The Shovel Knight theming work wonderfully, with slightly blockier GameBoy Advance aesthetics compared to the originals NES stylings.

The puzzle mechanics I found unnecessarily overwhelming for this style of game. Keeping track of all the different enemy type interactions when operating at such a fast pace with all the visual clutter - I just found the moment-to-moment gameplay really hard to read.

I just could not jive with this one. If I have a hankering for this type of game in the future, I think I'll just go back to Grindstone.

A dungeon in your pocket! Such is the promise of Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, and now that Pocket Dungeon is available on mobile the name rings truer than ever. More importantly, though, is that despite being a spin-off of a popular franchise, it’s strong enough to stand on its own – at least for a while.

At its core, beneath all the Shovel Knight trappings, Pocket Dungeon is a puzzle game – one part match 3, one part Crypt of the Necrodancer. Enemies rain down from the top of the screen, and you attack them by moving around the grid and bumping into them. If two or more foes of the same type sit adjacent to each other, attacking one of them hurts them all, which lets you make combos and clear the board more quickly.

Chain combos also help you earn more gems, which in turn let you buy upgrades. Upgrades are important, because in the later levels a good loadout can turn the tide in your favor. Speed is also of the essence. While there is no direct penalty for playing slowly, playing quickly keeps your combo meter high and ensures a steady stream of gems continues to line your pockets.

Boss battles change up the formula slightly. Instead of dashing around and keeping the board from filling up, you go mano a mano with the boss, dodging attacks and getting hits in where you can. Shovel Knight veterans will be pleased to find that all of their favorite knights are back and can even be recruited as playable characters. Each one has unique attributes that lend themselves to different playstyles.

Aesthetically, Pocket Dungeon absolutely lives up to the Shovel Knight legacy. The graphics are charmingly pixelated and the soundtrack, created by longtime series composer Jake Kaufmann, is a mix of energetic remixes and new tunes. Between the graphics, sound, and overall charm, Pocket Knight is clearly a labor of love – a thoughtfully constructed package that feels like a proper extension of the Shovelverse.

But enough about the window dressing. How does Pocket Dungeon feel to play? The answer isn’t so cut and dried. While the basic gameplay is solid, and sure to please puzzle game fans, there are issues relating to pacing and difficulty that I couldn’t overlook. The crux of the problem lies in Pocket Dungeon’s two modes: Adventure Mode and Roguelike Mode. Simply put, the former is too easy while the latter is too hard.

Being the “hardcore” gamer than I am, I started in Roguelike Mode, in which your run ends when you’re out of hearts. I had fun with this mode for a few hours, even making it deep into the game on several occasions. But Roguelike Mode is brutal, and eventually I got fed up with replaying the early stages over and over again. I put the game down for a few weeks, and if Roguelike Mode was the only option I probably would’ve called it quits permanently.

Eventually, however, I swallowed my pride and switched to Adventure Mode. This mode allows for unlimited deaths – the game only ends if the board fills completely. While this doesn’t let you off the hook completely – there’s a timeout period when you die and the board continues to fill while a revival counter ticks down – it’s an absolute cakewalk compared to Roguelike Mode. After 200+ failed Roguelike runs, it took me less than 5 attempts to beat the game in Adventure Mode.

And therein lies the rub. Neither mode nails the difficulty curve, resulting in a game that’s either punishingly hard or trivially easy. To be fair, Pocket Dungeon does offer extensive settings for customizing the difficulty, but I suspect there will be balance issues no matter how much one tweaks the sliders. Changing the number of lives of the enemy spawn speed isn’t gonna make me excited to run through the first stage with the same three enemy types again. After so many runs it simply feels stale.

Don’t get me, wrong, though. There’s still fun to be had here. I played nearly 20 hours and I enjoyed most of that time. The basic gameplay is fast and fun, and even if I’d paid full price for the game I would’ve gotten my money’s worth.

