If any of you readers don’t know by now, Shovel Knight is one of my favorite games of all time and for many good reasons. It has challenging yet fair level design that tests the player’s platforming skills. Took the key aspects of older NES titles and used them to make a fun well designed game. Is able to teach the player without having to take control away from them too much. Has a bopping soundtrack that fits in with the positive vibes of the game. Colorful visuals that are attractive to both older and younger audiences. The story was actually pretty good in my books. Memorable characters each with their own personality, tons of funny jokes, serious key moments that stick the landing, and a story about a long lasting friendship. Tight controls, numerous secrets to discover, tons of content, and is just a very good game. Shovel Knight is the nostalgia trip that every gamer should experience even if you aren't a huge fan of old school platformers. It is just so f*cking good. In my mind it is the perfect example of how to do a video game. May not be your average Triple A product, but Shovel Knight was made with love and devotion. Who knew a joke a couple of guys made on a boat would turn into one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time.
With success comes following up and Yacht Club Games were ready to continue the Shovel Knight saga. When it came to their Kickstarter campaign they were able to make enough money for three additional adventures. Expansions that would be added to the game and experiment with the ideas that made Shovel Knight so awesome. DLC for video games have kind of been a mixed bag these past few years. Most games are expected to have all of their content at launch, but for some reason developers find ways to package the rest of the game as paid expansions. Some of these expansions don’t even feel like expansion and are things that could have been there from the start. Other times the full experience ends up costing more than it really should.
Let’s take Destiny 2 for example. Destiny 2 is a fine first person shooter. It’s not bad, but there wasn’t enough to make it whole so that’s why it missed the mark for me. Bungie added in expansions to keep players coming back and some of them were lackluster. The first expansion, Curse of Osiris lasted less than three hours and controversially content that was available before, like certain purchasables and modes, became only available in Curse of Osiris. So much slack got thrown at Bungie after that. Another example is Star Wars: Battlefront from 2015. It had only like four maps and to unlock more you need to pay an extra fifty dollars. Who wants to pay fifty dollars more for a game they already spent fifty dollars on? DLC and expansions have become a real joke these days. However, there are developers out there who understand when to do an expansion. Those people who pour tons of content into their games and add in the expansion when they know people have gotten enough of what they wanted.
DLC and expansions are there to... well expand, and that’s what Yacht Club Games did with Shovel Knight. The player already got the content they were hungry for, but rather than stop there, let's offer them more even though they have a full belly. Shovel Knight’s first expansion was Plague of Shadows and it did alright. It wasn't as good as the original experience, but it was an experiment. It gave us a new character to play as Plague Knight, a new story, more context to certain characters, new paths in older levels, and it was all free. They did reuse older levels like I said, but this is an indie studio so you wouldn’t expect them to go so far. Or did they? During the Game Awards of 2016, a surprise announcement was made advertising the next big entry in the Shovel Knight series. It was known as Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment. It would not only contain a new character to play as, but levels that actually accommodate his abilities. There would be depth and have a serious tone unlike the other two games.
I remember being really hyped when I saw the announcement of Specter of Torment and when the game came out I immediately downloaded it and played through. Specter of Torment exceeded my expectations and replaying it for the second time I have to say this is almost as perfect as the original Shovel Knight. It may very well be the best expansion ever in a video game. Today we’ll be talking about why I absolutely love Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment and why it deserves your attention. So sharpen thine scythe, unravel some hidden treasures, and reap your way across the land.
Story
The game takes place several nights before the main events of Shovel of Hope, otherwise Shovel Knight’s story. The cursed amulet that warped Shield Knight into the Enchantress has now locked up the front gates. The Enchantress planning out how to take over the land has employed Specter Knight, a gothly undead knight, to do her bidding. She claims that she can bring Specter Knight back to life and transform him into the human he was before. She wants him to go to eight locations across the land each containing a skilled warrior. Specter Knight must convince them to join The Enchantress’ army and if they refuse to join her then he will force them into doing so. There are several evil minions scurried around the Tower of Fate who are willing to assist Specter Knight along his journey. One of them being his cute yet trusty big hat Dark Acolyte, who operates a mirror that will warp Specter Knight to where he needs to go. On his first mission, Specter Knight traverses through the grassy Plains of Passage to locate Black Knight whom the Enchantress desires to be in her forces. During an epic fight, Black Knight ridicules Specter Knight for what he is doing and what he is doing is wrong. Yet, Specter Knight ignores Black Knight and makes his way back to the tower.
