10 Best Touchscreen Switch Games

10 Best touchscreen Switch Games

I work in an industry (Audio Visual), where I have a lot of time to do, well not much but I still need to be visible to our clients. So I need to play my switch in its most covert form, only the screen, no joycons, just a humble tablet; totally not my gaming system. So I have become an expert in the weird niche of the Nintendo eShop, games that can be played with only the touchscreen. This list is full of eShop gems where I have enjoyed the whole of the game with just the touchscreen controls.

Now I’m going to break this down into genres for most of these numbers, in the spirit of giving you more recommendations on what to play. Yet I still feel strongly that these are how these games  rank even individually.

5. Free To Play Games

The Nintendo switch is now home to its fair share of free to play games. Some are basically copies of mobiles apps but in the case of Pokémon Quest the exact opposite. The switch game turned mobile app is the perfect way to waste a few minutes with an official pokemon game on your switch. I have put over 100 hours into Pokémon Quest because the game is so easy to play without paying much attention to it. If you set the battle system to auto, which is practically a necessity if you are in that grind, the game is very much on auto pilot except for starting new missions. Quest has fine joy con controls but you can tell that the game was built with touchscreen in mind. FallOut Shelter is another great touchscreen game; if you want Sims like game with FallOut like quests. Sure you can play this one on your phone, so it’s a hard sell to spend time playing it on the switch but I got a lot of enjoyment out of this free game.

4. Rhythm Games

Now I suck at Rhythm games. Like real bad. I used to be passable at guitar hero but we all know someone who can nail Under the Fire and Flames and make you look like a noob. For many people this genre and these games would be a lot higher up on their list but even though these games make me look like a noob I still love playing them. Voez is one of most content filled games on switch. Tons of songs and replayability, with an easy to use control scheme that anyone can jump into an be decent at. It’s also the only game on this list that can only be played with Touchscreen. Fredric is the best bang for your buck rhythm game on switch. For only $5 you get a fun little adventure with the now undead Fredric Chopin, playing his famous primarily piano songs against stereotypes of other genres, like reggae or rock. Each level is a battle between Fredric and the embodiments of these genres, making a new track that turns into a fantastic cover of a Chopin classic. More for fans of classic music but this story and art are great for the price.

3. Point and Click Mysteries

Everybody can appreciate a great mystery and the Switch is chock full of great ones. That is why this number on the list has three games on it instead of just two. Thimbleweed Park and Darkside Detective are proof that graphics don’t have to be super modern to have a great mystery game. Both sporting fantastically detailed 8 bit graphics and unique sense of humours. Darkside Detective is a little on the short side but the sequel was just funded on Kickstarter, so there is more to come! Thimbleweed Park is absolutely hilarious, which is unsurprising because the guys behind The Secret of Monkey Island made this. Yet if you are looking for something a little more Spooky and serious, Oxenfree might be for you. Using a creepy radio to communicate with ghosts, you and a group of teens must escape a mysterious island. The radio mechanic is a great way to draw you in to the horror but you will stay for all the great dialogue choices and replayability.

2. City Managers

I’m a sucker for City Managers, I love the Sim aspects and any great Sim game hands you the controls of a system and lets you run it. That’s exactly what these two games do. This is The Police places you in the role of morally grey police chief as he runs his police department in his final days before he retires. The gameplay can be kinda samey, just responding to crime with your officers but your decisions matter. Well your little decisions do. You can’t play this game completely straight, the story makes sure you are at least a little crooked. Yet if you manage wrong and send the wrong officers in or not enough officers to a crime, it could mean a quick death for officers you have spent time leveling up. Also if you piss off the mayor or the mob too much, they will take you out and end your playthrough real fast. It’s an interesting game and definitely not everyone’s bag but it was a ton of fun to play with just the touch controls. After you run a whole police department, why not move onto running a whole train system. Mini Metro is a minimalist, simple yet deep train system Sim. You build each rail and try to pick up all your riders as your system expands and adds more stops. All the art looks like a classic Harry Beck subway map and it is just awesome to draw these simple works of art with your own fingers. Now the game builds up slowly and can get really hectic with each map procedurally generating each new stop and how many riders get added. Yet this game is extremely relaxing and playing with touchscreen in your lap can be a great way to sit back and relax

1.Darkest Dungeon

Now why did I jump away from the genres for this one? Because Darkest Dungeon is that good! It combines a turn based rpg, city management and extreme difficulty to be one of the best games on switch. That you can play this entire game with touch controls and that I even felt drawn to use touch controls when I could use a controller says something. Darkest Dungeon gets called a turn based rpg Dark Souls, for its high difficulty and how often you will lose villagers to RNG and big bad bosses. Yet the game warns you. Everytime you boot up the game it has a disclaimer about how this game is meant to be hard. Now this might just seem like the game covering its ass but it was actually the encouraging factor in me not feeling bad when I get whipped by RNG. Knowing that you are meant to lose, you are meant to be beat back, helps when your favorite character bites the big one. The game is also chuck full of content. Over a hundred hours of just the basic game and now the 2nd DLC has dropped, adding even more content. If you don’t have Darkest Dungeon and you are a turn based RPG fan, you are doing your switch disservice. If you need the best game to play with just touch controls, you can’t go wrong with Darkest Dungeon.

To recap, here is the list in full:

1. Darkest Dungeon
2. Mini Metro
3. This Is The Police
4. Oxenfree
5. Thimbleweed Park
6. Darkside detective
7. Fredric
8. Voez
9. FallOut Shelter
10. Pokémon Quest