Shovel Knight

 Wii U
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 317 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 261 out of 317
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 317
  3. Negative: 38 out of 317
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  1. Promotheus
    Jun 28, 2015
    6
    I'm a fan of retro games so Shovel Knight is right up my alley. It's a nice charming celebration of older games, but I still think there is a lot of room for improvement. First of all: this game would never be able to look like this on a true 8-bit system. NES-games were not widescreen, could never have this many sprites nor colors on screen at a time, the animations had much fewer framesI'm a fan of retro games so Shovel Knight is right up my alley. It's a nice charming celebration of older games, but I still think there is a lot of room for improvement. First of all: this game would never be able to look like this on a true 8-bit system. NES-games were not widescreen, could never have this many sprites nor colors on screen at a time, the animations had much fewer frames etc etc. I understand that if they would follow all the limitations properly a lot of people would complain, and the younger audience can't tell the difference, but at the same time why not make the entire game with new graphics then? It kind of defeats its purpose.

    The level design is nice and player friendly, but I find it a tad uninspired. All of the 8-bit Mega Man-games had better level design than this. Some of the backgrounds look not so good. The upgrades are a bit useless except for the Fireball one. You definitely should not have access to two "sub-tanks" per se that early on. They make the bosses very easy to beat. Also they should've had a life system instead of the Super Meat Boy approach. If nothing else it would've extended the playtime a bit.

    I like the game, but it ultimately proves to be a footnote in gaming history, not a classic. I find the current price tag of €15 slightly high for a game this short (I finished it in around 3.5 hours). Pricing on indie games is extremely narrow now. Note that 6/10 for me is 3 out of 5, so it's good/ok.    … Expand
  2. thejeffness69
    Oct 27, 2014
    5
    This game is good but slightly overrated. People consider pixel-art to be art, but it is just really a way for smaller developers to make games faster, easier, and cheaper. There is nothing wrong with this, but the market is so over saturated with these 8 bit games...16 bit and 32 bit games are cheap and easy to make too!

    Its fine that they decided to go with the 8-bit aesthetic, but    This game is good but slightly overrated. People consider pixel-art to be art, but it is just really a way for smaller developers to make games faster, easier, and cheaper. There is nothing wrong with this, but the market is so over saturated with these 8 bit games...16 bit and 32 bit games are cheap and easy to make too!

    Its fine that they decided to go with the 8-bit aesthetic, but since it it easier and faster to develop games like this I expect more in terms of length! Especially considering the amount of time they spent making this game! Everything in this game is solid except for the length! A game with graphics like these and in this age shouldnt not be this short when the developers spend over a year or two making it Everything in the game is fine and even though I dont agree with the 8 bit graphics I still thoroughly enjoyed my very brief play through....but it being 8-bit and easy to develop I was expecting it to be way longer considering the amount of time this game was in development. Game is way too short! Even though I despise new 8-bit games, I really enjoyed this game for the 2 hours it took me to beat it! If this game was 10-40 hours I probably would have given it an 8 or a 9.    … Expand
  3. Akumala
    Mar 28, 2015
    6
    Terribly dated and simple plattformer in NES technique, with a frustratingly high difficulty.
    After having tried to like this game for about 20 hours, i cannot recommend this game.
  4. sarisa
    Sep 30, 2019
    6
    Im sorry but this game was simply a disappointment to me.
    Difficulty is inconsistent and sometimes very much unfair. Awkward controls and unexpected behavior of Shovel Knight leads to random button bash as the best combat strategy. All of these sub weapons is just waste of time. This is design flaw imo (even if developers did it on purpose to bring back feelings from old NES games, which    Im sorry but this game was simply a disappointment to me.
    Difficulty is inconsistent and sometimes very much unfair. Awkward controls and unexpected behavior of Shovel Knight leads to random button bash as the best combat strategy. All of these sub weapons is just waste of time. This is design flaw imo (even if developers did it on purpose to bring back feelings from old NES games, which had exactly similar issues).
    Apart of this, the game is rather short (which is good... phew)

    What I really liked in this game was this "knightly ethos" of main character :) Setting and story was also cool.

    Overall I find nothing special here. Another overrated nostalgia driven title. Actually nostalgia from SNES times is the only "value" I could potentially see here. But do we really want to play retro games like that all the time? Im tired of this. Does indie scene has nothing else to offer but pixels?
    This game could be recommended only to particular audience or people who want to remind yourself how it was to play games when they were young.    … Expand
  5. headspacej
    Feb 9, 2017
    5
    Seems like this one is a bit love-hate, with most on the love side. I wanted to love it, and the crazy hype raised expectations even higher. I even love the genre, and Super Metroid might be my favourite game. But I hated Shovel Knight. Weird difficult spikes, awkward controls, punishing lack of checkpoints. Judging by the reviews, it's amazing...but it just never hooked me.

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best Wii U Game of 2014
9
#9 Most Discussed Wii U Game of 2014
10
#10 Most Shared Wii U Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Eurogamer Portugal
    Dec 15, 2014
    90
    This is one of the best games of 2014.
    Read full review
  2. Gamestyle
    Dec 9, 2014
    100
    One of those games that just blows your mind at how good it actually is.
    Read full review
  3. FNintendo
    Dec 8, 2014
    90
    Bringing back all that made older classics into unforgettable games and pushing aside all their technology constraints using modern methods of game design, Shovel Knight is the perfect flagship of a piece of retrgaming made in the 21st century.
    Read full review
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