Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

Great Platformer with expansions for almost all tastes. Multi Genre in use: Shovel Knight is your standard Metroidvania, Plague Knight lets you approach the game from a caster perspective, Specter lets you be Ninja Gaiden and King Knigth takes some elements from Wario and also it's a full blown card game. I wish I had this in physical. It's really great.

As soon as I started Shovel Knight(SK) I was brought back to the old NES days of music and aesthetics. Fans of old NES classics will compare SK to Megaman and other old 8-bit platformers. The controls are tight just like the good old days, nice level design with a slighty enhanced 8-bit color scheme and music created by former Megaman musicians. Casual gamers may have a tough time getting through the game, but veteran gamers who grew up playing Mario Bros., Castlevania and Hudson's Adventure Island will have no problems and may be a bit easy for them. You'll have to think your way through the game trying to acquire gems and items. Also reflexes and timing are key to get past on some levels. Top it all off with pattern-attack bosses and cut scenes. I have two nit-pick complaints with Shovel Knight. First, it was a bit short for me. After completing it I felt I should of had a surprise that would open up a new world. Nope. Instead you get to go through the game again with Plague Knight with a different control type and story. It's OK, but I wanted more with Shovel Knight! Also I wish there were some more power-ups than was offered. It took me about 9 hrs to complete, but I was taking my time. You could finish it quicker if you rush through it. Overall, it is a well balanced game and players of all levels will enjoy it, especially ones born with an NES controller in their mouth. If you haven't bought this by now, you really should ASAP. It's worth your money.

very good game

I've already have it on my NINTENDO 3DS and on STEAM. I also bought it on GOG with all of its DLCs. This title is timeless. GET IT NOW guys.

Yes, I am calling them expansions, because they came out long after the main game and were combined into one game (Treasure Trove) later. The main game is great, funny and hard. The expansions however, are different. Spectre and Plague Knight's campaigns are pretty good, I would say, with Plague Knight being in the lead. King Knights campaign however, is different. It's often frustrating, doesn't really introduce new mechanics, and is missing a lot of the spirit the main campaign has. It also has a needlessly tacked on card game mechanic, which ultimately is not really game relevant. (I think you can even play through it without touching the card game at all). BUT it is still the driver of the story, and that feels somehow wrong. That's why I reduced the rating by one star, considering it is still a 40 bucks game.