''Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon'' is a

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developed by Vine and

Yacht Club Games Yacht Club Games, LLC is an American independent video game development studio and publisher founded in 2011 by former WayForward Technologies director Sean Velasco. The company announced their first title, ''Shovel Knight'', on March 14, 2013, ...

, and published by Yacht Club Games. It is a spin-off of ''

Shovel Knight ''Shovel Knight'' is a platform game, platform video game developed and published by Yacht Club Games. Development was crowdfunded and the game was released for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Windows in June 2014. It was ported to OS X and Linux in Se ...

''. It was released on December 13, 2021 for

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PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, and

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. The story follows protagonist Shovel Knight as he becomes trapped within a magical artifact, the Pocket Dungeon, and is forced to fight his way out while battling other knights who befell the same fate. The game was positively received by critics, who noted its graphics, soundtrack and easy-to-learn yet deep gameplay as strong points.

Gameplay

The game's core gameplay has the player control Shovel Knight or another playable character, moving them around on an 8x8 grid and clearing enemies and blocks that drop from above by moving into them to attack. If the player does not defeat an enemy, they take damage equivalent to that enemy's offensive stat.

Reception

The game received an aggregate score of 84/100 on PC, 83/100 on Switch, and 80/100 on PlayStation 4 from

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, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Kyle LeClair of ''Hardcore Gamer'' rated the PC version 4/5 points, calling the core gameplay easy to learn, yet having a deep level of strategy. Calling the graphics "amazing", he referred to the game itself as a "true gem". Jenni Lada of ''

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'' rated the PC version 8/10 points, calling the game "immensely satisfying" and praising its supplemental modes, such as VS mode. Mitchell Salzman of ''

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'' also rated it 8/10 points, calling it "hard to put down", and noting its "incredible soundtrack". However, he criticized the game's unlockable relics as lacking in utility, saying the most universally useful ones were part of the starting 15. He also criticized the game's lack of online play, as it contains only local multiplayer.

References

{{Yacht Club 2021 video games Dungeon crawler video games Falling block puzzle games Fantasy video games Indie video games GameMaker Studio games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Pocket Dungeon Video game spin-offs Windows games MacOS games Yacht Club Games games