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.