You know, Shovel Knight is one of those games I thought I would never enjoy due to it being a platformer (which is my least favorite game genre); but maybe I hated the genre too much.

At the time of me writing this, Shovel Knight is one of my favorite games of 2022. Granted it’s only February, but I don’t care, I love this game.

The story is very simple: Shovel Knight has to go rescue Shield Knight, who is trapped in the Tower of Fate. The Order of No Quarter is there to stop the knight in blue from reaching the said tower. Personally, I think the story could have been more detailed and larger, but the game’s story really doesn’t affect the main part of the game: the gameplay.

When I could barely beat the first level, I thought of dropping the game right then and there because the “shovel hop” ability was too confusing for me to understand. But after going through a couple more levels, I started to understand the controls and mechanics a lot more and I found the “shovel hop” to get easier and easier to use. Like mentioned earlier, I don’t like platformers; I find the gameplay too boring and redundant. But for some reason, Shovel Knight’s gameplay was so fun for me to play. I found myself wanting to keep playing until I beat the game.

It was cool that every level, even the towns, had a secret a part of them. I loved looking for the secret song scrolls and trying to find all the gems to buy new gear and abilities. I also found the concept of getting extra HP to be a cool concept.

I think the reason I am giving the game a 4-star rating is the difficulty spike. Especially in the early game, the bosses’ difficulty spikes so high. By the end, they’re pretty easy to defeat; but the first two bosses I found challenging. While you’re stuck with four HP, the bosses have eight HP, which can be difficult to fight, especially if it’s your first attempt. It was infuriating dying to the same boss over and over again. I luckily beat these bosses, but I was frustrated. Luckily, the farther you get in the game, the easier the bosses are due to abilities and extra HP on your end. But, the farther you get, the harder and more complicated the platforming is; so, it’s a trade-off.

Overall however, I found myself enjoying the game so much. I’m so excited to play the next game, “Specter Knight”. I recommend playing the game; even if you aren’t a fan of platformers, give it a shot. This game for me was the catalyst to start playing other platformers.

“Our boyfriends have been kidnapped!”

River City Girls is one of the first ever beat-‘em-up games I’ve ever played. I dabbled in the original River City game, but never really enjoyed it. However, after seeing that WayForward, the company that created River City Girls, was making a second game, I was interested. Some of my friends had told me how good the game was, but I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. Well, I was wrong.

You can play as Misako or Kyoko, two girls who are on the hunt for their boyfriends after Kyoko is sent a picture of them presumably being kidnapped. The story is very simple in theory, but offers fun twists and funny dialogue. At the time of me writing this, I haven’t done a second playthrough, so the story could be different. For my first playthrough however, I personally played as Kyoko, simply because I preferred her design. But about halfway through, I found out the two girls have pretty different movesets from each other, with Kyoko’s attacks being faster while Misako’s are slower. I prefer the speediness of attacks, so I’m glad I picked Kyoko.

Now, of course, the gameplay is the most important. The game isn’t carried by its story, so the gameplay needs to be fun; and yes indeed it was. Pummeling the various amounts of enemies was enjoyable and trying new combos was even more fun. The shop system where you can buy items to replenish stamina, add extra damage or buying a new attack entirely was something I felt unique to the game. It gave me incentive to go out and get more money by beating up the enemies in the area so I could go buy a new way to attack and add it to a combo. It was a clever system that I hope is in the second game.

The characters were very well written and hearing some of my favorite voice actors was such a nice treat. Sure the game had a kind of lackluster story, but the characters make up for it big time. I found myself laughing at quite a few scenes. The art direction too was great and I loved seeing a sort of comic book feel in the game.

Overall, I give the game a solid four out of five stars. The only things weighing this game down are the lackluster story and how short the game is. However, River City Girls was certainly such a fun and witty experience that I hope to replay some time in the future.