The 8 Best Nintendo Switch Action/Adventure Games

Discover new lands and fight new foes

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Nintendo Switch
Courtesy of Amazon

Best Overall: Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey
Courtesy of Amazon 

Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch brings giant sandbox worlds filled with diverse environments, unlike any other Super Mario game you’ll ever see. The popular title from Nintendo brings innovative gaming mechanics such as gaining control of various enemies and objects by making them wear your hat.

You don’t have to just be Mario in Super Mario Odyssey. Mario’s new friend, Cappy, gives Mario new moves such as cap throw, cap jump, and cap capture – all of which add to Mario’s already familiar abilities. Through cap capture, Mario can take control of a taxicab, bullet, tank, fish, dinosaurs and many more things. Mario’s mission this time is to crash a forced marriage between Bowser and Princess Peach while traversing humungous landscapes from cities, deserts, and more.

Runner-Up, Best Overall: The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild takes runner-up for the best action adventure game on the Nintendo Switch. Its mesmerizing open world is a vast beautiful environment filled with various items, enemies, and temples that encourage players to explore and discover without pressure.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild puts you in the middle of it all in its vast sandbox environment of Hyrule, a vibrant land of wilderness and peril that’s filled with secret dungeons and vast landscapes. Players will encounter various items, puzzles, and enemies that require different strategies to attain, solve and defeat. With over 100 shrines, numerous quests and constant challenges, The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is a staple action adventure game for the Nintendo Switch that never ceases to amaze.

Best for High-Speed Action: Sonic Forces

Sonic Forces for the Nintendo Switch captivates with beautiful graphics and incorporates both 2D side-scrolling and 3D visual platforming. The installment of the Sonic franchise turns it up a notch by delivering intense high-speed action adventure style gameplay that will get the heart pumping.

Unlike its predecessors, Sonic Forces have you create your own custom hero character with thousands of combinations of style and gear. You’ll fight alongside an all-star cast of classic Sonic characters, including classic Sonic from the 1990s, Knuckles, Tails and much more. The game’s atmosphere is loaded with vibrant landscapes and high-speed tracks that never slow on the non-stop action.

Best for Horror Fans: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+

Similar to old school Zelda games with its bird’s-eye view, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is an indie game about a boy who fears sacrifice and must battle through dungeons with various monsters. The game has a bit of a dark gothic feel and is perfect for anyone that likes a disturbing, intense flavor and backstory.

The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ is a bit of a dungeon crawler, where you fight off hordes of enemies using your tears. Along the way, you’ll find over 600 various items and weapons to get you through its difficulty (think toothpicks and unicorn horns) that give you a boost in your abilities. For any fan of horror or nightmares, The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ is the perfect action adventure game, having received multiple accolades and praise from critics.

Best 2D Side-Scrolling: Rayman Legends Definitive Edition

Rayman Legends Definitive Edition brings a robust side-scrolling action adventure game with gorgeous stylized animations and a beautiful soundtrack arrangement. The game features a wireless local multiplayer mode, so you and four friends can hop into the action altogether.

Unique to the 2D platforming genre, Rayman Legends Definitive Edition encourages players to jump and move to the beat of a drum, where timing and rhythm sequences are ways to beat some of the game’s music levels. Players can use the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen, too, to defeat enemies and manipulate their environment and pass through various obstacles. It’s one of the highest-rated Nintendo Switch games out due to its art direction, enjoyable gameplay and overall family-friendly fun.

Best for Immersive Gameplay: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Critically acclaimed with over 200+ Game of the Year Awards, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim brings its vast open world adventure to the Nintendo Switch. The game offers you the complete free will to be whomever you want (think an evil assassin, magician, king or queen, and so much more). The Nintendo Switch version offers motion controls to battle with melee weapons, aim your bow and pick locks.

With a land-infested by dragons, it’s up to you save it or do nothing. You’ll first start off by creating a character with many different special attributes. Maybe you’re a charming reptile person who likes magic or perhaps a quick and crafty human. Along the way, you’ll find hundreds of weapons, spells and abilities that will further progress you in Skyrim’s vast storyline defining your character by all the choices you make and quests you take.

Best Storyline: Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Adventure

Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Adventure is an episodic story-driven series based on the award-winning adventure game Minecraft. Similar to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, the game relies on decisions that the player makes, like what you say to people and how you say it, and the choices that you make in dire moments of the game.

There are so many decisions to make in Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Adventure. The game puts players on the spot with an exciting and nervous feeling of potential consequences to the decisions that they make. Do you choose to face an army of skeletons? Or flee? The game brings superb voice acting and with what feels like being part of an animated movie.

Best for Lego and Ninja Lovers: The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game

The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game puts the two best things together: Legos and ninjas. The kid-friendly game puts you in the role of a Lego ninja person that practices various fighting techniques and saves his Lego world from an evil samurai that has an army of sharks.

Don’t go it alone, The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game is multiplayer, too, so you and friends can play. The game is a classic style adventure free roaming beat-'em-up, and has you collecting coins to unlock items, upgrades, new characters and special abilities. Gameplay includes destructible environments and allows for players to wall run, jump high and perform numerous stylized ninja attacks against a variety of unique enemies.