Created by Yacht Club Games alongside indie developer Vine, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon lovingly recreates the world of the 2D platformer and injects it into a procedural puzzle game that provides depth, accessibility, and reliably fun gameplay. Yacht Club provides an experience that harkens back to the SNES days with a sprawling cast of unlockable characters and tons of modes. In some ways, Pocket Dungeon even betters its retro contemporaries, feeling just as vital as the platformer series that inspired it.

Despite shifting the action from running and jumping to clearing screens of blocks, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon still has the type of story expected from the series. The hero of 1000 crossover cameos finds himself trapped inside a puzzle box alongside the knights he fought on his original adventure (and a few new additions). The game retells the plot of the platformer with appropriately themed stages and boss fights. Common enemies and helpful items replace the falling blocks, and there's a careful balancing act to clearing away groups of enemies and making it to the end.

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Instead of matching lines, Shovel Knight has to attack groups of similar foes all at once, and each strike costs health. There are potions that heal the hero back up and items that make attacks stronger, but the strategy lies in maneuvering to spots where the player character has an advantage. Early on, it's easy to lose focus and get stuck at the bottom of the well, falling victim to unwinnable situations. If this happens too often, the screen fills with blocks and the game ends just like a round of Tetris gone bad. Unlike the original falling block game, there's no easy restart here. Instead, Shovel Knight heads back to the hub world to start his run all over again.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon Cinematic

This is how Pocket Dungeon starts off, but one of the game's most impressive feats is how versatile it is. The roguelike structure is fitting considering just how varied each game can be. Players can pick up both temporary weapon buffs and more permanent perks during gameplay, crafting a unique version of their knight in the vein of Enter the Gungeon. This is all before factoring in the different playable knights that unlock after boss fights. There are no palate swaps here, as each character feels unique and consistent with their past performances. With all this variance in each run, Pocket Dungeon stands with the best roguelikes when it comes to the sheer replay value on offer.

This even extends to Pocket Dungeon's accessibility options, which let players choose what type of experience they'd prefer. Roguelike fans can switch on limited lives for a more hardcore experience while those who prefer puzzle games can switch to failing only when the screen fills with junk. Going even further, players can switch off items, mess with the starting HP and randomize the level layout, and this is all before the adventure begins. It's becoming more and more common for games to feature these types of flexible rules, and Pocket Dungeon's settings ensure that anyone can enjoy this excellent puzzler.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon Clear The ROOM

Pocket Dungeon doesn't skimp out when it comes to presentation either. The music cues and backgrounds evoke nostalgia for a game that isn't even a decade old, but it feels earned thanks to the game's attention to detail in every aspect. From the witty dialogue to the zoo full of returning baddies, players will instantly drop right back into the world of Shovel Knight. The developers were meticulous, successfully capturing the essence of every aspect of Yacht Club's first games and translating them into a more limited gameplay style. Pocket Dungeon succeeds where other spinoffs falter, clearing the high bar of quality set by 2014's instant classic.

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When the adventure finally wraps up and the final bosses lay vanquished on the dungeon floor, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon has still more to offer. There's a VS mode where two players can trade junk blocks as they clear groups of enemies and a daily mode that offers robust leaderboard support. Both of these modes add hooks to keep players solving puzzles, but the gameplay itself stands on its own here. In fact, the only real flaw in the whole package is how quickly the main campaign can wrap up. While times will vary, it's not impossible to figure out the path to the true ending with one character in just a handful of hours. The multiple playable characters and random runs do add to that length, but someone who just wants to see the story through may not find a long journey ahead of them.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon Versus Mode

It's not often that a falling block puzzler can capture the imagination, but Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon finds a buried nugget of novelty in this well-worn ground. Even though it's possible to blast through the adventure, most players will find that savoring the gameplay and enjoying their time with the noble knights is the right call. Pocket Dungeon feels of a kind with Nintendo's various Mario spinoffs and should be an essential purchase for not just fans of the series but puzzle gaming aficionados everywhere.

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Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon releases on December 13 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC. Screen Rant was provided a PC version of the game for the purposes of this review.