Is Shovel Knight Dig the fully-featured follow-up to its gargantuan predecessor indie game, Shovel Knight? That’s difficult to measure, as the boots this spinoff is meant to fill may not be best served by its digger-roguelite concept, even though it carries a sizable amount of the original's DNA. This gorgeous prequel feels like more of a mainline entry than last year's Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, while also lacking the expected depth of action roguelites du jour. Still, Shovel Knight Dig delivers the best-looking Shovel Knight gameplay so far, and is an essential experience for fans of the Blue Burrower.
As might be expected, there’s plenty of storytelling and cute narrative moments throughout Shovel Knight Dig, but the basic tale follows a new villain in play named Drill Knight who burrows a hole straight through SK’s campsite with a massive drilling vehicle. With trusty shovel in hand, our blue adventurer pursues Drill Knight and his “Hexcavators” criminal crew, plunging through alternating biomes below and collecting treasure and upgrades along the way.
It's certainly exciting to see the whole Shovel Knight crew rendered in a higher-def and visually richer pixel style, and the character handles much like he previously did in the main game. With the downward trajectory of the levels, his shovel-pogoing ability and digging become more integral to combat and navigation, but the feel of the character is just as precise and responsive as before. Returning enemy models never come off as lazy rehashes, since the updated visual style makes them more charming and exciting to spot, and the soundtrack by returning composer Jake Kaufman is some of the best work in his catalog.
Shovel Knight Dig's essential mechanics will immediately make sense to anyone who's played roguelite classic Downwell. That means that there's a reliance on quick thinking to scan screens for dangers and secrets, all while avoiding even the slightest bit of damage if possible. SK gets knocked about when hit and will temporarily drop keys or special items which otherwise bop merrily behind them. Some sections make it quite hard to carry these items intact to their intended uses like locked doors, lest they break, burn, or get destroyed on a bed of spikes.
Similar to Spelunky (and especially Spelunky 2's design), Shovel Knight Dig’s procedural level generation is smartly designed, ensuring that most runs feel distinct from another in this regard; hazards and secrets are satisfyingly random and level chunks never seem to predictably recycle in subsequent playthroughs. There's also an assortment of helpful NPCs who pop up in side rooms, offering a quick treat or a way to modify Shovel Knight’s stats and abilities. A deadly run-killing buzzsaw threatens players who dawdle, and each area ends in an entertaining boss battle with an ever-changing arena layout.
The meaningful problems lie within the game’s roguelite leanings, where it makes the critical mistake of not offering enough variations to the hero's basic kit. There are a few very useful relics, but they’re the exception among a heap of mostly ineffective or only moderately helpful pieces of gear. Shovel Knight Dig's most clever game mechanic involves grabbing all three large cogs in a given level, which then grant the choice of refilling health to the brim or taking a risk on a randomized special item; it's a genius skill-based risk/reward concept which would fit perfectly in other roguelites, yet it’s hampered by the overall lack of interesting, run-changing upgrades on offer. Sadly, there aren't even any unlockable alternate characters, as in Pocket Dungeon.
Between attempts, players return to SK’s campsite and can speak to NPCs for tips and gossip, purchase alternate sets of armor, or unlock new items to discover on upcoming runs. The different armors present the most affecting option, but they don’t differentiate each Shovel Knight Dig run enough to turn unlocking the next big purchase into the exciting event it deserves to be.
There are a few other misgivings which sour the complete Shovel Knight Dig package. Pogoing is not only an essential mechanic, but often “forced” onto the player, (unlike its classic inspiration, DuckTales for the NES) since SK automatically bounces upon landing on the many destroyable blocks of sand throughout each level. Players need to learn early on that certain jumps are going to force them into this pogo-state, which can then result in damage from exposed spikes or hazards overhead. It’s part of the intended gameplay but frequently feels uncontrollable and unfair. Plus, just like Spelunky, the smallest mistakes have a tendency snowball into run-ending disasters. A number of run-killing bugs also hampered our playthrough, but Yacht Club Games has been doing their best with rolling updates.
Shovel Knight Dig’s “true” endgame is also a demoralizing slog, a long sequence of tasks which eventually must be completed in perfect order, a maddening pursuit when considering the potential chaos one tiny mistake can cause. It feels like an inclusion meant to superficially pad out the length of the game, which can be completed “normally” by vanquishing Drill Knight in well under an hour on a successful run.
In the end, Shovel Knight Dig is more Shovel Knight. The basic gameplay and boss fights are the stars of the show, and they more than make up for the ways that the game struggles in its capacity as a roguelite. It’s got a healthy supply of that just-one-more-attempt magic, which should serve folks hankering for more shovel-swinging action just fine. The irony remains that Shovel Knight Dig is just not exceptionally deep.
Shovel Knight Dig is out now on PC, Nintendo Switch, and Apple iOS. A digital PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.