I had high expectations already but Spectre of Torment actually surpassed them. It's an excellent prequal game. All the stages and music have been remixed and done wonderfully might I add. Loads of new content. The gameplay and story are really well done as well. I love how all the SK characters all feel unique and all have their own style of movement and Spectre Knight is no different. It's fun zipping around the stage and shadow slashing fools left and right. I liked the darker tone this one had but it still has it's humor in it. It had a nice sad story to it that fleshed some of the background details out. Overall I think Specter of Torment was my second favorite Shovel Knight campaign.

Despite being easily the shortest installment of Shovel Knight, this one is probably my favorite. Specter Knight is super fun to play as, and his playstyle can allow for some seriously crazy parkour scenarios and level exploits. The level design is top-notch as well, and it makes all of the locations established in Shovel of Hope feel much more alive and bustling than in that game. I also really liked the boss fights in this game. Granted, most of them are just the same characters as in Shovel of Hope, but most of them receive new tricks and attacks to make them harder for Specter Knight (For the most part. I'd argue Propellor Knight, Plague Knight, and Polar Knight are significantly easier as Specter Knight). The soundtrack is a banger per usual, and we got so many excellent remixes of the songs from Shovel of Hope. And one last thing I'd like to praise is the story. It's surprisingly dark and even kinda depressing at times, but it's pretty engaging and the darker tone really fits, seeing as our main protagonist is an undead slave and this game is a prequel to Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, showing us how the Enchantress and the Order of No Quarter rose to power.

The game is not without issues though. Specter Knight will like to cling to walls even if you don't want him too, the stages where you get to test out the powerups are way shorter compared to Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows' stages of a similar nature, the concept of upgrading your powerups is neat but makes the game a bit too grindy, and that minigame in the Tower of Fate does not give you enough rewards for how brutal it is. But overall, I really liked Specter of Fate, and it's easily my favorite Shovel Knight installment.

This is BY FAR the best game in Treasure Trove, and that's saying something when given just how good the other games in this package are. I beat and really loved Shovel of Hope and King of Cards, but Specter of Torment was the one that really captivated me.

Specter Knight has always had the sickest design out of all the knights in my opinion, and his moveset is so much fun to use in this game. Every attack feels satisfying to hit, and crossing huge gaps using just your aerial attack to gain height and distance feels amazing. Specter's aerial attack is the best part of his kit, and having this attack that not only lets you attack the enemy but also adds to your movement are just great (and are generally great in most games that have them), and allow for some amazing level design. Going through levels is a blast and makes you feel like a legend for getting over obstacles and using your kit to its fullest.

The soundtrack and story are also superb. Pretty much every track in this game is a remix of the original Shovel Knight's stage themes, and I think I like these versions better. Being a prequel to Shovel of Hope, the stages are older and some of them are pretty different because of this. Thus, the music was changed/remixed in order to capture the new feelings of these levels. I think the best example is the clock tower, tinker knight's stage. When Shovel Knight goes through it, the music is more menacing and makes you feel like you're going through an evil fortress. However, when Specter Knight goes through the stage Tinker Knight hasn't joined the Order of No Quarter yet, so the music is upbeat and inspirational since Tinker Knight is just an engineer and not really a bad guy at this point. The story is also the best of all the games in Treasure Trove, and I think most would agree. It's hard to talk too much about it without spoiling it, but it's a bit more complex and interesting than the simple damsel in distress type stories of the other games.

As for the collectibles in this game, it's one of the few games I don't remember having to google the location of a single one of them. They're not the hardest to find, but I much prefer easier collectibles than impossibly hard ones. I personally didn't like too many of them, but some of them are pretty cool and are worth giving a shot.

If Treasure Trove was just this game, I'd think it was a steal. Again, this game captivated me in every aspect from beginning to end, and my only true complaint with it is that I wish it kept on going.

Part 3 of the story of the game about the knight with a shovel, the second I completed, is a prequel to the main game, telling a different story that shows that not everything always ends well. The story is about the Spectral Knight, who for us in the first campaign was a simple boss at the end of the level. The game takes place on the same levels that our hero visited with a shovel, but this time we are waiting for an exciting parkour with a scythe at the ready, in the literal sense of the word. In fact, the game is the same as the one I played before, the levels that have already been completed as a shoveler are played completely differently. A very good addition, which I advise you to go through immediately after completing the main campaign for those who didn’t have enough and for those who want to know how it all began.

3 часть повествования игры о рыцаре с лопатой, пройденная мною второй по счету является приквелом основной игры, рассказывая другую историю, которая показывает, что не всегда все заканчиваются хорошо. Сюжет рассказывает о Спектральном рыцаре, который для нас в первой кампании был простым босом в конце уровня. Игра проходит на тех же уровнях, в которых побывал наш герой в лопатой, но на этот раз нас ждет увлекательный паркур с косой наперевес, в прямом смысле этого слова. По факту игра та же, в которую я играл ранее, уровни которые уже были пройдены за лопатника, играются совершено по другому. Очень хорошее дополнение, которое я советую сразу пройти после прохождения основной кампании для тех, кому не хватило и для тех, кто хочет узнать как все начиналось.