Late to the party as usual, I finished all of “Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.”
Ice-cold take incoming: I think this is a pretty great game. Which is to say, four great games, plus a cool Smash-lite co-op tournament game with neat character stuff in story mode. But I just want to focus on the main four campaigns:
“Shovel of Hope”: the main campaign, and a perfect little game. This is nostalgia done right: playing into memories of 8-bit classics like Mega Man and DuckTales, but with a modern sensibility towards playability, character, design, and fun. It’s also genuinely funny in ways that lots of other retro-style games try and fail to pull off. It’s challenging but not especially frustrating unless you’re an achievement hunter. Satisfying from start to finish.
“Plague of Shadows”: the absolute worst gameplay of all the campaigns, although maybe some people see okay with it. I struggled a LOT with this one, but thankfully, the story was fun enough to be engaging. It’s the most lightweight of all the storylines, despite the fact that you’re playing a delightfully mad alchemist who loves blowing shit up. Also, Mona is waifu.
Overall, it was a pain in the ass that eventually became satisfying, but I’m not sure how many players would have muscled through their frustration to reach that point. Plague Knight is an evil little maniac and we love him for that. He’s having a grand time being bad, and that joy is infectious.
“Specter of Torment”: possibly the secret masterpiece of the whole game. The diagonal-slash style took some getting used to, much like adjusting to Hornet in Silksong coming off of Hollow Knight. But once you have a handle on it, it feels great to play. Even better than playing Shovel Knight. The story is very strong too: a tight little tragedy that somehow manages to avoid becoming too self-serious with its (literally) edgy antivillain protagonist. More than even the main campaign, with its focus on Shovel Knight’s angst over Shield Knight, Specter of Torment is the arc which adds the greatest narrative weight to the fun, cartoony world of Shovel Knight. Or… is it?
“King of Cards”: it was a bold move by Yacht Club games to make this the finale of their saga, playing as the most one-dimensionally obnoxious villain from the whole saga. Would he at least prove to be a fun villain, like Plague Knight? Kinda, but not really. Would he have hidden depths that make you reevaluate his whole character, like Specter Knight?
Hell no. King Knight is the absolute WORST. He’s an 8-bit Trump by way of a stupider Eric Cartman: a shallow, tacky, greedy asshole who is simultaneously pathetic and destructive. If anything, the storyline reveals just how… but wait, I should just let players see it play out for themselves.
Which many won’t, if they hate card minigames. I myself often struggle with some while enjoying others. I loved Gwent in Witcher 3 but I’ve never been able to figure out Caravan in New Vegas. I eventually ended up enjoying Joustus in KoC, but I’m also really grateful for the cheat mechanics getting me through some particularly tough matches. Combined with the Wario-style gameplay, KoC was great fun to play. The fact that I’ve devoted multiple paragraphs to this speaks to how rich it was to play this campaign.
But again, that character, and that ending… a bold choice for the finale, one that makes me want to actually play New Game Plus for “Shovel of Hope.” This time around, it’ll feel so much more satisfying to beat the crap off of King Knight.
For now, I’m currently grinding through the single-player Showdown mode, which is a tournament brawler in the Smash Bros style. It’s great to be able to play as all these other characters and get more glimpses into their own personalities and relationships. I really want to know more about the shared history between Shovel Knight, Polar Knight, and Black Knight. And it’s great to finally have Shield Knight as a playable character. I wish they’d had a fifth and final campaign for Shield Knight, whose story really was at the crux of everything. That would have been the perfect finale.
Regardless, “Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove” is a pretty perfect game. As countless other cheap hacks have undoubtedly said over the past thirteen years: I dug it.
I was gonna put off on buying Yacht Club’s newest game, “Mina the Horrower,” until it was a bit cheaper, but apparently the developer’s future hinges on Mina’s success, so I snatched it up full price. I have no doubt it’ll be worth the cost.
2087
vaporwave
prguitarman
discoholicmusic
