Shovel Knight | Xbox One

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The start screen says '2015', but it feels like 1990 all over again. 

​Starting up a console capable of playing games that look more like films and playing a game that looks like it should be on the NES or Master System seems folly, but it's something gamers seem to be in love with. 

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by Emily Munro

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@PootPlaysGames

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Developer: Yacht Club Games
Publisher: Yacht Club Games
Players: 1

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Perhaps it's the nostalgia, or maybe we just want a game that just plays simply, with no complex systems to master, and no in depth story to wrap our heads around. Either way, games like Shovel Knight are proving increasingly popular with devs and gamers alike.

Shovel Knight is a culmination of all the best bits of 8-bit era gaming - music, looks, and gameplay. It manages to pull them all together really wonderfully, in a way nothing else has quite managed in recent years. It hits you instantly – the start screen alone is a nostalgia fest with its black background, white writing and music that sounds like it should be on a Gameboy.

The game itself is a simple premise - you're Shovel Knight, on a mission to save the world and your beloved, Shield Knight. Your only implement against the world around you and the things that want to kill you is, of course, your shovel.

There's no tutorial but honestly, you don't need one – you have shovel, and you use it to whack enemies, perform physics-defying bounces and leaps, dig up treasure and smash down walls. Lots of smashing. It's great.
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Surprisingly, for a game that's based on one mechanic for its entirety, Shovel Knight holds up rather well. It will test your shovel-bouncing skills (and your patience) to their limits as you try to traverse your way through screens filled with enemies, death-defying leaps and traps. Traps which you will fall into, many many times.

Luckily, there are regular checkpoints throughout the levels (if you're anything like me, this will be your saving grace) and because each level is around 20-30 minutes, which is a lot of ground to recover if (when) you die, you'll be thankful they're there.

In terms of death and retrying, Shovel Knight takes some cues from newer games, too – when you fall in a pit, impale yourself on spikes or get killed by an enemy, you drop gold. You have one chance to get back to that point and recollect everything you dropped. That's assuming, of course, you can get back to it without dying again first (yes, I died. A lot).

Oh, those sounds. The plinky-plonky music of gaming past. Honestly, they seemed so much more bearable then. But now, in a generation of gaming where we're more accustomed to full scale orchestral scores alongside our games, it begins to grate after a while (admittedly, this may just be me). There's nothing wrong with the music, really, it just feels a bit... twee, after a while.

Shovel Knight has been created with diversity, humour, and more than a little eccentricity.

Shovel Knight has been created with diversity, humour, and more than a little bit of eccentricity. As you traverse the levels and meet new characters, you'll realise this isn't a game that takes itself too seriously. From the Goatician (half goat, half magician) to the Troupple King (half trout, half apple. He performs a kind of dance ceremony...thing, then spits out ichor that has special effects for you to use), you'll not be short of 'what the....' moments or memorable characters. Like horse-people in purple dresses.

Of course, the question remains if there's really enough merit in making games that purposely look 25 years old, but that's another debate entirely. But one thing is certain – Shovel Knight does what it set out to do, and all things considered it does it very well. It is definitely a game worth buying if you like platformers, and will stand as a favourite in the digital collections of many.


Pros

• Massive nostalgia fest
• Very well done, looks great
• Well written and good fun to play

Cons

• Music grates after a while
• It's... infuriatingly difficult in places

 Score 8/10

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