utterly insane what a couple years of foresight and a couple years of polish will do for a game franchise as static and formulaic as "mega man". shovel knight isn't just a love letter to megaman, although it has it's dna written all over it. it's a love letter to every game made before the 3d era of games. covered in campy dialogue, beautiful animations, incredibly tight and fluid level design, and a story simple enough yet absolutely brutal in it's climax, with the music and presentation and implied story going on?!??! it's truly a beautiful game, and is pretty easy to see why it had so much impact on the indie scene at the time.

i'm truly tempted to give it my rare 5/5 of approval, i remember in middle school playing the FUCK out of this game, but i played treasure trove, not shovel of hope exclusively. this shit alters your brain chemistry

What an absolute banger! Shovel Knight breaks free from the constraints of its genre influences, offering surprisingly little in the way of artificial difficulty or unfair game design. The pacing of the game is spot-on and the level design is honestly flawless.

The character writing and world-building in Shovel Knight are surprisingly compelling for a platformer game. While still simple, there's always something fun about a knight with a shovel going on a perilous journey to reunite with his long lost love. It's an all-around enjoyable experience and undoubtedly ranks with the great platformer hits of old.