eShop Selects October 2024

eShop Selects is back once again to tuck you in for the cosy autumnal weather!

We can't believe there's only a few more months left until 2025. That doesn't feel right. And with a busy November ahead, it's only right we start stockpiling some video games. As always, our staff and contributors voted for their top three eShop games from the list of games we've reviewed; only the best count, and the top three will make our list below.

Your winner for September's Readers' choice was clear — Karel Matějka's BZZZT swept up the competition, and with outstanding reviews on Steam (from last year) and its beautiful visuals and addictive gameplay, we shouldn't be surprised. One for the backlog...

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Let's look back at the year's spookiest month, which — unsurprisingly — was stuffed full of spooky games.

Honourable mentions

Horror. You'll notice a big trend in all of our 7/10+ games for October. Mind you, not all of them have scares, but that Neva? We're scared we're going to cry playing through this one again...

3rd (tie) - Fear the Spotlight

What's this? A tie? Yep, we scrapped and squabbled over third place at NL towers, but we eventually decided that October has been so good, that four games absolutely deserve to be showcased.

So, Fear the Spotlight, then — Blumhouse's first published game — is a treat. It's not the first low-fi PS1-style visual horror adventure we've seen (and we'll see another in this list), but it absolutely nails the high school teen horror vibe it's going for. You have to play this with headphones, trust us.

We gave Cozy Game Pals' horror homage a well-deserved 9/10 in our review.

3rd (tie) - Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town

If you loved Natsu-Mon earlier this year, or you played 2022's Shin chan game, then you absolutely have to play Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. This charming slice-of-life game is the perfect game to remind you of those hazy summer days. And with doses of weird, delightful Shin chan humour, and stunning visual presentation, it's an absolute winner.

We scored Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town an 8/10 in our review. Plus, it's got excellent trolley racing. What's to love?

2nd - Crow Country

Here's our second PS1-inspired horror, and it's one that we were begging to see on Switch earlier in the year. Inspired by PlayStation classics Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII (no, you're not misreading), Crow Country uses blocky polygonal visuals and an angular camera perspective to its advantage. It's not clunky, and it manages to feel fresh, even amidst the wave of retro horror games coming out.

We scored Crow Country an 8/10, and we loved rifling through this dilapidated theme park.

1st - Neva

Nomada Studio set the bar extremely high with its debut title, GRIS, and with its second game, Neva, Nomada has firmly established itself as one of the best developers out there. Ramping up almost everything from GRIS, Neva pulls on your heartstrings with beautiful visuals, arresting music, and fantastic combat and platforming. It's slight on words, but always powerful.

Neva can howl proud as our winner of October's eShop Selects, but if you want to know more about why it topped our vote, check out our 9/10 review.

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< Nintendo eShop Selects - September 2024

eShop Selects Reader's Choice Vote (October 2024)

October was a crazy-packed month for game releases, and we're sure some have slipped through the cracks. Note, we're working on reviews for Clock Tower and the STALKER Trilogy, so we've counted those out for now.

Otherwise, if you're desperate to tell us about a game we've missed and deserved to be on top this month, then vote in our poll below and let us know.

Plus, pick your favourite game from our own picks.

What was your favourite eShop game from our top October picks? (110 votes)

  1. Crow Country (Switch eShop)21%
  2. Faith: The Unholy Trinity (Switch eShop)4%
  3. Fear the Spotlight (Switch eShop)5%
  4. Kill Knight (Switch eShop)2%
  5. Killing Time: Resurrected (Switch eShop)2%
  6. Neva (Switch eShop)32%
  7. Nikoderiko: The Magical World (Switch eShop)5%
  8. RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead (Switch eShop)4%
  9. RetroRealms: Halloween (Switch eShop)3%
  10. Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town (Switch eShop)17%
  11. Slay The Princess - The Pristine Cut (Switch eShop)5%

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 three points, second choice gets two points, and third choice gets one point. These votes are then tallied to create a top-three list, with the overall winner taking that month's top prize.