some developers prey on that nostalgia, but most of them are making games like that because they want to. it's a nice aesthetic. i wish people would make games like the old PSONE JRPG's. I feel someday they will.
Steel Thy Shovel
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 On 06/30/2014 at 02:08 PM by transmet2033 See More From This User » |
I finished up Shovel Knight sometime yesterday. I hope to be able to compile together a few thoughts on my first playthrough of the game. The only issue with this is that most of them may have already been said better in the reviews.
I finished up the game in about 8 hours and 40 minutes. It is true that the game could have been finished in a shorter timeframe. I decided to collect up enough money to buy all of the upgrades. There are also a couple of levels that are basically "sidequests" that I decided to play. Oh, and you can collect up music sheets strewn about the world, so I replayed levels to try to collect more of those.
I did restart the game with the NG+ feature. So, I expect to spend plenty more time with the game. The NG+ allows you to replay the game starting with all of the gear you acquired through the first playthrough. It also changes some of the rules of the game. The enemies will do twice as much damage and all of the food has been replaced with bombs. This means that you take more damage and have no way of replenishing your health through normal play. You need to be carrying and using potions more... It just occured to me that one of the final encounters in the game is going to be a massive challenge the next time around.
I am a nostalgic fellow when it comes to my videogames. All a developer has to say it 8-bit or 16-bit and I am there. I never really understood why Julian has issues with all of the indie games taking pages out of the old playbooks. After playing Shovel Knight it finally dawned on me that these developers are just prewing on my nostalgia. That so many of them are using the 8-bit asthetic as a gimmick. What I am trying to say is that when you play a game that does it well, you are able to see the truth of the matter. That plenty of these indie games lack compelling gameplay and they use the graphics as crutch. Just like how plenty of AAA developers push realistic graphics, but those games lack compelling gameplay as well. I wish that this had dawned on me a long time ago.
In conclusion, Shovel Knight is one of the best games that I have played this year. It does play the nostalgia card, but it backs it up with great gameplay. It has the elusive FUN element that I look for in games. I think that the difficulty is spot-on for the first playthrough and if it is too easy for you, there is a more difficulty NG+ waiting for you when you finish.
I may have to come back to this game in a bit and see if my love of it is fleeting or if the game really has some staying power.
I will leave you with this picture of the developers apparently sneaking in a kickstarter thanks.
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