Shovel Knight Showdown

Genre: Action-Platformer / Fighting Game

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

(Note: this game is included in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, along with Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (only in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove), Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, and Shovel Knight: King of Cards.)

Shovel Knight Showdown is a combination of Action-Platformer and Fighting Game that was created as a standalone expansion for Shovel Knight, the fourth of four such expansions, with this game being unlike the first three, which each cast a different boss from Shovel Knight in the role of the game’s protagonist. This game re-uses some of the assets of Shovel Knight and the subsequent expansions, while including some new visuals and music as well.

While there are definitely some re-used visuals here, the game still looks good, with menus and interstitial story scenes featuring large, well-crafted pixel art of the characters. Beyond that, it’s the same story as the prior games… but those all looked and sounded great, and it’s no different here. It’s also a nice touch that each character gets their own story in the game’s single-player mode, much as you might see in a traditional fighting game.

As for the gameplay, Showdown has each of the four protagonists from the prior Shovel Knight games all controlling pretty much the same as they did in those titles, as well as adding five new ones. As such, Showdown feels a little like playing a boss battle from one of the Shovel Knight games, except now you’re playing against anywhere from one to three other players (or computer-controlled characters). I should note that the AI isn’t particularly great (even at higher settings, it kept running into hazards and even falling off of the stage), so this is definitely a game you’ll want to play with friends.

The move set here isn’t as varied as you’d get in a traditional Fighting Game or Super Smash Bros., but there’s still a good amount of fun to be had with Shovel Knight Showdown, especially if players are a fan of the series. If you enjoyed the Shovel Knight games and have some friends to throw down with, this is definitely worth a purchase, or you can simply get the Treasure Trove that contains the whole set.

tl;dr – Shovel Knight Showdown is a standalone expansion to Shovel Knight, the fourth expansion out of four. This is a hybrid of Action-Platformer and Fighting Game that has the same basic gameplay of the Shovel Knight games, but now has a focus on multiplayer arena battles. The gameplay here is solid, but this isn’t as groundbreaking as Shovel Knight, and the AI is kinda’ dumb so you’ll definitely want to play with friends. However, if you do have friends to throw down with, this is definitely worth a look.

Grade: B

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