Because of its portability and home console-level specs, the Nintendo Switch has become somewhat of a perfect indie gaming machine, helped in large part by smaller developers flocking to the platform to port their games to.
Stardew Valley, Celeste, Super Meat Boy, and Rocket League are just some of the few indie games currently available on the console. Playing on a PC might generally yield better performance and graphics, but for some players, the draw is with being able to carry the Switch around anywhere.
Firewatch
Firewatch, considered to be one of the best games released two years ago, is also making its way toward Nintendo's hybrid machine. Developer Campo Santo made the announcement on April 5, confirming a release sometime this spring.
The game was launched for the PC and PlayStation 4 in February 2016 then later made its way to the Xbox One later that year in September. It was Campo Santo's debut title, for which the reception was largely positive. The PC version currently has an 81 percent rating on Metacritic, and IGN awarded it a score of 9.3 in its review, saying:
"Firewatch is amazing for many reasons, but above all because it's an adult game that deals with serious issues, with realistic adult dialogue to match. And it deals with those issues just like actual adults would: sometimes with humor, sometimes with anger, and sometimes with sadness."
Beyond garnering critical praise, the game is also a commercial success, managing to sell a million copies during its first year, which is a really huge deal for an independently developed title, as only a few other games have achieved a similar feat.
Firewatch On Nintendo Switch
There's no hinting at how the Switch version of Firewatch might differ from its PS4, PC, and Xbox One counterparts, but the developer specifically mentioned the console's handheld abilities:
"Imagine: The sounds of a babbling brook, a cool mountain breeze blowing through the timber. And in your hands, your trusty Nintendo Switch."
Perhaps the Switch version could see a slight downgrade in terms of graphical performance, although it's hard to say, really, if Firewatch is too taxing of a game for the Switch to run. The PC version requires a minimum of 6 GB RAM and at least an Nvidia GeForce 450 GPU. The Switch, it's worth mentioning, only has 4 GB of RAM, so it will be interesting to see how well Campo Santo optimizes its title for the console.
