I bought the treasure trove collection out of impulse due to it's positive word of mouth, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and what I got was an extremely "stiff", side-scrolling platformer that's """""retro""""" aesthetics and difficulty completely failed to win me over.
Lemmie start by saying that I have no nostalgia for old 2D side scrollers such as Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, or Contra. So my expectations for this game are only built off of previous 2D "modern" platformers. And I'm gonna be honest, this is very overhyped.
Easily my biggest gripe with this game is it's movement. It's a little hard to put to words, but I'd say it feel's "stiff". The best way I could describe the game's platforming is like instead of pressing a button to jump, you instead press a button to move up or down on an analog chart. There's no sense of character momentum, or weight, or even balance. The only ways you can feel these qualities are on a select few levels, but that's only due to their environmental design, and not a part of the core movement in gameplay.
Comparing this experience to something like Ori and The Blind Forest and it was like night and day. I'm aware that Ori and Shovel Knight are different games, with one being Metroidvania, and the other a more "traditional" 2D side-scroller, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed Ori's movement MUCH more than Shovel Knight's. It's very hard to be charmed by a game when the simple act of moving feels unpleasant, even if this is due to an artistic choice. Call me bougie, shallow, or pampered by modern games, idc. Shovel Knight is not immune to criticism just because people hold it as an indie darling.
At the moment I have absolutely no motivation to return to this game. Maybe I'll play the other campaigns, maybe not. But for now it's probably staying unfinished.
Lemmie start by saying that I have no nostalgia for old 2D side scrollers such as Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, or Contra. So my expectations for this game are only built off of previous 2D "modern" platformers. And I'm gonna be honest, this is very overhyped.
Easily my biggest gripe with this game is it's movement. It's a little hard to put to words, but I'd say it feel's "stiff". The best way I could describe the game's platforming is like instead of pressing a button to jump, you instead press a button to move up or down on an analog chart. There's no sense of character momentum, or weight, or even balance. The only ways you can feel these qualities are on a select few levels, but that's only due to their environmental design, and not a part of the core movement in gameplay.
Comparing this experience to something like Ori and The Blind Forest and it was like night and day. I'm aware that Ori and Shovel Knight are different games, with one being Metroidvania, and the other a more "traditional" 2D side-scroller, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed Ori's movement MUCH more than Shovel Knight's. It's very hard to be charmed by a game when the simple act of moving feels unpleasant, even if this is due to an artistic choice. Call me bougie, shallow, or pampered by modern games, idc. Shovel Knight is not immune to criticism just because people hold it as an indie darling.
At the moment I have absolutely no motivation to return to this game. Maybe I'll play the other campaigns, maybe not. But for now it's probably staying unfinished.
2 Comments
that's fair. and I do wish I liked the game, I just tend to be in the minority on this one
Sitara
3 months ago
It's a solid 6 or 7 out of 10 for me, but a bit overhyped.
I think the best thing about this game is it doesn't overstay it's welcome, which helps mitigate some of it's flaws.