After having been disappointed by how close Plague of Shadows is to Shovel of Hope, man am I glad to have a DLC campaign that feels truly unique. Specter of Torment is great, starring a very fun to control character, fun level design that takes advantage of said character's enjoyable mechanics, and a surprising amount of expansion into the lore and characters of the game. I'm thinking Specter of Torment is better than the base game, honestly, but we'll see if I still think its the best out of them all once I beat King of Cards and wrap up this Shovel Knight marathon I'm on.

The gameplay is better than Plague of Shadows by default just by actually having level design of its own. I was so glad I didn't have to go through what's basically the exact same levels again, lemme tell ya. The titular character, Specter Knight, has a really fun play style that seems to be speedier than both Plague Knight and Shovel Knight. He's not as weird to play as Plague Knight, but also not quite as simple as Shovel Knight, and his movement feels less floaty than both in my opinion. The main things that set Specter Knight apart are three unique abilities he has: he can position himself through slashing enemies or obstacles (when you're in the air there's a little slash that appears on enemies to indicate when you can propel yourself to cut through that enemy), grind on rails, and very briefly run up walls before falling off if you don't reach the top. The rail grinding is very situational since some levels don't have them at all, but you will need to familiarize yourself with his weak wall-run and positional slashing for every level since a lot of it is built around those mechanics. This contributes to Specter Knight generally feeling like a speedier character who gets a lot of use out of his movement options. Of course, he also gets a wide variety of Curios with spooky undead themed effects from giving red skulls to Red in the hub. They're basically just like Arcana from Plague of Shadows, except the meter used to use these spells is instead called Darkness. You get more Darkness and Will (health) from finding containers located in every level that have either Will or Darkness spirits that Specter Knight absorbs, and I found these weren't very difficult to find. If you miss any, you can just buy them from Missy in the hub; I only had to do that for two of the spirits. Speaking of the hub, I didn't talk about it much in my previous review, but it is worth noting that Specter of Torment ditches the whole Super Mario Bros. 3 overworld map system that both Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows had; instead, this campaign goes full Mega Man by letting you pick directly which level + boss you wanna fight in any order you want (except for the Tower of Fate levels at the very end). Instead of having to go to Zelda II style villages to get upgrades, everything is just right there in the hub for you to grab before you set out to fight the next knight. The mode generally feels much cleaner and more streamlined as a result in my opinion, there's no need to fumble with an overworld or anything of the sort and you can just go straight to the next stage. Overall, the gameplay is significantly better than Plague of Shadows, and, although its a tough pick, I think I would say Specter of Torment is also better than Shovel of Hope, the base game.

I feel that Specter of Torment was the first of these campaigns to really try to focus on the story and characters. Perhaps that's because this is a prequel that sets up the events before both Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, although seemingly not King of Cards since, from what I've heard, that one takes place before all the others. Nonetheless, I think it did excellently, showcasing Specter Knight's tragic and interesting story as well as fleshing out a surprising amount of characters, like Black Knight and Reize (I never mentioned the latter in my reviews so far because he's just a random traveling boss who was completely irrelevant before this game). You can kinda already guess what Black Knight's true motivations were by the end of Shovel of Hope, for example, but here you see them get expanded upon through Black Knight's connections to Specter Knight and the dialogue they have throughout the story; Black Knight serves the Enchantress as a front because he hopes he, or someone else, can get through to her and turn her back into Shield Knight (of course Shovel Knight ends up being the one to do that in Shovel of Hope). As for the actual plot, it gets pieced together mostly through flashbacks that Specter Knight has throughout the game. As it turns out, he was a thief named Donovan in life. He had a close connection to another thief named Luan (he's also the father of Reize), and the two went to the Tower of Fate to steal a magic amulet because they believed it would keep Reize safe from the perilous adventures he would try to go on some day. That amulet is actually the Phase Locket, the infamous invincibility Relic from Shovel of Hope and the same Relic that Specter Knight is guarding in that game. When Donovan and Luan raided the Tower of Fate and successfully reached the Phase Locket, Shield Knight stopped them, warning that it was too dangerous to be used. Luan hesitates, but Donovan assumes that she's only saying this because she wants to take it for herself. Boss fight happens, then the tower starts to crumble, and in a very rash decision he would soon regret, Donovan takes the locket and attacks Luan for trying to stop him. The ground gives way and Donovan falls, nearly dying. That's when the Enchantress arrives and persuades him to join her in his dying breath; she stabs him with a scythe to raise him as an undead. As the newly created Specter Knight who wields the same scythe used to kill him, Donovan's goal is now to find eight knights across the land to recruit to create the Order of No Quarter, for which his reward will be an amulet that grants life, presumably so he can bring himself back to life. After a bit of progress in the game, Reize appears, much to Specter Knight's horror. The Enchantress easily defeats Reize and corrupts him with dark power, and now he barks orders at Specter Knight under the Enchantress's authority. Near the end of the game, Specter Knight seizes the opportunity to fight back against the Enchantress after Black Knight appears and reveals that the Enchantress is actually Shield Knight. That was the last straw for him to break free from her control, since Donovan blames Shield Knight for everything and loathes her. In the end, Donovan fights a monster version of Reize created by the Enchantress, and Donovan ultimately gives up his freedom in servitude to the Enchantress after using the amulet to restore Reize back to life. He finally fulfilled his promise to protect Reize, but at what cost? The end credits scene shows him leaving the Phase Locket in a chest, hoping Reize will find it...though, as we all know, Shovel Knight goes and steals it after defeating Specter Knight.

So, yea, I'd say Specter of Torment is excellent. I'm kinda flip-flopping on if I think its better than Shovel of Hope, but I think I would ultimately give it to Specter of Torment. A great expansion to this game. Earns 5 stars from me.