Now enterting its second decade of existence, the Shovel Knight series is getting some major updates, including a whole new mainline game that was announced Friday.
Yacht Club Games founder Sean Velasco didn’t reveal much during the studio’s 10th anniversary showcase, but said the game, which has been in the works for around four years, “honors the shovel knight legacy” while integrating “innovative gameplay mechanics.” This is purposefully vague, but his statement that it’ll be a “bold new adventure that’ll launch Shovel Knight into an entirely new dimension of gaming” makes us think that 3D might be on the horizon.
Velasco also revealed that there are clues to what the new game will entail in previous games in the series. You can watch the full announcement to see if any of the clips shown seem relevant.
The company previously announced the showcase for the game’s 10th anniversary, and along with the new game announcement, we got a look at Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX, which will be the definitive edition of the original game. It preserves the campaign, but will be bringing in features that were introduced in later games, like online co-op, 20 playable characters, rewind and save states, body swap mode, and a lot more.
There were also plenty of updates announced for already existing titles. Shovel Knight Dig and Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon are getting their final DLC packs. Dig‘s upcoming DLC is called “Wicked Wishes” and features a well-dressed horse on a throne in a guild hall that you have to impress by climbing the ranks through completing challenges and quests. This one will be out this summer for free.
Pocket Dungeon, the series’ match-3 game, is set to get a “Paradox Pack” that will bring more playable characters, new stages, mini-bosses, challenges, and mod support for the PC version. The final DLC will bring online support. Neither of these two releases have launch dates just yet.
We also got a small update on Mina: The Hollower, a top-down horror adventure that was announced and out on Kickstarter in 2022 and will stray from Shovel Knight as the main character. The update reveals that the team is still working on it, mostly polishing gameplay and writing. It’s “coming soon.”
Finally, there will be some new merch collaborations and game crossovers. Yacht Club Games is bringing back its For Honor event with Ubisoft and taking our favorite shovel guy back to Brawhalla.