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Shovel Knight is one of the best 2D platformers of the last decade, and it looks like it's about to get even better with the long-awaited release of Shovel Knight: King of Cards, a game-sized add-on which was delayed by a few months earlier this year. Not only that, Shovel Knight is getting a multiplayer arena fighter (with single-player adventures) called Shovel Knight Showdown, a 2D dungeon-digger called Shovel Knight Dig, and a suite of free updates.
King of Cards "has more levels, mechanics, secrets, and content than any Shovel Knight game to come before it," Yacht Club Games says. "It’s a spectacle, crammed to the coffers with ideas- it’s the biggest game we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally, finally play it. We’ve used everything we’ve learned in the past to make this game shine. We hope that you’ll find it both a delightful return and a fitting sendoff to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove."
For the unaware: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is the all-in-one edition of the game, and it comes with everything from the Shovel of Hope campaign to the newly revealed Showdown mode. It's currently available on multiple platforms, and it's getting a new physical edition on Switch, PS4, and Xbox One - with some new Amiibo to go with the Switch version, no less. Shovel Knight Showdown will be added to the Treasure Trove for free on consoles and PC, but won't be available on 3DS and Vita. It will also be available as a standalone game.
Shovel Knight Dig won't be included in the Treasure Trove because it's a totally separate and distinct game. It's being made in collaboration with Nitrome and has been in development for more than a year, though Yacht Club says it's "got quite a ways to go still." If I had to describe Shovel Knight Dig just from looking at it, I'd say it seems like a mix of Shovel Knight, Downwell, and SteamWorld Dig - a 2D platformer where you tunnel ever-downward to find treasure, kind of like a vertical dungeon crawler. It uses a more cartoony art style than the main games, it's got new "Speed Shovel" mechanics, and it employs procedurally generated levels - and it looks like an awful lot of fun.
Existing Shovel Knight content is also getting some updates and upgrades. Shovel of Hope is adding co-op challenges, Plague of Shadows is getting a convenient new alchemy menu, Specter of Torment is adding five new challenge mode platforming stages, and everything in the Treasure Trove is getting expanded language and accessibility options from colorblind modes to screen shake sliders. Considering the original Shovel Knight - a predominantly single-player 2D platformer, I'll remind you - was released in 2014, it's remarkably well-supported. Yacht Club is sticking to what they know, and I'm here for it.
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