eShop Selects July 2021

July was a slightly quieter month for big digital releases on the eShop, but no month ever goes by without at least a few treats that are worthy of your time.

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 July 2021!

Honourable Mentions:

While these titles didn't quite make our top three this month, they're still certainly worth checking out:

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3. The Procession To Calvary (Switch eShop)

In third spot this month we have The Procession To Calvary, a very different point-and-click adventure with a fantastic sense of humour.

We could all do with a bit of fun these days, and The Procession To Calvary certainly offers up a good laugh or two. The game has you solving puzzles, helping NPCs, and running errands, all in a point-and-click format that encourages you to experiment, but it combines all of this with a great script to keep you engaged.

It's not without its faults, but we'd urge you to read our full thoughts on this one if you're interested in giving it a go.

2. Risk System (Switch eShop)

Jumping up into second we have Risk System, a shmup that feels refreshingly welcoming to less experienced players in a genre that can sometimes feel a little too brutal.

We awarded this one an 8/10 in our review, praising its well-designed stages, memorable boss battles, and accessibility. You're given three lives to play with, can restart levels that you fail without going right back to the game's beginning, and can try boss battles over and over, making the game's overall challenge more about beating each stage at your own pace, rather than having to memorise every single pattern to clear the entire thing in one go.

It might not be for all shmup fans and it's a little on the short side, but we've had a great time with this one over the past couple of weeks.

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1. Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch eShop)

The biggest prize of all, however, goes to the one and only Blaster Master Zero 3.

We couldn't stop heaping praise on this one in our review, describing it as a masterful conclusion to the trilogy. The series' blend of sidescrolling and top-down action is arguably at its most polished yet here, delivering a truly satisfying retro-style platforming experience.

This third entry features a well-implemented dark world mechanic to mix things up a little, great level design, memorable boss encounters and more, helping us to easily recommend this – alongside the previous two entries – as a series you should certainly consider adding to your gaming library.

There's a reason Blaster Master Zero 3 ran away with our staff vote this month – make sure to check it out!

< Nintendo Life eShop Selects - June 2021

What was your favourite eShop game last month?

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.