After owning this game for years, I went back to it and got through the original campaign and I absolutely loved it. This game does more than just throw pixel art on a platformer. It's increasingly common and has seen varying levels of success, but with Shovel Knight it shows that if you put the care and the heart into it, you really can show why people triumphed for those old NES platformers. Shovel Knight doesn't just get the look, it doesn't just get the feel, it gets the charm, too. If this game came out in 1989, it would have been top of its game then and we would be looking at it as a classic today. It's an excellent example of how, even though this game is rooted in ages past, some things can really become timeless. Beyond its nod to the great games of past, beyond its nostalgic feel, it's an absolute gem, and I want to recommend it to everyone, regardless of their history with video games. As an aside, I just started on the Plague of Shadows campaign earlier today, and I don't know how they've done it, but I'm having even more fun than ever. I want to hug the entire dev team. No matter what angle I look at this game from, it's brillant. There aren't enough stars I can give it.
Lots of comparisions to Shadow of the Colossus were made, and I think the developers would like to think that, at least. I'm sure on some base level that's what people hoped for, but it's nowhere near that feel at all. Taking down the titans has nowhere near the sense of reward and accomplishment that SotC does. It just feels tedious. Whereas in SotC, it was a huge endeavor in and of itself. Figuring out what to do each step of the way, where the stakes got increasingly higher throughout each battle. Which made the journey between colossi enthralling, the quiet moments were all buildup and tension. The battles in Titan Souls aren't exciting enough to justify it. Perhaps if they hadn't tried so hard chasing SotC/Souls themes the concept behind the game could have been better realized, but alas the game is what it is, and for all it's effort to be grand and novel, it's just a forgettable gimmick.
