I’m not always in the mood to shoot, smash, dodge, or cut. Luckily, the Switch library has me well covered.
Nintendo Switch adventure games without combat
The Switch is one of the best platforms for adventure games without combat: The Last Campfire, Disco Elysium, and Spiritfarer are all critically acclaimed (rightly so), while chill titles like Lil Gator Game, Ooblets, and Toem are simply a joy to play.
Read on below for a quick overview of what I love about each of these games, and a few more besides!
Carto
Carto is a charming narrative-driven puzzle adventure. The core gameplay focuses on moving and rotating map tiles to open up new avenues of exploration and, ultimately, help the main character find her way back home to her grandma.
Cute writing, chill background music, and fun mechanics will keep you interested without the puzzles ever becoming too frustrating. Oh, and the visuals are lovely, too.
Wytchwood
Wytchwood is packed full of magic and mystique, with no shortage of weird and wonderful characters to engage with on your journey.
Traverse a fairytale-inspired world rendered in a fantastic storybook art style to retrieve 12 evil souls at the behest of a goat that lives in a grotto.
One aspect of Wytchwood that casual gamers will appreciate is the fact that you’re essentially given the solutions to each story ‘chapter’ – all you need to do is collect and craft the necessary items to progress. That means no confusion and 100% relaxing gameplay.
The Last Campfire
The Last Campfire is one of my favorite games on this list. You control the main character, Ember, on a journey to reach the last campfire and save a few lost souls on the way.
Each zone features a campfire and a friendly ghost who will point you in the direction of the forlorn souls. Each soul is rescued by completing a pleasantly challenging logic puzzle.
If you took the violence away from Death’s Door and sprinkled a Legend of Zelda-style shrine puzzles throughout the game, you might end up with something like The Last Campfire. I love it.
Grow: Song of the Evertree
There are plenty of cozy life sims out there, but Grow: Song of the Evertree (a spiritual successor to Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles) is just about as cozy as they get.
Your tasks as the last human living under the Evertree are to look after your gardens, establish and grow a town to encourage the population to return, and explore the world.
One huge plus for me is that your gardening tools don’t break and you only have one type of seed to plant (what grows depends on where you plant the seed). It’s far less about inventory management and far more about having a relaxing time.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is one of the most interesting gaming experiences I have had in a long time. The pile of awards that it has won really does not come as any surprise to me.
You control Harry Du Bois, a troubled cop on the case of a mysterious murder while simultaneously trying to piece together his own complicated back story. It’s unsettling and hilarious in equal measure.
Disco Elysium goes a bit deeper on character customization than most Switch games, with personality and trait modifiers being of huge importance as the story progresses.
Each choice you make totally changes subsequent interactions with other characters – interactions that are brought to life with some of the best voice acting I have ever heard in a video game.
It’s a bit bigger than the average Switch game size at 7.4GBm, but well worth every last byte of that.
Spiritfarer
The underlying themes of Spiritfarer touch on memories, connections, and getting fulfillment from life in the knowledge that, one day, we will pass on.
You take control of Stella, a girl selected by Charon (the ferryman of Hades in case you aren’t a Greek mythology nut) to take on responsibility for getting spirits to the afterlife.
Each spirit is a human in the form of some type of animal and they have a few requests that you need to help them with before they can continue their journey.
The point is less to just tick the boxes for each quest line and more about learning about the spirit and their life and memories.
Similar to something like Old Man’s Journey (one of the best indie games on Switch you might not have heard of), Spiritfarer can be sort of sad but it’s comforting and beautiful at the same time.
Lil Gator Game
In Lil Gator Game, you play as a cute alligator (who wears a Phrygian cap that Link himself would be proud of) trying to convince his big sister to play through an adventure with him one last time.
To do that, the little gator ropes in his friends to help him create a fantasy world from cardboard cutouts and other bits and bobs.
Run and jump around, complete quests and challenges and craft new gear on your way through the story. There are some great mechanics yet it remains simple and just plain fun and totally wholesome. It’s like Breath of the Wild lite.
There is basic combat but, seeing as the enemies are stationary cardboard cutouts, it can definitely still be included in this list.
If you’re in two minds about this one because there’s no physical release and Nintendo doesn’t refund online store purchases: trust me, It’s well worth $14.
Toem
Toem is a delightfully unique adventure game in which you guide the main character through a diverse array of cute little areas, helping others with their photography-related requests.
It’s tiny in form (it takes about five hours to fully complete) but big in heart with wonderful writing, top-tier sound design, and encounter-rich areas that are plenty different enough from each other to maintain interest.
The photography controls are pleasingly simple – any more complication on that front would ruin the vibe of the game. There’s lots to collect, including musical tracks, clothing, and other unlockable achievements.
At just 416MB, you’ll probably not need to archive or delete anything from your Switch to make space for Toem. Nice.
Paper Mario: Origami King
Paper Mario is the cutest Mario and the charm really bursts through every moment of this adventure.
Peach needs rescuing again in Paper Mario: Origami King and, in contrast to previous Paper Mario games, there’s a rich overworld environment to explore as you make your way toward the next destination to progress the story.
Puzzles throughout the world are fun and you’ll spend plenty of time getting distracted by mini-games, dance routines, and finding Toads hidden in every imaginable nook and cranny.
The mechanics are novel and the puzzle focus of the circular ‘battle arena’ keeps things far more chilled than more traditional turn-based games.
A Short Hike
A Short Hike is one of the shortest games on this list but I won’t be forgetting it in a hurry.
There’s an almost 3DS sort of vibe to the faux-pixelated graphical style which might scratch the itch for any of you that want to play 3DS games on Switch.
Whimsically wind your way up the mountain world, collecting upgrades and treasure on your way, and enjoy the dynamic sound as you soar around cliffs using the well-implemented gliding mechanic.
You can get to the top of the mountain in around an hour, but there’s way more to do in this game than just that. And, like any self-respecting video game, you can go fishing.
Ooblets
Ooblets doesn’t exactly add anything new in terms of the overarching life sim/adventure formula: You arrive as a new resident in a quiet town and take over a run-down farm.
You’ll need to tend to your farm in order to grow ooblets – little bouncy creatures who help out on your farm and ‘battle’ for you.
Ooblets replaces traditional combat with the cutest battles you’ll ever see: card-based dance battles.
The dances are adorably silly and each ooblet has its own signature move cards – a great motivation to collect all the ooblets you can.
There’s lots to discover beyond the deck building and you can absolutely sink 30+ hours into Ooblets.
Abzu
Most games set underwater seem to focus more on survival than anything else. Abzu breaks this mold by completely ditching this aspect and allowing you to float through the world at your own pace.
Abzu is a living piece of art – the visuals and music are by far the strongest aspects of the game.
There isn’t a particularly strong story thread running through Abzu: Other than a few simple puzzles, the main source of enjoyment is exploring the truly stunning environment.
The controls are very easy to pick up which helps to make Abzu a perfect option for wiling away a few cozy hours on the sofa under a blanket with a hot drink by your side.
Switch adventure games without combat – Summary
We are spoiled for choice when it comes to adventure games without combat on Switch. My favorites include:
- Carto
- Wytchwood
- The Last Campfire
- Grow: Song of the Evertree
- Lil Gator Game
- A Short hike
