Indie Shovel Knight

[HandsomeDead]

So this was one of the earlier successes on Kickstarter before (or around) everyone started doing. It's a 2D platformer in the style of classic NES games and it's made by Yacht Club Games who are a few ex-Wayforward people. They left over a year a go and Wayforward games aren't quite what they were; coincidence? I say probably (definitely).

Since NES games are the inspiration for Shovel Knight it does play things basic. You play with two buttons and a D-pad; one jumps and one shovels. But you also press down and shovel while jumping to do a downward attack and you use that to bounce off enemies.

That's what you mostly do and this game, and it stays damn fun while doing it. They've clearly explored a lot of possibilities with your basic abilities. Enemies are either really defensive knights who can be hard to hit or simpler enemies just placed in awkward places that make things difficult (or fun) for you. It's design we've seen before but maybe in not quite this way. You can also make life a bit easier for you by using items you get through the game. You use them by pressing up and shovel, like Castlevania, and the properties of these items are like the ones you find in that game.

That's what Shovel Knight is. It's NES games you know put into one well made game. Specifically it's Konami and Capcom NES games that are the big inspiration: pre-SotN Castlevania and Megaman are clear inspirations, as is smatterings of Ducktails and Zelda 2.

But it plays a nicer game than those NES games. It controls well, and does actually look a lot better than those games. It's more TurboGrafx than NES. It also has some more forgiving design choices, like the checkpoints, which can be destroyed for more money to buy upgrades but then you lose them for good (like, they're still not there when you pass them after you've died). That's a cool risk/reward mechanic but I think you can still get a lot of gold without having to destroy them, from what I can tell now I'm at the end, so I suppose it's a case of how fast you want to upgrade your stuff.

And when you die you lose a percentage of your gold but it can be picked up again if you don't die on route to where you last died, 'cos Demon's Souls.

But overall it's a really fun game in a genre that the indies have explored a lot at this point, but I'd say it's one of the better examples. It's made by people ball achingly passionate about that era of gaming and they've crafted the ultimate love letter with Shovel Knight. That's really cool, but it does mean the game struggles to find it's own identity. I wish they laid off the references as it didn't need them since the game's mechanics were all reference enough.

Bottom line though is two thumbs up. It's got some awesome bosses and nice, thick, treacle-y chiptune music.

I should go finish it now... Oh, it's pretty fuckin' hard if that needed to be mentioned.

[radiofloyd]

Nice write up, waiting for this to hit a sale.

[Pikman]

Well this goes from amazingly enjoyable to amazingly hard pretty quickly...

[AndyKurosaki]

Currently on sale now for £8 on Wii U. Loving it so far, killed the first 3 bosses. There's been a few tough sections, but the game is so fun to play that it's not an issue.

[AndyKurosaki]

Played a fair bit more of this now. It's definitely getting harder, there's been a fair few "oh fuck off" moments. But extending my life bar has certainly helped.

Don't know if this is ever coming to PSN/Xbox Live. If it does, I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

[radiofloyd]

Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games has detailed Plague of Shadows, a free expansion for its critically-acclaimed 2D adventure.

The add-on will arrive during the second quarter of 2015 for all of the game's platforms: 3DS, PC, PlayStation 3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, Mac and Linux.

Plague of Shadows stars Plague Knight, a robed skeletal bird-looking figure armed with explosives and alchemy.

A new crafting system will also allow you to turn loot into equipment and power ups.

The expansion is described as a new adventure featuring remixed game content, new objectives and enemies, redesigned areas and paths and completely fresh boss fights.

Plague of Shadows was promised as a stretch goal during Shovel Knight's Kickstarter campaign almost two years ago.

The project ended up earning four times its $75k goal, with an ending total of $311k raised.

Shovel Knight launched on PC in June last year, and then later on 3DS and Wii U. PlayStation versions are due to launch in April.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-03-shovel-knight-plague-of-shadows-expansion-detailed

[HandsomeDead]

I've just got round to playing the Plague of Shadows DLC they put out for free last week or so. It's strange.

Shovel Knight himself was a very easy character to control. He is simple. You've got jump, attack and using your shovel as a makeshift pogo stick. It takes games people of a certain age will be vary familiar with and its easily recognisable what you need to do

Plague Knight doesn't play like that at all. This has some weird mechanics.

You have a meager jump, but you can double jump though it doesn't give you much more height it does help you have more control in the air. Since you can't bounce off enemies the way you get height is by using your boost jump. You do this by charging it up by holding the attack button then releasing, but you have little control after that so you gotta do it right.

You kill enemies by throwing alchemy bombs at them and they can be modified in quite a few ways though you have to buy the upgrades. And getting money is pretty hard as you lose somewhere between 10 or 20 percent when you die, but it keeps the Souls thing and you can get it back unless you die again.

And you'll die. Because the jumping is strange.

It's turned a simple but great platformer into some weird zoning thing. It's not what I expected at all. Not sure exactly how I feel about it yet; I think I was having a good time, but I guess I'll play it some more and find out.

[radiofloyd]

Played a few minutes of this. Played as far as the second encounter with the dragon that blows bubbles (past the third checkpoint). At that point I decided to take a break and quit. Only I've just realised that I needed to finish the level to save my progress. Bummer.

My first impressions of this game are not overly good. Fighting and platforming are not particularly satisfying. I found a couple of collectible song scrolls but I'm not sure if they tie into the game in any way (other than being collectible). Time will tell if this game can reach the heights of the likes of Cave Story.

[radiofloyd]

Played a good chunk of this today, it's growing on me a little. I like the way that once you performing the jump attack once, you don't have to keep pressing the button, the knight will just keep doing it automatically.

