I was genuinely surprised by just how much I enjoyed Treasure Trove, having never touched the Shovel Knight franchise before. I'm not super big on 2D platformers yet I found myself consistently returning to beat a couple more levels.

The biggest reason for my enjoyment easily comes with how unique the whole package is. Each of the four games included is quite unique in how their main character performs, with Plague Knight in Plague of Shadows being a particular highlight. You have to retool how you approach each experience, and it's ironically better for it.

Even beyond the broader freshness, each level in each of the four games feels distinct, with unique soundtracks, varied enemies, and tons of different environmental hazards to navigate. It makes each game quite memorable, even when the fourth game, King of Cards, splits single locations into multiple levels.

It's all wrapped in this labor of love that shows just how much Yacht Club cared about their brainchild. The humor is spot-on, the music is full of bangers, and the visuals all feel distinct and pleasing. It oozes passion, making it almost hard to put down.

However, there is one thing holding the package back, being the inconsistencies across each experience. Shovel of Hope is great on its own, but pales in uniqueness to the rest of the package. Plague of Shadows reuses levels and makes them a touch tiring (something remedied by the final two games). Specter of Torment feels piss easy thanks to overloading you with powerful abilities and moves, and King of Cards often feels like a challenge mode that I wasn't asking for. I also didn't love Joustous, but I attribute that more to me not adoring card games online than any issue with the card game itself.

However, each inversely came with strengths over the others. Shovel of Hope makes for a great introduction for its simplicity. Plague of Shadows has the most diverse equipment loadout in the entire collection, Specter of Torment has the most fluid movement, and King of Cards has the best humor.

If you're a fan of 2D platformers or can at least tolerate it, there's a ton to love in Treasure Trove. Its got over 20 hours of content for main story completers like me to explore, and hundreds more hours for completionists. It's a package brimming with content and passion, and one I don't regret playing through fully. I'm almost surprised only 5% of people finished up to the last game, at least on Steam.

This game is interesting to me because as someone who never grew up with the SNES games or someone that never really had a particular care about the 2-D platformer, yet this game for some reason clicked with me, like this is one of those games that despite me having a few complaints, I would play over and over again, so for this review I am going over the base game and the other chapters individually.

Shovel knight: shovel is hope is by all accounts one of the most satisfying experience to have with a game, from the music being Iconic and catchy, to the bosses being just interesting and unique, nothing in this game felt repetitive like each stage is as different as they are from the rest, the best way to describe why it is so good is the gameplay, the shovel mechanic feels so great to use, especially on the tougher areas, with the platforming being a mixture of fun, but not too easy with spikes and insant falls, honestly this game has so much going for it that I would love to see more of it, easy recommendation.

Spectre knight: Spectre of Torment is pretty decent as a Shovel knight spin-off.

Plague knight: Plague of shadows, another good one that has a great if frustrating gameplay mechanic.

King knight: The best one stuck with an annoying gimmick.

Overall: this game is very excellent and is the most fun I had with a 2-D platformer in a while, pick it up, it is really damn good.

Shovel of Hope 4/5
Plague of Shadows 4/5
Specter of Torment 5/5
King of Cards 4/5
Showdown 2/5

From best to worst:
King of Cards
Shovel of Hope
Specter of Torment
Plague of Shadows

King of Cards is so unbelievably good. If I wasn't grading the entire package it'd get a 10 by itself.