Shovel Knight Dig (Review)
By Rae
It’s pretty hard to play games without at least hearing about Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight - the series is pretty widely well-received. Somehow I am a rarity among my friends and have never actually played a Shovel Knight game. Dig sounded like the perfect opportunity to finally check it all out, though the gameplay is a bit different.
I got my first chance to try it out at PAX West, and was pretty happy with the experience (check out our spotlight here). Design-wise, Dig is pretty, with vibrant colors and polished art. It also was fun to play - the platforming is interesting because moving quickly downward (with no way up) makes for a different experience than your traditional side-scrolling or climbing game, but the fast pace and quick movements are pretty fun to play through, and each level feels like an exciting, high risk adventure.
Unfortunately the at-home experience wasn’t so delightful, as I was one of a handful of players who struggled to get the game to recognize a controller that worked fine on steam itself and seemingly every other game. The quick movements and platforming seem made for controller, and the title brags full controller support. When I took a look to see if it was just me, I found a forum page of people discussing potential workarounds (sadly, none of which worked for me) – this is definitely something on the game’s side.
Shovel Knight Dig is a roguelite platformer focused on randomly generated levels in which you dig your way down through a flurry of obstacles, items, and opportunity. When you die on a level, you’ll be sent back to where you started, but as usual with roguelikes, your time digging will help you out with purchasing relics and making life a little easier next time you head on into the hole.
The relics and upgrades you can get aren’t really critical to the game - you can definitely just work on honing your skills and continuing on. A few items are very useful - others are pretty niche depending on the level or situation. As a result, it doesn’t really feel necessary to grab everything in the game. I’m not sure this actually bothers me - as a collector I’m guaranteed to always want to save my money in a game for something. I can see how it might be discouraging for some players who feel that their hard work isn’t really going toward a bigger goal.
What I love is the fact that the procedurally generated levels really do feel unique. Sometimes procedurally-generated levels can feel a littel monotonous if you have the bad luck to get several of the same enemies, bosses, or layouts in a row. Not only does Dig have a number of variables, the game was also designed to avoid repeating itself, and I was able to play several levels in a row without feeling like I was going into the same experience. This helps keep things fresh through the whole playthrough.
Unfortunately it does also mean that the difficulty will vary a bit, but that’s hardly a dealbreaker when you consider the actual variety of stages - if something feels a little too difficult or too easy, you're bound to even back out soon.
I also really like the instruction guide that you can find on Yacht Club Games' website. If you're interested in the game and want to see what you're in for, or if you've picked up the game and want a better understanding, they've published an Instruction Manual that introduces players to the game's concept, gameplay, and relics/gear/items and enemies that await in the chasm.
In the end, Dig is a fun game, which is absolutely what games should be. The items may not always feel worthwhile but the content itself comes with a great variety so players shouldn't get bored or feel like they're doing the same things over and over. The big difficulty for me in recommending it without reservation is that the full controller support clearly isn’t working for some players (I most recently checked on October 21st) and that will always be a deal-breaker for me when it comes to platformers.