The Indie World Showcase is a platform where Nintendo shows its support for indie developers and publishers. They often run a few times a year–in the spring, summer, and winter. For gamers who pine over quirky and unique indie titles, these are presentations we wait every so patiently for. Between the Indie World Showcase Twitter account regularly providing game announcements and with the relatively lukewarm list of games from this Spring’s showcase, one has to ask–was this presentation a waste of time?
Last year, the spring Indie World Showcase was on April 14th, 2021 and presented games such as Road 96, Ollie Ollie World, Never Yield, and Oxenfree II. We received other amazing announcements in other Indie World Showcases such as Axiom Verge 2, Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, Far: Changing Tides, and Sea of Stars. Many of these had the gaming community chatting and excited for the world of indies. In this Indie World Showcase, there weren’t many earth-shattering announcements, and the excitement around the titles were lukewarm at best. Another notable aspect were the lack of defined dates. Only a tiny handful had a specific release date, while the rest were coming in the summer, winter, or 2023. It is hard to get hyped for video games without definitive release dates, especially when delays are commonplace.
The upside is that there was variety in this showcase. We have 2D platformers, narrative-driven titles, rhythmic games, and action RPGs. Devolver Digital had its hards in a few titles, such as Gunbrella and Cult of the Lamb.
The Indie World Showcase was approximately 20 minutes long and provided information for several titles we can look forward to; however, it was difficult for me to justify those twenty minutes I took to watch it live. Could this all have been done by dropping trailers on the Indie World Showcase Twitter account? Sure. Yet, there is something to be said about gathering with friends and waiting with baited breath to be surprised! Although this was not my favorite Indie Showcase (it left me wondering how these games get selected for the Showcase), I am still grateful for any platform that celebrates indie titles and indie devs.
Did you catch the Indie World Showcase from May 11th? Was it a hit or miss for you? If you did miss it, check out this recap article by Eddie V. Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook group or Discord channel by clicking HERE or scanning the QR code below.
Image Source: Nintendo
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