called “walking simulator” genre, a style of game that tends to feature minimal gameplay mechanics and limited exploration but a rich and fleshed-out story.
As the title suggests, What Remains of Edith Finch requires players to delve into the history of the Finch family and investigate why the family’s members always seem to die in odd ways. The game’s narrative received an outpouring of praise from fans and critics, so there was little surprise when the game won the Best Narrative award from The Game Awards 2017.
14 SteamWorld Dig 2
SteamWorld Dig 2 was initially released in September 2017 on Switch, P.C., PS4, and PS Vita before coming to 3DS, Xbox One, and even Stadia. The game requires players to explore undiscovered mines with the help of numerous abilities, to obtain resources that can be traded in the game’s hub world.
SteamWorld Dig 2 opts not to have procedurally generated areas, a bold decision that pays off as the game’s levels are wonderfully designed and meticulously crafted in a way that only hand-made areas can be.
13 Astral Chain
2019’s Astral Chain was developed by PlatinumGames, a studio that is continuously growing in notoriety thanks to continuously high-quality hack and slash releases such as Bayonetta, MadWorld, and Nier: Automata. PlatinumGames’ track record clearly isn’t going noticed, as Astro Chain’s director Takahisa Taura recently thanked fans for the game surpassing 1 million sales.
Astral Chain is set in a dystopian future and puts players in control of a detective from a special police force who are fighting to defend humanity against an invasion.
12 Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge is a side-scrolling adventure game with a well-crafted Metroidvania structure. The game was initially released on PlayStation 4 in 2015 before coming to almost every modern console under the sun until finally reaching the Nintendo Switch in October 2017, receiving a Metascore of 87 and User Score of 8.4.
The critically acclaimed indie game was made by Thomas Happ of Thomas Happ Games, who originally announced that the game’s sequel would be released in Fall 2020 before delaying the highly anticipated title until sometime in 2021.
11 Katamari Damacy REROLL
Katamari Damacy REROLL was initially released in 2018 and is the 18th entry in the long-running Katamari series that began back in 2004 with Katamari Damacy on the PlayStation 2. As the name suggests, Katamari Damacy REROLL is a remake of the original game.
Bandai Namco didn’t try to reinvent the wheel and kept the core gameplay of Katamari Damacy REROLL similar to the game that it was based upon. Players need to roll a ball of items around each level while collecting progressively larger objects along the way, thanks to a snowball-like effect.
10 Kentucky Route Zero: T.V. Edition
Kentucky Route Zero: T.V. Edition is a fitting game to kick off this list as it takes players back to the early days of adventure gaming. Point and click titles were a dominant force in adventuring gaming during the 90s, led by LucasArts and Sierra.
One issue with the genre that led to its downfall is that the plethora of tough puzzles that would flesh the games out would often break up the story’s flow. Grim Fandango, one of the point-and-click genre’s most beloved releases, is a prime example of this, as its excellent story was extremely disjointed due to the game having some of the toughest puzzles in the genre’s history.
Kentucky Route Zero: T.V. Edition differentiates itself from the 90s titles by simply removing puzzles from the game completely; putting Kentucky Route Zero’s story at center stage, and letting it flow naturally.
9 L.A. Noire
Originally released in 2011 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, L.A. Noire came to the Nintendo Switch six years later. Rockstar’s game put players in the shoes of a 1940s detective and tasked them with solving crimes around Los Angles.
The original release is somewhat divisive today; some see it as being revolutionary in the improvement of facial animations, whereas others dismiss it and believe that it has aged extremely poorly. The enhanced edition that was released on the Switch made significant strides in fixing the game’s shortcomings by improving the visuals and changing the fairly ambiguous “Truth,” “Doubt,” and “Lie” buttons with “Good Cop,” “Bad Cop” and “Accuse.”
8 A Short Hike
One of 2019’s most critically acclaimed indie titles, A Short Hike came to the Nintendo Switch in 2020. The game tasks players with finding golden feathers in a beautifully designed open-world that has numerous side activities to partake in.
