So, Time for some Indie, Kickstarter game Goodness.
Last time I talked about Shovel Knight I only Talked about Shovel of Hope, the base campaign because Each Campagin is basically their own Game.
Today I'm going to talk about the First of the Free DLC Campaigns, Plague of Shadows.
PLOT
The Plot for this Campaign is different then Last time.
This time around the Plot follows Plague Knight, one of the Enchantress' Servants.
We learn that Plague Knight has plans of his own to Brew the Ultimate Potion, so that Anything he Desires will come true.
However Each Knight Unknowingly Guards an Ingredient for the Potion so He sets out to Gather the Ingredients for the Potion.
For with this Game's plot I love how we are playing as a Kinda Bad guy, While Plague Knight Eventually goes down the Heroic Path, I just but Love how they used his Goal to Develop his character. Like we don't know Why he wants to Potion till near the end of the Game. But it's Hinted with his Interactions with other characters and in his own Actions.
Yea Plague Knight Makes Explosive Potions and uses them as Weapons, but he is not that bad of a guy. I love it.
The other Characters in Plague Knight's Secret Base are interesting too. there is the Magicist(or however you Spell her name) Who we Meet in Shovel of Hope and Upgrade's Shovel's Magic, There is Percy, a Horse man who Serves as comic Relief, Mona, who we also meet in shovel of Hope, she Plays a VERY Important Role here, I won't Spoil it but she is Important. don't forget her.
So overall, I love this One's Story.
GAMEPLAY
The Gameplay.. Hoo boy,
Plague Knight has some Differences to Shovel. For one, Plague can Double Jump, and instead of Swinging a Shovel Blade around, Plague Knight throws Bombs. These Bombs can be Customized with 3 types of Customizable Parts, The Fuse effects how it Detonates, The Powder effects the Explosion, and the Case Changes how the Bomb Flies. You can buy Parts From Mona, In order to Unlock new Parts you need to Collect Green Coins called Cipher Coins. Collecting them all is not Required to unlock all Parts, however If you do you unlock an Extra Which I will talk about Later.
If you Hold the bomb Button you can Charge a Blast Jump, the Type of Blast Jump can also be Customized, from a Floaty Jump, to what is basically the Screw attack from Metroid.
As always there are Collectibles for you, There is gold for buying things, the Aforementioned Cipher Coins, and Music Sheets, Music Sheets can be Given to Percy for some Money, however some Sheets will allow you to Play the new Music Exclusive to Plague of Shadows.
There are also Relics to Collect as well, however Plague Knight cannot use Relics as he sees them as Useless Toys. So Plague Knight can Trade Relics for Arcana, which is what Plague Knight can use.
Finally there is Health Tonics, These will Temporally Increase Plague Knight's Max Health, These Health Bubbles will disappear once you Fall in Battle. If your Health is already at max the Tonics will just heal you instead.
There is the World Map and Overworld Bosses to Fight just like in Shovel of Hope.
Are there some Problems? Yes, The Levels are mostly the same with Little Changes, I know there are some New areas, but 80% of the Levels are the Same as in Shovel of Hope.
Plague Knight can be Tough to Control starting out too.
That's about it in the Gameplay Department.
PRESENTATION
The Presentation is the Same as in Shovel of Hope, Which is to be Expected as it's Technically in the same game.
Just like in Shovel of Hope the Graphics are basically the NES if the NES had more Colors. I know the Pixel Style is kinda Overdone for Modern Indie games, But We can Forgive Yacht Club for that as they did the style Right when it was getting popular.
The Music is Freaking Awesome, while most of it was Reused from Shovel of Hope, there are a Small Handfull of new songs too.
Overall, Great Presentation there Yacht Club.
THE BAD
I mean, other then the Overused "Retro" Pixel Art Style. There are the Issues that, Plague Knight can be Difficult to Control at times, and that the Levels have Barely changed, there are enough Changes to Set it apart from Shovel of Hope, but they are barely even noticeable.
Also I don't think there are enough New music, this is just a Nitpick but there are very little new songs here, Shovel of Hope has more then Double the amount of music then what Plague of shadows has, and the new songs barely even Play at all.
OVERALL
Plague of shadows is a Great Campaign, It Expands Upon the Original in a Fun way, and the "What If" Scenario is done well here.
There are Flaws here, but those can be overlooked and you can find a Really Strong Campaign.
4.5/5
A Fantastic Game that about anyone can enjoy.