All Articles: Shovel Knight
Shovel Knight’s King of Cards and Showdown expansions will be released on December 10
Yacht Club Games has announced that the first chapter of the Shovel Knight saga is finally coming to a close after four expansions and five glorious years (though you’ll need to tack on an additional year if you want to go all the way back to the Kickstarter campaign). Yesterday, the developer confirmed that Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown will both be released on December 10.
King of Cards is a followup to Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment, and it’ll be the final side-story starring a member of the villainous Order of No Quarter. Meanwhile, Showdown breaks from tradition and isn’t a platformer at all. Instead, it’s a multiplayer fighting game that features the franchise’s entire cast, along with a huge single-player adventure.
Fans who originally backed the Kickstarter campaign for Shovel Knight, or who own the Treasure Trove bundle, will receive both expansions for free. The King of Cards expansion will be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One, while Showdown will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, and Xbox One.
Yacht Club will also release King of Cards and Showdown as standalone downloads for fans who are digging into the franchise for the first for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Finally, the developer will try to also take over your favorite game store on December 10th with the release of a pair of Amiibo sets (a Treasure Trove 3-Pack and a Gold Edition Shovel Knight), as well as a Physical Edition of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (which includes the original game and all four expansions) for the Switch and Xbox One. A PS4 version of the Physical Edition will follow in 2020.
Whew, that’s a lot of Shovel Knight. But don’t forget, Yacht Club is also hard at work on a 16-bit-styled sequel/spin-off known as Shovel Knight Dig.
Shovel Knight Showdown will brawl its way to release in December
Shovel Knight Showdown began life as “Battle Mode,” a distant Stretch Goal that was added to the very end of Shovel Knight‘s Kickstarter campaign. But with the platformer’s final expansion nearing release, developer Yacht Club Games has finally been able to more fully turn their attention to the four-player brawler.
For starters, Shovel Knight Showdown has moved well beyond its beginnings as a simple “Battle Mode.” The full-fledged game got a new full-fledged trailer today, with glimpses at the game’s single-player Story Mode, as well as the addition of Mona, Plague Knight’s potions expert. Yacht Club talked more about it on their official website:
Shovel Knight Showdown has grown to be a robust and delightful multiplayer and singleplayer adventure. It’s full of new stories and revelations, goofy humor, great multiplayer level design, beautiful character art, varied playstyles, and frenetic battles. We really put our all into crafting this wholly new experience and we can’t wait for you to give it a shot!
Shovel Knight Showdown will be available as a free download this December if you own Shovel Knight on the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, or Xbox One. It’ll also be available as a standalone download on the PC, PS4, and Switch, and as part of the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove retail compilation for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Fans who are staking out a spot at this weekend’s PAX West convention in Seattle will also want to swing by Yacht Club’s booth to try out Shovel Knight Showdown before its released.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released in December
Yacht Club Games delivered Shovel Knight to fans all the way back in 2014, and they’ve spent the rest of the decade fulfilling a Kickstarter campaign promise to produce additional campaigns starring three of the game’s villains. Those expansions did a lot to fill out the world of Shovel Knight and they’ve helped make the main character something of an international superstar.
But now the developers are ready to close the book on Shovel Knight’s first adventure this December with the release of Shovel Knight: King of Cards.
A fittingly jampacked new trailer for King of Cards has been embedded above, as the developer said (on their official website) that the expansion will be the biggest Shovel Knight adventure yet:
King of Cards marks our grandest adventure yet, and we hope the trailer whets your appetite for the banquet of adventure which awaits! It has more levels, mechanics, secrets, and content than any Shovel Knight game to come before it. It’s a spectacle, crammed to the coffers with ideas- it’s the biggest game we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally, finally play it. We’ve used everything we’ve learned in the past to make this game shine. We hope that you’ll find it both a delightful return and a fitting sendoff to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight owners will be able to download the King of Cards expansion for free for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One, though it’ll also be released as a standalone game for the PC, PS4, and Switch.
And if you haven’t dug into the Shovel Knight series yet, Yacht Club will package the original game and all four expansions together into a special retail edition, known as the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
In the meantime, fans will be able to test out a demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at this weekend’s PAX West convention.
Yacht Club Games is bringing Shovel Knight, Cyber Shadow, and an all new game to PAX West 2019
The good folks at Yacht Club Games have been very busy over the last two years. The developer is currently hard at work putting the finishing touches on Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown, and earlier this year, Yacht Club signed on to published Mekaskull’s Cyber Shadow.
