An Indie Backlog curated overview. We round up the best indie games on Nintendo Switch and how professional critics and players received each one — the scores below are theirs, linked to the source.
A wordless watercolour journey through grief — less a game than a moving painting you walk through, and one of the most beautiful things on Switch.
At a Glance
| Developer | Nomada Studio |
| Release year | 2018 |
| Platforms | PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Mobile |
| Subgenre | Atmospheric platformer |
| Length | ~4 hours (main story) |
| Metacritic | 84 / 100 |
| Steam rating | Overwhelmingly Positive (~96%, 90,000+ reviews) |
| Steam Deck | Verified |
| Languages | 10 |
About the Game
Gris, from Barcelona’s Nomada Studio, is a serene platform-adventure about a young woman, Gris, navigating a world drained of colour after a personal loss. There’s no combat, no danger of death, and not a word of dialogue — just exploration, light puzzles, and movement through a hand-painted world.
Its structure mirrors the stages of grief. As Gris progresses, colour returns to the world in stages — first red, then green, blue, and beyond — each unlocking new abilities and transforming the watercolour environments into something more vivid and alive. It’s storytelling told entirely through art, music, and motion.
The result is short, gentle, and unforgettable: a collaboration with the band Berlinist whose score is inseparable from the visuals. It’s the kind of game you finish in an afternoon and remember for years. On Switch, in handheld, it’s a pocket art gallery.
Screenshots
Screenshots: official Steam media for Gris.
Why It Made the List
Gris makes the list as pure, gentle beauty. It’s the game to play when you want something calm and moving rather than challenging — proof that an indie can be art first and a game second, and be all the better for it.
What the Critics Say
Gris holds a Metacritic score of 84. Critics were unanimous on its art and music; the only real criticism is that it’s light on traditional gameplay challenge.
What Players Say
On Steam it’s rated Overwhelmingly Positive across more than 90,000 reviews — about 96% positive. Players describe it as more of an experience than a game, and mean it as the highest praise.
Praise & Criticism
Praise
- Astonishing watercolour art
- Beautiful, integral soundtrack
- Gentle and meditative — no fail state
- Short and complete
Criticism
- Very light on gameplay challenge
- Short (a few hours)
- Abstract story won’t click for everyone
Games Like This
- Celeste — a more challenging emotional platformer
- Ori and the Blind Forest — beautiful, emotional platforming
- Spiritfarer — another gentle game about loss
Where to Buy
Plain store links for now — swap in your affiliate-tagged URLs once you’ve joined Amazon Associates and the eBay Partner Network. (Steam and the eShop have no consumer affiliate program; those links are for convenience.)
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