This post was authored by Stan Guderski. You can contact him at StanGWrites@gmail.com
Shovel Knight wears its love for the era of the original Nintendo Entertainment System on its sleeve. The world map conjures memories of Super Mario Bros. 3 where enemy encounters and special events can take place just about anywhere. The boss knights of the Order of No Quarter inspires thoughts of Mega Man and its eight robot masters and their various themed stages. Even town exploration harkens back to Legend of Zelda II, while Shovel Knight’s varied selection of subweapons feel very Castlevania.
However, despite all this Shovel Knight never feels derivative nor does it ever seem disingenuous. This game doesn’t attempt to cash in on your nostalgia. It exists to celebrate gaming’s past while taking advantage of the capabilities and sensibilities of the present. Shovel Knight unearths the side scrolling action platformer and updates it for a modern audience without losing any of the challenge or charm one comes to expect in this kind of game. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun to play.
Shovel Knight’s controls are simple like anything else from the NES era, you move, you jump, you beat things to death with your shovel. It’s this simplicity that allows for an ease of use that makes navigating the stages in Shovel Knight feel natural. The game never holds your hand or buries you in endless tutorials. You start the game and you just get it immediately.
Good thing then, because as soon as you think you’ve become comfortable controlling your little azure avatar Shovel Knight throws you a curveball and shows you something new. First you’re digging for treasure, then you’re attacking an enemy, next you’re using the shovel like a pogo-stick to traverse bottomless pits, and before you know it you’re juggling yourself through the air via tricky split-second bounces off of the heads of enemies. Shovel Knight introduces new play mechanics organically in a way that makes sense, allowing you to play around a bit before upping the challenge exponentially. In this way Shovel Knight cultivates a sense of accomplishment as you genuinely feel yourself growing more skillful as the game progresses, effortlessly executing tasks that you would have thought impossible just moments before.
Don’t expect your quest to be without hardship though, as Shovel Knight is by no means an easy game. While playing I did encounter my share of “come on!” moments, but generally the challenge in Shovel Knight is fair, as a vast majority of the deaths I experienced were my own fault. Overall Shovel Knight digs into the sweet spot between difficult and do-able and isn’t designed to break you.
Luckily Shovel Knight is generous with its placement of checkpoints, allowing a measure of modernity where it could have easily opted for the old school Nintendo-hard approach. Likewise, the only real consequence to dying is the loss of some of your treasure which, taking a page from the Souls games, can be recovered upon returning to the spot you died at previously, provided you don’t die again that is. In fact this idea of recovering your own gold can potentially add more to the game, as it encourages revisiting the often precarious situation that killed you in the first place for the opportunity to gain back your hard earned treasure. Unfortunately, there were occasions where the treasure I dropped ended up in a place that made it impossible to recover (such as the point-of-no-return in a bottomless pit) which detracts from an otherwise smart take on dying in a platformer that doesn’t rely on lives and 1-Ups.
If you’re a fan of secrets Shovel Knight has you covered. The game contains a ton of well placed secrets in virtually every level, whether it be a wall that explodes once struck–revealing treasure or a much needed bit of health–or areas off the beaten path that offer music sheets or sub weapons. Shovel Knight gives you the feeling that there is always something new around the corner, or something hidden just out of sight. There’s a lot to dig into here, if you’re willing to look for it.
Shovel Knight lays the groundwork of its plot with a simple premise: the eponymous knight must save his beloved partner Shield Knight, and to do this he must defeat the villainous Enchantress. However, a gauntlet of eight dastardly knights known as the Order of No Quarter have been tasked to stop him.
Shovel Knight’s plot may sound simplistic on the surface, but the game carries a surprising amount of emotional depth without bogging you down with needless exposition. The game achieves this by giving you just enough detail about Shovel Knight and his world to provide believable incentive for his quest and what is at stake. Once these details are established the plot takes a back seat to the game itself and lets you do your thing. This less is more approach to the story works in the game’s favor as I found myself incredibly interested in learning about the world and its characters, and whenever Shovel Knight trickled out a new plot detail or wrinkle to the story I found myself paying close attention. Even seemingly insignificant moments felt meaningful, such as a dream based mini-game where Shovel Knight must beat back enemies and catch a falling Shield Knight, all thanks Shovel Knight’s clever use of a minimalistic plot.
This isn’t to say that Shovel Knight is a serious story. In fact quite the opposite, as the game’s excellent writing is often quite amusing. Yacht Club Games knew exactly what they were doing with their game based on knights and chivalry, as Shovel Knight just drips tongue-in-cheek humor at every opportunity. The playful approach to the over-the-top gallantry one often finds in a medieval-esque story works well here. Shovel Knight’s steadfast adherence to doling out shovel justice, dialogue rife with shovel-related puns, and subtle self aware humor are just a few examples of Shovel Knight’s wittiness.
Visually Shovel Knight is a treat. Colorful, dynamic, and multilayered, Shovel Knight embraces its aesthetic 8-bit roots while being unafraid to innovate beyond the capabilities of its NES inspirations. Backgrounds often sport multiple layers of parallax scrolling trees that whip past you, a castle in the distance appears to move along the horizon, and further back clouds lazily hang in the sky, which gave me the feeling as though I were running through a living pop-up book. Each stage has its own distinct visual flair as well, from a haunted graveyard, to a volcanic city, to a neon flashing explodatorium where everything goes boom, and beyond. Shovel Knightworks hard to ensure you never see the same thing twice and its attention to detail in this regard is astounding.
Shovel Knight plays great whether on the big screen or on the Vita, with no problems to report in any regard. In fact, in some ways the game is better on the PS Vita thanks to a more responsive feeling D-Pad and some back-touch easter eggs.
Beyond this the only difference between this version and the one released last year on 3DS, Wii U, and PC is the boss battle with Kratos. Though the fight with Kratos was extremely exciting and one of my favorite encounters in the game, it’s hard to recommend double dipping for that sole reason, even if you do get a sweet reward for beating him.
All in all Shovel Knight is delightful, amusing, and oftentimes challenging. It’s surprisingly deep, with enough secrets and charm to warrant at least one more run through on New Game+. The game controls like a dream, is simple enough to pick up immediately, and knows just when to up the ante to make you a more skillful player over the course of its six to eight hour campaign. However, if you already own it on another platform, the PSN version of Shovel Knight may not offer enough incentive to double dip. If you’ve never played Shovel Knight before though, the PSN version is excellent, and you owe it to yourself to unearth this treasure.
This game was reviewed for PS4 and PS Vita
/5
[+] 8-Bit visuals that transcend the era they originate from
[+] Retro inspired gameplay, with modern tweaks
[+] Charming, witty writing with emotional depth
[+] Challenging, but not impossible
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