The Best Nintendo Switch Games for Adults
No Kid Stuff Here
Contrary to what you might think, the Nintendo Switch is more than a kids' console. Nintendo's hybrid games machine is host to a slew of great adult-oriented titles, from violent action romps and spooky horror trawls to irreverent party games and rich role-playing experiences. If you're looking for something decidedly more mature to play once the kids have gone to bed, check out our favorite Switch games for adults.
Credit: Telltale
Doom
Doom is perhaps the original "violent video game," and its 2016 reboot is even more intense. id Software's fresh take on the iconic shooter is fast, fluid and over-the-top, allowing you to dismember demons with shotguns, plasma rifles and, most satisfyingly, your bare hands. Gratuitous bloodshed aside, Doom is one of the meatiest modern shooters out there, with a long campaign, tons of hidden collectibles and a wealth of online multiplayer options.
Credit: Bethesda
Bayonetta 2
Bayonetta 2 pushes the envelope so often, it's amazing to think that it's a Nintendo-published game. This raunchy action romp is as irreverent as the genre gets, with a badass heroine that uses her hair — and no shortage of seductive poses — as a weapon. But underneath all of the titillation lies some of the finest action gameplay of this generation, with a rich combo system that lets you chain together gunshots, melee attacks and slo-mo dodges, to incredible effect. Better yet, the physical version of Bayonetta 2 includes the original game as a freebie.
Credit: Nintendo
L.A. Noire
The Switch doesn't currently have a Grand Theft Auto game, but L.A. Noire is the next best thing. This port of Rockstar's popular 2011 open-world crime adventure puts you in control of Cole Phelps, a detective tasked with navigating the seedy corruption of 1940s Los Angeles. You'll engage in plenty of car chases and shoot-outs, as well as perform intense interrogations in which you'll try to find the truth by deciphering each character's scarily lifelike facial animations. On top of being a faithful port of the original game, the Switch version of L.A. Noire sports exclusive features, such as motion and touch controls, and HD rumble support.
Credit: Rockstar
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Ubisoft's irreverent South Park role-playing series has finally come to Switch. The Fractured But Whole (say that really quickly) is essentially a superhero RPG set within the South Park universe, allowing you to create a character and play heroes and villains with the likes of Cartman, Kyle and Stan. The game has all of the lewd humor you'd expect from an episode of South Park, but the real draw is its surprisingly deep combat system, which consists of grid-based battles and a whole bunch of fun superpowers. The fact that the game's cutscenes look identical to the show is just icing on the filthy cake.
Credit: Ubisoft
Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Telltale Series isn't just a great Batman game; it's one of the best recent Batman stories in any medium. This point-and-click adventure features the slick cel-shaded graphics and gut-wrenching decisions that Telltale games are known for, all packed into a fresh take on the Batman mythos that upends much of what we know about the Caped Crusader. Don't let the comic-book visuals fool you — this shocking and violent Batman adventure is more Nolan film than Saturday-morning cartoon.
Credit: Telltale
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
One of the defining role-playing games of the past decade, Skyrim is a sprawling open-world fantasy adventure that you can play however you like. Between the main quest to slay a world-eating dragon, a trove of side missions, and a gorgeous, freely explorable open world, Skyrim is the kind of game that you can easily dump hundreds of hours into whether you're at home or on the go. The Switch version packs in all of the game's previously released downloadable content, and features Switch-exclusive motion controls as well as special Zelda-themed gear.
Credit: Bethesda
Jackbox Party Pack
The Jackbox Party Pack games are as racy or as family-friendly as you make them, but they tend to be an especially big hit with adults (and at parties). Each Party Pack is filled with such off-kilter multiplayer hits as Drawful, the drawing game that can quickly get NSFW, and Word Spud, a fill-in-the-blank game that's perfect for dirty imaginations. There are a total of three Jackbox Party Packs available on Switch, and they're all great fits for groups of grown-ups with a sense of potty humor.
Credit: Jackbox Games
Resident Evil Revelations
Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2 (available separately or in a bundle) do a great job of blending the horror of the earlier Resident Evil titles with the third-person action of the newer games, all while letting you control series mainstays such as Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield. They're also great co-op games — Revelations 2 has a full two-player campaign, and both titles have an endlessly replayable Raid mode that lets you mow down the undead either locally or online. It'd be nice to see the mainline Resident Evil games hit Switch, but Revelations will scratch your spooky itch in the meantime.
Credit: Capcom
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is perfectly safe for kids, but it's far and away the most mature game in the series as far as gameplay is concerned. The latest Zelda title doesn't hold your hand one bit, instead setting you loose in a vast, open world filled with rich, challenging activities that you can tackle any way you see fit. It's more Skyrim than Skyward Sword, making it a great fit for fans of modern role-playing games (or anyone who enjoys good games, really).
Credit: Nintendo
Darkest Dungeon
There are hard games, and then there are games about battling actual mental stress. Darkest Dungeon is a challenging role-playing game that has you battle monstrous enemies while also fending off worldly diseases and personal afflictions, such as fear and paranoia. Darkest Dungeon is a "roguelike," meaning death is permanent, levels are procedurally generated and every run is a chance to have a fresh, daunting experience with Red Hook's masterfully menacing RPG.
Credit: Red Hook Studios
Night in the Woods
Despite its lush, cartoony visuals and cute cat characters, Night in the Woods deals with some surprisingly adult themes. This 2D adventure game casts you as a college dropout who returns to a humble Midwestern hometown that seems to have moved on without them. It captures all of the heartbreak, humor and awkwardness of being a young, confused 20-something, which is an impressive feat for a game filled with anthropomorphic cats.
Credit: Finji
Outlast: Bundle of Terror
Looking for a real scare? Outlast is one of the most intense horror games of this generation, casting you as a journalist armed with only a camera as you explore a haunted psychiatric hospital. This first-person adventure ditches the action spectacle of modern horror games for a true survival experience — when the monsters come, your only option is to run. This special Bundle of Terror also throws in the game's Whistleblower expansion, giving you plenty of on-the-go scares in a single package.
Credit: Red Barrels Inc.
Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.