With 2018's Game of the Year awards now well and truly handed out, it's time to return to our usual, monthly Nintendo Life eShop Selects. Don't worry December, we hadn't forgotten about you!
These awards aim to celebrate the best of Nintendo's digital store, giving some love and attention to the games that could so easily be missed in the Switch's ever-growing library.
So, let's get started! Here are the best Switch eShop games of December 2018!
Honourable Mentions:
While these titles didn't quite make our top three this month, they're still certainly worth checking out.
- Firewatch | Review: 9/10
- Guacamelee! 2 | Review: 8/10
- Kingdom Two Crowns | Review: 8/10
- Aaero: Complete Edition | Review: 8/10
- Rival Megagun | Review: 8/10
- Football Manager 2019 Touch | Review: 8/10
- Rock Boshers DX: Director's Cut | Review: 8/10
- Battle Princess Madelyn | Review: 7/10
- Sundered: Eldritch Edition | Review: 7/10
3. Katamari Damacy REROLL (Switch eShop)
Jumping straight into third place this month is the weird and wonderful Katamari Damacy REROLL. Originally released on PlayStation 2 back in 2004, this one offers a genuinely bizarre experience that is unlike anything else out there. We awarded the strange blend of puzzle and platforming action a 9/10 in our review, saying that the "Switch edition is easily the best way to play it outside of blowing the dust off your old PS2". A must-play in our eyes, and hopefully in yours, too.
2. Everspace - Stellar Edition (Switch eShop)
Narrowly beating Katamari to second place, though, is Everspace - Stellar Edition. This solitary, roguelike space-combat hit has you constantly weighing the cost of exploring against running away before being spotted by enemy forces, and there's a jolly good time to be had when doing so. We gave this one an 8/10 in our review, noting that the Switch port "does a cracking job of preserving the full experience on a handheld". Give it a whirl!
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1. GRIS (Switch eShop)
And now for the one you've all been waiting for: our favourite eShop game of December 2018 is the utterly beautiful GRIS. Winning us over with its gorgeous visuals and heart-wrenching score, and staying firmly in our minds ever since, GRIS is one of those games that you simply have to experience. We awarded it a 9/10 in our review, with its relatively short length being pretty much the only thing standing in the way of it being considered pure perfection. We said, "Gris absolutely should be put in that same family as Journey, Inside and other modern classics, because nothing else we’ve ever played has looked or felt so beautiful."
What was your favourite eShop game last month? (142 votes)
- GRIS
- Everspace - Stellar Edition
- Katamari Damacy REROLL
- Firewatch
- Guacamelee! 2
- Kingdom Two Crowns
- Aaero: Complete Edition
- Rival Megagun0%
- Football Manager 2019 Touch
- Rock Boshers DX: Director's Cut
- Battle Princess Madelyn
- Sundered: Eldritch Edition
- Something else (comment below)
Please login to vote in this poll.
How we decide our eShop Selects top three: As we reach the end of every month, the Nintendo Life staff vote on their favourite titles from a list of games selected by the editorial team. To qualify for this list, these games must have been released primarily as a digital Nintendo Switch eShop title in that particular month, and must have been reviewed on Nintendo Life; we select the qualifying games based on their review scores.
Staff are then asked to vote for three games that they think deserve to sit right at the very top of that list; first choice gets 3 points, second choice gets 2 points, and third choice gets 1 point. These votes are then tallied to create a top three list, with the overall winner taking that month's top prize.
Comments 30
Want to pick Gris up but need to clear some of the back log. Dropped a lot of cash over Xmas on games. Now to find time to play them so I can buy some more.
Too bad I got Katamari physical! 😛
Definitely GRIS for me, it was excellent. Having a lot of fun with Kingdom Two Crowns at the moment so that's probably my second choice. Not interested in Everspace, looks average, especially the Switch version. Looking forward to playing Katamari when my physical import arrives. Only other one on the list I've played in Aaero which I didn't like that much unfortunately.
Yeah I’m not sure katamari should be on this list
I picked some games on sale lately (Membrane, West of Loathing, Into the Breach, Grim Fandango R and Hyper Sentinel), wanted to play Gris but the short length told me to wait for a sale.
