This is BY FAR the best game in Treasure Trove, and that's saying something when given just how good the other games in this package are. I beat and really loved Shovel of Hope and King of Cards, but Specter of Torment was the one that really captivated me.

Specter Knight has always had the sickest design out of all the knights in my opinion, and his moveset is so much fun to use in this game. Every attack feels satisfying to hit, and crossing huge gaps using just your aerial attack to gain height and distance feels amazing. Specter's aerial attack is the best part of his kit, and having this attack that not only lets you attack the enemy but also adds to your movement are just great (and are generally great in most games that have them), and allow for some amazing level design. Going through levels is a blast and makes you feel like a legend for getting over obstacles and using your kit to its fullest.

The soundtrack and story are also superb. Pretty much every track in this game is a remix of the original Shovel Knight's stage themes, and I think I like these versions better. Being a prequel to Shovel of Hope, the stages are older and some of them are pretty different because of this. Thus, the music was changed/remixed in order to capture the new feelings of these levels. I think the best example is the clock tower, tinker knight's stage. When Shovel Knight goes through it, the music is more menacing and makes you feel like you're going through an evil fortress. However, when Specter Knight goes through the stage Tinker Knight hasn't joined the Order of No Quarter yet, so the music is upbeat and inspirational since Tinker Knight is just an engineer and not really a bad guy at this point. The story is also the best of all the games in Treasure Trove, and I think most would agree. It's hard to talk too much about it without spoiling it, but it's a bit more complex and interesting than the simple damsel in distress type stories of the other games.

As for the collectibles in this game, it's one of the few games I don't remember having to google the location of a single one of them. They're not the hardest to find, but I much prefer easier collectibles than impossibly hard ones. I personally didn't like too many of them, but some of them are pretty cool and are worth giving a shot.

If Treasure Trove was just this game, I'd think it was a steal. Again, this game captivated me in every aspect from beginning to end, and my only true complaint with it is that I wish it kept on going.

This game has a lot of passion put into it across the board, and I think it's a fair purchase if you wanna play something with your friends online. The problem for me however is that it gets old very quick. This won't be a problem for everybody, and there's even an active community which has been playing this game for years and still continue to do so. The game has a lot of weird and interesting mechanics, with each character having a special gimmick, but after a while I've realized they're more fluff covering a very simple game more than anything. The gimmicks aren't bad by any means, but they don't stop this game from being really simple: you just hit a ball around and try to hit other people with it. You can make any game sound simple like this, like in Smash Bros. you just try to hit people off the stage, but those games either have a lot more content to back them up or they're widely known for being fun competitively (or both). This game can be an absolute blast when you get a group of 4 together, but don't be surprised if you don't end up playing it that much.

As one of the hidden gems for the system, this one is fun for what it is. Having to turn off your wifi is the only way to reliable play this game, making it much more secret than the other games for chrome like snake and minesweeper. This game is very simple, featuring geometry dash-esque gameplay of jumping over cacti in a desert. The main problem this game suffers from is the severe lack of content. It is a high score based game, but even then there is no depth to be found here. I think that a full on geometry dash style of gameplay with levels and collectibles would've been much more suited for this game, and perhaps in a future content update the developers will add it. I could also see this game being a great 2D platformer, similar to the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES. It's a great game, but has some really missed potential that can hopefully be fixed in sequels/spinoffs or even just simple content updates. It still looks like this system will have a long life span, so I hope they can make it possible.