892 Shovel Knight Review

by Foster Douglas on June 11, 2017

I knew going into playing Shovel Knight that it belongs to a genre that isn’t necessarily my favorite. What to call that genre, I guess, is high-difficulty side-scrolling platformer? Mostly Mega Man games live in this genre, and somewhat relatedly VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy.

Surprisingly (or maybe not so much based on the reviews of the game), I ended up really enjoying it. The game didn’t turn out to be quite as hard as I thought it might be. That isn’t to say it wasn’t palm-sweatingly difficult… it was. But I thought it would be more frustrating than it was.

Other aspects… The music was incredibly memorable, and felt thoughtful and deeply connected to each different stage. The length of the game was also pretty ideal, not dragging on too long, but having enough extra content or side areas to explore for people who wanted to extend the length of the experience a bit.

[ Today I Was Playing: Shovel Knight ]

#game-review-critique