Shovel Knight Reviews

Shovel Knight is ranked in the 98th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
9 / 10
Dec 8, 2014

Bringing back all that made older classics into unforgettable games and pushing aside all their technology constraints using modern methods of game design, Shovel Knight is the perfect flagship of a piece of retrgaming made in the 21st century.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Will Greenwald
Top Critic
Jun 26, 2014

Shovel Knight is one of the best "8-bit" video games to come along since the actual days of 8-bit systems.

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9 / 10
Jun 25, 2014

Yacht Club Games has a hit on its hands with Shovel Knight. With brilliant game design, charming presentation and a ton of content, this is a wonderful first title from the fledgling developer. It will only get better with post-release content, and if Shovel Knight becomes the hit it deserves to be, gamers will hopefully be seeing much more of Yacht Club Games — and its plucky mascot — in the coming months and years.

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Apr 25, 2015

This isn't just a nostalgic copy of the games of the medium's youth, but also a fever dream of what the 8-bit era was capable of.

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Jul 4, 2014

Shovel Knight combines everything that was great about some of the best games from the NES era, and turns those beloved mechanics into something fresh. It's a brilliant 2D action-platformer, which simply demands your attention.

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9.5 / 10.0
Jul 3, 2014

Easily one of the best games of the year, Shovel Knight does the unthinkable. It maintains the style we've come to expect from the NES era of old, and yet somehow provides enough contemporary design and gameplay to make it easily fit into this generation of gaming. You'll absolutely dig it.

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9.5 / 10.0
Jun 26, 2014

Shovel Knight is a game that looks fondly on its past but its shovel-wielding hero can easily earn a seat next to the timeless Mario or Mega Man.

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EGM
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Jun 26, 2014

Shovel Knight is a pretty stellar homage to simpler times, but it's so unabashedly an homage that it never steps out of the shadows cast by the components it's built from—DuckTales, Mega Man, Simon's Quest. And while derivative doesn't necessarily mean bad—far from it in Shovel Knight's case—it certainly doesn't make it any less pandering in a lot of ways.

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5 / 5.0
Jul 7, 2014

With some of the tightest controls and game mechanics I have seen in years, Shovel Knight acquires an excellence that I seldom experience in games nowadays, making this game a class act well worth the $15 price tag whether you get it on Wii U, 3DS, or Steam. With a phenomenal soundtrack to accompany the thoroughly crafted lands and lovely 8-bit visuals, there's a lot to love and help you become enthralled in this retro-style world.

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Jul 11, 2014

Still, it's so very refreshing to find a true gem in the ever-expanding rockpile of retro-influenced games, and Shovel Knight is a wonderful love letter to some of the classics that many of us grew up with. You will dig it.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 24, 2015

Shovel Knight is just what any veteran gamer's inner child needs. Between the tight platforming, nostalgia-inducing graphics, and pitch-perfect sound design, old-school gamers need look no further for their fix. Younger gamers will appreciate the modern additions of checkpoints and Cross-save functionality, while hardcore gamers can simply smash those checkpoints and reap the rewards. It's incredible to see a game that doesn't just imitate the 8-bit era, but perfectly embodies it.

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Nintendo Enthusiast
Ryan C.
Top Critic
9.5 / 10.0
Jun 26, 2014

It seems like forever ago since I first heard of Shovel Knight and with the continuous delays, the wait was never an easy one. It\'s no secret that I\'m a massive fan for old school Mega Man, so when Shovel Knight was classified as a "melee-focused Mega Man," it instantly became my most anticipated game. I purposefully ignored all of the trailers and previews, so I could go in blind and complete the nostalgia, pretending I just picked this game up off a store shelf without knowing much about it. It\'s rare that a game can live up to the hype and rarer still when a game surpasses it. I had no idea that Shovel Knight was going to be as good as it turned out.

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KeenGamer
dejv
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Apr 29, 2016

The game aims to target older players in which they want to awaken their nostalgic childhood memories sitting by archive consoles. For them, it's almost an obligation to play this game. And the younger ones should at least see what the games looked like at the beginning and what a long journey they've come. Recommend.‎

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9 / 10.0
Apr 21, 2016

Overall Shovel Knight is quite simply one of the best side-scrolling platformers in recent years and in my opinion ranks up there with the best of them. Not only does the game look and sound fantastic it also plays well and has a surprising amount of depth. The level design is some of the strongest I have come across in a long time and I appreciated the tight and responsive controls that are critical in a game like this. Its clear that this is a game that was carefully crafted with a huge degree of love and care and is easily one of my favourite games in recent years. I can’t recommend this game enough, so if you haven’t played it you should do so right now.

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Hardcore Gamer
Dermot Creegan
Top Critic
4.5 / 5.0
Jun 26, 2014

Shovel Knight continues 2014's fantastic indie lineup, but its polish, creativity, beauty and charm might just make it the pick of the bunch. Yacht Club Games has delivered more than anyone ever could have hoped for, and created an experience that gamers young and old will thoroughly enjoy.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2015

Make no mistake, Shovel Knight is a classic, side-scrolling, retro platforming, and if that’s the kind of game you’re looking for, it’s one of the best out there.

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8.5 / 10.0
May 21, 2015

The Xbox One edition of Shovel Knight adds an exciting challenge to the Battletoads, which alone, for the most avid nostalgics, could be worth the ephemeral cost of the ticket, but the real reasons to download it are the same as those already highlighted in previous reviews, starting with an immediate and fun gameplay and passing through a soundtrack to applause.

Review in Italian | Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Jul 5, 2014

Creating a title like Shovel Knight requires a boundless love for the great classics of the NES era, as well as an absolute understanding of their mechanics. The work of Yacht Club Games is a tribute of the highest quality, which does not reinvent anything but shuffle the best of the masterpieces of the past to the great and boasts a gameplay with enviable solidity. Put simply, it's yet another indie not to be missed. Nostalgic or not, give us a thought.

Review in Italian | Read full review

9.5 / 10.0
Jul 22, 2014

Shovel Knight is a game that you should buy, plain and simple. It takes what could have been a simple nostalgia trip to a new level and shows that shovelry is alive and well.

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4.5 / 5.0
Apr 30, 2015

When we reviewed Shovel Knight at its initial release back in June 2014, we were amazed by its impeccable design, rock-solid mechanics and loving homages to classic games. All of those aspects still ring true on PS4, and Yacht Club Games has without a doubt successfully replicated one of 2014's finest experiences on Sony's flagship console.

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