Shovel Knight

 PlayStation Vita
Shovel Knight Image
Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 4 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

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  • Summary: Shovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic. It's a hot mashup of new and old! You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this land with twoShovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic. It's a hot mashup of new and old! You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this land with two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and quest for his lost beloved. He wields a Shovel Blade: a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight is a shining example of the code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!

    But, between Shovel Knight and his beloved stands a cadre of villainous knights. These terrible foes, known as The Order of No Quarter, have been dispatched to prevent Shovel Knight from reaching the Enchantress, and will pursue their mission at any cost. If you love games with perfect platforming, beautiful art, infectious music, crazy bosses, humor and levity, and real heart... Shovel Knight is for you!    … Expand

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Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Gaming Age
    May 13, 2015
    100
    What really brings everything together, though, is the game's exceptionally good writing. Where most other retro games rely on references in place of actual humour, Shovel Knight is full of jokes that are actually funny and a plot that's actually engaging.
  2. Digitally Downloaded
    May 11, 2015
    90
    Shovel Knight is yet another fantastic indie addition to the continually growing Vita catalogue. It might lack Vita-specific extras (and is therefore a pointless purchase for people who already own the game on some other platform), but for old-school retro platforming fans who might have missed out on this fantastic title so far, it's a must buy.
  3. Multiplayer.it
    May 20, 2015
    90
    Shovel Knight on PlayStation Vita is a joy to play, smoothless carrying the original game with the added bonuses of its gorgeous screen, trophies a new boss encounter.
  4. The Vita Lounge
    May 13, 2015
    88
    This is definitely a game worth investing your time and money in to, the hype surrounding it was absolutely necessary and correct.

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. SuperkenGaming
    Apr 30, 2015
    10
    Shovel Knight
    A must Play For all
    Shovel Knight is a beautifully charming action platforming game. Shovel Knights art style screams    Shovel Knight
    A must Play For all
    Shovel Knight is a beautifully charming action platforming game.
    Shovel Knights art style screams nostalgia sale, but I was happy to find that this game isn’t just here to pull money out of your pockets with heart strings, Shovel Knight is it’s own game, an instant classic.
    Shovel knight consists of 12 main levels all with their own boss battles, each level and stage getting progressively more challenging.
    The pacing is really some of the best ive ever seen in gaming.
    Every level has checkpoints, this may annoy the hardcore gamers at first, but you really come to appreciate them, platforming can get really trick for those of us that are impatient.
    These type of gamers are who the checkpoints are for, they are essentially training wheels.
    Shovel Knight is really more than just a flat forming game, it truly is an experience, and im happy these checkpoints exist so all can experience and guess what… checkpoints are COMPLETELY optional.
    Don’t like them?
    Break them, they drop cash so now you have nothing to complain about.
    I wouldn’t recommend doing such a thing your first time through as again, shovel knight gets increasingly challenging.
    Enemies will start throwing projectiles, youll have to dodge lava and spikes and look out for enemies while you seek out secrets.
    There are tons of secrets to be found in shovel knight that I wont spoil, but they add such a great deal of wonder to the game, you never know what youre going to find in a room you just uncovered from an exploding rat.
    It could be a music page for you to sell in the villiage, or a new relic waiting for you to grab to help you out through the rest of the game.
    I wasn’t expecting relics, but im so happy they exist, these relics all cost magic to use so cant really be spammed, but they are all varied and make you look at levels for better, more efficient ways to traverse them.
    You can also save your gold for armour and shovel upgrades, maybe increased magic or meal tickets to increase your health, the choice is yours, but unless youre completely confident in your skills walking into an unknown area you better make that choice before going back out, because every time you die you drop 3 pouches of gold much like in the souls series.
    If you want that gold back youre going to have to go grab it, if you die on your way back then its gone forever..
    The risk reward makes traversing these gorgeous levels even more enjoyable.
    Not only did this development team due a great job with level design and enemies, but also with bosses.
    Each boss has its own attack style, so no 2 relics will be equally handy in these encounters, gratefully though, they all die the same way, hit them an x amount of times.
    Games can get in the habit of making bosses a little too unique, what shovel knight does so great is make the encounters similar enough to give you a sense of pride and feeling like you used skill to defeat a new enemy rather than you just got completely lucky.
    It isn’t common to die during your first encounter with a new boss and that is so refreshing.
    I wont get into story all too much, but I will say that it is there, there is reason to the madness and it, at least to me is beautiful.
    After you’ve completed the game and have picked every level apart for its secrets and treasures, you have the option to start a new game +.
    New game plus lets you start from the beginning with everything you collected in your previous play through, but this time levels are a little tougher as youll notice some checkpoints are missing, enemies do double damage, and there are no health pick ups.
    There are tons of challenging feats to accomplish in shovel knight.
    Totally worth the playthrough just to experience, a highly recommended game title to both casual and hardcore gamers alike.
    I truly believe that everyone can find something to love about shovel knight.
    For what it is
    Action platformer 10/10
    and as an overall game my first ever 10/10    … Expand
  2. Kosma
    Oct 7, 2015
    9
    This game is a little gem. Nice music, good pixelart but above all quality old school platforming with modern sensibilities. The game has aThis game is a little gem. Nice music, good pixelart but above all quality old school platforming with modern sensibilities. The game has a great difficulty curve and the in level check points are well spaced. Some bosses were a bit on the easy side though. Good variety in levels, the game doesnt outstay its welcome and doesnt repeat content which is refreshing. No filler!

    Dev just released an expansion of sorts for free which is a pleasant surprise too.    … Expand
  4. hileger
    Jan 19, 2023
    9
    одна из лучших платформеров игра буквально надрачивает тебе и ты становишься мочнееодна из лучших платформеров игра буквально надрачивает тебе и ты становишься мочнее
  5. theresort
    May 13, 2023
    9
    An ode to the classic NES games. This game is fun but challenging. The story and character are wacky and interesting, but nothing special. IAn ode to the classic NES games. This game is fun but challenging. The story and character are wacky and interesting, but nothing special. I highly recommend this game.… Expand
  6. isarunasi
    Sep 9, 2015
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It actually isn't play for all by any means. It is a very well made platformer for people who appreciate challenging games and/or platformers. For gamers who don't have particular interest in these areas, it isn't that great of a game because the game punishes you a lot for making mistakes. At some points it becomes too much of a 'I know what I have to do, I just have to replay these few minutes until I get every single action right'. Not everyone will enjoy this, so consider it before trying it out.
    I stopped at the 'all bosses' boss fight, simply because I saw what remained in the game more as work, than fun. Some will find it fun, some will find it frustrating.

    Don't get me wrong, the game is very well made, and people who are into platformers will definitely love it. It has great aesthetics, catchy music and nice upbeat tempo, so there is a lot to like, especially if you appreciate retro games in general.    … Expand

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