Shovel Knight

Gameplay

Shovel Knight is a 2D side-scrolling platform game presented in 16-bit graphics in which players control the eponymous protagonist as he collects treasure and fights against the Order of No Quarter. Shovel Knight's main means of attack is his shovel, which he can either use to attack enemies head on and dig up treasure, or aim below him whilst jumping to bounce on enemies, similar to the pogo jump from DuckTales or the downward thrust from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. By finding a salesman hidden in most levels, the player can purchase secondary items that can be used with a limited supply of magic. These include long range projectiles, gloves that can punch through dirt blocks, and a locket that makes the player invincible for a brief period.

Aside from the main quest, which involves fighting through each level and defeating the boss at the end in order to progress through the world map, players are encouraged to collect as much treasure as possible. Treasure can be obtained by defeating enemies, finding chests, digging through the environment, and finding note sheets which also unlock music tracks. Any money earned can be spent in villages on various items, such as upgrades to health and magic, secondary items sold by the salesman, and armor and shovel upgrades that grant bonus skills. While the player does have infinite lives, dying will cause the player to lose some of their money, though the player can recover it by collecting the flying sacks that appear around where the player last died. For added challenge, players can also choose to destroy checkpoints to earn more treasure at the risk of being sent back further should they die.

Completing the game opens up a New Game Plus mode, which increases the overall difficulty of the game by making enemies tougher to kill and capable of dealing more damage, as well as limiting the number of checkpoints in a stage, though the player retains any relics and health and magic upgrades collected during their first playthrough. There is also a password system allowing players to input codes to unlock various cheats.

Version-exclusive features

There are some gameplay features unique to certain versions of the game. Both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions allow players to use their respective touch screens to switch between secondary items without pausing the game. The Nintendo 3DS version features an exclusive mode known as StreetPass arena. This involves the player recording a short section of movement, which is then distributed to other players via StreetPass, where they can fight against that player's recorded character. The Wii U version contains the ability for players to leave messages for each other in a manner similar to Dark Souls. Additionally, a Shovel Knight Amiibo figure, released on December 11, 2015 in Europe and January 8, 2016 in North America, allows players to unlock a co-op mode in the Wii U version, as well as challenge stages and customizeable gear in both the Wii U and 3DS versions. The PlayStation versions of the game feature an exclusive boss battle against God of War's Kratos, while the Xbox One version features a fight with the Battletoads.

On January 11, 2017, it was revealed that the co-op feature, previously exclusive to the Wii U release, will be available on all platforms, excluding the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.

Downloadable content

Free post-release expansion DLC gives players additional campaigns starring different playable characters, which can be accessed by clearing Shovel Knight's campaign (later known as Shovel of Hope), or by inputting a cheat code.

The first expansion, Plague of Shadows, puts players in the role of Plague Knight, who uses bombs in place of Shovel Knight's shovel. Players can customise the properties of Plague Knight's bombs by changing the casing, which affects how they are thrown; the powder, which affects what happens when they explode; and the fuse, which determines when they explode. By holding down the attack button, Plague Knight can perform a Burst move to launch himself in the air. Players can also unlock arcanas containing helpful spells by finding Shovel Knight's items and trading them with Chester the salesman. Additional items can be unlocked by collecting green coins hidden throughout each level. Expansions also contain additional challenges for Shovel Knight.

The second expansion, Specter of Torment, was announced on September 13, 2016, due for a Spring 2017 release. In this expansion, players can play as Specter Knight who is able to briefly run up walls. When Specter Knight is close enough to an enemy, he can perform a diagonal slash launching him upwards or downwards, allowing him to reach new areas. Collecting red skulls hidden throughout each level can unlock Curios that Specter Knight can use.

Shovel of Hope campaign

Prior to the game, adventurers Shovel Knight and Shield Knight journeyed across the world alongside one another, but while exploring the Tower of Fate, a cursed amulet takes over Shield Knight and leaves Shovel Knight outside of the sealed tower. Grieving for his beloved, Shovel Knight gives up adventuring and goes into self-imposed exile. During his absence, the Enchantress rises to power, spreading evil across the land. Upon hearing that the Enchantress has unsealed the Tower of Fate, Shovel Knight begins his journey back to it, hoping to find and rescue Shield Knight. In order to do so, Shovel Knight must fight the members of "The Order of No Quarter," who have been dispatched by the Enchantress to impede him.

