We're approaching the fall season very quickly, and that means it's time for another dose of our eShop Selects!
While August may have been a quiet month for Nintendo first-party titles (save one little pink puffball who we'll be getting to in a moment), our eShop wallets have been crying at just how many gems have snuck onto the online store. You've probably noticed our reviews page has been filling up pretty nicely — and that's going to continue.
So, after a summer of fun, what are the best of the best from August? First, let's talk about some games that are equally deserving of a mention.
Honourable Mentions:
You know that, when there are three 9/10 in the honourable mentions list, it's been a good month. There are just too many excellent surprises that we can't crown them all. Even Kirby isn't immune to missing out on a podium position! Sorry Kirbs, at least you get to eat lots of cake and strawberries?
- Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince | Review: 7/10
- Hindsight | Review: 9/10
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist | Review: 7/10
- Islets | Review: 8/10
- Kirby's Dream Buffet | Review: 8/10
- Lost in Play | Review: 9/10
- Mega Man Battle & Fighters | Review: 7/10
- RITE | Review: 9/10
- RPG Time: The Legend of Wright | Review: 7/10
3. Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- (Switch eShop)
It happened! We finally got a My Summer Vacation game in the West. And, better still, it's really rather lovely. Shin-chan's irreverent humour and quirky characters blend perfectly with Millennium Kitchen's Boku no Natsuyasumi series, and the result of that is the cosy Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey-.
This game is gorgeous, with hand-painted scenery and beautiful anime-style visuals that perfectly capture the Shin-chan style. It's as bizarre as it is charming, and given the ridiculous antics you can get up to, the chaotic kiddy imagination fits incredibly well with the more carefree gameplay. It's like a true summer picnic in video game form.
Read our 8/10 review to find out more about why we love this game.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
2. Cursed to Golf (Switch eShop)
Golf-like no longer means "it's like or similar to gold" — it means golfing roguelike thanks to Chuhai Labs' fabulous Cursed to Golf. It may look cute and quirky, but make no mistake, this is one rough swing with a bunker full of surprises. We bet Zagreus thought about using golf to escape from the underworld in Hades.
Our favourite thing about this game is just how creative it is. The different course designs, the ball types, the traps and obstacles — there's an endless gauntlet of possibilities waiting for your undead golfer. It's so addictive that we wondered if we even wanted to escape.
If you haven't yet teed off, or even if you have, find out why this one isn't a bogey in our review.
1. Cult of the Lamb (Switch eShop)
We've banded around the phrase 'evil Animal Crossing' when talking about Massive Monster's Cult of the Lamb, but the combination of cuddly creatures, bloodlust, and occult worship means, well... this is baa-rilliant (sorry).
Another brilliant twist on the roguelike genre, part of your time will be spent plundering dungeons and killing evil gods, while the rest will be spent raising and looking after your cult so they can help with your bidding. Despite looking cute in a very strange way, it's actually pretty stressful, and there are multiple ways your cult members can die. We may have chuckled a few times at the creativity on show here.
Have you joined the cult of Nintendo Life yet and embraced your evil jumbuck side? Regardless of whether you have or not, you should read our glowing review.
< Nintendo Life eShop Selects - July 2022
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 as a digital-only 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 21
I haven't bought any of these yet (because I have way too many games I really want to play in my backlog as is) but the top three are pretty high on my list of games I want to pick up and try at some point. I'll likely wait for a decent sale before grabbing them, especially Shin chan which is pretty expensive for an eShop game. I'll likely grab Islets and Hindsight at some point too.
Islets was a ton of fun. Really enjoyed it to the point of 100% completing it.
Cult of the Lamb looks very compelling, but it's just simply a question of time (or lack thereof) when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 exists...
Shouldn't Two Point Campus be included here?
My August game was 'catching up with Monster Hunter while waiting for Splatoon'. Dream Buffet will get got though.
August was the month of xenoblade chronicles 3 madness didn’t have time for anything else.
Im making my way through Islets right now and it's great! It's no Hollow Knight, but if anyone was put off by Hollow Knights difficulty Islets might be more up their alley. Great game!
RITE was reviewed higher than any other game on this list - so why didn't you place it number 1?
My assumption is the whole staff/all of humankind didnt trust that 9.
@Sonos Out of this list, I’d absolutely pick Rite. Rite is an outstanding title and cheap too. It was on sale for under $5 at launch, and considering that, it’s the best priced game of the year. Rollerdrome is probably my favorite indie in August (yet to play Immortality though), but Rite is likely to be mentioned in any year end list I make. I typically make a top 20 list that I tweak throughout the year and it’s almost certain to make it to the end of the year at 11th place.
Despite the issues it had, and currently has...Cult of the Lamb for me.
From that list, I bought RITE and Kirby's Dream Buffet which are both very fun in very different ways. RITE is short but I voted it for first because it is very polished for what it is.
cult of the lamb and blossom tails II tempted me a lot but are on my wishlist for now.
Will pick up Curse of Lamb after some patches and maybe a sale and Curse to Golf seems pretty good as well.
Tinykin wins by far. Such a FUN game to play. I rarely enjoy collectathon games like I used to, but this game makes me feel like a kid again.
@sketchturner Wasn’t that an early September release? Or was it still late August? Either way, I agree completely that tinykin is an absolute blast, and I’ve only played the demo so far! It just hit all the right spots within seconds and only got better, will definitely get it on sale.
@Takoda It released August 30th. The full game is a blast. Well worth full price, IMO. Each world is so enjoyable to explore. I especially love the green tinykins.
I’m currently too afraid of a possible direct to spend my money on anything. I would hate to buy something I’m only kind of interested in only for them to announce something I really want.
Well I only played blossom tales 2, so yea, I guess that's my vote.
I discovered this weekend that Shadowverse: Champions Battle was re-released on the eshop as a legendary edition and a brand new fixed price of £24.99. That’s worth a mention (:
The Cowabunga Collection didn't even merit an Honourable Mention?
Haven't bought any of these, but my vote went to Cult of the Lamb. It's very high on my wishlist and I can't wait to play it soon™
@zbinks I'm hoping it was just due to it having both digital and physical copies, but it's a living legend.
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