The end of last year brought us, at long long last, the final expansion to the base Shovel Knight game that the original Kickstarter promised. They really saved the biggest (and best?) for last too! King Knight's prequel campaign is one of the most different of the campaigns, and has proven that Yacht Club Games really can keep teaching an old dog new tricks. I spent a good few hours trying to just grind for the last of the playing cards, but all in all it took me 13-ish hours to 100% the collectibles.
King Knight is a foolish momma's boy and a selfish simpleton, but he's utterly driven by his desire to be a real king and not just some guy with armor still living with his mother. There's a tournament for the hot new card game Joustus going on, and whoever wins it will be declared King of Cards! All they need to do is defeat the three Joustus Judges. Seeing an opportunity for greatness, King Knight sets out on his entirely selfish and silly quest with his armor full of gold polish and his head full of hot air. Where the original Shovel Knight was a fairly typical but silly adventure homage to old games, Plague Knight's story was a silly but sweet side story to his tale, and Specter Knight's story was a bit more serious and somber at times, King Knight's journey is very much focused on being silly. King Knight is a selfish jerk and the game really doesn't bandy that point about as it continuously puts him in situations where he'll embarrass himself. Yacht Club's usual writing is as top notch as ever, and the story elements are very entertaining despite their ultimately surface-level importance. The game Joustus, mentioned in the story isn't just for fun. It's an actual card game you can play against all kinds of opponents (over 40 different opponents) during the story if you want to. It's entirely optional to partake in it, but there's good fun to be had if you decide to. Joustus revolves around cards with arrows on each of their four edges. You place cards on a small board, trying to get them underneath specific gems that start out placed on the board. The thing is, you can't place your cards directly on them. You need to push your cards under the gems, and your opponent is trying to do the same thing. There's a lot of strategy involved with it, but the game ultimately has a fair bit of power creep with many later cards just being outright better than earlier cards. I'm sure there is SOME strategy to be used with the weaker earlier cards, but that is never a level of strategy needed to beat the in-game opponents. It's a fun diversion from the main action, and has a lot of pretty art to go with it. The main action itself is as excellent as ever and mixed up once again. Where Shovel Knight had pretty standard platforming, Plague Knight propelled himself with bombs, and Specter Knight could home in on targets, King Knight has a shoulder charge not unlike Wario. Quite different from Wario, however, is that King Knight launches himself up in the air once he hits an opponent or a normal wall (there are some walls that he just bounces off of lightly, very similarly to how there are some walls that Specter Knight can't climb on). It takes a little getting used to through the first few stages, but it's a really interesting new way of maneuvering that really makes King of Cards feel like an entirely different game. To go with these new movement mechanics are an entirely new set of levels, but many of these levels are just reaching the end of a stage with no boss at the end. Many of them even have hidden exits to unlock more stages, kinda like Super Mario World. The other members of the Order of no Quarter are just world map-roaming encounters without their own stages (for the most part), and the Joustus Judges are your real opponents to look out for (as you just defeat them in combat rather than at cards). Similarly to Specter Knight's campaign, you also have a home base of sorts where you can purchase upgrades and chat with characters you've gathered along the way. It's a nice convenence for a one-stop-shop for your upgrades, and it's where you can play Joustus with characters outside of the Joustus dens on the world map. The graphics for the stages are the standard Shovel Knight-fare, and that is to say they are as beautifully animated as ever. The music is absolutely fantastic though. I don't have a brilliant memory for the old Shovel Knight music, but there was never a time I wanted to turn on anything but the in-game sound because the music is always so excellent. Verdict: Highly Recommended. Shovel Knight's main adventure may finally be coming to a close, but dang did it go out with a bang. All 3 extra campaigns are included as free downloads with any physical copy of the game, so if you like retro platformers and somehow haven't picked up Shovel Knight yet, there's never been a better time. I can't wait to see what's next from Yacht Club games, as Shovel Knight has proven that they really know how to deliver on the projects they're passionate about.
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AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
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