There are eight members of the Order; King Knight, Specter Knight, Treasure Knight, Mole Knight, Plague Knight, Polar Knight, Propeller Knight and Tinker Knight. Furthermore, Shovel Knight's rival, Black Knight, attempts to keep Shovel Knight from reaching the Tower of Fate, but does not answer to the Enchantress. After defeating each member of the Order, Shovel Knight reaches the Tower of Fate, where he faces Black Knight again. It is revealed that the Enchantress is actually a dark spirit inhabiting the amulet that cursed Shield Knight, possessing her body. Black Knight, who held romantic feelings for Shield Knight but lost her hand to Shovel Knight, had been protecting her in an effort to keep Shovel Knight from harming her.

While ascending the tower, Shovel Knight unwittingly falls into the midst of the members of the Order Of No Quarter as they eat dinner. They demand a rematch, and Shovel Knight duels each knight one by one atop the banqueting table. Emerging victorious over them once again, Shovel Knight may help them up, reeling in the chain onto which the defeated knights are clinging.

Reaching the top, Shovel Knight faces the Enchantress and battles her. He manages to exorcise the evil spirit, turning her back into Shield Knight. After being separated from Shield Knight, the Enchantress transforms into a powerful specter, known as the Remnant of Fate, which Shovel Knight and Shield Knight defeat together. In a desperate final maneuver, the Remnant of Fate attempts to kill the two knights, but Shield Knight holds the attack at bay as Black Knight comes in and carries the wounded Shovel Knight to safety before the tower collapses.

Afterwards, a pre-credits sequence shows Black Knight leaving the unconscious Shovel Knight by his campfire and departing, fulfilling his promise to Shield Knight to save him, before showing the eventual fate of each member of the Order Of No Quarter. A post-credits scene shows Shield Knight, who managed to escape the tower's destruction, limping towards the campfire before lying down next to Shovel Knight as he sleeps.

Plague of Shadows campaign

Running parallel to Shovel Knight's story, Plague Knight plots his own scheme, planning to steal essence from Shovel Knight and the other Order members to use as ingredients in the ultimate potion, capable of granting any one desire of its user. He is aided by several other characters from Shovel Knight's campaign, such as Mona the witch, who pursues alchemy in secret due to the rest of the world fearing and rejecting it.

One by one, Plague Knight steals each of the others' essences before moving on to the Tower of Fate. As Plague Knight obtains the Enchantress's essence and begins to finish the potion, Black Knight and Mona arrive and try to stop him. Plague Knight reveals that his intention was always to use the potion to win Mona's heart, but she confesses she already loves him. Plague Knight attempts to stop the reaction, but it goes out of control, creating a dark version of Plague Knight.

The real Plague Knight defeats the shadow and stabilizes the potion, but realizing he already has everything he could ever want in Mona, the two decide to use the potion to destroy the Tower of Fate. As a result, the villagers hail Plague Knight and his alchemists as heroes, finally accepting them. In a post-credits scene, Plague Knight and Mona are seen sharing a dance together in the laboratory.

Specter of Torment campaign

Specter of Torment takes place prior to the events of Shovel of Hope and focuses on Specter Knight, who is sent to recruit knights to join the Enchantress' Order of No Quarter. Along the way, he also experiences flashbacks of when he was still alive, how he came to die, and how he became resurrected by the Enchantress.

Development

On the genesis of the game designer Nick Wozniak had stated that the idea started out as " sort of as a joke conversation over lunch that kind of got too serious." The team had already planned to make a game in the style of the NES classics that they grew up on and eventually the sword-thrust move from Zelda II: The Adventures of Link was brought up as move that both designers liked, they soon thought that this move would be better suited in their game for a shovel as opposed to a sword and the idea of Shovel Knight was born. Besides Zelda II, other specific inspirations include Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, DuckTales, Super Mario Bros. 3, and the Mega Man titles. The game is also influenced by U.N. Squadron and Dark Souls. The game was announced on March 17, 2013 alongside the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to fund development, with a minimum funding goal of $75,000. The campaign reached this goal in late March and went on to collect a total of $311,502, fulfilling all announced stretch goals for additional features, by its end on April 13. Additional features earned through Kickstarter stretch goals include a four-player battle mode, a mission-based challenge mode, an additional mode that swaps all the characters' genders, and additional playable story campaigns for three boss characters. These features will be added as free updates to the game in the future. To promote the Kickstarter, Yacht Club distributed copies of their initial Penny Arcade Expo demo to several prominent gaming personalities on YouTube, including Two Best Friends Play and Game Grumps.

