It's a sad but true fact that 3rd party publishers and developers have all but abandoned the Wii U. Sure, we're getting a small handful of 3rd party games here and there, but nothing of note. It's a dry and barren wasteland and there is nothing to look forward to now or in the near future.
That was a damnable lie.
Sure, it is sort of true when applied to Wii U retail games. But the eShop is a different story. I really think that 2014 has been the best year for the Wii U eShop, with the release of several key titles like
Shovel Knight,
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition,
SteamWorld Dig,
Child of Light and more. And many of the most exciting Wii U eShop games have been brought over by a single company, British publisher / developer Curve Studios.
Who is Curve Studios? I wish I didn't have to tell you, because Nintendo fans
should already know them. They are the developer behind one of the best Wiiware titles there is, Fluidity,
a game which we reviewed pretty highly, as well as the 3DS eShop sequel Fluidity: Spin Cycle, which
we reviewed not quite as high but still pretty high. But we're talking about the Wii U, right? What have they done for the Wii U? Let's take a look at what Curve has released just in the last few months, as well as some of their upcoming titles.
In mid October we saw Curve publish
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut, a 2D survival horror game influenced heavily by Silent Hill,
which was pretty well reviewed. To be frank, this is one of my favorite indie games in recent years.
In late October Curve published a self-developed title
Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones,
which was also well received. This is a neat little 2D action / puzzle / stealth game that actually manages to do fast-paced stealth, a bit of a rarity in the stealth genre.
Next up in mid November was
The Swapper, a moody 2D Metroid inspired action / adventure game. I haven't had a chance to play this one yet, but I hear it is great.
No surprise, the reviewers liked it as well.
Finally, just about a week ago, Curve released indie darling
Thomas Was Alone, a 2D puzzle platformer with a touching story and amazing soundtrack.
Reviewers liked this game too.
So that is four pretty big indie games right there, all brought over to the Wii U by Curve Studios. What comes next? Well, just today Curve announced that they would be bringing the much loved 2D skateboarding game
OlliOlli to the Wii U and 3DS in early 2015.
After that, who knows? After this literal barrage of big indie games over the last few months, I have to imagine that Curve Studios have even more planned for the near future.
The big 3rd parties may be failing the Wii U miserably, but hey, at least someone is publishing some great stuff. You just have to be willing to consider the eShop / indie games. And consider them you should, because a lot of them are pretty awesome!
Thanks Curve!
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