Great news, fans of the cerulean crusader! It’s been officially announced by Yacht Club Games themselves that Shovel Knight is slated for a retail physical release! It will be coming out to the following consoles – 3DS, Wii U, PS4 and XBox One. When can you get your grubby mitts on it, you ask? In North America, fans can purchase it starting October 13th, 2015, while in Europe, it will be for sale starting on October 16th. So not too much of a wait for European fans. Additionally, Europe is the only region getting a PC physical copy of the game, for you PC only enthusiasts.
For those chomping at the bit to put money down on a preorder, you can do so starting today at some of the following retailers – Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, Target and Wal-Mart. Doing so will let retailers evaluate demand and decide on how many copies to order. Yacht Club thanks us in advance for pre-ordering the game, since that will help them print enough copies. Yes, you read that right. Not only did Yacht Club develop Shovel Knight, they are the ones publishing it as well, with the help of U&I Entertainment. You may know them from such games as The Walking Dead and Divinity: Original Sin. Suffice to say, distribution of the game should not be a problem.
Oh, and as to how expensive you can expect the physical copies to be, they are slated to sell for $19.99. That might sound a bit pricey, but not when you take into account all the content you get in the physical game. Besides the base game campaign, the physical release will also come with the Plague of Shadows DLC (though backers are getting this digitally first) as well as the hotly anticipated Challenge Mode, with over 50+ diverse challenges. Best of all, physical versions will also receive free DLC updates with future content as they are released, so even if you didn’t back Shovel Knight, you an still benefit! Some of the upcoming DLC is the King and Specter Knight campaigns, Battle Mode and Body Swap Mode. Best of all is that the physical version will come with a sexy instruction booklet, like in the days of yore, full of great art and tidbits.
Are you excited for the physical release of Shovel Knight? Dismayed? I personally am going to buy it, just to serve as a sexy mantle piece. I may have beaten the game repeatedly already, but the collector in me wants a piece of the Shovel Knight legacy that isn’t only tied to my 3DS. Chime in below on how you feel about this monumental news.
