Announced on Wednesday the 28th of August, Shovel Knight returns for more 2D platforming action. Shovel Knight Dig will be a joint development effort between Yacht Club Games and Nitrome that has been in development for over a year at this point and according to the official announcement has “…quite a way to go, still.”
The story will revolve around a completely new antagonist in the form of the Drill Knight and his dastardly digging crew and is set it into motion when the aforementioned blast apart Shovel Knight’s peaceful campsite and steal all his fairly earned loot.
In a change from the previous titles left to right scrolling levels, from the artwork seen on the official announcement page, the action in Shovel Knight Dig will feature vertical levels as Shovel Knight tunnels after Drill Knight and his gang, gaining wealth and power as he goes ever deeper. New mechanics as well as the returning Shovel Drop technique seem like they are going to be vital in navigating the downward-pointing levels. With new faces joining in the fight along the way, as well as potentially some returning characters from the first Shovel Knight adventure. With a name like “Dig” this is to be expected, but it is still an interesting change of pace from your standard platformer
The announcement also mentions that this time every adventure is different with the levels being crafted and stitched together using “proprietary generation techniques for infinite replayability” and if this new adventure is anywhere near as fun as the first outing, this can only be a good thing.
Jake Kaufman will be returning to craft the soundtrack for Shovel Knight Dig and if the original Shovel Knight’s soundtrack is anything to go by, every track is going to get stuck in your head.
Shovel Knight Dig has no set release date and it is currently unknown what platforms it will be coming to. Shovel Knight Dig has a playable demo at PAX West this weekend, letting players experience Spore Knight’s stage – The Mushroom Mines. The demo is playable on Switch, which means that more than likely the full game will be coming to the Switch. I would wager that it will be coming to all other current-gen platforms as well.
