PAX East Preview: Shovel Knight Dig

Yacht Club Games has really knocked it out of the park with the Shovel Knight brand. After a tremendously successful Kickstarter led to the creation of the main game, the studio has supported its retro platformer with a ton of free content and updates over the last five years. One could have purchased the original at a steep discount and still received tons of new single-player content without shelling out more dough.

Because of how well supported the game is, fans have come to love Yacht Club and Shovel Knight. Not wishing to slow down with the brand, the company announced a spin-off of sorts in the form of Shovel Knight Dig. More reminiscent of Mr. Driller than the Mega Man-inspired original, Dig is certainly a departure for the series.

It’s not completely out of left field, though. As his very name would imply, Shovel Knight likes to dig. The whole concept is that he uses a shovel as a weapon, so why wouldn’t he be well equipped to dig deeper and deeper into the Earth?

That’s not to say that Dig doesn’t have anything in common with the main game. A lot of the same enemies, platforming challenges, and even friends are present. Dig is more shifting up the general tone of the game more than reinventing the wheel. It also kind of bears resemblance to Downwell, if not the digging sections from Super Mario Bros. 2.

So what can we expect from the new PAX East 2020 demo? We’re mostly going to get a more in-depth look at the game. The title was only announced last August and had a limited demo at PAX West 2019. With a whole new cast of knights to tackle and a different enemy, we’re probably going to figure out the main story behind Dig with this preview.

We may also find out if Dig will become a new platform for future updates similar to the original Shovel Knight. That doesn’t seem likely, but it’s fun that Yacht Club Games is taking a chance with its mascot character. Shovel Knight is a great brand and it is smart to branch off now instead of waiting eons.

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