With August now but a distant memory thanks to the deluge of Super Mario announcements last week, it’s time to take a look back some of the great games that launched on Switch over the previous month in the latest edition of Nintendo Life eShop Selects.
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 August 2020!
Honourable Mentions:
While these titles didn’t quite make our top three this month, they’re still certainly worth checking out.
Publisher: PQube / Developer: Stone Lantern Games
In third place this month is Evergate, a beautiful puzzle-platformer that dropped without warning on the eShop following the Indie World Showcase and took us totally by surprise with its “delightfully clever level design, pixel-perfect platforming, a beautiful art style and sumptuous orchestral score”.
We very much enjoyed its balance of satisfying, challenging puzzle-platforming and touching story in our review, so if you’re looking for something that looks, sounds and feels brilliant, Evergate fits the bill.
We spoke to the developers behind the game at the start of the month, so check out our interview with Stone Lantern to find out about its journey to Switch.
Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games / Developer: Thunder Lotus Games
Coming in second this month (just!) is Spiritfarer, another gorgeous indie offering. This one has you ferrying souls to the afterlife and hearing stories along the way while engaging in some light platforming.
In our review we highlighted the beautiful animation, charismatic writing and the way it takes “a resolutely positive look at the heavy, heavy subject” as particular standouts, but there’s much to like about Spiritfarer, and it’s sure to stick in your memory for a long time if you give it a chance.
Publisher: Whippoorwill / Developer: Adam Robinson-Yu
And in first place, it’s the game which flew in and stole our hearts away from an impressive bunch of indie suitors this month. A Short Hike is just the brand of restorative experience we needed, and a real breath of fresh air. We called it a “landmark game for the ages” in our review, commenting on its impressive level of polish and refinement, its perfect controls and delightful visuals as particular highlights.
We awarded it a rare Nintendo Life 10/10, so if there’s only one game you pick up from the fine selection of August 2020’s indie offerings (and we’d urge you to pick up more than one if at all possible!), we’d add A Short Hike to your list. Lovely!
< Nintendo Life eShop Selects – July 2020
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.
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2020/09/...gust-2020/