August was a pretty aggressive month for eShop delights, with lots of titles absolutely worthy of your time.
These awards aim to celebrate the best of Nintendo’s digital store, giving a little love and attention to the games that could so easily be lost in the ever-growing library of the Switch.
Let’s start, then. These are the best Switch eShop games of August 2021.
Honorable mentions:
While these titles haven’t quite become our top three this month, it’s still worth checking out:
Editor: Laboratory fund selector / Developer: Laboratory fund selector
Getting third place this month is the art of rallying, an abstract take on the top-down rally that is sure to make you jump race after race.
The visual deficiencies present in Switch are undoubtedly a disgrace compared to other versions, but the game itself is challenging, feels authentic, and is further enhanced by the overall artistic vision of the game. With plenty of tracks, cars, and optional lenses to enjoy, it’s worth taking a look if you can overcome some of the performance shortcomings of the Switch version. In our review we gave it a very strong 8/10 and since then it has beaten the NL team.
Editor: Bethesda / Developer: Software id
Second is the new reissue of Quake, the final version of an iconic first-person shooter.
We described it as “a star port of one of the real great games and an absolutely essential addition to your Switch library” in our review. Ah, did we mention we gave it an amazing 10/10? Yes, it’s so good.
This is a super sliding remaster with a flawless 60 fps action, lots of content and a lot of online and cooperative options. If you’ve never played Quake before or if you like the sound of playing a super-duper version of the game you once loved, you should download it.
Editor: Thomas Happ games / Developer: Thomas Happ games
Very closely (and we mean a lot closely) surpass Quake to our first place this month, however, is Virgin Axiom 2.
We’re always ready to try a good Metroidvania here at Nintendo Life, and the Virgin Axiom games are up there with some of the best the genre has to offer. We are pleased to report that Axiom Verge 2 is a worthy follow-up to the original that perfectly balances the familiar elements that made this first game fantastic and the new ideas that gave the sequel its own identity.
With a huge world to explore, a game with a good pace and a perfectly mysterious atmosphere to absorb, Metroidvania fans should check it out. What month, eh?
How do we decide that our e-store selects the first three: As we get to the end of each month, Nintendo Life staff vote on their favorite titles from a list of games selected by the editorial team. To be eligible for this list, these games must have been released as a Nintendo Switch digital-only eShop title the same month and must have been reviewed on Nintendo Life; we select the ranking games based on their review scores. Staff are then asked to vote for three parties they believe deserve to be at the top of this list; the first option gets 3 points, the second option gets 2 points and the third option gets 1 point. These votes are counted to create a list among the top three, and the overall winner will get this month’s top prize.