Plague of Shadows

Development and release

Plague of Shadows was the first follow-up expansion to Shovel Knight. The developers had never added content to a previous game, and first envisioned the expansion to be similar to Mega Man Powered Up, where the only changes would be the addition of a new character with different movements and slightly altered bosses. As production commenced, the team decided to create Plague of Shadows as an independent title. While the developers decided to retain most of the existing levels, they wanted to use Plague Knight's unique mobility make the old stages fun to play again. Although the original Shovel Knight character featured simple movement that was easy to understand, Yacht Club Games hoped to design a character where the player could find new ways to control how they moved.