I cleared the first stage and then spent most of my gold in the village. I gave the bard the two song scrolls I had found in the first level as well as one I picked up in the village for impressing Mona in her target practice game. With my gold I bought a meal ticket (which I used for a health boost), a magic orb attack, a fishing rod, and a chalice for holding potions. So the game has some rpg elements, a bit like Rogue Legacy.

I'm starting to like the combat and flow of the game more now. I like that you can't warp in and out of levels willy nilly, you have to commit to completing a level once you've started it.

[radiofloyd]

Cleared the second level, Pridemoor Keep. I like this game. The enemy variety keeps things interesting. Both levels I've played had a recurring giant enemy (aside from the end stage boss) which was a nice touch. The simplicity of this game is like the yin to Rogue Legacy's yang.

The music is ok, nothing that really stands out. And the art style is pretty nice, albeit, very generic fantasy.

[HandsomeDead]

Do you think the opening theme doesn't stand out?

[radiofloyd]

After finishing Transistor I felt like playing this again so I put an hour into it there. Beat Spectre Knight and the mini-level the Forest of Phasing. Now a new area of the map has opened up. Currently have six health points, 60 magic and 16/46 song scrolls.

Also, a big gem appeared over Pridemoor Keep on the map so I played that, it creates a short version of that level where the camera chases you from left to right but there are loads of gems.

This game is very appropriate to this week's hot topic. You die a lot (in my case, mostly by falling to my death) and obviously the developers made some old school design decisions - e.g. if you exit to the world map then you have to start the level all over again, you can't resume from the last checkpoint you reached. But it creates a unique type of challenge, and it's a fun game to play, once you get used to it.

[illdog]

I'm playing this too, it just so retro-tastic. I think i'm two levels from the end but I want to go back and get the music sheets and stuff before I try to finish.

Personally i've really been enjoying the music too.

[AndyKurosaki]

Its an outstanding game. Hard,but so much fun you keep at it.

And I have his amiibo. Obviously ?

[radiofloyd]

Defeated Plague Knight, that level was as annoying if not more annoying than Spectre Knight's level!

I bought the red suit of armour (only drop half the gold when you die), should come in handy since more often than not I don't reach the gold that I dropped!

The game is pretty stingy with achievements isn't it? You'd think with 65 achievements you would get one for defeating each boss, but no. I still only have 4/65 achievements and those are from when I played it last year.

[AndyKurosaki]

A lot of them are crazy hard. Nearly as bad as Mega Man.

[radiofloyd]

7 hours now but that included around an hour of idle time. 7/65 achievements and 20/46 song scrolls. Defeated the Treasure Knight, his level (the water level) was the most annoying yet. Every level is more annoying than the last! Just got the Mole Knight left out of this set. I know that someone out there has probably speedrun this game without dying once, it's a scary thought.

[AndyKurosaki]

I couldn't imagine doing that. Itd be beyond hardcore.

[radiofloyd]

Beat Mole Knight, that level was pretty short and straightforward compared to the previous few. Also beat the "Hall of Champions" with the ghost boss. I'm guessing the portraits in here are for the backers of the game on kickstarter which is a nice touch. I liked the joke about "the risk you take when you pay for something in advance without knowing the details".

Evaluating the game overall though I can't say that I really love it or that I'm enjoying it all that much. I mean it's solid but, it can be just annoying at times. It seems like the developers were obsessed with killing the player in every way possible. You can pretty much fall to your death or be knocked to your death on every screen, which renders having a health bar more or less meaningless, except for boss fights which drag on a bit longer (but even those are by far the easiest part of the game).

Certain small things about the game annoy me. Like how if you fall to your death, the gold you left behind can spawn in a more or less impossible place (e.g. right above a pit of lava if you fell into lava). Yes you can bring the ichor that draws treasure towards you but who would go to the bother? And how the phase bracelet is supposed to make you invincible for a few seconds, which it does in almost all situations, until I found out that it doesn't allow you to walk on lava (and the only way to found that out is to die trying).

Another typical scenario in the game (that doesn't really happen when you take your time but can happen when you start rushing), is that you stand a little bit too far from the enemy and start attacking them just outside the range of your attack, so you spend a couple of seconds swiping at thin air and then they bump into you and knock you to your death (because you were standing on a narrow platform to begin with.)

I'm making the game sound brutally hard which of course it isn't, it's just frustrating. Artistically, the game has its charm (particularly I like the villages with their weird cast of animal NPCs), the graphics are nice, but when you compare it with what has been achieved with other indie games you wouldn't say it stands out. The music is ok, the usual bleeps and bloops, but again, nothing that stands out.

[radiofloyd]

Defeated the Polar Knight and Knuckler's Quarry. The ice level features some more of my pet peeves - when you fall down through a screen and the bottom of the next screen is a death trap so you have a split second to react, or the fact that a downward strike will continue unless you slash in the air to interrupt it, useful of course for bouncing on enemies but also the source of many a death if you aren't paying attention. I've noticed a pattern in the levels where there's nearly always one checkpoint around the middle that I end up using 100 times over. Knuckler's Quarry was one of those short but nightmarish levels where I was just glad to get through while my sanity levels hadn't gone too far into the red zone...

I finally figured out how fishing works though. I've spent the whole game casting my fishing rod into any pit that sparkles, only to be annoyed each time my character collects nothing. I've just realised you're supposed to press a when the exclamation marks appear over your head! Another reason to replay the levels I guess, although I'll wait until I have all the relics collected.

My internet is resetting on Tuesday night at which point I'll finish downloading Divinity: Original Sin, but hopefully I can finish this in the meantime. But even if I don't I'll keep it installed, I might tip away at it now and then and play through Plague of Shadows.