Shovel Knight Review

In recent years, it has become abundantly clear that the gaming industry has almost come full circle with the recent push towards retro-style games. The latest being Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight. Expertly playing to its roots, Shovel Knight delivers a visually pleasing 8-bit aesthetic with a nice touch of modern technology to allow for smoother animations and design. It’s not just the retro style graphics of Shovel Knight that pays homage to the classics era, but the whole game play and game design too. Clearly influence by a cascade of old NES titles, Shovel Knight may easily be the best tip of the hat to the classics since the release of Mega Man 10. There have been a large amount of retro inspired games making their way onto the scene, but few have managed to capture the essence of it all like Shovel Knight. Being the first game developed by Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight was first announced on March 17, 2013 with the launching of a Kickstarter campaign and by its end on April 13 managed to raise $311,502.

The game opens up with the story of the protagonist, Shovel Knight and his adventuring partner Shield Knight. Following some devastating events, Shield Knight is torn away from Shovel Knight by an evil witch known as The Enchantress and her army of knights called the Order of no Quarter. Consisting of eight knights, the Order of no Quarter is easily comparable to the Robot Masters of the Mega Man games each with their own unique
design. With no one to stop her, the Enchantress claimed supreme-rule over the lands threatening the livelihood of all who reside. But with opportunity calling, you grab hold of your trusty shovel and set off on an epic adventure towards the Tower of Fate, where the Enchantress resides.

The start of the game is a great introduction to the very simple control set up where it teaches you the basics, like how to move and how to attack. The stages play like they’re right out of Mega Man or Castlevania, your typical side scrolling adventure with many enemies and obstacles in your way. The environment itself even gets involved in some stages, adding lightning effects which only occasionally light up the screen, making maneuvering difficult when you’re trying to jump from moving platform to moving platform. The combat is extremely basic, again playing to its simplistic roots. Wielding your shovel, you have one basic forward slash attack but you can also leap on top of your enemies like from Duck Tales. But the shovel use doesn’t end there. There are points where you actually have to use the shovel for its intended purposes, be that you may be digging out blocks of sand that hinder your progress, or you may simply just be digging looking for buried treasure, you can rest assured that the shovel is used as a shovel. Throughout the game you do come across hidden sub-weapons, such as the fire wand, similar to that of Zelda, that allow you to strike your enemies from afar. In the stages you come across check points that allow you to spawn at that point if you die, so no, you don’t have to start all over if you die. If you’re really good and never die, then you do have the option of destroying each checkpoint to receive a hefty loot. The loot you gather throughout the stages allows you to purchase beneficial items, such as health and mana upgrades, to help you along your way. Once you clear a stage, you’re brought to a world map that is something right out of Mario 3. Equipped with moving enemies you can encounter, but don’t necessarily have to. A large portion of the map is often covered by ominous cloud cover and in order to advance, you need to go through and defeat each knight of the Order of no Quarter.

As you progress, each stage you run into presents new challenges that make the game more difficult the further in you get. Each stage often has its own specific set of enemies, but also presents you with enemies you’ve encountered previously forcing you to adapt to tougher challenges. The game often takes a stronger approach towards the platforming aspect, giving you harder gaps to jump and different terrains to cross. But it still manages to throw a light onslaught of enemies to make the challenges even harder. If you were around for the classic platforming era of gaming, then you should have no difficulties, and even if you weren’t all it takes is a little time and effort and you will no doubt quickly get the hang of jumping from narrow pillar to narrow pillar.
Shovel Knight manages to deliver a refreshing take on the action-adventure style platforming game that, in the age of vast, open world and graphic intensive games, takes you back to a time when gaming was more about the playability and simplicity of it all. Playing it reminded of the old days, sitting in front of a small tube T.V death gripping an NES controller trying to get Bowser to save the Princess, and if that’s what you’re looking for then you will find comfort in playing Shovel Knight.