| “ | I have heard tales of this place, oh jolly, how happy I am to be able to see the Castle Quandary with my own two eyes. | ” |
Castle Quandary is the second hub area of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, introduced with the Puzzler's Pack DLC. It serves as an access to challenges, run modifiers, and Mod Support.
Description[]
Castle Quandary is a castle made out of stone and bean stalks, floating on clouds high above the Camp. It can be first accessed after helping Hedge Farmer grow the giant magic bean at the Hedge Farm. Like the Camp, Castle Quandary is an area where the unlocked playable knights can be switched between before starting a new run of the Pocket Dungeon, but it is also the only access point to many other interesting activities and sights.
Layout[]
Like the Camp, Castle Quandary is composed of several rooms, although each, besides the entrance, has a distinct feature.
Beanstalk[]
The first area of the Castle Quandary, and its gateway. It can be accessed by either climbing the beanstalk grown at the Hedge Farm or, after visiting the castle for the first time, using the cloud elevator, which would be then found at the campfire section of the Camp. The Adult Bean, now fully grown up, can be found here, overjoyed that he finally reached Castle Quandary, but also sad that he couldn't use his beanstalk to make a way out of the Pocket Dungeon. Scrap Knight can be also found here, contemplating on how to steal Adult Bean's majestic mustache, as well as Random Knight and Shuffle Knight. The beanstalk can also be climbed down to return to the Hedge Farm, although in a much less dignified way.
Main Hall[]
Found north of the Beanstalk, multiple people can be found here. This includes Myriad, Mr. Hat, and Beefto. Initially, only Myriad is useful, as they can change palettes from it, like in the Camp. A springboard with a tree stamped on it is also found here, and if someone steps on it, they will be unceremoniously launched back to the Campfire section of the Camp. Shovel Knight, Mole Knight, and Treasure Knight can be also found here. Once unlocked as a playable character, the Quandary Sage can likewise be found here.
Quandaries' Room[]
- Main article: Quandaries
Found north of the Main Hall, the Quandary Sage, keeper of the castle, can be found here, surrounded by four, initially locked, Quandary Portals. Quandaries are challenges tailor-made for specific knight and they cost Gems to access, with each one costing 
10,000 after the first, free Quandary is unlocked. While most of the playable knights have 4 Quandaries available for them, there are a few notable exceptions: the three secret characters, the Quandary Sage themselves, Schmutz the cat, and the Spinwulf only have 2 each, while Random Knight not only has only 3, but furthermore they need to wear the Almond Hat in order to enter the room as themselves, otherwise Random Knight will just transform in someone else upon stepping into the room.
Once one of the characters with the full set of four Quandaries is able to win each one of them, a new stairway opens up in the middle of the room's back wall, leading to Marathon, a mode where endless waves of enemies appear. Reaching wave 100 of this gauntlet of enemies will unlock the Quandary Sage as a playable knight.
Furthermore, while inside Marathon, if the stock of lives is not infinite, then as soon as they are defeated, each playable knight that has an entry in the Quandaries section of the Guidebook, can write down their best record achieved in Marathon. The record will not be recorded if Marathon is exited with the menu, and there is no apparent way to be permanently be defeated if the stock of lives is infinite.
Hat Shop[]
Found west of the Main Hall, it is initially unavailable. Mr. Hat is standing in front of his shop and if talked to, "kindly" tells his speaker to leave since they are not "most qualified and suited" to shop there. After the first Quandary is won or lost however, the shop opens up, selling Hats, which act as modifiers, making the exploration of the Pocket Dungeon either more easy, or more difficult. Furthermore, the more Hats are worn at the same time, the more likely Mr. Hat will show up as an optional Boss encounter. While one of the entrances of the Hat Shop connects to the Castle's Main Hall, the other one paradoxically connects to the Table Room area of the Camp.
Sculpture Garden[]
Found east of the Main Hall, is a set of stairs that is initially blocked off by bean vines until the first Quandary is cleared; once done so, the stair leads to the Sculpture Garden, an area composed by five different, cloudy rooms, empty, except for some stone pedestals and occasional marble block on them. Sledge Farmer can be found in the first room, where he explains that the pedestals will be replaced by statues of the knights, but only after said knight completes all of their Quandaries, with the statues being golden if all Quandaries have been resolved with a True Path.
Most of the playable knights hang out in the Sculpture Garden: in the first room, Shield Knight, Black Knight, and King Knight can be found. In the room at north of there, Propeller Knight, the Cloaked Figure, and Specter Knight can be found. In the room directly at east from there are Plague Knight and Mona, while in the room at south Tinker Knight, Puzzle Knight, Tipp, and Chester, can be found; before the release of the Paradox Pack DLC, Bricks the rat was also permanently stationed here. In the room directly two rooms from the entrance in the Main Hall, is where Prism Knight and Polar Knight hang out, and it is also where a pit can be found. Falling down this pit, directly transports who falls in it back to the Campfire section of the Camp.
Trivia[]
- The Quandary Sage, when they become a playable character, can only be found at Castle Quandary; likewise, the Spinwulf and Schmutz can only be found at the Camp.