Shovel Knight features a chiptune soundtrack in the style of older video game titles from the NES era and were composed by Jake Kaufman, with two contributions by Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae. The game's soundtrack was released for download via Bandcamp on the same day as the game, as was a separate album featuring various arranged versions of the game's tracks.

Shovel Knight's graphics, similar to its music, mimics the style of older video game titles from the NES era and even limited itself to the NES color palette and animation count. This meant that larger sprites were superimposed on a black background to keep the limit of colors available on a screen to a realistic maximum. Other trickery to properly honor the NES limitations include camera shakes that only act on a single axis and a game interface that acts as a background layer instead of being overlaid on top of the gameplay. In other aspects, Shovel Knight permits itself to ignore some limitations of NES era consoles.

Release

The game was originally slated for release in September 2013, but was delayed into early 2014. After various further delays, Yacht Club Games announced on June 5 that the game would be released on June 26, 2014. The game was eventually released on several additional platforms including both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One; both versions feature exclusive boss battles, with Kratos from God of War in the former and Battletoads in the latter. A physical release for various platforms occurred in October 2015.

Prior to 2017 the game was only sold as a base game, with various additional campaigns appearing as free downloadable content. However a Spring 2017 update will allow both additional downloadable campaigns to be purchased and played separately with the original campaign adorning the subtitle "Shovel of Hope". A compilation containing all three campaigns known as Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove will become available, with all owners who purchased the original game prior to this update having their game updated to the Treasure Trove edition.

Reception

Shovel Knight was acclaimed by critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the 3DS version 93.67% based on 6 reviews and 90/100 based on 9 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 91.00% based on 17 reviews and 90/100 based on 18 reviews, the PlayStation Vita version 90.40% based on 5 reviews and 92/100 based on 4 reviews, the Wii U version 89.98% based on 21 reviews and 88/100 based on 24 reviews, the Microsoft Windows version 87.11% based on 28 reviews and 85/100 based on 46 reviews and the Xbox One version 86.00% based on 6 reviews and 86/100 based on 10 reviews.

Kotaku featured it in "The 22 Best-Reviewed Games That Don't Have Sequels (Yet)" in 2014 because of its high Metacritic rating. IGN editor Colin Moriarty awarded the game a 9/10 rating, calling it "arguably the best game released so far in 2014." Infendo.com called it "a brilliant homage to a bygone era, yet an equally fresh, captivating and innovative game" and Nintendo Life praised the 3DS version's "excellent controls, gorgeous graphics, an incredible soundtrack and endearing characters ... top-notch level design, varied gameplay, hidden rooms, optional challenges and a deceptively rich combat system."

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation reviewed the game favorably, especially praising the storytelling through gameplay and the difficulty which reminded him of the way Dark Souls utilized these elements. He noticed that while some people might "write [the game] off as 'nostalgia bait'", he has "never owned an NES, so if [he] liked Shovel Knight, it can't possibly be working on nostalgia alone".

Including Kickstarter backers, Shovel Knight sold 180,000 copies within a month of the North American launch. 49,000 copies were sold on Wii U, 59,000 were sold on 3DS, and 66,000 were sold on Steam. By December 4, 2014, it had sold more than 300,000 copies across all platforms. As of June 30, 2015, the game had sold more than 700,000 copies. The game had sold 1.5 million copies by December 14, 2016.

Legacy

Shovel Knight appears as a playable guest character in Runbow and its Pocket variant. He appears as a secret boss in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, accessible only through the use of the Shovel Knight Amiibo. He also has a cameo appearance in Sun Creature Studios' animated series The Reward: Tales of Alethrion. Plague Knight makes a guest appearance in the indie title Creepy Castle.

Shovel Knight will be a playable character in the game Hex Heroes for the Wii U. Shovel Knight will also be appearing as a playable character in the games Road Redemption and Indivisible. Shovel Knight is also set to make cameo appearances in the games Yooka-Laylee and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.