read through some reviews and saw some pretty negative comments about this game. did we play the same thing???
Pros:
+ the roguelike genre is a natural fit for Shovel Knight
+ most of the cast of the original returns in some form
+ look, sound, and feel are familiar to fans of the original game
+ one playthrough is quick and possible without too many meta-upgrades
+ choice between health and item after a stage offers tactical options
+ procedural level design rarely feels artificial
+ stages offer a lot of unique new challenges to overcome
+ many secrets to discover both within and outside of the dungeon
Cons:
- soft time limit feels manufactured and at odds with the exploratory design
- losing items after being hit leads to frequent moments of frustration
- some items are practically useless compared to movement upgrades
- collision and hit detection are wonky in the later stages
- meta-upgrades are exceedingly expensive
- level select signs are unexplained and unclear
- finishing a run is practically impossible without health upgrades
- most characters in town do not serve any function and have nothing to say
- the secret ending is almost impossible to discover on your own
Playtime: 6 hours with one ending discovered and only few additional armor and other upgrades found.
Magic Moment: Discovering that the owl is not what it seems.
Verdict:
A decent if somewhat unremarkable excursion into the roguelike genre for Shovel Knight and the team behind his creation. The soft time limit in the form of a deadly saw that follows you throughout the stage feels unnecessary and artifically inflates the difficulty, while the combat and bosses are fair and mostly fun to fight.
Take a lot at it if you want more Shovel Knight, but do not expect a deep roguelike action game.
+ the roguelike genre is a natural fit for Shovel Knight
+ most of the cast of the original returns in some form
+ look, sound, and feel are familiar to fans of the original game
+ one playthrough is quick and possible without too many meta-upgrades
+ choice between health and item after a stage offers tactical options
+ procedural level design rarely feels artificial
+ stages offer a lot of unique new challenges to overcome
+ many secrets to discover both within and outside of the dungeon
Cons:
- soft time limit feels manufactured and at odds with the exploratory design
- losing items after being hit leads to frequent moments of frustration
- some items are practically useless compared to movement upgrades
- collision and hit detection are wonky in the later stages
- meta-upgrades are exceedingly expensive
- level select signs are unexplained and unclear
- finishing a run is practically impossible without health upgrades
- most characters in town do not serve any function and have nothing to say
- the secret ending is almost impossible to discover on your own
Playtime: 6 hours with one ending discovered and only few additional armor and other upgrades found.
Magic Moment: Discovering that the owl is not what it seems.
Verdict:
A decent if somewhat unremarkable excursion into the roguelike genre for Shovel Knight and the team behind his creation. The soft time limit in the form of a deadly saw that follows you throughout the stage feels unnecessary and artifically inflates the difficulty, while the combat and bosses are fair and mostly fun to fight.
Take a lot at it if you want more Shovel Knight, but do not expect a deep roguelike action game.
Honestly, the roguelike modifiers aren’t unique or fun enough to make runs distinct, the randomized level designs are really frustrating, collision and hit detection (especially on moving dirt in Drill Knight’s castle) is janky, and the Knightmares they recently introduced are 100% unfiltered bullshit. Despite all this, I had the game 100% complete before the recent Fate and Fortune update. I don’t think I have the patience to grind through the frustration of the new content they introduced here.
playable but i hope yacht club makes something new instead of more shovel knight forever
Only beat it once so far, but will definitely be back at it later. As an introductory roguelike/lite/whatever it's great. As a new shovel knight game, it's alright.
+ Platforming focused roguelite
+ No progression outside of runs other than unlockables
+ Good bosses with high number of possible different arenas for each one
+ A lot of room variety, still seeing new generations even now
+ Loads of clever design evenly spread out across each world
+ Good Soundtrack
+ Satisfying SFX
+ Gorgeous pixel art
+ Worthwhile true ending run
- Some rooms can be frustrating / boring
- Can miss cogs due to not being able to see down far enough (happened roughly 3 times in 27 hours)
- Bouncing up after every pogo on a block gets tiring fast
Also Bosses can become pushovers with certain relics (although the game challenges you to beat it without them)
One of my favourite roguelites next to Spelunky 1 & 2.
+ No progression outside of runs other than unlockables
+ Good bosses with high number of possible different arenas for each one
+ A lot of room variety, still seeing new generations even now
+ Loads of clever design evenly spread out across each world
+ Good Soundtrack
+ Satisfying SFX
+ Gorgeous pixel art
+ Worthwhile true ending run
- Some rooms can be frustrating / boring
- Can miss cogs due to not being able to see down far enough (happened roughly 3 times in 27 hours)
- Bouncing up after every pogo on a block gets tiring fast
Also Bosses can become pushovers with certain relics (although the game challenges you to beat it without them)
One of my favourite roguelites next to Spelunky 1 & 2.
