Possibly one of the worst platformers I've ever played.

[Salvage64]

The checkpoint are to far out and when I die at the end of a hard part I shouldn't have to redo a bunch of crap just to try again. I know that in mario and stuff its the same but at least they dont unfair level design made to make you mad. I can't change my relic controls and that makes me constantly use my things when I don't want to. There are to many instakill death traps for a game that makes you lose gold when you die. You make stupidly hard parts after one stupidly hard part with no checkpoint in between making me die and having to go back and do the first one again good thing refunds exist or I would've wasted 15 dollars.

[Buffet Time]

You can change the Controls for relic selection. also ur bad mate

[Salvage64]

Originally posted by ᙖuffet Time:

You can change the Controls for relic selection. also ur bad mate

Not relic selection relic activation

[Buffet Time]

Options > Controls > Relic Input Type

[*Graze*]

Not enough checkpoints? Have you played the Doc Robot stages from Megaman 3? This game is too generous when compared to thoses stages, especially since the games are so similar.

Originally posted by 99dSFMu12:

The lose gold is actually better, imagine if you get only 4-3 lives

Unlike this game, those Doc Robot stages have barely any checkpoints and you only get those 3 up to maybe 6 or 7 lives to get through the entire stage depending on your skill playing so far, filled with instant kill death traps and two difficult bosses in all of them. The difficulty offered in this game is nothing compared to a lot of other platformers out there both new and old, including those platformers that are considered very good.

It's hard, but very fair. The only excuse for you to give up is lack of skill.

[Buffet Time]

I didn't find this game to be that hard at all, rather just a fun platformer. This has nothing on the OG Megaman games or a lot of other platformers

[Splatterman]

Sounds like you think you're better at it than you are. I'm not saying that in a condescending or mean way at all, I'm serious. It just sounds like you're not amazing at it. It's designed to be a hard platformer, part of its throwing-back to NES games. You mentioned that Ghouls and Goblins is a bad game. Is it though? It's designed to be amazingly hard, and require memorization and quick movements. And it is hard, and it requires both of those things.

Same thing with Shovel Knight. It's made to be hard, and be somewhat skimpy with checkpoints. Go look up Volgarr the Viking. You think SK is bad, that game has long levels, a lot of death and only one checkpoint per level. Yet it still accomplishes its goal (even if one checkpoint can be arguably unfair), and people still beat it.

So again, for you to say that there's too much death and you can't do some stages, yet you're pretty good at it... it's a bit of a contradiction. People play this game all the time and beat it, so for you to say not only that it's bad, but one of the worst platformers of all time? It's somewhat ridiculous. And ignorant to an extent, because there are way worse platformers, that are designed terribly or are way too unfair, even compared to Volgarr.

In Shovel Knight, if you can master all skills and items and the levels, then you can beat it. If you can't, then you can't. Same with Dark Souls, same with Mega Man, same with Ghouls and Goblins. Or Ghosts. I've forgotten the name

[aph1]

No need to write a negative review of a game you clearly succk at ! If you can't get past level 3 in norma game mode, then don't play platformers. Damn Child of Duties!

[Smusi]

Originally posted by ᙖuffet Time:

I didn't find this game to be that hard at all, rather just a fun platformer. This has nothing on the OG Megaman games or a lot of other platformers

The only thing i found a little harder was propeller knight on the plague of shadows dlc, 2 hours to kill him hahaha apparently some people didn't have any problems at all

[Shadowspaz]

Rage refunds are the best refunds.

Stay classy. <3

[Schmiddi]

I wanna see you playing the +Game.

[Buffet Time]

Implying that NG+ was really that hard, only Plague NG+ was at all a challenge and that was only because the propellor fight and the ridiculous pre patch Boss Rush

[BanebladeCrewman]

Shovel Knight is a game meant to be hard and based off trial and error. There is no such thing as an "unfair" singleplayer game. It sounds like your just bad or have a really short temper. Just think if it had a lives system.

[*Graze*]

Originally posted by SalvageMarine64 CSGORumble.com:

To many instant deaths and not enough checkpoints in some parts.

If these were the factors that determined if a platformer is good or not, we'd have very few good ones.

[Qah]

I actually think some parts in Shovel Knight are designed to be as irritating as possible, and I don't feel players should justify that as "oldschool design".

Oldschool platformers were unforgiving because they were over in two hours and kids' parents couldn't justify buying an uncommon commodity for as much money as they were asking to keep their kids occupied for an afternoon. So videogames were designed to keep players playing for as long as possible. That level of difficulty in oldschool platformers and... games in general, is often overstated and I think it's about time we all stop pretending videogames are about being dextrous.

Videogames are about having fun. Being dextrous is just one facet that may not even be relevant to the designer. Plenty of games don't require that much dexterity. Plenty of games like this one, in fact. And they're not bad because of that fact.

That said, I don't entirely agree that the Shovel Knight is all that difficult, even though I do agree that the designer used the instant death pit crutch to add tension to stages just a few times too many, I think. The Plague Knight campaign, on the other hand... Now that's just a mess.

[gatesps]

Originally posted by Red:

I think it's about time we all stop pretending videogames are about being dextrous.

Videogames are about having fun. Being dextrous is just one facet that may not even be relevant to the designer. Plenty of games don't require that much dexterity. Plenty of games like this one, in fact. And they're not bad because of that fact.

I'd agree that not all video games have to be about dexterity, but that doesn't mean that they can't be, and if that's not what you enjoy then this is probably the wrong game for you. For me, the fun of games like this one lies in overcoming difficult levels and learning how to control your character well, and I honestly miss the challenge in less-demanding games. Not that there's anything inherently better about more difficulty, but some people prefer that.

There are poorly-designed platformers out there that will cheap-shot you every chance they get, but Shovel Knight is very well-designed. Aside from a few obnoxious jumps here and there, you always have a chance to see ahead and plan. If you die, it's not because of some danger you couldn't have foreseen, or some glitch of the physics. I also love how the checkpoints are always right next to the boss: you can watch the boss and learn their patterns with only a small penalty for dying.

Plague's definitely harder to play at first (prepare to die a lot, and buy the Float Burst ASAP), but once you get used to him I'd say that he's much more powerful and mobile than Shovel Knight.