Following Drill Knight and “his dastardly digging crew blasting apart Shovel Knight’s peaceful campsite” and stealing his loot, Shovel Knight grabs his Shovel Blade and begins chasing after them. Players will “jump, slash, and dig [their] way down an ever-changing chasm of mystery in Shovel Knight Dig.”
Shovel Knight Dig features “glorious high color pixel graphics and sound” and “fluid animation, scaling, rotation, and parallax,” which makes this adventure feel a lot more like a SNES game as opposed to the original’s NES-style.
While Shovel Knight Dig’s levels have been “meticulously crafted,” each adventure will be different as they are “stitched together using proprietary generation techniques for infinite replayability.”
As players dig deeper with the Shovel Drop and Speed Shovel, they will gather wealth which can be used to upgrade Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight Dig will also feature new characters and enemies, including the aforementioned Drill Knight and the brand-new Spore Knight.
While no release date has been announced, attendees at PAX West will be able to try out a new demo on Spore Knight’s Stage, the Mushroom Mines, that will be playable on Nintendo Switch.
In addition to Shovel Knight Dig, Yacht Club Games gave further updates on King of Cards, Showdown, amiibo, and much more.
The amiibo 3-pack featuring Plague Knight, Specter Knight, and King Knight will be available in December 2019 and each unlock new costumes in Shovel Knight – Boomtech Plague Knight, Lich Lord Specter Knight, and Ultimate Supreme King Knight.
The amiibo will also make the costumes available in Showdown and will unlock new platforming challenges within each game’s Challenge mode.
Lastly, the amiibo will unlock a fairy friend that will follow the player throughout their adventures.
As far as other new features, Shovel of Hope (Shovel Knight’s main campaign) will add a third option for character pronouns, allowing players to choose they/them if they so choose.
Players will be able to earn Shovel of Hope feats while playing co-op, Plague of Shadows now has an Alchemy Quick Select option, and Specter of Torment will gain 5 all new platforming challenges.
Korean and Traditional Simplified Chinese languages and further accessibility options, including screen flash and screen shake reduction and colorblind palettes for King of Cards, will also be added.
For those completionists out there, small flags and medals will be displayed on the title screen to denote your accomplishments, including completing the game and conquering every challenge.
Lastly, the King of Cards campaign is “completed and coming soon,” although no further release date was given, and a physical Xbox One version of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove has been announced alongside PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer who still believes Shovel Knight’s Specter of Torment is one of the best games he’s ever played. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.
