Skip to main content

Shovel Knight’s Plague of Shadows expansion features remixed campaign

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows DLC - Developer Interview (Wii U & Nintendo 3DS)
Indie developer Yacht Club Games gave an extended look at Shovel Knight‘s upcoming “Plague of Shadows” expansion at Gamescom this week, revealing that the game’s campaign changes drastically when players assume the role of the newly playable Plague Knight.

Originally a boss in Shovel Knight, Plague Knight boasts his own unique attacks and abilities, allowing players to explore familiar territory from an alchemist’s perspective.

Unlike the heroic Shovel Knight, the alchemist Plague Knight carries an arsenal of potions and flasks into battle, enabling powerful ranged attacks. Each potion has its own unique properties, and players can mix-and-match the contents from each flask in order to craft new weaponry as situations demand.

Plague Knight doesn’t carry a shovel into battle, and thus can’t dig through the game’s environments or take out enemies with melee attacks. Plague of Shadows revolves around players creating unique solutions for challenges that would be trivial for Shovel Knight, but difficult for characters who don’t share his abilities.

While Shovel Knight had a limited amount of magic power to use for special attacks, Plague Knight can use a much broader variety of moves thanks to a retooled magic meter that recharges between attacks. While this makes some combat encounters trivial, players must figure out new ways to traverse levels that cater to Shovel Knight’s melee-focused repertoire. Fortunately, Plague Knight has the ability to double-jump, allowing him to easily bypass some of the game’s trickier level layouts.

Plague Knight faces a unique struggle when it comes to progression and equipment upgrades. Being a villain, Plague Knight isn’t welcomed by the game’s townsfolk, closing off upgrade paths available to Shovel Knight. Plague Knight will need to find new allies and alternate ways to boost his abilities before heading into the game’s tougher levels.

Plague of Shadows also introduces a Challenge Mode, which offers up a series of retooled level segments. Challenge Mode includes stages for both Plague Knight and Shovel Knight, and each will test the characters’ abilities with fierce enemy encounters and intense traversal challenges.

Plague of Shadows will launch first as a free update later this year for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of Shovel Knight. Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC players will receive the patch at a later date.

Editors' Recommendations

Danny Cowan
Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…
The best P Organ abilities in Lies of P
Lies of P customization

The jokes just write themselves with Lies of P and its choice to include P Organ abilities. The game almost avoided any further snickering past its odd title by sticking to mostly normal names for things like weapons and Legion Arms, but just couldn't resist in this one area it seems. Putting the name aside, this is a mostly familiar skill tree system that you can slot Quartz into and unlock new abilities for your puppet character. The further down the tree you go, the more Quartz you will need to unlock said skill, so it pays to plan ahead on what skills you want to invest in. Here are the best P Organ abilities you should invest in in Lies of P.
Best P Organ abilities

P Organ abilities are separated into different categories, which we will note next to the skill name so you know where to locate them, as well as in different phases that must be unlocked by investing Quarts into enough synergies in any category. You can also only have one ability from each type equipped from the same phase, so you do need to do some planning based on which skills you want from which phase.
Increased Pulse Cells - Survival
If you don't automatically pick this ability first, you're either purposefully making the game harder on yourself or have made a dire mistake. Pulse Cells are your healing items in Lies of P, and it goes without saying that even getting one additional heal can mean the difference between just barely beating a boss and being sent back to the last checkpoint. If you invest further into this P Organ you can get up to three additional Pulse Cells.
Increase Staggered Duration- Attack
The stagger gauge is another system that will be familiar to fans of Soulslikes where, by breaking an enemy's stagger, you can leave them vulnerable to a powerful critical strike. Enemies won't stay staggered forever, though, so you can miss your chance for free damage if you're not quick enough. This skill gives you a few extra moments to realize what's going on and press your advantage, especially against challenging bosses.
Enhance Fatal Attack ATK - Attack
Pairing perfectly with the previous ability, this skill makes that critical hit you can pull off on a staggered enemy deal a huge chunk of damage to really make that moment count.
Enhance Pulse Cell Recovery - Survival
While not quite as immediately necessary as getting more Pulse Cells, eventually you will level up and notice a single heal won't bring you back to full. This skill makes your Pulse Cells restore more of your HP to keep you as healthy as possible. This can also be upgraded in the same way as Increased Pulse Cells.
Quick Cube Activation - Ability
Your Cube is what you slot your Wishstones into in order to activate them, but it isn't applied instantly. Odds are you will want to pull these buffs out in critical moments, and this simply speeds up the animation so you won't get caught unprepared. Considering each Wistone costs you Gold Coin Fruit, having them go to waste can be a major setback.

Read more
Take a break from September’s loudest games with this cat-filled indie charmer
Villagers fish on a pier in Mineko's Night Market.

September has been a high-octane month for video games. We got a loud multiplayer shooter in Payday 3, a tense spy thriller in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and a whole lot of gore courtesy of Mortal Kombat 1. Doesn’t all that just make you want to chill out a little? I can only take so much blood and noise before curling up on the couch with my cat and smoothing my brain over with something a little gentler.

Mineko’s Night Market - The Night Market Trailer - Nintendo Switch

Read more
These transparent Analogue Pockets will take you back to the good old days
The limited edition transparent Analogue Pocket handhelds.

A new transparent limited edition version of the Analogue Pocket gaming handheld was unveiled today, and it will be available for preorder soon. On X (formerly known as Twitter), Analogue unveiled these Analogue Pocket: Transparent Limited Editions. The tweet confirms that these special versions of the handheld will cost $250 and that pre-orders for the device will start at 8 a.m. PT on September 29.

If you don't already know, the Analogue Pocket is a gaming handheld that's modeled after the original Game Boy but meant to be used as a retro gaming machine. The devices have been well received as they provide a more modern and crisper way to play cartridges for games from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket Color without the need for emulation. These limited editions will match the power and build quality of the basic Analogue Pocket model; the only differences are visual.

Read more