I hadn't quite kicked the urge for more Shovel Knight after finishing King of Cards, so I decided to just start replaying all the campaigns. It's been since Shovel Knight came out back in 2014 since I last played the original campaign, so I was long overdue for a replay of this game anyhow. This is technically my third time through the game, as back when it first came out, I didn't realize that the other campaigns weren't done yet, and thought maybe you unlocked them by beating hard mode XP. It took me a little under 5 hours to 100% all the collectibles and beat the game on normal mode.
Shovel of Hope is the original story of Shovel Knight. After his companion Shield Knight fell in battle to the curse of an ancient medallion, Shovel Knight went to live in isolation and grieve. But now the evil tower has reopened, and the Evil Enchantress with her Order of No Quarter seek to rule the land. It's up to Shovel Knight to set out and save the kingdom from their evil doings! The banter between Shovel Knight and the various members of the Order of No Quarter is fun and silly, as are the townspeoples' interactions with Shovel Knight (who doesn't talk all that much, comparatively speaking). There's less overall dialogue compared to the later campaigns, but given that this is the first one, it's an understandable shortcoming. While on the topic of presentation, the graphics are as pretty as they've ever been, but the music is probably the weakest of the 4 games (again, an understandable shortcoming). Then, that may just be the result of me being more familiar with this soundtrack compared to the other 3 campaigns. The last bit of presentation I'll mention is something I think was added around the time Shovel of Hope was given it's own subtitle (and not just called "Shovel Knight"), but I had completely forgotten about. You have the option at the start of the game to change both the gender of any of the main cast of characters (Shovel Knight, Shield Knight, and all the main bad guys). Even cooler, this can be selected individually for each character's body presentation AND the language used for them (pronouns, basically). Male bodies with male pronouns, female bodies with neutral pronouns, male bodies with female pronouns, anything is allowed and can be changed via the pause menu at any time. It's a really cool feature that I was really jazzed to see put in a game like this ^w^ The gameplay is the NES homage action platformer Shovel Knight has become so famous for. A short-ranged melee attack combined with a NES Duck Tales-style downward pogo strike make up the bread and butter of your attacks, and you can also find Castlevania-style sub-weapons to use as you progress that you can use by expending what are basically a stand in for Casltevania's hearts. It's honestly really annoying that the sub-weapons don't have their own dedicated button and you have to use the attack button + up on the D-pad to use them. HOWEVER, since Yacht Club Games are so smart, they put in the ability to make the older campaigns play like the newer ones, with the sub-weapons having their own dedicated button instead of that old button combo! It's been polished up a bit since the original release, and it's still a really solid action game that takes place over a series of over a dozen stages, each with their own boss encounter at the end (aside from a couple side-stages with no bosses). The only real downside to Shovel of Hope is how much it's been overshadowed by the successive Shovel Knight games in what is now the Treasure Trove pack. Compared to Plague Knight's explosive bomb throwing and jumping, Specter Knight's wall running and homing slashes, and King Knight's shoulder charges and spinning jumps, plain ol' Shovel Knight's simple slashes and pogos feel REALLY slow to go back to. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but after knowing how fun the later Shovel Knight campaigns are, Shovel of Hope left me wanting a little bit more with its action elements. Verdict: Highly Recommended. It may live in the shadow of its three sister campaigns, but the original Shovel Knight is still as good as it ever was. Though it's a bit simple, it's an easier game overall as a result of this simplicity, and it makes for a really nice entry-level adventure for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. It's not the best Shovel Knight game, but the competition in that department is so damn stiff, that being so close to the quality of those games is still a really impressive achievement.
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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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