Nintendo's October Indie World leads with a Witchbrook date and a free demo or three

Nintendo held its October Indie World Showcase on Wednesday, October 28, a short presentation of small-studio games headed to Switch and Switch 2. It opened with the cozy witch-life sim Witchbrook, which now has a release date of January 28, 2027. ¹²

Chucklefish and Robtality are behind it, and it comes to Switch and Switch 2. It is a magical town-building social sim, and it now has a release date. ¹²

The ones you can touch today

Several games had free demos on the eShop the same day. Winds of Viridia, an action survival game set in a large, seamless world, has one, with the full game due early next year. ¹ Haunted Paws, a co-op game where two players are puppies rescuing someone from a haunted mansion, has one too, and so do Petal Runner and Raccoin: Chaos Max Edition. ¹²

Petal Runner is a Game Boy-styled critter delivery game that reaches Switch 2 on March 8, 2027. Raccoin is a coin-pusher roguelike that lands on Switch 2 on November 10, 2026. ¹² Bao Bao’s Cozy Cleaning Services, from the closing montage, was available the same day. ¹²

Coming soon

Sword of the Sea, a sword-surfing desert adventure in the vein of Journey, arrives October 29, 2026, the day after the showcase. ¹² Spirit Crossing, an online life sim from the makers of Cozy Grove, is a Switch and Switch 2 title launching November 16, 2026. ¹²

Next year fills up fast. Slime Rancher 2 comes to Switch 2 in January 2027. ¹² My Arms Are Longer Now, a goofy puzzler about an endlessly long arm, launches March 11, 2027. ¹² Dumpster Gang, a raccoon chaos game for up to four players, comes in March 2027, and Super Battle Golf, an eight-player golf brawl with rocket launchers and motorcycles, hits Switch 2 on March 25, 2027. ¹²

Longer-range picks include City of None, a pixelated 2D platformer from one of Celeste’s co-creators. ¹² Tenjutsu is a stylish overhead roguelike brawler from a lead designer of Dead Cells, headed to Switch 2 in 2027. ¹² Threads of Time, a time-traveling RPG with a SNES-era Final Fantasy feel, is due next summer. ¹² Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino, a fox-girl adventure in a fantastical Japan, arrives next spring. ¹²

The montage closed things out with Tanuki: Pon’s Summer on November 10, Everything Is Crab on January 26, and Finding Polka and Floor Plan: Slap Out of It! next spring. Lost and Found Co. and HYPERyuki: Snowboard Syndicate are both early 2027. ¹²

If you want the full lineup in order, our earlier note on the schedule is here.

Our read: Several demos shipped the same day, and four or five games gave you a reason to open the eShop before lunch. I’ll be spending my own evening in Petal Runner and Haunted Paws.

Footnotes

1. Kotaku, “Everything We Saw At Nintendo’s October Indie World Showcase”. Retrieved October 28, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

2. Game Informer, “Nintendo Indie World Showcase Recap: Everything We Saw”. Retrieved October 28, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