I started playing this in-between playing the main campaign of Shovel Knight in Co-op with my brother and ended up beating it first. It's fun but the item variety isnt great and the progression was pretty minimal for a roguelite which kinda annoyed me
Wish there was more variance in the runs. Upgrades hardly feel special. I guess it's more of a platformer than roguelike
Очень красивый пиксель-арт, но сама игра слишком унылая. И это на фоне оригинального Shovel Knight, который я считаю шедевром.
Game is fine with beautiful graphics, really good control and thoughtful attention to detail. But really flounders with progression and gets repetitive quickly. My favorite thing about roguelikes is making insane builds and skillfully using that to complete the game, but in this game there isn't any item you pick up that feels particularly broken when you combine it. Everything feels pretty weak actually. Couple that with complete lack of progression other than buying your way to the later levels. It can feel like throwing yourself at a brick wall constantly to beat the game.
Great game to play if ur looking to start on the franchise or get a nostalgia hit from the first one
(Logging ratings from glitchwave.com)
is it fair to think less of a game because getting the true ending is aggravating and you get sick of playing the game due to the tedious conditions required to achieve it?
yeah
is it fair to think less of a game because getting the true ending is aggravating and you get sick of playing the game due to the tedious conditions required to achieve it?
yeah
Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIO1SbvACKk
Shovel Knight Dig is a decent game, but it lacks that juicy hook that keeps me coming back to roguelikes. Listen, I know there’s a difference between roguelikes and roguelites but I just don’t care. They’re all roguelikes to me. Now, what I love about this genre is how it feels like you’re always making progress, even when you’re not.
Dig don’t do dat doe.
Instead, you barely get any upgrades as you ram your head in to the wall over and over. Or, in this case; in to bed of spikes. I don’t say this very often, but I think this game is too hard. At the very least, it’s difficult in the wrong ways. It just wants you to keep trying but not really have much more of a chance the next time around. Sure, you vaguely pick up on a pattern of that one enemy that keeps taking you out, but that’s 25 minutes in to the run and you might forget your new strategy by the time you attempt revenge. Also, I feel like I never just get hit once. The majority of damage I took in this game was due to me getting hit by one thing in to another thing, and then potentially in to ANOTHER thing.
Your moveset is very lackluster. It’s just not that fun to use. Even the “upgrades” you get to enhance your shovel feel weak and mostly useless. I wasn’t ever excited to get to a shop and see how I could improve my kit. The only reason I was ever happy to see a shop was so that I could heal myself.
On a positive note, the music is great. I had it stuck in my head for a couple weeks. The pixel art is lovely and I didn’t have any issues with how it performed. The boss fights are pretty fun, until you have to repeat them over and over. This really highlights your limited moveset. There isn’t much opportunity to try to take down the bosses (or any enemies for that matter) in more than 1 or 2 ways.
Going in, I thought I’d have a great time. I liked Shovel Knight a lot and I LOVE roguelikes. I just don’t think they did it justice. It’s a solid game. If you like what you see, you might enjoy it. It’s pretty much exactly what it looks like. If you can handle repetitive punishment minus the usually satisfying payoff that roguelikes provide… try it out. You may appreciate it more than I did.
Shovel Knight Dig is a decent game, but it lacks that juicy hook that keeps me coming back to roguelikes. Listen, I know there’s a difference between roguelikes and roguelites but I just don’t care. They’re all roguelikes to me. Now, what I love about this genre is how it feels like you’re always making progress, even when you’re not.
Dig don’t do dat doe.
Instead, you barely get any upgrades as you ram your head in to the wall over and over. Or, in this case; in to bed of spikes. I don’t say this very often, but I think this game is too hard. At the very least, it’s difficult in the wrong ways. It just wants you to keep trying but not really have much more of a chance the next time around. Sure, you vaguely pick up on a pattern of that one enemy that keeps taking you out, but that’s 25 minutes in to the run and you might forget your new strategy by the time you attempt revenge. Also, I feel like I never just get hit once. The majority of damage I took in this game was due to me getting hit by one thing in to another thing, and then potentially in to ANOTHER thing.
Your moveset is very lackluster. It’s just not that fun to use. Even the “upgrades” you get to enhance your shovel feel weak and mostly useless. I wasn’t ever excited to get to a shop and see how I could improve my kit. The only reason I was ever happy to see a shop was so that I could heal myself.
On a positive note, the music is great. I had it stuck in my head for a couple weeks. The pixel art is lovely and I didn’t have any issues with how it performed. The boss fights are pretty fun, until you have to repeat them over and over. This really highlights your limited moveset. There isn’t much opportunity to try to take down the bosses (or any enemies for that matter) in more than 1 or 2 ways.
Going in, I thought I’d have a great time. I liked Shovel Knight a lot and I LOVE roguelikes. I just don’t think they did it justice. It’s a solid game. If you like what you see, you might enjoy it. It’s pretty much exactly what it looks like. If you can handle repetitive punishment minus the usually satisfying payoff that roguelikes provide… try it out. You may appreciate it more than I did.