After getting permission from the Editor Team at our magazine I gonna be one the writer who gets to and covers PAX East 2019. There is that one studio that is a must see for me at that event - Yacht Club Games Studio. I love Shovel Knight right from it's the start and each expansion for the game from Yacht Club to complete their crowdfunding goals. It is a series dear and near to me as well as millions of its fans.
Yacht Club Games
Originally, Yacht Club was intended to release the final expansion for Shovel Knight right this April, but they hit a delay not long ago. They never officially announce that delay, however, it is forgivable if this delay means for a better quality game. Furthermore, they will show off that expansion in the PAX East this year. Therefore, covering the event was a perfect excuse for me to try out this expansion.
So I got to try out one of those 30+ levels that will be in Shovel Knight: King of Cards. 30+ is the most levels that any games in the Shovel Knight series ever had. You might think that might be they are focusing too much on the quantity while forgetting the quality. Oh no, the studio told me that they have been pouring a massive amount of effort into making each level as polished as possible. What I did try at the event is one of the first levels. I assume that because that level has the aesthetic of Pridemoor and the boss is King Pridemoor.
Movements of King Knight
I noticed that the developer has changed the movements of King Knight in a very different than characters in previous DLC. I took me a few scenes to gets used to his movements. The basic move of him is to charge ahead with his shoulder mostly into the walls and sometimes into his enemies. Till you make contact with the decadent dandy then he will turn to swirl and spinning mode into the air. If you land on to a breakable object or an enemy will make him bounce back into the air. The main objective is to keep him bouncing around the whole level. Spend a few minutes learning the key to control him and I was happily back into spinning and dashing all over the level.
Level's length
The length of each level in this DLC is also shorter than those in other Shovel Knight game. These levels only have 3 checkpoints before reaching the boss. This change is length didn't make the game any easier to play though. There are still many hidden secrets you have to find out by yourself. So I think it is fair to say that King of Cards level is just as good as those level in other Shovel Knight game despite the high-level count and the fact that they were working on Showdown at the same time.
For the music, the latest rendition of Jake Kaufman on Pridemoor theme was spot on my tune. It matches the theme of King Knight very well so I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the soundtrack.
The boss battle
Then finally I have reached the boss battle. This new DLC reminds me of those good old boss battles in original Shovel Knight where I use the all-mighty down thrust to finish off the bosses. I fact for the majority of the time, I kept on being airborne by utilizing shoulder charge. In the fight with King Pridemoor, I kept on dodging his attacks with the intention to take me back to the ground while continuing to exploit his open moment. Then finally I bopped up the head of King Pridemoor. The platformer-like factor in the boss fight is a really fun thing that helps to elevate the fight rather than just simple masing attacks. And see how many levels there are in King of Cards, I am sure that there will be many awesome bosses fight too.
It is quite an amazing thing to see the dedication of Yacht Club Games when they followed up their Kickstarter goal, even after six years. In PAZ East 2013, they introduced Shovel Knight to the world. And six years later, in the almost exact same spot, they introduced the last two expansions to the little knight.