Bloober Team’s Mystery Switch Game Is a Reminder of Nintendo’s Biggest Genre Oversight

The Nintendo family of consoles has typically been aimed at a broader audience, with plenty of gamers growing up on Mario and Pikachu before making the move to other consoles or platforms. While there are some scary aspects to plenty of Nintendo franchises, it’s rare that the publisher ever releases full-blown horror games — especially ones that are unique to the consoles. While gamers may still swear by the surreal scares of something like Eternal Darkness, Nintendo’s reputation has never necessarily been too tied up in the horror genre.

That may be about to change, though, with the help of Bloober Team. While the developer has been earning solid reviews for their take on the Silent Hill franchise or creepy titles like Cronos: The New Dawn, they’ve also been hard at work with an undisclosed Nintendo project that could transform the Switch 2 library in some key ways. This could be a big swing for the legacy publisher, given Nintendo’s typical history as a more family-friendly and adventure-heavy developer. It could even lay the groundwork for Nintendo to finally embrace the horror genre, which is something it’s never been the best at.

Bloober Team Is Bringing Horror Back To Nintendo

Bloober Team has been working with Nintendo on a mysterious project only known as Project M, with plans to bring it exclusively to the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. While he told Nintendo Insider that the game is still very much in early development, Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno was able to tease that the game will make fans of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Limbo, and Eternal Darkness “feel at home.” It’s an intriguing proposition, and another reminder that Nintendo’s Eternal Darkness remains one of the best horror games the publisher has ever released.

However, it also speaks to the general lack of unique horror titles for Nintendo consoles, with Eternal Darkness standing out so much in part due to the way it bucked typical expectations for Nintendo games. While there have been some good releases for the publisher in the horror genre, Nintendo has always leaned more towards Luigi’s Mansion than Resident Evil 4 in its broader releases.

Even the latter eventually made the move to other consoles, where it found ever greater success. Bloober Team has also brought Cronos: The New Dawn and Layers of Fear: The Final Masterpiece Edition to the Switch 2, speaking to their shared plans for the publisher’s future (and rumors that the Silent Hill 2 remake will be making a similar leap to the Switch 2 in due time).

Bloober Team’s Nintendo Comments Highlight Their Biggest IP’s Great Horror Potential

The more intriguing comments from Babieno also highlighted how some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises would actually work really well by embracing the horror genre more openly. In his comments to Nintendo Insider, Babieno admitted that he would love to explore the world of Eternal Darkness, citing it as one of his favorite horror games of all time. Similarly, Babino also noted that a horror game set within the Metroid franchise could be a great game, or that a “darker, more unsettling” version of The Legend of Zelda could be an intriguing way to push the franchise in unexpected directions. It wouldn’t be the first time either series tangled with the genre, highlighting that Babieno’s comments might be right on the money.

The SA-X from Metroid Fusion or the creepier locations in the Metroid Prime sub-series highlight the darker natural elements of the sci-fi franchise, with a full horror game potentially taking cues from games like Alien: Isolation. Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda has always had one foot in the horror realm, with enemies like the ReDeads and titles like Majora’s Mask playing with the genre in some creative ways. A darker Legend of Zelda title could lean fully into that direction, potentially even exploring the darker branches of the larger timeline.

Nintendo hasn’t ever really realized their full potential for horror game design, with even the scarier titles on their consoles leaning more into action or adventure rather than full-blown horror — Eternal Darkness being the major exception. However, with Bloober Team seemingly committed to bringing more scares to the Switch 2 in the coming years, it might be time for Nintendo to take some surprising swings and embrace horror more openly.