All three of these retro-styled titles will be playable at the developer’s booth at this year’s PAX West convention, which will be held next week in Seattle (August 30th through September 2nd). But Yacht Club has also promised that a surprise will be waiting for fans who visit their booth… demo stations for a brand new never-before-seen game.
As of now, all we know about this unannounced game is that it’s currently in development for the Nintendo Switch. But even if you’re not attending PAX West this year, you’ll be able to learn more about it during the first ever Yacht Club Presents livestream on Wednesday, August 28, at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time). The livestream will be broadcast on YouTube and Twitch, and will also include “tons” of new information about Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown.
Yacht Club delays Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown
Yacht Club Games originally planned to close the book on the Shovel Knight saga on April 9 with the release of Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown. But plans change, and late last night the developer confirmed (via their official website) that both titles would be delayed by “several months… at most!”
Naturally, this delay will also apply to the upcoming retail release of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (a compilation containing all five Shovel Knight games), as well as the Amiibo 3-Pack featuring Specter Knight, Plague Knight, and King Knight.
This is not a major delay so much as more space to bring everything together for a polished and complete finale. As always, these last steps require coordination with many teams beyond our own.
We realize the delay is disappointing. To communicate better with everyone moving forward, we will not be announcing a new date until we know one for sure, from all partners involved. All builds shipped out, updates ready to launch, for everybody and everyone. We will announce it for good once it is 100% all across the board!
The final two games in the Shovel Knight saga are currently in development for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, but other platforms will also get in on the fun. King of Cards will be available as a free expansion on the 3DS, PS3, Vita, and Wii U for owners of the original Shovel Knight, while Showdown will receive a similar release on the PS3 and Wii U.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released on April 9, 2019
Yacht Club Games originally wanted to release Shovel Knight: King of Cards a few years ago, but the expansion kept getting pushed back as they dug deeper into Shovel Knight’s world. Today, the developer is finally ready to confirm that Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One on April 9, 2019.
The developer is also bundling together the original Shovel Knight and all of its expansions (including Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and the recently-announced Shovel Knight Showdown) in a new retail release for the PS4 and Switch. This Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove will also launch on April 9.
But wait, there’s more. The Amiibo 3-Pack featuring King Knight, Specter Knight, and Plague Knight will also make its debut in stores on April 9. The figures will unlock “exclusive armor sets, new Challenge stages, and the ability to summon fairy companions to accompany players on quests” in the games for the 3DS, Switch, and Wii U.
Finally, attendees at this weekend’s PAX West show in Seattle will get the chance to try out a playable demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at Yacht Club’s booth.
Shovel Knight’s Battle Mode will be known as Shovel Knight Showdown
All the way back in 2013, Yacht Club Games closed out Shovel Knight‘s Kickstarter campaign with the promise of three additional story expansions and a Battle Mode. More than five years later, we’ve almost reached the end of this bounty of post-launch content, and the developer has confirmed that Battle Mode will actually be known as Shovel Knight Showdown.
Like the previous expansions, Shovel Knight Showdown will be available as a free update to the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, as well as a standalone download. Players will be able to choose from more than 16 characters (including Shovel Knight, Shield Knight, Black Knight, The Enchantress, and every member of the Order of No Quarter) as they battle it out in four-player modes like Gem Clash and Showdown. A single-player Story Mode for every character is also in the works.
Those attending PAX West 2018 this weekend will be able to meet the developers and try out Shovel Knight Showdown at Yacht Club’s booth.
Shovel Knight Showdown will launch for the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, and Xbox One on April 9, 2019, and a few more details about the game can be found at Yacht Club’s official website. The developer also produced an extended gameplay trailer for IGN, and it’s been embedded after the break. (more…)
Yacht Club will also release Amiibo figures for King Knight, Specter Knight, Plague Knight
In addition to unveiling the first gameplay footage from Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Nintendo and Yacht Club Games announced that a new Amiibo 3-Pack featuring King Knight, Specter Knight, and Plague Knight will soon be available.
Tapping each Order of No Quarter member will unlock “exclusive armor sets, new Challenge stages, and the ability to summon fairy companions to accompany players on quests” in Shovel Knight. You can get a look at the new figures in the GameGrumps-produced trailer embedded above.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be available to download for the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch in Early 2018. The Amiibo 3-Pack doesn’t currently have a release date, but presumably it’ll appear in stores around the same time.