This review contains spoilers
Shovel Knight is probably the best indie platformer imo and it consistently is among my favorite platformers. Shovel of Hope is back when it was just called Shovel Knight, before the DLC campaigns (as great as they are). I have memories of grabbing the original Shovel Knight on the 3DS one night in 2014 after hearing ravings from gaming YouTubers and a close friend of mine about it. It was just as great as they hyped it up to be, at least in my opinion. Nonetheless, it's been a while since I actually sat and played through all of Shovel Knight, and I have yet to even beat King of Cards, so I've decided I'll start playing through all the campaigns one-by-one. Where better to start than here at the beginning? Also, please note that, for some reason, the 3DS is not listed as a viable platform here on Backloggd; I have no idea why because I can clearly still play it through Shovel Knight Treasure Trove and it was one of the consoles the game originally made its debut on, but oh well. I suppose it isn't entirely inaccurate by technicality to label it as Nintendo Switch since I have played and beat Shovel of Hope on that platform, too.
The best part of Shovel Knight is, of course, the gameplay. Its a good old fashioned 2D platformer that takes the great design beats from classic NES games like Mega Man (levels always ending with a boss and you have some freedom in picking which level + boss you want to beat first), DuckTales (mainly in some of Shovel Knight's moves with the most obvious example being his pogo-stick-like descent), and Super Mario Bros. 3 (overworld map and events that pop up on it), yet still has its own identity with some really cool level design that stands out. I will say it might take some getting used to how the game feels; don't get me wrong, the game has excellent controls in my opinion, but the movement is a bit on the slower side and there's no run button so you might feel sluggish. You could argue that's only reasonable for a guy clad in full armor, though. The game is nice and simple, but don't mistake simple for easy. I still died plenty of times and I'm a relatively experienced 2D platforming fan who's already played this game several times before, as long ago as that might have been. Death never feels cheap and it also doesn't feel frustrating because the game is pretty generous with checkpoints and the only thing you lose for dying is a bit of progress and some gold. Stuff like the relics that have special effects for a mana cost and the different upgrades give you plenty to do with all that gold you're gathering up, although honestly the only relic you need is the Phase Locket which kinda breaks this game in two with how overpowered straight up invincibility can be. Once you get all the mana upgrades, boss fights become a big game of "spam the Phase Locket". I think there should've been some kind of catch to overusing this thing, like a high mana cost, because it trivializes boss fights as is. It's a shame since these bosses are all rather unique in their own ways and are fun to fight, plus you get awesome guest boss fights against the Battletoads if you have an Xbox/PC or an infamously canon fight against Kratos on PlayStation consoles. As far as I remember, all the DLC campaigns seem to have taken the criticisms against the Phase Locket to heart and have not introduced something with a similarly crazy invincibility effect. Nonetheless, despite these very minor complaints, Shovel Knight knocks it out of the park in gameplay.
The story...I suppose there is a little, so it might be worth talking about. Basically, Shovel Knight and Shield Knight were an inseparable famous duo of heroes fighting together until they find a cursed artifact in the Tower of Fate, which corrupts Shield Knight into the Enchantress and makes Shovel Knight think she's dead. That's all you really get as far as immediate story, but you get some somewhat interesting little bits of lore shown here, like how Polar Knight has a history with Shovel Knight (bit of a shame he didn't get his own DLC campaign to expand upon that a little). Black Knight plays an antagonistic role but he stresses that he's not serving the Enchantress but instead chasing his own goals, whatever those might be. Black Knight does save Shovel Knight after he's highly injured from freeing Shield Knight and facing the true form of The Enchantress, which was cool. Yea, the story starts off very basic here, but it made for a good starting point for the DLC campaigns to expand upon it a little. I recall Specter of Torment in particular has a pretty good story, but I'll get to that when I get to it. Also, Shovel of Hope (and really anything Shovel Knight) has a really fun, charming writing style. It feels whimsical and silly, with all the knights having some kind of fun over-the-top personality and even mundane villagers having some amusing things to say.
Overall, Shovel Knight is a very solid platformer imo. I feel there isn't a ton I can say about it in comparison to other games I've reviewed, I really don't have much at all to complain about and the game has been reviewed to death already. Its just a damn good game. 5 stars from me
The best part of Shovel Knight is, of course, the gameplay. Its a good old fashioned 2D platformer that takes the great design beats from classic NES games like Mega Man (levels always ending with a boss and you have some freedom in picking which level + boss you want to beat first), DuckTales (mainly in some of Shovel Knight's moves with the most obvious example being his pogo-stick-like descent), and Super Mario Bros. 3 (overworld map and events that pop up on it), yet still has its own identity with some really cool level design that stands out. I will say it might take some getting used to how the game feels; don't get me wrong, the game has excellent controls in my opinion, but the movement is a bit on the slower side and there's no run button so you might feel sluggish. You could argue that's only reasonable for a guy clad in full armor, though. The game is nice and simple, but don't mistake simple for easy. I still died plenty of times and I'm a relatively experienced 2D platforming fan who's already played this game several times before, as long ago as that might have been. Death never feels cheap and it also doesn't feel frustrating because the game is pretty generous with checkpoints and the only thing you lose for dying is a bit of progress and some gold. Stuff like the relics that have special effects for a mana cost and the different upgrades give you plenty to do with all that gold you're gathering up, although honestly the only relic you need is the Phase Locket which kinda breaks this game in two with how overpowered straight up invincibility can be. Once you get all the mana upgrades, boss fights become a big game of "spam the Phase Locket". I think there should've been some kind of catch to overusing this thing, like a high mana cost, because it trivializes boss fights as is. It's a shame since these bosses are all rather unique in their own ways and are fun to fight, plus you get awesome guest boss fights against the Battletoads if you have an Xbox/PC or an infamously canon fight against Kratos on PlayStation consoles. As far as I remember, all the DLC campaigns seem to have taken the criticisms against the Phase Locket to heart and have not introduced something with a similarly crazy invincibility effect. Nonetheless, despite these very minor complaints, Shovel Knight knocks it out of the park in gameplay.
The story...I suppose there is a little, so it might be worth talking about. Basically, Shovel Knight and Shield Knight were an inseparable famous duo of heroes fighting together until they find a cursed artifact in the Tower of Fate, which corrupts Shield Knight into the Enchantress and makes Shovel Knight think she's dead. That's all you really get as far as immediate story, but you get some somewhat interesting little bits of lore shown here, like how Polar Knight has a history with Shovel Knight (bit of a shame he didn't get his own DLC campaign to expand upon that a little). Black Knight plays an antagonistic role but he stresses that he's not serving the Enchantress but instead chasing his own goals, whatever those might be. Black Knight does save Shovel Knight after he's highly injured from freeing Shield Knight and facing the true form of The Enchantress, which was cool. Yea, the story starts off very basic here, but it made for a good starting point for the DLC campaigns to expand upon it a little. I recall Specter of Torment in particular has a pretty good story, but I'll get to that when I get to it. Also, Shovel of Hope (and really anything Shovel Knight) has a really fun, charming writing style. It feels whimsical and silly, with all the knights having some kind of fun over-the-top personality and even mundane villagers having some amusing things to say.
Overall, Shovel Knight is a very solid platformer imo. I feel there isn't a ton I can say about it in comparison to other games I've reviewed, I really don't have much at all to complain about and the game has been reviewed to death already. Its just a damn good game. 5 stars from me