Day 45: Shovel Knight Treasure Trove

The title for my sixth favorite game belongs to my favorite Indie game. With this in mind I just have to ask…Can you dig it?

All bad puns aside, Shovel Knight is an amazing game made even better with three separate DLC stories.

Starting with the vanilla game, Shovel Knight Shovel of Hope, the story follows Shovel Knight as he embarks on a quest to stop the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter in hopes of saving his friend, Shield Knight.

Gameplay is very similar to NES games of old. You have an overworld map that harkens back to Super Mario Bros 3, villages that give off Zelda II vibes, you can face the bosses in any order you want just like in Mega Man, you're given sub weapons like in Mega Man or Castlevania, and Shovel Knight's downward attack is literally Scrooge McDuck's Cane.

Due to the vast amount of subweapons and armor you can equip, you are given a lot of different ways to go through each awesome level with awesome new mechanics and fight each awesome boss fight.

One thing I like about when you die in this game is that there really is not penalty, technically there is you lose some of your money, but even then you can still get it back and you don't have extra lives to lose. Maybe it's a good thing this game doesn't have lives because this game can get pretty difficult at points. We are dealing with a homage to old NES games after all.

The story in Shovel of Hope is rather simple and doesn't focus too much on characters, but then we get to the DLC stories. Plague Knight's Plague of Shadows, Specter Knight's Specter of Torment, and King's Knight's King of Cards.

I just want to say, for the record, I love the Order of No Quarter. They all have fun battles and their own unique personality, so making side games following three of the order's members is a great idea because we get to learn more about them.

Plague Knight follows a similar story to Shovel Knight but from his point of view and we get to learn how he has ulterior motives for joining the order, and how he's romantically interested in Mona.

Specter Knight acts as a prequel to the game as it follows Specter Knight as he works for the Enchantress in recruiting the members for the Order of No Quarter, and we get to learn about his past and how he used to work with someone named Luan in stealing the Tower of Fate's treasure and the events that led to him working for the Enchantress.

Finally, King Knight, much like Specter of Torment, also acts as a prequel that tells the events that led up to King Knight becoming a member of the Order of No Quarter and ascended to the throne.

Characters in Shovel Knight's story that initially weren't important end up become major plot devices in these DLC stories, like Mona in Plague of Shadows, Reize in Specter of Torment, and just about every villager in King of Card's.

Furthermore, each DLC delivers differences in gameplay that make them feel different from one another. All of the characters still have sub-weapons and armor types that'll help you out on your journey, but Plague Knight's main weapon are his bombs which he can use for throwing or gaining a bit of high with his jump. Specter Knight can run up walls, ride grind rails with his scythe, and a dash slash which acts as a hookshot to get over big gaps as well as a homing attack for enemies. And King Knight can dash into enemies with his shoulder and perform this twirl that acts as a jump attack. King Knight also introduces this game called Joustus where you have to have your cards cover more gems than the other players. It's an okay game mode that adds a bit of challenge and I can see puzzle fans get invested in it, but this game mode is not for me personally.

And finally, the presentation is top notch really selling that old school video game feeling, especially with that ear catching chip tuned soundtrack that only the likes of Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsume could provide.

Oh, and one more thing, you know how Shovel Knight is only an assist trophy in Smash Ultimate, well one day Shovel Knight decided "Oh, you don't want to make me a fighter? That's fine, I'll just make my own!" I haven't played Shovel Knight Showdown myself, but the concept sounds pretty cool and I can't wait to try it out.

What else can I say except Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is my favorite indie game of all time, and no amount of sentient porcelain, luchadors, half genies, or amnesiac furries with talking swords can convince me otherwise.