After "Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon" in 2021, Yacht Club Games seems to have accelerated the pace of launching works. They will continue to cooperate with Nitrome in 2022 and launch "Shovel Knight: Excavation".

Welcome to follow and get more game review information. Don’t hesitate to buy it~ If you like it, you may like it (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Another new type attempt

After "Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon" in 2021, Yacht Club Games seems to have accelerated the pace of launching works. They will continue to cooperate with Nitrome in 2022 and launch "Shovel Knight: Excavation". This time they have made another change in the type, striving to bring new ideas to players. I don’t know whether the decision was made after discussing with the partner based on the type of expertise the partner is good at, or whether it was decided first and then looking for a partner. But no matter what form it is, what we can confirm is that the launch of "Shovel Knight: Dig" can be regarded as laying the foundation for further building the Shovel universe (?).

And if we talk about the specific types, Roguelike is relatively closely related to horizontal boards in traditional concepts (?). This is indeed a direction worth trying. As for the effect, it depends on the actual capabilities of the producer, as well as relatively personalized dimensions such as each player's interest points and acceptance level. From the perspective of a roguelike enthusiast, I quite like "Shovel Knight: Dig" after my own experience. From the perspective of a fan, I am also very satisfied with this cooperation.

In short, this time I started digging

and clicked again. We were sleeping soundly beside the familiar campfire, but the blind guy insisted on coming out to cause damage. This time, the drill knight came to snatch the loot with very little chivalry, and then escaped in a very despicable manner relying on the power of the drill. Based on our understanding of Shovel Knight , this is definitely intolerable, so we followed the path left by Drill Knight. Although the plot is so simple, well, it just provides a little rationality for the beginning of everything, but everyone knows that this journey of revenge is definitely not a smooth road. The production team has prepared a lot of "surprises" for us underground as always. Various monsters that can fly and run love Shovel Knight deeply. Various map mechanisms are extremely headache-inducing. If you are not careful, it will be a complete tragedy of terrain killing.

Of course, there are also real surprises. The gems in various strange and weird locations can definitely stimulate players' desire for challenge - this is exactly the same as the original "Shovel Knight", and it can still bring a lot of intimacy to veteran players. At the same time, various strange props will also arouse players' desire to explore, and they will want to try out their effects. Well, it is common to resort to tricks. I think this is the fun of Roguelike games. Each game is a different experience, and it is quite fresh.

's moves remain unchanged and still need to be adapted to

We all know that Shovel Knight's basic moves are two moves, one is the shovel slash (digging), and the other is the so-called shovel jump, which means the shovel is downwards and then the foot is stepped on it to jump and jump. In the process, it can also cause damage to the enemy. This classic setting has not been changed in "Shovel Knight: Excavation", but since it is in the name of excavation, the goals must have become front, rear and below, and mainly downward, so there is a very obvious tendency in the map design. Of course, this is not the most important thing. In fact, the "digging" itself is what really needs to be adapted to - we need to rely on digging to open up a path forward. There will be bricks of various materials waiting on the road, and some have to be dug several times, instead of just moving most of the time like the original game.

Although this is just a small change, it has caused a huge change in the rhythm. In other words, players have to play the game without any room for the whole process, which may be a bit too full. And as mentioned before, the production team obviously does not intend to let the player go when it comes to terrain design. Not to mention the sudden emergence of a drill when digging out bricks. What is even more exaggerated is the trigger-type mechanism full of maliciousness. When you walk or dig to the corresponding position, the mechanism will directly attack without reason, and there is no way to dodge. There are also bricks with a countdown bomb effect, which really makes people faint when they see them.The hard core of

is really hardcore, the terrain design of

coupled with the excellent monster design - don't get me wrong, I am not speaking sarcastically, but I am really praising it, but it's just a bit gritty (?). All the monsters in this game regard Shovel Knight as the sun (?), and move towards us slowly like moths to the flame. Many monsters are refreshed infinitely, which means that you cannot stay in one area for too long, otherwise one of them will have close contact with Shovel Knight. In addition, some monsters are too impressive. For example, they made two versions of the flying mouse. One is flying with bare hands, and the other is flying with bombs. The former is okay, but the latter one is really outrageous. Two or three of them appearing together are too much to bear. It doesn’t matter if you fight them or not, they are all destined to be bombed anyway.

Combined with the terrain killing, it is really refreshing, and the blood consumption is nothing - well, although we only have four drops of blood in the early stage, we can't hold it, but when encountering this kind of situation, just say G. The combined effect of various factors resulted in an overwhelming level of frustration in this game. At the beginning, I died on average every 2-3 minutes. After I became more proficient, although the death time was extended a bit, I still almost couldn't handle it and needed to take a break before continuing. To be exaggerated, this game should be the most hardcore roguelike game I have ever seen. It can easily make people lose consciousness while playing it.

stimulates players' desire to challenge

In "Shovel Knight: Dig", after the death of the character, the flying money system that has become a symbol has also been retained - that is, when you reach a similar position, you will see a floating money bag, and eating it back can reduce some losses. But compared to the original work, the probability of getting money is much smaller, which means that the probability of dying twice on the road is still quite high. Our blood volume is not enough to face the difficulties and obstacles along the way, okay! And when I have a lot of burdens on me, I feel very panicked, so I desperately try to find a store or something to clear away the burdens by buying props or something like that.

It can be said that the experience of this game is a bit like Miyazaki's Soul series next door, but there will be less positive feedback on this game. And the "Old School" itself means that the audience of this game will be narrower than the original game, which in turn leads to less than ideal evaluation of this game by some players. However, my desire for challenge has been fully aroused. Although I can't play for too long at a time, I still feel addicted to it. I just want to play for a while every day to see what new things the production team will come up with. Of course, "Shovel Knight: Dig" is rated around 8 points for me, but that may not be the case for you. You still have to evaluate whether this game is suitable for you.

Comprehensive score: 8/10

Recommended crowd: "Shovel Knight" fans, players who love difficult Roguelike games