Shovel Knight: King of Cards Reviews
It’s incredible that Yacht Club Games has finally reached the finish line on their most popular title, but it was a worthy sendoff for the first saga of a franchise that revolutionized the indie video game space.
It’s my least favourite of the Shovel Knight entries, but with the bar raised so high, that doesn’t mean that King of Cards isn’t worth your time.
Yacht Club Games has delivered once again in the latest expansion for Shovel Knight thanks to exciting gameplay and level design that proves Shovel Knight: King of Cards was well worth the wait.
Yacht Club Games has once again created a character that somehow feels familiar to play, yet fresh. The world and characters are enchanting, and the entire package is endlessly charming.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a master-class in platforming, design, pixel art, and much, much more. Offering a good amount of new content, as well as the all-new card mini-game, Joustus, you have an overall package that is hard not to recommend, even if good portions of this feel wholly the same as the original Shovel Knight and its successive releases.
This is a historic moment for Shovel Knight: half a decade later, I can recommend picking up anything and everything Shovel Knight related, which is easy to do with the Treasure Trove compilation. Yacht Club Games has a lot to be proud of and has accomplished a lot in their short run, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards revisits the formula one last time with new maps and bosses, as well as a brand new card game. It's ambitious, but it's also the least essential of the major Shovel Knight episodes. If you own Treasure Trove, play Shovel of Hope and Specter of Torment first, then circle back to King of Cards if you still want more.
This is likely the last we’ll see of the ‘core’ Shovel Knight series for some time, and King of Cards acts as a worthy swansong for a now-legendary platformer. Bravo.
Yacht Club Games continues to dig up gold with Shovel Knight: King of Cards, despite a momentum slowing card game.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a glorious, flowing, challenging addition to the series. There's more to do, and more to love - and love it you will.
For its last platformer chapter, the Shovel Knight series let us play through the Monty Python King Knight, a wanabee king travelling the world to defeat its potential adversaries. Through this lovely pixel art adventure, the players will alos discover the Joustus, a card game within the game, for ever more fun in every tavern of this grotesque world.
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