This game is not enjoyable for long stretches. Some cite the dark cave maze as the worst offender, but that one is actually alright, for one reason: You have some idea what you are supposed to do! You can draw a map which I had my wife do while I clicked around. Many puzzles are simply trial-and-error and many puzzles are just not logical and don't have any kind of hint. We gave up at around 2/3 of the game because we were not inclined to do any more trial-and-error, backtracking or getting stuck in an unbeatable game state. We watched a let's play real quick instead. The humor, by the way, is not great and very stiff. Not the stupid puns though because stupid puns are always great. This game gets two stars for the neat animations and the okay music.
Shovel Knight is a fun game and it has everything you'd expect from a game that revisits the olden days of 8-bit gaming. I especially liked the little campy details in animation and presentation. But I find it hard to justify calling it a fantastic game like so many others do. The controls feel clunky sometimes, but I guess I got used to that. The game has difficulty issues. I don't mean it's too hard or too easy, but the hard parts come interspersed in more easy parts. Often, there are less-than-ideal continue points which force you to play through the same boring part again and again before you get to the challenge again. What surprised me the most is that so many people praise the soundtrack, but there is hardly anything notable going on there, unfortunately. It simply cannot compete with the fantastic soundtracks of games like Super Meat Boy, Hotline Miami or Super Hexagon. To me a good soundtrack is important, so I found this point especially disappointing. So if you are expecting an overwhelmingly awesome game like so many others here said, I think you will be disappointed a little. I can still recommend it though, it's a fun game, especially if you play it with tempered expectations!
