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The best top-down games 2024

Our list of the best top-down games on Switch and mobile features plenty of memorable adventures shown in a whole new perspective.

Top down games: Melinoe and Zagreus each outlined separately in white and pasted on a bright orange PT background

With our list of the best top-down games for Switch and mobile, it’s all about perspective. These games look good from any angle, but the thing they have in common is that they all feature a top-down view, meaning you are getting a birds-eye view of the action. Warning, while some picks are strictly top-down, a couple of our choices are sneakily isometric-adjacent, but we still think they deserve a top spot.

Before we take the top off this guide, be sure to check out all of our amazing content on the latest and greatest Switch, mobile, and portable system games. We have guides on the best Switch adventure games, best Switch games for kids, best Switch survival games, best Switch strategy games, best Switch simulation games, best Switch horror games, and the best Switch fighting games.

These are the best top-down games for Switch and mobile.

Top down games: Art from Hotline Miami using neon colours

Hotline Miami – Switch 

The king of the genre, and for good reason, Hotline Miami is a fast and ferocious top-down shooter where you mow down hordes of enemy gangs in tightly packed rooms. You must use the layout of each room to your advantage, dodge enemy fire with well-placed walls, burst through doors, and unleash shotgun blasts.

It’s incredibly tough but also blisteringly quick, meaning that after each death you’re back in the room with milliseconds, with just a little bit more knowledge of your enemy and the level. Hotline Miami also features a pumping electro soundtrack that perfectly sets the scene for the energetic bloodshed that unfolds, it would even make John Wick blush.

When you do dive in, be sure to check out our Hotline Miami Jacket and Hotline Miami Biker guides.

Top down games: The Ape Out logo featuring art of a red silhouette of an ape behind bars

Ape Out – Switch 

You are an ape, and you are out. A hulking gorilla escapes a testing facility and must make their way through the rooms filled with worried scientists to your freedom. Ape Out is another smash hit from publisher Devolver and features a striking monochrome visual style with splashes of red to accentuate the gorilla’s violent delights.

Ape Out also has an incredibly smart percussive jazz soundtrack by Matt Boch and Gabe Cuzzilo. As you lay waste to swathes of pesky scientists and their firearms, the snares and cymbals of the jazz soundtrack add an extra punch to each powerful simian swing. It’s beautiful, it’s addictive, and it sounds incredible. Please, play Ape Out.

Top down games: Key art of Toodee and Topdee

Toodee and Topdee – Switch 

Not every top-down game is violent, as Toodee and Topdee proves. This smart puzzle game actually shifts on its axis like Super Paper Mario, swapping between a top-down and a sideways platforming view so you can place blocks and avoid obstacles to get the titular protagonists, Toodee and Topdee, to their goals.

You can play alone or in local co-op, and whether you’re solving the game’s precision platforming challenges, fighting exciting bosses, or discovering secrets, it’s a blast from start to finish. It’s a bit of a hidden gem.

Top down games: Key art of the game Hades featuring Zagreus and the basilisk

Hades – Switch and mobile

Is this top-down or isometric? It doesn’t really matter, as Hades is deserving of a place on almost every list imaginable. An action roguelike, developer Supergiant’s Hades is an absolute feast of content and dripping in incredible presentation throughout. You play as Hades’ son Zagreus as he attempts to escape the depths of hell, but it’s going to take a lot of attempts.

No run is for nothing, however, as you get to grips with the thrilling action and the multiple weapons, as well as collect items that slowly improve your abilities. The cast of characters and bosses is phenomenal, and you get to know them very well on your many trips down the River Styx. Plus, any game where you can use the drunken powers of Dionysus is automatically awesome.

Read more about it in our Hades review, our best games like Hades guide, and then get very excited for the Hades II release date.

Top down games: Key art of Moonlighter

Moonlighter – Switch and mobile 

If you’re not quite ready for the hellish depths of Hades, perhaps Moonlighter is more your speed. Developer Digital Sun created the top-down action roguelike, and Moonlighter balances its combat with an addictive shop where you sell your plundered items from each of the game’s dungeons. As you earn more money in the shop, you buy new weapons and armor, eventually unlocking tougher dungeons.

Moonlighter also lets you set the prices for your items in the shop, so you quickly have to find the balance between making profits and letting townsfolk rip you off. It’s a fantastic symbiotic relationship as each gameplay element feeds into the other, and we’re honestly not sure which bit we prefer. Even better, Moonlighter is available on Switch or on mobile through Netflix gaming. Plus, if you want to know what developer Digital Sun did next, check out our review of the fantastic Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story.

Top down games: Key art of Melinoe from Hades 2

Hades II – Switch (we hope)

Okay, we might be cheating slightly with this one as the game has only just entered early access on PC, but Hades II is already consuming the internet with its awesomeness. Supergiant has taken everything that we loved about the first game and applied it to a brand-new story following Melinöe, another child of Hades, who’s on a quest to save her long-lost family from the titan of time, Cronos.

We’re assuming that Hades II will make the jump to Switch once it’s fully launched, and it might even come to mobile following Hades’ Netflix Games launch. Either way, prepare yourself for the fight of your life with our Hades II boons, Hades II characters, and Hades II weapons guides.

Top down games: A screenshot of a Stardew Valley farm

Stardew Valley – Switch and mobile

Will we find just about any excuse to put Stardew Valley on a list? Yes, but also it is a top-down game and it’s definitely one of the best out there. This cozy farm game is well-known for its retro-inspired pixel graphics, satisfying gameplay, and near-endless things to do.

Stardew Valley is also a great example of the types of top-down games you can find today. It’s not entirely viewed from above but instead uses a mid-angle to show off the details of the environment with beautiful sprite work.

Top down games: A screenshot of Dawn on route 202 in BDSP

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – Switch

While the chibi style isn’t for everyone, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl brought us back to the classic top-down style of the DS-era Pokémon games and we can’t thank it enough for that. Sinnoh is a wonderful region and the gen 4 Pokémon are all bangers, so it’s always great to see them again.

We really hope more of the top-down Pokémon games make their way to the Switch as not only are they very nostalgic for us, but they’re some of the best examples of the genre from the past few decades.

Well, that’s all the top-down games we have for today, hopefully we’ve shifted your view on a few things. For even more great gaming recommendations, be sure to check out our guides to the best mobile horror games and best mobile casual games.