One more note in closing: This is probably the best mobile port I’ve ever played. The game runs in both landscape and portrait modes, and it works flawlessly with my Razor Kishi. You can play a quick round in portrait mode on the bus, or attach a controller for longer sessions. The UI even added the correct button prompts for my controller! It’s a nice contrast from most controller-enabled games, which often make me feel like I’ve bolted a weird accessory onto my phone. Pocket Dungeon offers a seamless, dare I say Switch-like, experience by comparison. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, don’t miss it.

I liked this quite a bit. Cranked up the difficulty to speed through the unlocks and went back down for just standard playing. It works well as a fast paced, almost rhythm puzzle game as youre quickly overwhelmed by the enemies and blocks in some levels. Default is very difficult but there are a lot of fine tuning options that you can create your own difficulty that feels rewarding but doesn't aggravate you. The little story and seeing the characters in this alternate but still very rich art style was fun. I felt like the other knights were all worse to play than SK himself of who I tried(the others being ill-gotten with my cranked to the max difficulty adjustments so I haven't checked them out just yet). It takes some getting used to, but a really solid pick up and play if you have some time

One of my favorite mobile games, and one perfectly suited to the platform. An absolute joy that perfectly adapts the source material in an entirely new genre and expands it in the best way. With its addicting gameplay and all the different characters that you can play as, I see this becoming the next Risk of Rain for me, where mastery of a character is such a rewarding process that you can’t help mastering them all. Please check it out if you are able.

Note: play in puzzle mode. It’s the way to go

Finally managed to get the true ending! To be honest, this game was kind of a letdown at launch, with it being way too difficult for my smooth brain to get any enjoyment out of. But coming back to it recently, they've added a ton of ways to tinker with the difficulty, and as a result it's incredibly addicting now! There's a ton to unlock too, from new ways to play to cosmetics, so I'll continue playing this for a while.
Speaking of cosmetics, this game looks fantastic, and the music may be Jake Kaufman's best work since Mighty Switch Force!

Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon feels like it's cashing in on the brand. The gameplay is rather dull. The artwork is bland; everything looks overly clean and almost chibi-esque. With the default sound settings, the background music (i.e., watered-down remixes of the Shovel Knight soundtrack) can barely be heard over the sound effects. As far as I can tell, there's no way to repeat the tutorial, which is frustrating.


Limiting availability to Netflix subscribers on mobile platforms is distasteful. I know that Netflix probably offered Yacht Club Games a good deal, but that doesn't excuse their actions. The Android version doesn't even appear to be functional according to reviews on the Google Play store.

not big on gem chain puzzle games and not big on roguelikes, still quite enjoyed this (even though i probably suck at it)

clearly i'll play anything if shovel knight is on the box art but that has failed to lead me astray so far. although in this game's case the main character was shield knight because i am bad.

ending is cute af

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is a fast paced roguelike puzzle game that mixes tile matching with the frenetic they-move-when-you-move mechanisms of Crypt of the Necrodancer. As usual Yacht Club Games offers a pristine presentation: gorgeous visuals, evocative and minimalist storytelling, and exemplary music. The puzzling itself is fluid and inventive, although a bit overwhelming in the default mode.

I appreciated the variety of accessibility options, which offered a wide range of playstyles and challenges. For example, I immediately turned off the automatic Tetris-like advancement as I found it quite stressful. Overall my only gripe is that this game just wasn't made for me. The mechanisms that this game adopts are all from games I did not enjoy, and although the gestalt is superlative, it is an excellent execution of a concept I just can't appreciate. Fans of arcade style puzzle games will get hopelessly addicted, but if you're looking for something with a lot of depth or a methodical pace, this isn't it.

I was having a good time when the game crashed on me. No big deal, it was before I even loaded into the first level.

On my very next run, I got further than I'd ever gotten, amassing a ton of gems and unlocking two new characters! It then crashed again.

While the characters were still unlocked, the gems were not. If I can't trust that the game will continue to function that far into a run, I can't keep playing it. It's fun enough but nothing exceptional, and to be fair I'm just give it the most middling score possible. Worth some of your time, but perhaps not on mobile.