Specter Knight has a list of the knights he has to fight and bring back to the Tower of Fate. The royal brute King Knight, the crazy alchemist Plague Knight, the fiery digger Mole Knight, the deep diver Treasure Knight, the tiny yet smart madman Tinker Knight, the old and wise Polar Knight, the skilled swordsman who controls his own fleet Propeller Knight, and a mysterious warrior who wanderers the land and has the ability to control lightning. Specter Knight knows that each of them will be tough and try to pile drive him into the ground, but if it means getting his mortality back then he will do whatever it takes. Occasionally in between missions he sits along one of the balconies of the Tower of Fate. Pulling out a blue jeweled locket and staring into his past.
We find two legendary adventurers roaming across the land in search of both danger and a tale to tell. They plan to head towards the Tower of Fate while it is unsealed and claim whatever treasures lie at the top. One of them is an agile fighter named Luan, and the other is a masked yet stern ninja named Donovan. It is implied that Donovan is Specter Knight when he was mortal and whatever happened at the Tower of Fate that night is what led to the events that are now transpiring. Luan and Donovan may have even ran into someone they shouldn’t have. These are memories though and Specter Knight must focus on what he has to do. Locate the eight knights he has to recruit, gain the trust of the Enchantress, and form the devious Order of No Quarter.
Gameplay
Specter of Torment is a drastic change from what Shovel of Hope was. Unlike good trusty Shovel Knight who simply jumps and bounces around, Specter Knight has a list of parkour skills that allow him to traverse the most dangerous environments. It’s a much faster and challenging game than Shovel of Hope, but it’s in a good way where it’s not too chaotic. Specter Knight can climb up walls for a short period of time, lunge himself up ledges, jump off of a wall and then cling onto another one, and even chain his walls jumps and climbing to get to higher areas. He has a shorter jump height than Shovel Knight, but to make up for it he has a reliable scythe dash. The scythe has a longer ranged attack than Shovel Knight’s blade, but while in midair Specter Knight can target an enemy. He will dash towards them and bounce back off if they don’t die within an instance. You can chain your scythe dashes in a way where you stay locked onto them and attack them in quick succession.
Enemies who fly around or are in midair will launch Specter Knight towards a specific direction depending on how you aimed his slash. How do I explain this. Let’s say there is a flying rat and you scythe dashed him from the bottom left. You will then be lunged from towards the upper right. You can use your scythe dashes to either reach higher areas, get across gaps, or just get to something you wouldn’t be normally able to reach. There are wisp lanterns throughout each stage and these are normal objects placed to help Specter Knight. They allow him to scythe dash without an enemy having to be around. Sometimes the game creates unique platforming challenges where you have to rely both on lanterns and enemies to get towards where you need to be.
Littered in each level are red skulls, wisp chests that will increase your maximum health or darkness, and treasure. Treasure is a staple to the Shovel Knight series as it is your main currency. Treasure can be used to buy new armor from NPCs and in Specter Knight’s case to donate to specific projects or upgrade equipment. That’s funny. In Shovel Knight’s campaign equipment like the Flare Wand or Propeller Dagger was simply unlocked using gold. Now it’s just used to upgrade their capabilities. How do you unlock equipment then. Those Red Skulls that I mentioned earlier can be used to purchase new gear from an NPC named Red. There are ten Red Skulls in each level and some of them are in hard to reach places. Red will take you to a tutorial area to show how each piece of equipment works and from there you can continue using them.
Some of these are really useful. A claw that takes time to charge up, but deals a high amount of damage. A slash that pulls you towards an enemy even when there is a wall blocking your way. A feather that allows you to float for a small period making platforming much easier. Then there is a wisp which replenishes your health and is a little broken. All of these items use darkness and darkness is obtained by killing enemies or picking it up. You can kinda see why the healing wisp is broken.
