Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows - playing the game's opening minutes

Earlier today, Yacht Club Games flipped the switch and unleashed the plague. Shovel Knight's Plague of Shadows expansion is now live, but just how different is it from the original Shovel Knight adventure? Shacknews is currently running through it, but from the looks of the opening minutes, it's going to be something familiar, yet noticeably different.

The first thing users will notice is that the narrative has been altered to tell a story where Shovel Knight has lost and the Enchantress has prevailed, along with her Order of No Quarter. But Plague Knight has been hiding sinister intentions and is ready to unleash his own master plan.

The real difference, however, is in the level design. Check out the first stage below and compare it to the same stage in the Shovel Knight campaign. Notice that the level is designed to utilize Plague Knight's bomb jumps, which boost him across large gaps quickly. Also notice that Plague Knight has nothing to pound foes with, so stepping on them is not an option. Instead, he uses explosives and lots of them. Finally, observe the encounters with the Shovel Knight enemies. Plague Knight's approach is much different from Shovel Knight's with some encounters going a lot easier (the sleeping dragon) and others requiring some careful platforming (a simple beetle laying across a gap).

The full 13 minute opening can be found below. For more, be sure to subscribe to Shacknews on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?