Preview: Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows @ EGX 2015

Yacht Club Games provided EGX15 with the Plague of Shadow DLC for hit 3DS title Shovel Knight for visitors to play (note ; when you download the DLC players via normal means you have to complete the main campaign in order to additional content).

Plague Knight, who was one of the bosses in the original game, is now the protagonist in this expansion. His adventures occur during the same timeframe as Shovel Knight’s adventure.

Awesome Plague of Shadows character art

The gameplay differs greatly from the main game in that you now use bombs, potions and jump attacks to defeat enemies, as opposed to a shovel. This makes the levels playable in a different way despite the same levels as the main game being used.

Another thing is that Plague Knight has a smaller health bar than Shovel Knight, but this can be boosted by drinking health tonics (which also, additionally, add one more health cell to your bar). However ; if you fall in battle you lose all the cells that were added by the tonics, so it encourages the players to decide when to use them. Throughout the level there are Green Cipher Coins to collect (which open up more shop options) as well as cash to acquire which can be used to purchase power-ups for Plague Knight.

Screenshot from the DLC

The EGX15 demo allowed attendees to play the first few levels of the game, which was a good way to get used to playing as Plague Knight (who is more difficult to control).
I was told that a challenge mode is added when you download the DLC update, just for those that want to put their skills to the test. Adopting a range of scenarios and settings such as defeating bosses within a time limit, these will give expert players an added dose of gameplay.
This update will greatly benefit both those who already have the game plus those buying it fresh as it provides two different experiences. Also ; the physical retail version of Shovel Knight is coming out on October 30th 2015 and will include Plague of Shadows.

• Yacht Club Games’ website: http://yachtclubgames.com/
• 3DSBlessed’s interview with Yacht Club Games:  http://3dsblessed.com/?p=2166

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Tags: 3ds, bombs, bosses, campaign, cash, collect, dlc, download, EGX15, gameplay, Green Cipher Coins, health, health tonics, jump attacks, Plague Knight, Plague of Shadow, potions, power-ups, protagonist in this expansion, purchase, shovel, Shovel Knight, timeframe, update, Yacht Club Games’

This post was written by Cyburn, posted on October 21, 2015 Wednesday at 9:00 am