(TL;DR version at the bottom)

Timeless is a word many use to describe the 8-bit era of the third generation of consoles. Whether it's the tight game play of games like Mega Man, the simplistic, timeless nature of pixel art itself, or simply nostalgia for simpler times, the love of these games is undoubtedly shown by the slew of retro-inspired indie games released in recent years. While many of them are fantastic games in their own right, few have quite the same amount of heart as Yacht Club Games' debut title Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight takes a great deal of inspiration from many classic NES games. The overworld is charmingly Mario 3-esque with minibosses scattered throughout. The platforming reminiscent of one Scrooge McDuck from the somewhat recently remastered Duck Tales. The towns are full of NPCs to interact with, à la Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. And the level layout and boss structure is inspired by the aforementioned Mega Man. With all of this clear inspiration from past classics, it can be hard for a game such as this to form an identity of its own. I'm happy to say that this is not the case with Shovel Knight.

The story of Shovel Knight is a simple one. While exploring the Tower of Fate, Shovel Knight suffers the loss of his beloved Shield Knight and the tower is sealed shut. His spirit broken, Shovel Knight gives up his life of adventuring in exchange for one of solitude and seclusion. That is until the land is seized by the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter, an intimidating group of eight knights that fit the mold of Mega Man's iconic Robot Masters both mechanically and in design quality. As a result, the tower is unsealed and after digging himself out of his rut, (that's the only pun I swear) Shovel Knight sets off to defeat The Enchantress and unravel the mysteries of his love's presumed death at The Tower of Fate.

In the beginning stage, the game does well to introduce you to many of its mechanics: moving, jumping, slashing, hopping, and of course, digging. What's extraordinary about this kind of game design is that it conveys all of this to the player without a single tutorial or annoying prompt telling you what to do. Now, this is largely due to simplicity of the game in comparison to modern games of today, but this kind of game design has been dying out for years for an alternative that is, in my opinion, much more lazy and much less creative. Shovel Knight's mechanics are one of its many strong suits. Not only is your shovel used as your primary weapon, it's also a useful tool used to traverse each level. Digging through sand to reach some treasure or perfectly timing a hop off an enemy to reach an area otherwise inaccessible are both interesting and fun implementations. It's been a long time since I've played a game that just feels this good. Every jump and slash are incredibly precise. If you die in this game it's your fault and yours alone. And you will die. A lot.

Upon death, you drop some of the gold you had on you at the time. To get it back, you must reach the area you died at to pick it up again. Die again on the way to your gold however, and it's gone. While not anywhere near as harsh, this system will be familiar to anyone who's played any of the Souls games. Unlike the grueling, start-from-scratch difficulty of the various NES titles Shovel Knight draws so much inspiration from, Yacht Club Games opted for a much more accessible checkpoint system where in each stage contains roughly four to six checkpoints. Now that's not to say the game isn't difficult. Where the classic games we grew up with were both difficult and unforgiving, (sometimes to mask the games lack of content) Shovel Knight is difficult, but also forgiving. And to me this is the perfect blend. Think this system is blasphemous? Then destroy the checkpoints as you go! Destroying each checkpoint not only increases the games difficulty exponentially, it also rewards you with a ton of cash to upgrade your weapon and armor. Upgrades include multiple sets of palette swapped armor with varying abilities and shovel upgrades like the ability to launch a spark across the ground if your health is full.

Shovel Knight's level design is top-notch, with each level's design reflecting each boss respectfully. The viking-like Polar Knight dwells in an icy tundra, the flying Propeller Knight commands a massive airship, and so on. Each level feels distinctly different from the last, with new obstacles and trials to keep you on your toes. Secrets like gold or music notes can be found throughout each level by finding tiny differences in walls and then blasting through them with your mighty shovel. From plains, to dark laboratories, to factories full of cranking gears, variety is an important piece of the puzzle that is a great platformer, and Shovel Knight displays that fact prominently.

(VERDICT)
At around seven hours your first time through and a new game plus mode with increased damage for replay ability, Shovel Knight is a great value that delivers in simply every way. It plays flawlessly, sounds incredible, and looks gorgeous. With the way Shovel Knight melds all of its inspirations together and introduces its own interesting mechanics, Yacht Club Games has created something truly special. Something that isn't a Mega Man rip-off or a Zelda clone, but a game that is uniquely Shovel Knight; a passionately written love letter to the late great games of the NES era.