So, Plague of Shadows seems to be a pretty mixed bag overall. I'm not familiar with what the fanbase thinks of this one, but I felt that, although this DLC is still really good, it has more cracks in it than the base game. Perhaps that is to be expected; Plague of Shadows was the first DLC campaign and got released only a year after the base game. Still, I enjoyed my time with this one and I don't want to make it seem like I didn't.

The best way I can describe Plague of Shadows is that its a sort of "dark mirror" for Shovel of Hope. It has some original stuff, mainly through the bonus levels, but you will quickly notice that the level layout is mostly the same here as it was in Shovel of Hope. I especially noticed this in the latter half of the game, since Tinker Knight, Polar Knight, and Treasure Knight's stages felt virtually unchanged outside of small and infrequent additional segments, even though I found all the secrets in them. Both Tower of Fate levels are exactly the same as in Shovel of Hope, except for two extra bosses at the very end. On the other hand, the Explodatorium was considerably different and was easily the longest stage in my opinion, which...well, considering that it is Plague Knight's home turf from Shovel of Hope, perhaps that's to be expected. I think this mode still manages to stand out despite its similarities due to just how different Plague Knight feels to play. He has a weak jump, so to do most of the game's platforming you'll need to get into the groove of using a charge burst (hold B then release B) to propel yourself at an upward angle. It sounds frustrating, which it sometimes is, but you get used to it and it even starts to feel good to use once you do. Trust me, I hated this when I first started playing, and I distinctly remember Plague of Shadows was the only DLC I didn't beat (before King of Cards came around) because of it. Playing it now, though, Plague Knight feels refreshingly different, and I got so into the groove of playing him that I might have liked playing him more than I did Shovel Knight himself. Plague Knight being so slow and floaty is offset by him being a ranged fighter, chucking bombs to blow up his foes. As you can imagine, this makes melee enemies more annoying, but it's balanced since you can also blitz them down before they even touch you. Generally, Plague Knight's play style being so weird encouraged me to slow down, in contrast to my playthrough with Shovel Knight where I was complaining that he didn't have a run button and felt rather sluggish. Plague Knight also has a more expansive and considerably more interesting repertoire of tools for fights or even for help in platforming. There's a cool system involving modifications you can purchase for your bombs in which you can adjust the throwing arc, the powder (affects how many you can throw and the effects of the explosion), and your charge burst in various ways. Make yourself float gracefully whenever you charge burst, make your bombs prioritize going straight up instead of straight down, make the fuse shorter or longer, and SO much more. There's a startling amount of options that spices gameplay up if you swap between 'em. Plague Knight also doesn't use the Relics that Shovel Knight used, instead quite literally trashing them in favor of Arcana. The Arcana are pretty much the same idea as Relics, except they use a rechargeable meter instead of a limited resource; it seems Yacht Club didn't want another repeat of the Phase Locket, so you can actually experiment with different ones now that there is no one obvious best Arcana. Overall, I grew to really love playing Plague Knight, but the initial curve in learning how to play him is really rough, and I wish that this campaign didn't feel mostly like a copy-paste job of the original.

I think I got more to talk about with the story and characters here than I did with Shovel of Hope. The story for Plague of Shadows almost gives off a kind of Saturday morning cartoon villain vibe, with your own evil lair and your own entourage of evil minions to serve you. I thought it was really amusing how it flips certain aspects of Shovel of Hope's story on its head: Shovel Knight goes to the village and is not perceived as a threat, while Plague Knight has the aforementioned evil lair he gets into by blowing up some poor guy's house and traveling through the sewers. You get to really feel like a villain, with my favorite examples being Plague Knight destroying the Hall of Champions and defeating any guard in his path as well as the time Plague Knight raids the armorer village with his goons to conquer it for himself. There's also a running gag I found amusing that Plague Knight never truly defeats Shovel Knight; he will win a fight and then Shovel Knight breaks out of the stun and wreck Plague Knight. Its almost like Shovel Knight has some kind of plot armor because he can't canonically lose, or at least that's how I interpreted it. As for the main plot, Plague Knight is a member of the Order of No Quarter - the group of antagonist knights led by the Enchantress - but he decides to betray them because he wants to create a potion using the essence of each knight. This potion is said to contain the ultimate power. Its natural to assume that he's just doing it to take over the world in some generic, but still potentially fun, villainous plot, but, as the story goes on, his motives go into an unexpected route. While he is still a mischievous little miscreant who likes blowing stuff up and causing chaos, Plague Knight is actually trying to get this potion of ultimate power purely because he feels he needs it for fellow alchemist Mona to love him. She is his partner in crime that helps him throughout the game. The game's story makes it rather obvious they both have feelings for each other but are too awkward to confess, which is a rather cliché but still pretty cute dynamic. They even throw in some relationship drama, since the Magician (the same woman who gave you mana upgrades in Shovel of Hope) is also in love with Plague Knight and thinks he's trying to impress her. Mona leaves him after thinking he's gotten with the Magician, but Mona comes back at the very end once Black Knight explains to her that Plague Knight is actually not in a relationship with the Magician. Its too late, though, and Plague Knight has already made the potion. One boss battle after a freak accident later, and now that both Mona and Plague Knight know they love each other, Plague Knight decides to use the potion to blow up the Tower of Fate, claiming he doesn't need unlimited power anymore because he now has all he ever wanted. A sweet little ending, in which Plague Knight's villainous group becomes recognized as heroes and an adorable end credits scene of the two dancing the night away at the laboratory plays. I really liked this game's story; although its nothing special, its carried by the fun characters and that signature fun writing Shovel of Hope also had (though I'd argue its even better here). Who would've thought this silly villain just wanted the love of a tall goth girlfriend?

Overall, Plague of Shadows is great, but unfortunately does have some issues that Shovel of Hope didn't have. I'm especially disappointed that the levels are mostly the same, and, in some cases, almost (or quite literally) the exact same. Plague Knight's move set surely could have inspired more totally unique level design. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time a lot with this one, and I suppose the fact that I had more to talk about with this one is worth something. A very solid 4.5 stars from me.