Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic created by Yacht Club Games. You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this valley with two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and save his lost beloved. He wields a ShovelBlade; a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight is a shining example of the code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!

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Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope is the original Shovel Knight game released by Yacht Club Games in 2014. It is a platformer with an 8-bit sound and art style. The version reviewed here is part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove for the Switch, which was provided by Yacht Club Games, to Cheerful Ghost in the form of a download key.

I previously played Shovel Kinght: Shovel of Hope on the 3DS, and now on the Switch. The Switch version wins the match between the two, hands down, in my opinion. While the Switch does not have the 3D that the 3DS has, it has a beautiful handheld screen and great sounding audio.

Yacht Club Games did an outstanding job with Shovel Knight. The level... Read All


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Recently, Yacht Club Games provided Cheerful Ghost with a download key for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove for the Switch. Given that I just got the Switch and have yet to try a 2D platformer on the platform, I decided to download the game and fire it up.

Before I dive into my first impressions of the game, let's talk about what Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove on the Switch comes with. The Switch version includes the following:


  • Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope

  • Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows

  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment

  • Co-op mode

  • Four player battle mode

  • Amiibo support



There is a lot of game here and the co-op mode really interests me. Since the Switch has two... Read All


"You’ll not only play through Specter Knight’s own story, but also see new areas, new music, new enemies, new objects, new boss fights, new weapons, new armors, and way, way more than ever before. Even the villainous boss knights have prepared new tricks and tactics!

Does that sound like a new game?! Well, that’s because we’re building Specter of Torment from the ground up so that it can be a completely unique standalone experience.

While Plague of Shadows followed an alternate parallel campaign, Specter Knight travels a new path in this amazing prequel. It’s your mission as Specter Knight to recruit the Order of No Quarter for The Enchantress! Specter Knight’s campaign... Read All


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If you missed Shovel Knight now might be a good time to realize this Capcom-era retro love letter to platformers. One way to do that is by reading out this Yacht Club Games infographic highlighting how well Shovel Knight has been received. One part I find interesting is the number of people that have played the extra content has been fairly low. The reason the content is being made is because they sailed so far over their Kickstarter goals meeting their stretch goals. The 3DS & Wii U sales numbers were also much higher than I would have initially guessed but it makes sense considering this game is for Nintendo fans and begs to be played on those systems.

Shovel... Read All


When Shovel Knight came to Kickstarter it's amazing retro graphics and fun premise catapulted it to much success. So much so that they hit each stretch goal they set. Yacht Club Games decided to ship the main base game and after the initial launch bring a lot of the stretch goal features later. The in-game stretch goals were the ability to play as 3 bosses, gender swap mode, challenge mode, 4 player battle mode, ability to play all bosses in battle mode & the Linux & Mac ports (already released).

From what I imagine is the first of the playable boss modes, Plague of Shadows is coming as a free update and it looks to be a entirely separate story and play... Read All


Rich and Jack are back at it talking about Shovel Knight. Rich seems to be hung on if Shovel Knight is a great game or a game that falls back to nostalgia and retro feel in place of actually being good. Rich and Jack both loved the game, it just seems that Rich isn't sure if the game stands on it's own.

After playing Shovel Knight it is true that the game is a NES dream come true but I think it holds up well for modern gamers.


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Everyone's favorite cerulean utilitarian warrior is making his debut to your fancy next-gen (current-gen?) consoles, namely the Xbox One and Playstation 4. Playstation fans will also appreciate the cross-buy option for PS3 and Vita (buy one, get all). If you own one of those Playstation systems, you can get it now. Xbox Oners will get it tomorrow.

As far as the console versions go, there doesn't seem to be anything really that diff.... OH, YES THERE IS! Xbox One owners of Shovel Knight will see a certain group of amphibious fighters (i.e. the Battletoads!) featured in their game, while Playstation owners will be tested to find the Ghost of Sparta, Kratos, from the God... Read All


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The first major DLC is coming to Shovel Knight, for free! From the Kickstarter page:

"In this adventure, you play as Plague Knight, the villainous master of alchemy, in a quest all his own. Using his maniacal scientific mind, Plague Knight is seeking to concoct Serum Supernus, the Ultimate Potion. However, to retrieve these ingredients, he must extract them from his former allies… the villainous knights of the Order of No Quarter! World class platforming, music, storytelling, and art all return in Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows; an explosive quest with a new play style, new story, new bosses, and more!"

In addition, PS3, PS4, and Vita will be getting a taste of Shovel... Read All


Shovel Knight is on his way to dispense shovel justice to every platform, now adding Sony's current platforms. This trailer is mostly going to be stuff you've already seen if you care at all about Shovel Knight, but at the end there's a very short clip of a Kratos boss fight. This means I'm probably going to be buying the game all over again.


Shovel Knight was finally ported to Linux on Steam and as such I downloaded to check it out. I found absolutely no issues running the game and had fun coming back to this platforming shoveler. I expect many more content updates from Yacht Club Games as they decided to release the main game on Windows and then bring the extra Kickstarter game rewards in subsequent updates. If you are looking for an amazing retro platforming experience with shoveling, you should get this game.