Shovel Knight: King of Cards | Xbox One Review

Way back in 2017, we were lucky enough to preview the latest expansion for the Shovel Knight series, King of Cards. Now that the game is officially released, I had a chance to play the full game. Yacht Club Games continues to deliver exceptional content that feels less like DLC and more like a whole new game. King of Cards offers a decent challenge and a great sense of humor to cap of the “Treasure Trove” collection. If you’re a fan of any of the previous entries, you definitely won’t want to miss this one. Let’s find out why.

The King…Has Returned

Much like the previous two games in the series, Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment, this one has you playing one of the bosses from the original game. In King of Cards, that villain is King Knight, a pompous knight who feels he deserves a throne and the adoration of subjects. This is the story of his ascension to that throne, which coincides with his joining of the “Order of No Quarter.” The prequel succeeds in giving further backstory about the characters from this universe, and puts a great bow on the story that made me want to start over from the beginning and play Shovel of Hope again. It’s that good.

In true Shovel Knight form, King of Cards is a 2D platformer, but it plays completely different from all three previous games. King Knight’s attack comes in the form of a forward shoulder charge. Once he attacks an enemy, he bounces into the air with a spin move that allows him to bounce on other enemies or reach higher platforms. It takes a bit of getting used to, especially if you’ve played any of the previous games.

But that’s what I enjoyed most about King of Cards: learning how to play and having the satisfaction of pulling off impressive jumps. Yacht Club has perfected teaching you these new mechanics without a bumbling tutorial. You learn by doing, much like how we all learned how to play Super Mario Bros. back in the day. By the time you beat the final boss, you’ll feel like an expert at a new style of gameplay, and that feels amazing.

Joustus for the Rest of Us

One of the newest additions to the series is a card game called Joustus. It’s actually somewhat pivotal to the story, which revolves around a Joustus tournament. The game is a deck builder where you play against a computer opponent in an attempt to earn extra cards to add to your deck. If you lose, however, your opponent gets to take a card of their choosing from you deck.

Joustus is deceptively complex. All you do is place cards on a grid in an attempt to have your cards on top of the gems placed there by the time there are cards covering the playing field. The one catch is that you can’t place a card on top of a gem. you must instead shift a previously-placed card onto the space by playing another card. Each card has a certain number of arrows on them which determine which way you can slide them. You can slide a card in the opposite direction of an arrow, which makes this a much more strategic game than I expected.

Although Joustus was very clever, I found myself jumping into matches less often. I simply wanted to get back to the platforming, which is an absolute blast to play. Thankfully, these games are completely optional after the initial tutorial matches. I did end up playing a few more matches, because the rewards are actually very beneficial to the rest of the game. It also adds some longevity to the game. King of Cards has plenty more to do after you beat the final boss, even outside of the Joustus matches. You’ll have many hours of entertainment here, if you want to prolong the experience.

Comfort Food

One of the other aspects of King of Cards that is vastly different from the rest of the games is the level progression. There are only three main bosses before the final confrontation. But instead of each boss having their own level, they each have their own world map. These maps are very reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3, as you can tackle each bite-sized level in the order you prefer. You obviously don’t have to complete every level to finish the game, but it gives you something else to go after when you beat the game.

Each level also has a number of collectibles in the form of medals. These are usually located in hard to reach places or in a hidden area somewhere in the level. I’m usually not one for collectibles in platformers, but these are genuinely satisfying to discover. Some take a sharp eye to locate, and other require quick reflexes. It’s a ton of fun to go back and try to 100% the game for added challenge.

King of Cards Final Verdict

It’s really simple: if you liked any of the games from the Shovel Knight series, checking out King of Cards should be a no-brainer. It feels familiar yet different at the same time and satisfies in multiple ways. It’s refreshing to see a developer iterate on a franchise in unique ways that keeps each game fresh. The best part is that King of Cards comes included with the Treasure Trove collection. If you already purchased the collection from the beginning, you can already play this at no additional cost. If you’ve never jumped into the Shovel Knight games, and you’re a fan of classic platformers, you won’t be disappointed in this collection. King of Cards is the perfect finale, and I can’t wait to see what Yacht Club does next.

This review is based on an Xbox One review copy of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, which includes the King of Cards expansion. It was provided by Yacht Club Games for coverage purposes and is also available on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.