Skip to main content

Shovel Knight’s Plague of Shadows expansion features remixed campaign

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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Danny Cowan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…
The Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop with RTX 4090 is $900 off
The Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop with Evil Dead The Game on the screen.

You have to be prepared to spend a significant amount of cash if you want a powerful gaming laptop, but you should also be on the lookout for any opportunities at savings. Take a look at Alienware deals at Dell, which has tempting offers like this one: the Alienware x16 R2 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card with a $900 discount. From its original price of $3,600, it's down to $2,700, which is still pretty expensive, but an excellent price for a device of its caliber. You need to hurry though, as it may be back to its regular price as soon as tomorrow!

Why you should buy the Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop

Read more
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is adding that really jacked bug in next update
Buzzwole jumps in the air in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket will get its next major update on Thursday, May 29 which will add a new booster pack to the popular mobile game. Dubbed Extradimensional Crisis, the new pack will add Ultra Beasts from Pokémon Sun and Moon to the mix.

Since its release last year, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has received regular updates. Its most recent one, which featured two Celestial Guardians booster packs, introduced critters from the Alola region to the card game. Extradimensional Crisis will continue that thread, adding some missing monsters to the card pool.

Read more
Elden Ring Nightreign preload guide: release date, file size, and more
A knight sitting at the roundtable hold in Elden Ring Nightreign.

After the massive base experience with Elden Ring, plus the huge Shadow of the Erdree DLC, we still haven't had our fill of FromSoftware's greatest work. Elden Ring Nightreign takes the base mechanics of the main game and transforms it into a co-op survival game with roguelike elements. While you can play alone, this is a game built for you and your friends to conquer together, although the lack of cross-platform support is a big downer. All the trailers and footage make this game look like a greatest hits of FromSoftware, with tons of returning bosses, armor sets, and locations that we can't wait to discover. To make sure you're not waiting a second longer than you need to, here's all the preorder information about Elden Ring Nightreign, including when preloads begin and how big the game is.

Elden Ring Nightreign release date

Read more