I played some WoL and liked it, Membrane is good too, especially at 1€
@Retr0gamedad Well it is eShop exclusive in PAL regions and is priced accordingly.
Katamari, and by a pretty large margin, too.
For me it was Football Manager 2019 Touch the best eShop game of december, but I havent played Gris yet. Gotta finish a couple of indies(Limbo and Crossing Souls) before I buy it...
eShop? I've been playing Smash
For me, the Best eShop game so far until now is still same...
Portal Knights !
I gave it score 8.5 from 10
@Anti-Matter Your favorite game is a 8.5? What's a 10 game for you? It could be from another console as well.
Short but amazing: gorogoa
@MattFox
Ow...
To tell you...
Right now, for Nintendo Switch...
Dragon Quest Builders 2 = 9.25 from 10 for me.
I have watched so many videos about Dragon Quest Builders 2 from Youtube and i admit... It exceeding my expectation than Portal Knights.
Portal Knights Creative Mode was Really Great, but Dragon Quest Builders 1 + 2 has sooo many beautiful objects and plants.
Btw, for games that still on other machines, The Sims 4 PS4 Base (without DLC & Expansion packs) = 8.5 / 10, with DLC & Expansion packs = 9.25 / 10
Any chance people have played revenge of the bird king? If so how is it?
Managed to snag a physical copy of Katamari. The game is as awesome as ever!
Desert Child all the way
I spent a lot between November and December that I didn’t feel like I could justify another $60 in eshop purchases. I ended up picking up Guacamelee 2 from this list and I loved it. I couldn’t put it down until I had 100%ed it
@SuperCharlie78 I’ve had some good fun with Hyper Sentinel. Love the simple setup and the hectic gameplay. Enjoy!
@Anti-Matter Yeah but it said which one was your favourite LAST Month though
Meaning games of December 2018 only like what this post is talking about.
I'll be so happy if Playsports and Nintendo announce Motorsport manager for Switch, I can only hope before the new F1 season starts (March)
Still ploughing through Hollow Knight and absolutely hooked by it but I do have Gris to look forward to whenever I get round to it.
I'm 30 hours in to HK and feel there's another 30 to go!
Katamari all the way! Even for the $65 I had to pay for physical, it’s well worth it. I should have preordered Katamari instead of Smash (it’s been a nightmare to find)!
A short length should not stop a game from receiving a perfect score.
It's the price of the game that would lose a point or two, indicating that its not good value for money.
So £14.49 is somewhat overpriced. When will developers learn.
I would have bought Katamari, but for the same reason.... overpriced.
I don't deny Gris looks good but I have no interest in a piece of interactive art when I can spend that money on a game with actual meaningful gameplay.
@Kainbrightside The last two January directs were on the 12th and the 11th, respectively. So it's likely. Those were Thursdays, so the best bet would be this Thursday, the 10th.
I picked up Katamari because I really like the idea and never played it back in the day. But on the other hand the controls are not intuitive to me at all and after a couple levels got pretty annoyed. I'll give it another chance eventually.
I really enjoyed Firewatch, but it's more movie than game, and although I like visual novel type things the game-play felt more like a distraction than an addition. Also I expected a twist at the end that never happened. The ending was totally realistic, but almost too much so. Still a great story, just one I feel would be better as a novel or movie.
I picked up Hollow Knight on sale, but didn't even start it as I spent hours and hours in Civilization, which I got on sale.
I also played Smash, Mario Party, Overcooked 2 DLC, and just started into the copy of RiMe I got on the cheap (and am happy I got).
I'm definitely at the place where I have more games to play than time to play then, so, I'm having to pass on other games I want to check out that are on sale right now!
Picked up Kunio-kun: The World Classics Collection, and played a good deal of that.
@Anti-Matter Dragon Quest Builders 2 is on my list. I really like The Sims as well. I just got a PS4, so I`ll get The Sims 4 as soon as I find it on sale.
no Monster Boy and the Cursed kingdom which Nintendo Life gave 9/10 for?.
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