It’s that time — welcome back to our monthly eShop Selects feature! This time, we’re covering April — somehow, we’re already in May.
As mentioned last month, we’ve made another change to the piece. Now you’ll be voting for your favourite hidden gem for the current month within this piece, rather than separately. Phew. So much change!
Otherwise, it’s business as usual — our staff and contributors vote for their top three eShop games from the list of games we’ve reviewed, and we give you the winners (and the best that didn’t quite make the top).
April’s surprise Indie World Showcase gave us a lot to look forward to — and a few shadow-drops, too! So it’s been a good month for the eShop. Let’s get to it then, shall we?
Honourable mentions
April has given us a veritable bounty of eShop delights — Level-5 has returned! Game Boy aesthetics are in! And cult classics are back! Note that we’re in the process of reviewing Another Crab’s Treasure, so it’s not part of our internal staff vote.
Anyway, here’s what didn’t quite make our top three, then keep reading for the cream of the crop…
Nintendo Life’s honourable mentions
We’d heard about how big of an improvement Freedom Planet 2 was compared to its already very good predecessor. The wait for the game to reach consoles (after releasing on PC back in 2022) was painful, but gosh, it was absolutely worth it.
It’d be nearly impossible to tell you where Freedom Planet 2 hasn’t improved. This is a first-class sequel with outstanding level design, great characters, and fantastic visuals. We scored this one a 9/10 in our review.
Here’s another game we’ve waited a while to see on Switch. Planet of Lana is part cinematic platformer, part relaxing adventure. Beautifully presented and soothing to play through, we quickly lost ourselves in the stunning world, running around with Lana and our alien friend.
It might lack the difficulty of earlier genre forbearers, but the gentle puzzles and lovely storytelling left a strong impression on us. Planet of Lana got an impressive 8/10 from us — if you love Studio Ghibli, then you’ll love this one.
Taking the top spot from the crew at NL Towers takes us right back down to earth to the lovely landscape of Botany Manor. We were surprised and delighted when we dove into this one because we weren’t expecting to scratch our heads as much as we waded our way through the inventive puzzles.
Despite looking like a cosy time, Botany Manor will cast a spell on you with its magical plants and puzzles. It’s genuinely addictive, and despite being a short game, was one of the best-reviewed games of April, scoring a 9/10.
< Nintendo eShop Selects – March 2024
eShop Selects Reader’s Choice Vote (April 2024)
In a small change from last month, we’re rolling the Reader’s Choice vote into the eShop Selects feature itself — that gives you a much better idea of what you can vote for. We’ll reveal the winner next month, but for now, vote for your favourite eShop release that we missed out on in April 2024
And, of course, you can also vote for your favourite out of our picks.
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.