Nintendo just announced a ton of new (and not so new) indie games that will be hitting the Switch this year. The Nindies Showcase Spring 2018 gave us a glimpse of 17 titles that are coming up before the end of the year. Here are just a few that have me excited.

The Banner Saga Trilogy

What happens when former BioWare developers splinter off to form their own studio? You get a game company called Stoic, which is responsible for the critically acclaimed tactical RPG The Banner Saga.

Nintendo did not say when the first two games of the trilogy would arrive, opting just to say, "coming soon." Likewise, Stoic has yet to announce a release date for The Banner Saga 3 officially, yet Nintendo let slip that the title would be landing on the Switch this summer. It also said that players would be able to import their saves from the first two games into TBS3. So it seems that "coming soon" means before this summer.

The Messenger

Developer Sabotage's "love letter to the 8-bit and 16-bit era" comes in the form of The Messenger. This game is already winning awards, and it hasn't even been released yet.

The Messenger is a retro game that was clearly inspired by the original Ninja Gaiden from 1988. It is a side-scrolling action platformer with RPG elements that give it a bit more depth. It was already announced for PC and has a Steam page if you want to check it out. Nintendo revealed that the Switch version is arriving this summer.

Garage

No, it's not a mechanic simulator. Garage is a top-down survival-horror shooter reminiscent of Hotline Miami.

"Inspired by the gloriously gory VHS era of B-movies, Garage is a top-down shooter set in a gritty underworld. Slay hordes of the living dead using a variety of weapons and skills."

It's dark, gritty, and has hordes of undead to kill. What more needs to be said? Garage is due out this spring.

All The Rest

Those are just my three (technically five) favorites. If those don't interest you there are 12 more titles in the pipe including:

Surely there is something in there for every Switch fan, and those are just the indie releases. Bayonetta 3 (2018), Dark Souls: Remastered (May 25), and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (2018) are just a few more coming from big-name studios this year.

All in all, the Switch's second year is shaping up to be even better than its first, which is saying a lot.