Shovel Knight by Yacht Club Games came to be in June 2014 and was met with so much praise that the company knew what they had to do…continue making Shovel Knight expansions! Yacht Club Games would go on to make not one DLC or even two but several and each opened up the story of Shovel Knight by giving you control over several other characters! Now in 2019, Shovel Knight hasn’t faded into legend just yet and has one final piece of treasure just waiting to be dug up, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove! With the entirety of Shovel Knight games included—as well as a new one called Shovel Knight: Showdown—we grabbed our blue armor, took our shovels and went back into the world of Shovel Knight once more to give you readers a review! Here is our full review of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove for the PS4!

Developed and published by Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove contains all the DLC of the Shovel Knight games as well as Shovel Knight: Showdown. Each of the various expansions of Shovel Knight have players fighting through various levels with different characters attempting to survive stage hazards and nasty bosses! Akin to series like Mega Man, you are free to take down various enemies at your leisure and will earn gold in doing so! Use your growing funds to power up your heroes/villains and become a force to be reckoned with! Shovel Knight: Showdown acts as a 1-4 player platform fighting game where you choose one of several characters from the Shovel Knight world and attempt to outlive your friends/opponents. Gather those gems faster than your opponent and stand as the victor in Shovel Knight: Showdown!

Shovel Knight follows the tale of the aptly titled Shovel Knight as he wallows in defeat after losing his partner the Shield Knight. The powerful Enchantress in the meantime gathers her forces and begins to reign destruction on the world! Shovel Knight learns that the Shield Knight can be saved but to do so he will need to re-enter the Tower of Fate, the place he lost her originally and do battle with several menacing foes! Included in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove are several pieces of DLC—Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment and King of Cards—that expand the tale of Shovel Knight even further! Will you rise to become the hero, save the world behind the scenes as a man with his own agenda, prove your worth to your evil lord and/or become the king you wish to be? Those are just a few of your options in this giant definitive edition that is known as Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove!

As far as retro-themed games go, Shovel Knight has always been the best way to see how games of yesteryear could be enjoyed even in the 2010s. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove now acts as the way to enjoy the entirety of Shovel Knight which contained several campaigns where players could see the story through the eyes of different characters from the story. For example, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment where you take control of Specter Knight as he beats down various warriors to recruit them for the Enchantress. Behind the veil though lies a troubled tale of a warrior who has lost his original memories and has become something he never dreamed of. Meanwhile, Shovel Knight: King of Cards—the newer of the DLC expansions—has players becoming the King Knight who has to rise to become a different sort of king via a card game called Joustus. Now knowing all this might not be enough to explain what Shovel Knight is—or why Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is worth your time—let us explain more on how these retro games inspired by the greats like Mega Man truly work.

Shovel Knight—meaning the first title—had players becoming said title name character as he beat down bosses to reach the dark Tower of Fate! Shovel Knight is armed with his powerful shovel and can topple enemies by digging at them or even jumping on their heads using his shovel as a pogo stick! The end goal was to nab coins, gain items and eventually reach the last boss Enchantress! All this was done by navigating tricky levels filled with traps and stage hazards that tested player’s old school skills as they jumped over large pitfalls and avoided deadly spikes. The following DLC didn’t change much but added various power ups for that specific character and slightly different gameplay mechanics. The Specter Knight used a scythe which meant he could traverse levels by hitting various obstacles to swing himself around and the King Knight could slam his mighty body and dash towards walls/enemies with relative ease. The beauty of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is that it took what we loved about Mega Man-like games and made for a more modern spin to them.

We won’t go into detail for each game—as most of these games have been tackled by us or other reviewers—but we will discuss the whole package and the included Shovel Knight: Showdown. As a whole, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove feels like a collection package where you choose a save slot and then choose one of the several games to play on that slot. At any time, you can quit from the game you’re currently playing and just start a new campaign on a different save slot which is always a nice touch for collective editions like Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Many of these titles might have been played by fans already—as the series did start in 2014—but having them on one disc/package makes for a nice way to enjoy the series without having to change games or menus every two seconds.

Shovel Knight: Showdown is the game we want to focus on the most. Acting like a mixture of Super Smash Bros and Towerfall Ascension, Shovel Knight: Showdown has you choosing one of several characters—such as Shovel Knight, Shield Knight and so forth—and fighting either the AI or friends in a 1-4 player arena! The goal is to nab a specific number of gems before you enemy does and while it sounds easy enough, the mechanics is where things become tricky. Players will need to beat their opponents physically and mentally to nab the gems and also survive the stage’s various hazards that can whittle their health away. While it might not be a full blown campaign like the other games, Shovel Knight: Showdown is fun and can be enjoyed alone or with others in equal measure. Though having some buddies rage at you for hitting them into a lava pit never gets old.

Visually and sound wise, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove still retains its beauty to both the eyes and ears respectfully. The soundtrack for Shovel Knight has always been absolutely breathtaking and that hasn’t changed in 2019! In terms of graphics, while Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove won’t be pushing your system of choice to the limits, it appeals to those who grew up in the 80s-90s with those old school 8-16 bit games! The art is something we’ve always admired in the Shovel Knight franchise and we honestly wish more indie games learned from how Yacht Club Games does it best.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is akin to getting several games for less than a full priced title and that to us is well worth the investment. Included in this huge complete edition is two new pieces of DLC—Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight: Showdown—which gives players even more to enjoy for a series that truly deserves all the accolades it receives. The beauty of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is that you aren’t bound to any one piece of DLC at a time. If you want to play the Specter of Torment DLC then switch to good ole original Shovel Knight, you just need to quit the game and choose the title you wish to play! Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is a literal treasure for fans of the franchise and can be for those who somehow have missed it! There is no doubt in our minds reader. You absolutely better ask Santa for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove!

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove really was a great early Christmas gift for us here at Honey’s Anime! We have always treasured the series—that pun not intentional—and getting all of them in one package is like getting one huge gift in our stockings. Even if you have played all of these amazing pieces of DLC before you owe it to yourself to nab Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove so you can always have them in one definitive place! Are you buying Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove this holiday season? Tell us if you are—or what other games you might be longing for—in the comments below! For even more game reviews and game related articles stick around our glorious hive here at Honey’s Anime!