Shovel Knight Showdown Review
Get this show on the road.
Shovel Knight is a titan of a game. Not only was it the first game to get a third-party Amiibo, but it also led the charge back into the old-school nostalgia trip that we now know as being such an integral part of indie gaming. It looked at innovation and said “no more” but in a good way, and we’ve all been dying our eyes with rose colouring ever since. I think I’ve mangled that phrase enough now, shall we move on?
Well, the knight with a spade is branching out, not just into gardening and grave digging, but into secret fight clubs where the only rules are that you can’t be someone else’s imaginary friend. Shovel Knight Showdown is Yacht Club Games’ version of Super Smash Bros. Or at least, it kind of is.
It has a lot in common with the most famous of chaotic fighting games. It’s a four-player local multiplayer game that is designed to be easy to play, and it’s definitely got the same energy as Smash does. It does differ in a few key ways, though: you have health that can be depleted, and one of the main win conditions is collecting gems.
You start off with access to a handful of characters, but you can more or less double the roster if you’re willing to put a little bit of time into the Story Mode. You see, if you complete it with one of the characters, you’ll unlock a new one. Better still, you’ll actually unlock a new stage, probably some new music, and usually some new costume options. It’s a great way of incentivising some single-player action, and it’s also pretty enjoyable anyway.
It takes you through a different story and sequence of fights depending on the character you’re playing as. It also cycles between different rule sets, which means it serves as an excellent introduction to the game itself. The only real downside of the mode is the incredibly noticeable difficulty spike once you get to the final boss. I’m talking classic fighting game levels of end boss, as in, back when games were designed to eat your money. It can be overcome, but many will probably just choose to play through on easy instead of risking defeat at the final hurdle.
Of course, if you’re picking up Shovel Knight Showdown, you’re probably doing so for the multiplayer stuff. Well, good news: it’s great. The controls are simple enough that even new players will stand a chance, but the characters are unique enough that you’ll be able to find a main to crush your friends with.
Each character has a jump, a parry, a basic attack and a special attack. On top of this, many characters have variations of each of these, so some fighters can double jump or hover, while others might have special attacks while airborne. The variety in characters really makes a difference too, so you’ll be able to really dig into the characters and find one that suits you.
The stage variation is great as well. Some stages have insta-kill hazards like lava, while others have the Pac-Man effect of letting you walk off the screen in one direction and appearing on the other side. Again, it does an excellent job of keeping things interesting, while not being too complicated for new players.
Perhaps the greatest icing on this wonderful retro cake is the visual style. It’s got all the charm and flair that you expect from a Shovel Knight game. It’s truly poetry in motion, and the fights look excellent as a result. Graphical fidelity is nice and all, but it’s hard to beat good pixel art, and that’s definitely what Shovel Knight does best.
The soundtrack is also absolutely incredible too. Of course, it was always going to be with Jake “Virt” Kaufman composing it. It manages to fit everything going on at any given time and is something I can see myself listening to even if I’m not playing the game.
So, in summary, and this should be no surprise, Shovel Knight Showdown is exactly what it should be: a fun, fast-paced take on the Smash Bros. version of a fighting game, but with all of the Shovel Knight you could ever want stuffed into it. The fact that it balances itself so perfectly between new players and those who have spent more time on it makes it excellent as a party game too. Expect to lose many hours (and lives) to this shovel-tastic fighting game. Yes, writing shovel-tastic hurt, but it’s just that good.
[Reviewed on PC]