It’s always frustrating when you’re anticipating something for a while, keep thinking about it in advance, then totally forget about it the day it happens. That’s exactly what occurred today with Yacht Club Games Presents. It was on my radar and I just blanked entirely. Thankfully, being in the game journalism industry, I got a helpful reminder later this morning, and then I read about what was presented in Yacht Club Games Presents. To my pleasant surprise, it was a mixture of old and new. If you missed it like I did, you can catch up by watching the video below.
The presentation starts with Sean Velasco narrating and showing off Cyber Shadow with an awesome trailer. I love the visual style of this game, and am happy Yacht Club Games opted to help publish it for Mechanical Head Studios. One cool reveal was that the Shovel Knight amiibo, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, Specter Knight and King Knight, will all work in the game. They will summon tiny Fairies for their respective character, as well as unlocking color palettes for Shadow. As someone that owns all the Shovel Knight amiibo, I’m looking forward to trying these out. That part of the presentation ended with a release window of Fall for Cyber Shadow.
Then Alec Faulkner, a designer at Yacht Club Games I wasn’t previously familiar with, took over narrative duties. He covered the history of Shovel Knight, including the glorious Kickstarter campaign all through the releases over the following years. Alec then announced that Feb 26 – Mar 3 will be the 3rd anniversary of Specter of Torment, and as such, will have the game discounted by 50%. That’s a great bargain, especially since I loved the story in Specter of Torment the most of all the campaigns. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, this part ended with the reveal of Shovel Knight phone stickers. Though I don’t think I’ll use them myself, they are very snazzy looking.
Next they revealed that the 4.1 update is coming to Treasure Trove, bringing with it a number of fixes and additions. An example is adding 1:1 pixel scaling, and aerial characters in Shovel Knight Showdown being nerfed so they can’t remain airborne as long. Furthermore, all characters can now destroy dirt blocks in Showdown. They also added a Character Gauntlet mode added to Target Attack, which randomly changes characters every time you hit a target. And in true old school fashion, that mode can only be accessed via a cheat code. Also, King of Cards will be adding multiplayer Joustus, which can be found in King Knight’s room. That’s surely good news for those of you actually competent in Joustus, unlike myself.
Then we got a quick Shovel Knight Dig check-in. There wasn’t much, but they did say that new enemies, objects and areas are being introduced and polished on a regular basis. They also had an introduction for the new villain Hive Knight, complete with a butterfly net and beetle buddy. The release date for Dig is sometime next year.
Yacht Club Games announced they have 2 new games in development, though both are a ways off. Then they cryptically hinted at “what they’re crafting in the year of the rat, 2020“. So I’m not sure what to make of that, but I’m intrigued.
The presentation ended with the reveal of a totally new game, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon. It’s not clear if that was one of the two games referred to earlier or a third, but either way I liked what I saw. It’s a rogue-like puzzle dungeon crawler with adorable chibi characters. Calling it a match-3 would be an insult, as this looks pretty unique. Sadly, there has been no date or platforms announced yet for Pocket Dungeon, though they did unveil a key character, the aptly named Puzzle Knight. And then a dagger was put through my heart when they announced the first playable demo of Pocket Dungeon will be playable at PAX East, which I sadly won’t be at. But if you’re there, you had better try it out! They’ll also have demos of Dig and Cyber Shadow, and you can even challenge the YCG crew at Shovel Knight Showdown.
All in all, I continue to be impressed by the hard work of the folks at Yacht Club Games, and can’t wait to try out their new titles. Stay tuned to oprainfall for more news from the folks behind Shovel Knight as it hits!
LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 26, 2020 – Yacht Club Games announced today via its Presents video a brand new Shovel Knight game – Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon. developed by VINE and Yacht Club Games, is a brand new action-packed puzzle adventure mashup. The team has also released a new story trailer for Cyber Shadow, which has been confirmed to come out this fall on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. Shovel Knight Dig also got some news with a reveal of the latest member of the Hexcavators- Hive Knight!
SHOVEL KNIGHT POCKET DUNGEON
Delve with Shovel Knight into the depths of the Pocket Dungeon on an action-packed puzzle adventure mashup like none other! Join your mysterious guide Puzzle Knight as you shovel through scads of foes, procure new equipment, and battle bosses both familiar and new. Explore a tale with endless twists and turns, quest as your favorite heroes, and even challenge a friend for fast-paced head-to-head competition in Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon!
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is the third title made in collaboration with an external game development team, after Cyber Shadow and Shovel Knight Dig. “Working with Yacht Club has helped us to leverage resources we wouldn’t have access to otherwise, and helped get the game in front of more people. It’s fun to add to the mythos of Shovel Knight, too.”, says Russell Rafferty, developer behind VINE and creator of Pocket Dungeon.
At Yacht Club Games, the team is glad to be able to shine the spotlight on up-and-coming developers. “By working together with great devs on new Shovel Knight games, we get many different creative perspectives and cool new designs that push the boundaries of the Shovel Knight Universe! It’s been thrilling to see Pocket Dungeon progress, and we can’t wait to see where Shovel Knight goes next.” says Sean Velasco, designer at Yacht Club Games.
Cyber Shadow by Aarne “MekaSkull” Hunziker is coming this fall on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam. The game will be released as part of Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC.
In Cyber Shadow, the world has been taken over by synthetic lifeforms. A desperate plea for help sets Shadow on a journey to uncover what started the path to perpetual ruin. Slash through the techno hordes, leap past traps, and nimbly navigate the ruins of Mekacity.