There are numerous checkpoints in each stage and when you die you are sent back to the last one. A fraction of your treasure is lost, but there is a way to get it back. Once you return to the area you died at, you can then collect flying money sacks which contain your treasure. If you do again then you lose the treasure for good. It’s a system that encourages risk, but pays the player back for taking those risks.
At the end of each stage there is a boss who will have a huge heal pool. Deplete their health bar down to zero and you beat the stage. These are the knights you fought in the original game and seeing how overpowered Specter Knight is they should be very easy to deal with. Well, Yacht Club Games changed up how these bosses fight to make them challenging when playing with Specter Knight. They have new moves, the arenas may change up, and they will take whole new approaches to beat. For example, King Knight is no longer a lousy gimp who charges around the arena, but leaves big windows of opportunity. His arena will constantly be shifting when he slams into the ground, there will be bottomless pits for you to fall into, he can summon flying rats to distract you, fly around using helicopter rats, maybe summon cards that fly in different directions, and call in some horns to rain down confetti. Just look how they took one of the easiest bosses from the base game and made him somewhat challenging.
All of the bosses have received an overhaul to fit Specter Knight’s playstyle and it’s nice how Yacht Club Games put some thought into it. Besides that there really isn’t much else I can say about Specter of Torment. The game works absolutely beautifully and is really fun to play. Hopefully you can take down each knight and reclaim your humanity.
Thoughts
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is everything I could want from an expansion if not more. The story has a more sad and depressing tone than Shovel Knight, but it has more depth and intrigue. There’s this one moment that will happen a good chunk into Specter Knight’s story and it’s from there we start getting more answers. Who are we? Who is Luan? What happened that fateful night? Specter Knight is just a very cool character to look into. While Shovel Knight was a goofy and lovable ball of joy who carried us through an entire journey, Specter Knight is much more of a badass and feels like one of those platforming characters targeted towards a more mature audience. Kind of like how Mega Man X was a more mature themed Mega Man. The game also answers a few questions that weren’t explained in Shovel of Hope. Like what really happened at the Tower of Fate and the one who triggered the amulet.
The gameplay is the most important part of Specter of Torment as it feels like an entirely different game, and in some ways Specter of Torment is a much better game than Shovel of Hope. The combat is more frenetic and the boss fights especially help with that aggressiveness. The platforming challenges put your skills to the test and are much more mechanics focused. Levels are much longer and more challenging than the ones in Shovel of Hope, but they balance it out by putting in tons of secrets and checkpoints so the player doesn’t get kicked too far back. The soundtrack has been reworked to fit the different tones and settings of each stage. It is more thrilling than before, much catchier, and helps get your blood pumping for an ungodly experience. There are new enemy types, minigames just in case you want a break from the main story, tons of collectibles, and much more. Rather than go for a map to navigate like in Shovel of Hope instead we get a hub world to drink around in. There are tons of unique side conversations to have with characters and minions. A rail grind section to test out how Specter Knight controls on rails. The minigames I mentioned a few seconds ago like the tower climbing one. There is even a cat that you can pet and play catch with.
The game takes roughly around five hours to beat and reaching one hundred percent completion is really fun. There is even a secret piece of armor and equipment if you manage to collect all the red skulls for Red. You can get Specter of Torment along with the rest of the Shovel Knight collection, or you can buy it separately for a pretty fair price. At the end of the day, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is a really good game and personally I don’t have any major complaints with it. However, even though a lot of people are saying that Specter of Torment is the best installment to date, personally I like Shovel of Hope much better. It was more simplistic and easier to get into. If you are looking into the Shovel Knight series then start off with the original experience first. Specter of Torment is much more challenging and was made for those who understand the Shovel Knight formula. I also think this has to deal with my love for Shovel Knight and how it impacted my view on video games. I highly recommend Specter of Torment as it is another wonderful entry in a fantastic series of games. In the end I am giving Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
Comments