Winds of Viridia has a free demo on the Switch 2 eShop, and I played it for a bit more than an hour in handheld. Shark Jump's full game comes to Switch 2 and Steam in early 2027. Nintendo showed it in its October 28 Indie World and the demo went live the same day.
What the game is
You play a child awakened from a seed, sent to bring balance back to a once-great civilization called Viridia. A mothbug travels with you and helps in fights and in exploring. You run, slide, flip and grapple across one big connected world, and some plants help you jump higher or launch further. The music is by Kevin Penkin and Christopher Larkin.
The first ten minutes
The vibe works. It's light and colorful, and the music at the start is ethereal and fits the world. Moving is smooth and nice, and the first minutes get me into the universe without any fuss.
I kept thinking about Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. My first reflex was to use the controls I know from those games. It's clearly inspired by them.
The start doesn't give me a story. I'm in a forest full of aggressive monkeys and I don't know why I'm there or what I'm supposed to do.
The fights: I died a lot
They look simple at first. Then the enemies get stronger, and the game never explains how to defend. I died a lot.
The enemies change on the outside, but it feels like I'm fighting the same one every time, and it does the same move: hit, hit, hit. My answer is always the same too, dodge or jump, with mixed success.
Healing is the worst part. When I stop to drink the potion I can't move, so enemies hit me in the face while I drink. I also lose health points before the enemies reach me. I don't know if that's a bug or on purpose.
I stopped at the big monkey boss. He seemed unbeatable and I got frustrated.
How it plays on Switch 2
It runs really nicely, and the camera works well too. The controls are a bit annoying in fights. The dodge timing against enemy attacks is fiddly and not clear.
Saving and stopping
There's an autosave, but it isn't well managed. If I want to save myself, I have to quit the game. If I stop or die before the autosave kicks in, I lose a chunk of my progress.
Is it a weeknight game?
Not the demo as it is. After work I want a game that lets me in without a fight I can't read. I died because the game never told me the rules, and then I lost progress.
What I still don't know about the full game
| Question | What is known |
|---|---|
| Price | Not announced |
| Difficulty options | Not announced |
| Length of the full game | Not announced |
My take
It's a pretty game with a cool vibe, and the demo is promising. It didn't hook me at all. There's no story at the start, the fights frustrated me, and it feels heavily inspired by Zelda, right down to how the bosses are presented. I'm sad to say it. I'm not planning to buy it, and I probably won't review it unless someone lends me a copy.
Sources
- Nintendo Indie World showcase, October 28, 2026
- Nintendo Everything, "Winds of Viridia revealed for Nintendo Switch 2," October 28, 2026
- Game Informer, recap of the October 2026 Indie World showcase
- Pixel Twelve, "Four free Nintendo Switch demos," October 28, 2026