Adam Robinson-Yu’s A Short Hike will only take players around 2 hours to complete, but that didn’t stop the game from receiving an 88 Metascore and winning the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards.
7 Hollow Knight
Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight is one of the key games responsible for the recent resurgence of the Metroidvania genre that was prominent in the late 80s and early 90s.
RELATED: Best Nintendo Switch Games That Don’t Require An Internet Connection
With beautiful, eerie visuals and a wonderfully designed, interconnected map, Hollow Knight was able to capture the essence of titles like Super Metroidand Castlevania: Symphony Of The Nightwhile implementing enough innovative mechanics to make the game appealing to modern audiences.
6 INSIDE
From one eerie, atmospheric title to another; INSIDE was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2018 to universal praise. The game was developed by Playdead, who also created 2010’s Limbo.
INSIDE is one of the Nintendo Switch’s highest-rated games on Metacritic with an impressive score of 91. Along with the impressive Metascore, INSIDE won numerous awards upon release, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best Independent Game and the D.I.C.E. Awards’ Outstanding Achievement In Art Direction.
5 Bayonetta 2
Directed by Hideki Kamiya, the creator of the Devil May Cry franchise, the Bayonetta series has become a cornerstone of the hack and slash genre. PlatinumGames managed to improve upon the original Bayonetta with its sequel, Bayonetta 2, which has become one of the most critically acclaimed hack-and-slash action adventures ever released.
Now a Nintendo exclusive, the series is set to receive its third entry; an official teaser for the game released in 2017, though there has been very little news about the game since.
4 Luigi’s Mansion 3
It’s safe to say that the Luigi’s Mansion series didn’t get off to the smoothest start in 2001. The release of Nintendo’s latest console, the GameCube, was just around the corner, and players were excited to see what Mario and Zelda game would be kicking the console off. Instead, players got neither, with Luigi’s Mansion being the most highly promoted launch title. Nintendo fans were understandably disappointed about this, though the quality of the game soon silenced frustrated players.
The series’ third title has continued the franchise’s impressive form and was awarded The Game Awards’ Best Family Game.
3 Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is another game that has been fundamental in rejuvenating the Metroidvania genre. Moon Studios found numerous ways to improve upon the game’s predecessor, Ori and the Blind Forest, particularly with the implementation of open-world mechanics and side quests. Moreover, the game managed to improve upon Blind Forest’s spectacular art design, earning Moon Studios a nomination for the Golden Joystick’s Best Visual Design award; like many 2020 nominees though, the game lost out to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II.
RELATED: Ways The Wii Is Better Than The Switch (& Ways The Switch Is Best)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is currently the Nintendo Switch’s third highest-rated game on Metacritic, with an excellent score of 93.
2 Okami HD
Okami is predominantly known for two things: being the best Zelda-like adventure, and being of the most underrated games of all time.
Capcom’s game switches the land of Hyrule for an artistic interpretation of Japanese folklore. Clover Studio’s adventure was extremely well received when it was first released, scoring 93 on Metacritic; however, the game struggled to perform sales-wise and was initially considered a commercial failure. Thankfully, the “commercial failure” tag can finally be removed from the game, as following numerous re-releases over the last fifteen years, the game has finally been rewarded with the financial success that it has always deserved.
1 Super Mario Odyssey
Taking a series like The Legend of Zelda away from a list of best adventure titles would usually result in the top spot being seriously weakened, but thankfully for Nintendo, they have not one but two of gaming’s most legendary franchises.
Super Mario Odysseyis Mario’s most ambitious adventure since the Nintendo Wii’s Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo continued their tradition of drastically changing the latest Mario title’s gameplay formula, this time with Odyssey’s capture mechanic. The capture mechanic offered players incredible gameplay variety and resulted in one of the best entries in the iconic Super Marioseries.
MORE: The Best 2D Super Mario Games, Officially Ranked
