October has been and gone, and the spooky season is now over. Many are looking ahead to the Holiday season, spending time with family and — hopefully — playing a lot of games with them. But not us. We’re looking back at the best eShop games of October. It’s time for our eShop Selects!
Last month was a pretty busy month for Nintendo with both Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Bayonetta 3 crash-landing onto our consoles at the end of the month. However, plenty of little gems may have slipped through your fingers. But don’t worry, that’s why we’re here!
As a little side note, we’ve chosen not to include Chaos;Head Noah and Chaos;Child in the vote as you can buy them packaged together physically. But it’s still been a strong month for the eShop.
Honourable Mentions
October has definitely been one of the quieter months on the eShop for us, but what we have here is some quality, high-profile releases and a niche sequel full of kaiju and tokusatsu. C’mon, that’s pretty great.
Publisher: Build Software / Developer: Build Software
Factorio has been a hit on Steam for years. It entered early access back in 2016, before getting a full release in 2020. Now that it’s on Switch? It’s still addictively brilliant, even with the slightly clunkier Switch controls.
Even for a game that is naturally suited to a mouse and keyboard, Factorio just feels perfect in handheld mode. Creating factory after factory, mining resources, building more factories and infrastructures and expanding at an ever-growing rate is a relentlessly engrossing experience. The more you earn, the more you want to expand, and the more you get. it’s that ever-perfect loop of reaping rewards for more rewards. Plus, you can play it with a friend.
Thinking about becoming the master factory builder? Read our 8/10 review for more info, and even more praise.
Publisher: Humble Games / Developer: Rose-engine
The Switch isn’t always the place to get your survival horror fix, but Signalis’ low-poly retro look, Resident Evil inspiration, and Ghost in the Shell vibe all combine to make one of the best horror games we’ve ever played. And it’s on the eShop. Blimey.
Equal parts tense and surreal, Signalis nails the feel of being trapped. You’re often low on resources and have to rely on patience and strength to sneak around your enemies. You don’t have a health bar so you have to keep an eye on Elster, so your eyes will never leave the screen. There’s just a constant feeling of dread that hooks you in and never lets you go. It certainly didn’t with us, though now we’re a little bit more scared to pick our Switch up again as a result.
It got a 9/10 from us, so why not find out what makes Signalis so brilliant by reading our review.
Publisher: Humble Games / Developer: Bounding Box Software
Ah, Doom. One of the most influential shooters ever. So when we say that Prodeus — which just squeaked out on the eShop in October following a last-minute delay — might be one of the best Doom-influenced shooters we’ve played, you know that means something very special.
This is very much a boomer shooter in Doom’s vein. We love the retro 3D graphics, pixelated to give us some old PC nostalgia. The game controls perfectly on the Switch with tight level designs and excellent encounters. The music is the perfect mix of dirty thrash metal and uneasy ambience. Prodeus is confident in its vision, embracing the classic boomer shooter design and wrapping itself up in every inch of its excellence, perfecting it in turn. There’s even online multiplayer to boot.
If you love old-school first-person shooters, then you should absolutely pick up Prodeus on the eShop if you haven’t yet. It got a 9/10 from us. That has to mean something.
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< Nintendo Life eShop Selects - September 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.
