The difficulty level may even turn off those just looking for a relaxing romp. This game is as deceptively difficult as it is engaging. It would be simple to dismiss it as a casual puzzle game. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is an easy game to misjudge. It all looks expensive at the start of the game, but it's fairly easy to earn gems quickly, especially since early Pocket Dungeon runs often won't take any longer than 10-15 minutes. Before embarking on a run, it's possible to purchase helpful relics, unlock new characters, or unlock later stages to start runs from. It adds even more incentive to keep playing on top of an already engaging formula.įailed runs will inevitably pile up over time, but the gems that players pick up go a long way towards making significant progress. Players can switch to other characters, each of whom has a special ability. Prevailing in these encounters leads to one of the more interesting ideas in Pocket Dungeon and that's unlockable characters. Bosses are fun one-on-one encounters where players not only need to account for a specific foe's movement and patterns, but also navigate the screen filling up with enemies. They also help with the game's various boss battles. They go a long way towards extending runs and giving players just what they need to survive. Relics can often be life savers during a run, whether they grant a boost in health or offer immunity to certain attacks or hazards. Over the course of Pocket Dungeon, players can use the gems they pick up to purchase helpful items. However, it doesn't feel impossible, thanks to a few helpful mechanics. Like the original Shovel Knight game before it, the difficulty level in Pocket Dungeon ramps up fast. At that point, the game ends and the player must start from scratch. It's possible to play with infinite lives, but that doesn't make the game much easier, because in the time that it takes Shovel Knight to respawn, the screen rapidly fills up to a point of no return. Using the standard options, if Shovel Knight runs out of health and dies, the game ends and players must start from scratch. Instead of thinking of Pocket Dungeon as a puzzle game, it's more accurate to identify it as a roguelike. It's so much more intense than it looks on paper. There's even more challenge on top of that when it comes to finishing a stage, because players must make sure to collect a key and move towards the level's exit without getting taken down by enemies along the way. Because of that, players must make sure to balance attacking with healing, all while keeping a relatively fast pace to ensure that the stage doesn't fill up. However, the enemies all fight back, each with different patterns, and many of them will hurt Shovel Knight with attacks that cannot be countered. On the surface, it looks like something akin to Bust A Groove or Panel de Pon/Tetris Attack. Pocket Dungeon requires Shovel Knight to clear out chains of blocks, enemies, and potions within a puzzle chamber that increasingly fills up. This is no casual puzzle game, so dispel that myth immediately. As it turns out, "battle" is the key word, because there's something to Pocket Dungeon that I wasn't quite expecting and that's a combat element. Shovel Knight must make his way through these puzzles and battle both familiar foes and new faces along the way. The hero finds himself before a series of labyrinths with only the mysterious Puzzle Knight to guide him. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon's story is fairly simple. However, much in the way that the original game gives some new twists to platformers, Pocket Dungeon now does the same thing to the puzzle genre. Upon first glance, it's easy to dismiss Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon as a simplistic puzzle game. It's been six years since that game first released and now it's finally time for the garden tool-wielding hero to branch out into new genres. The first time Yacht Club Games introduced Shovel Knight into the world, it charmed gaming audiences with its retro aesthetic, its lovable cast of characters, and its crisp platforming.
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