King of Cards also features a full Trading Card Game called Joustus that’s woven into the main path with lots of optional challenges. Each campaign stars that knight and their unique gameplay mechanics with level design that perfectly complements those moves. Shovel Knight now has four campaigns: Shovel of Hope (Shovel Knight), Plague of Shadows (Plague Knight), Specter of Torment (Specter Knight), and King of Cards (King Knight). When Plague of Shadows dropped to every version of the game for free it was a statement and that goodwill has carried throughout the entirety of Shovel Knight’s development.

These gameplay additions quickly evolved into entirely new campaigns with their own story, extras, and more. Multiple stretch goals were hit including additional playable characters. They had set a humble goal of $75k but ended up making huge waves that resulted in over $300k raised. Now that this chapter of Shovel Knight has closed with the release of the King of Cards and Showdown expansions, it is time to review the full package and reflect upon the impact Shovel Knight has had on the gaming world.Īn area that has always impressed me is the dedication Yacht Club Game has to keep its Kickstarter promises. Yacht Club Games have truly struck gold with this game, quickly establishing the Shovel Knight brand as a mighty flagship of indie game design. I’ve been playing Shovel Knight since it was released on the Wii U and it was one of the first games I picked up on Switch. Even at that early stage of development, I knew that this was a game that understood its retro inspirations while also pushing forward something great.

Shovel Knight caught my attention back when I was watching Game Grumps daily.

Wii u shovel knight wii u versus ps4