izigame.me

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is an action puzzle masterpiece. In many ways, the game is right up there with the master of this genre, Tetris - and I really don´t want to say this lightly and have a couple of points about why I think that.

What is "action puzzle" about it? Well, at its barest, its a game about quick pattern recognition, a little bit of mental math ( only when you know your character approaches low health ), and optimizing the speed at which you can do both of these things to rack up score, in turn money that can be spent on items to make a match / run easier.

This game oozes charm. It is built to love, with a lot of love: Incredible pixel art that looks absolutely delicious, cartoonishly exaggerated but masterfully done sprite animation, iconic homages to its source material, a fantastic soundtrack that you will commit to memory when you get addicted to the game, a cozy-cute hub area littered with characters, a staggering wealth of features : This game is a labor of dozens of thousands of love-hours. But lets talk about what makes the gameplay itself shine:

Like Tetris, it is a game which naturally makes you better, and better, and better, just by playing it. You don´t need to analyze replays, you don´t need to look up strategies, you don´t need to trial and error scenarios. Once you are over the first hump of managing to beat the first couple of levels, playing the game turns very addicting due to the rate of improvement you will face.

Like Tetris, starting out can be very tough - it feels like you are learning a language, even if its a simple one. Making mistakes in a rapid dash to make the best and most satisfying choices stings, but it makes succeeding dish out military grade dopamine highs.

Like Tetris, individual matches can be started and ended very quickly. Losing a run is fairly meaningless, getting far and finishing a run feels great, but is not required to derive enjoyment.

Like Tetris, the core gameplay loop of Pocket Dungeon has a huge variety of alternative ways to play - all baked into the game, in this example. A robust versus mode, countless of modifiable rules and distinct game modes that shake up the structure - that is ON TOP of the game featuring random pickups, items and a huge roster of characters ( 15+ ) that have extremely unique, distinct gimmicks.

Like Tetris, the pieces raining onto your board are semi-randomized. Frankly, they are more randomized than in Tetris - But under normal difficulty settings, it is ALWAYS possible for a skilled player to obliterate these boards, even if it does not seem so at first.

If you buy this game, or want to give it another shot, here is my advice that will help you a great deal:
1. Turn the speed in the Rules / Options to 0 or off :
The game will automatically move if you do not give an input by default. While the designer intention here surely was to nudge the player to play fast instead of considering forever, I think its to the detriment of the learning process as the gem multiplier already nudges you towards this successfully. When in a tough spot, take your time - so change this option.
2. If you think the game is too difficult / random, I highly implore you to not play "Shovel Knight", but to unlock a knight with a board manipulation ability such as "Mole Knight" or "Scrap Knight". Being able to directly manipulate the board is a crutch, but makes the game immediately more fun and helps greatly with subconsciously identifying what maneuvers are good and which ones are bad to rack up score and stay in safe positions.

If you have any love for Arcade puzzling, or Tetris, or well executed games, give this game a real try - it is CRIMINAL how underlooked this game is.