Shovel Knight First Impressions

For awhile now, I've been hearing how good Shovel Knight is. I admit I wasn't too impressed by the footage I'd seen. It looked neat but it also looked like a pretty hard game. I wasn't sure if I'd like it. But there was a sale this week and I had the money. I couldn't resist finally checking this game out.

Here are my First Impressions of Shovel Knight:
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Shovel Knight feels like a retro NES/SNES game. A really really really awesome one that some took and improved the graphics a little on.

The game is heavily inspired by Castlevania, Ducktales, and a little bit by Zelda 2. That said, Shovel Knight has its own unique cool vibe too. The story harkens back to the days of old with knights and quests. There's a wonderful cutscene at the beginning of the game and then the story doesn't really pop up much until boss battles.

Shovel Knight has great level design. Like I said before, it reminds me a bit of Castlevania. Its almost hard to believe that Capcom didn't make this game. There are other things I really love about Shovel Knight too: the rpg elements (upgrading your health/magic), the overworld map, fishing, and wow, those boss battles are really TOUGH but absolutely fun. Yacht Club Games did an amazing job with this game. Even the music is brilliant (so retro inspired!)

I'm playing Shovel Knight on the Wii U and the game looks great on the TV. Though, possibly, it looks even better on the gamepad. I enjoy playing it on both.

The game also has a unique Miiverse feature on the Wii U. The Digger Diary is a direct connection to Miiverse. As you play Shovel Knight, you can check out the digger diary and see what people said about the game and even get tips sometimes for certain rooms in levels (if people leave tips---a lot of times they just say how awesome the game is). I really like this use of Miiverse. I wish more games did things like this.

Overall, Shovel Knight is an excellent game so far. I just love it! I'm so glad I bought it. I can't wait to play more.