Personally, I never understood the point of a shovel because we have hands. But I guess someone–somewhere–thought the idea of a large spoon that could scoop things was amazing and revolutionary. 

       So now we have shovels. 

       But while I (a very cool dude who is at the time of writing this is worrying about call backs for a play) may see no use in the classic tool, a Knight did.

       Enter Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, which was made by Yacht Club Games and released on May 30, 2017! Currently, the game follows four storylines: “Shovel of Hope” with Shovel Knight-yes, I kid you not, that is his name– “Specter of Torment” with Spectre Knight, “Plague of Shadows” with Plague Knight, and finally, the newest story, “King of Cards” with King Knight. 

       I’m going to go through each of their stories and rate them out of ten. Ten is very good, while one is like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Finally, I will tell you at the end my overall opinion of the game, so without further ado, time to review a game that came out 6 years ago, For Shovelry.

       The first game in the series, Shovel of Hope, was announced on Kickstarter on March 15, 2013 with a goal of $75,000(they made $311,502 hitting all of the reach goals) and was released on June 26, 2014. The story follows Shovel Knight and his journey to rescue his partner Shield Knight from the evil Enchantress. Along the way, Shovel Knight must defeat the Order of No Quarter, which is full of many different knights from across the land on top of wandering adventures (fun fact: every single wandering adventure you meet was made by the top donors for the Kickstarter). Overall, this game is pretty fun along with a great introduction to the game, giving you a mini challenge while playing some great retro beats. In all, this game gets an 8.5/10.

       The following year, Yacht Club Games released an alternate story to the main one taking place around the same time as Shovel of Hope, being Plague of Shadows which was released on September 17, 2015. This story follows Plague Knight who is one of the Order of No Quarter members, and it follows his quest to make the ultimate potion(and find love). This story takes place right before Shovel Knight’s quest to save Shield Knight, so it’s all the same characters. In fact, you even fight Shovel Knight during this story. Overall, this game is pretty fun, although harder than Shovel of Hope. For that, it gets an 8/10.

       Next up is Specter of Torment, which was released on April 5, 2017, and even though this game came out later, the story actually takes place before Shovel Knight’s. In this game, you play as Specter Knight, who is tasked with finding and “convincing” them to join the Enchantress to create the Order of No Quarter. The story also delves into family and how Specter Knight came to be the way he is. Just like in Shovel of Hope and Specter of Torment, you also can encounter wandering adventurers, though this time you see why they act the way they do in Shovel of Hope. Overall, this game is pretty fun, a little easier than Shovel of Hope, but overall enjoyable, 8.5/10.

       Now, we have arrived at the most recent Shovel Knight game, King of Cards, which takes place a day or two before Specter of Torment, and was released on December 10, 2019. The game follows King Knight, another member of the Order of No Quarter, and his quest to become the King of Joustus. However, in order to become the King of Joustus, King Knight must defeat the three Joustus kings: King Pridemoor, the Troupple King, and King Birder. This game is the only game in the series to introduce a level and world system instead of only having boss stages and one big world. Overall, this game is really fun and introduces something new while still keeping homage to the original along with a decent challenge, 9/10.

       There is one more game in Treasure Trove that I haven’t mentioned, that being Shovel Knight: Showdown, which was released the same day as King of Cards. This game isn’t an adventure game like every other game is, as this one is a platform fighting game. In this, you can play like the main characters from the previous game on top of even more characters, each with a unique move-set. Each character has their own semi-unique story and while this game isn’t exactly canon to the main story, if it was, it would take place at the end of Specter of Torment. Overall, this is still a fun game but definitely more oriented for parties and not solo play, 7/10.

       Finally we have something that everyone is waiting for: The Review–Yay. Altogether, this game is really fun with some pretty simple controls that anyone can jump into from a jump button to holding down on a joystick and crying healing tears(It doesn’t work in real life, I tested).

       With all that out of the way I give this game a 8/10. Honestly speaking, I really like this game from its cool retro theme, to its unique puzzles and engaging but simple story. In conclusion: play this game. For the price of 60 dollars you get 5 games in one which is a steal.