r/ShovelKnight

I really wanted to play a shovel knight game, so i looked up "shovel knight" and found a lot of different games with different titles, i was very overwhelmed and didn't know what to choose so i wanted to know: what shovel knight game should i play first?

I’ve tried researching into this but all that comes up is Shovel Knight’s relics, I know all of them have a unique costume and gets fairies, but I’m hoping there’s more to that for each character. I fear that may not be the case.

You could essentially keep the controls the same, with a few tweaks to make it more interesting. Shovel Knight himself would of course pop up as a boss, and maybe Shield Knight. I’m thinking we get an antihero story where BK has to go through a redemption arc? Idk I just think this would be a much more fun way to return to this style of gameplay than a full on Shovel Knight 2

Title. Would be a great opportunity for YC and seems possible, given their connection to Nintendo + their reverence for the game. This or at least a new side-scroll Zelda game, kind of like Retro Studios (another US-dev) did with Metroid.

I played the original Shovel Knight campaign for about 2 hours a couple of months ago, and... honestly, I wasn't impressed.

I wanted to love it, considering the near-universal praise it gets, but I just couldn't get into it. It felt too easy, I was constantly worried about permanently missing rooms or secrets, and I never really found much of a reason to care about consumables or relics. I ended up dropping it.

Fast forward to now: I just finished Mina the Hollower and absolutely loved it from start to finish. Every weird little mechanic clicked with me. I loved how it borrowed from games I adore (Zelda, Bloodborne, etc.) while constantly subverting my expectations and turning those influences into something that felt genuinely fresh. It also made me appreciate how much love and care Yacht Club puts into their games.

So now I'm thinking maybe I simply approached Shovel Knight the wrong way.

I know the two games are very different—they come from different inspirations, were made at different moments in gaming history, and are trying to accomplish different things. It's entirely possible that Mina just happens to be much more my style.

But before I write off Shovel Knight, I'd like to give it another chance with a more open mind.

So for those of you who love it: what's the best mindset to have going in? Is there something that usually "clicks" after the first few stages? Should I stop worrying about missing secrets? Are the later levels where the game really comes into its own? Or is it simply a case of "if it didn't grab you in the first couple of hours, it probably isn't for you"?

I'd genuinely like to understand what so many people see in it.

Note: non native English speaker. Used AI to translate my post into something you won't pull your hairs out trying to read :)