Not since Bionic Commando's Nathan "Rad" Spencer decided to eschew jumping in favour of robotic arm swinging has unusual 2D platforming mobility been so delightfully demanding. But it becomes apparent very early on that wrapping your head around this new system is a key part of what makes Plague of Shadows so darn captivating. You can name your price for it at Bandcamp. Shovel Knight's soundtrack was composed by Jake Kaufmann (BloodRayne: Betrayal, Mighty Switch Force) with a couple of tracks by Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae. You can't even get past the first obstacle five seconds into the game without relying on it. This isn't just some fancy pro-trick either, but the entire cornerstone of how the game is designed. That's not the case in Plague of Shadows, where holding down the attack button allows for a charge jump instead. It's quite common then that holding down the attack button will result in a charge shot. Most platformers stick to two fundamental buttons: jump and shoot. Where Shovel Knight's simple, refined controls hearkened back to the minimalist pleasures of Mario or Mega Man, Plague Knight turns the usual platforming blueprint on its head with intentionally awkward mobility.
The most obvious change is your character model, but Plague Knight doesn't just look different than Shovel Knight he plays very, very differently.
So what did Yacht Club decide to do with this smashing success? Rather than roll around in a big pile of money like Scrooge McDuck or invest all that capital into its next game, the developer decided to honour those who made the company a success by adding what might be gaming's most expansive free DLC to date with the Plague of Shadows expansion.Īnd what an expansion it is! Rather than simply adding a palette swap so players could go through the campaign as fan-favourite villain Plague Knight, Yacht Club decided to instead rework the entire campaign, nearly creating an entire sequel in the process.
And that was before it was ported to PlayStation platforms, Xbox One, and the European Wii U and 3DS eShops. Upon finally launching in summer 2014 (on Steam and the North American 3DS and Wii U eShop), the game surpassed the developer's lifetime sales estimate of 150k copies by shifting 180k copies in its first month on sale. A retro platformer developed by ex-WayForward staff at fledgling studio Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight raised more than quadruple its $75k Kickstarter goal in spring 2013. Shovel Knight is one of video game crowdfunding's biggest success stories.
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