The Pocket Dungeon.
| “ | This is the Pocket Dungeon, you see. A perfect snare for a puzzle prodigy such as myself. Completely unsolvable .
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” |
The Pocket Dungeon is the main setting of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon. It is a small puzzle box which traps those who touch it.
Description[]
The Pocket Dungeon is a cube-shaped puzzle box of unknown origin that traps inside itself anyone who takes hold of it.
The unfortunate soul is then forced to traverse an unreal landscape, so-called Dungeons, some of which parts are copies of sceneries found in the outside Valley. This is because, according to Plague Knight, the Pocket Dungeon changes form to match its inhabitants, creating locations based on those who enter it. Similarly to the Mirror of Fate, the Pocket Dungeon has the ability to separate two entities sharing one body, this being the reason behind Shield Knight's appearance [1].
Both Puzzle Knight and the Troupple King note how time itself works differently inside the Pocket Dungeon. In the tutorial, Puzzle Knight tells Shovel Knight that time rushes forward whenever he moves and passes by slowly when he stands still. The Troupple King also states that he cannot dance while inside the Pocket Dungeon due to how time flows in it.
Supposedly, inside the Shrines that lie behind the four gates guarded by the Super Skeleton known as the Shrinemaster are the Key Fragments, said to be pieces of something of fundamental importance if one hopes to truly escape the treacherous Pocket Dungeon's snare.
This is because once the first victim is caught by the artifact, the Pocket Dungeon chooses them as the Pocket Dungeon Master, trapping them virtually forever. The only way for the Master to leave the puzzle box, is to pass their title to another victim. This however can be circumvented by using the Pocket Dungeon's Key, which forcibly opens the box and ejects all of its prisoners, while also permanently de-activating it.
Using the Key in the real world on the de-activate cube opens a small compartment, where its treasure is conserved.
Story[]
The true origins of the puzzle box are unknown, but what is clear is that the Pocket Dungeon was created to protect a treasure inside itself. Wishing to gift said treasure to his then young daughter, the puzzle expert Puzzle Knight, sought the box after having found its key. Unfortunately, he had greatly underestimated the danger and he ended up trapped inside. Furthermore, upon entering the prison, the Pocket Dungeon's Key shattered in four pieces, who then flew to hid themselves inside the Shrines. Puzzle Knight then spent the next long years trying to locate the shrines, growing more and more desperate to see his daughter again with each failure.
Eventually the evil Enchantress, who had recently conquered the Valley, stumbled upon the puzzle box, and decided use it for her schemes. The evil witch sought Puzzle Knight's daughter, who had now grew up into Prism Knight, and manipulated her into using her powers to deliver the Pocket Dungeon to as many people as possible, under the false promise that this would free her father from his prison. With all the heroes and villains of land, including her own Order of No Quarter, out of the way trapped in the box, the Enchantress hoped to be free to do as she pleased in the Valley.
Shovel Knight was blissfully napping near his campfire when out of the blue a present box magically appeared before him. Intrigued, he checked its contents, finding inside the mysterious Pocket Dungeon, instantly being sucked inside the artifact. Immediately meeting with Chester and Puzzle Knight, Shovel Knight discovered to not to be the only one who had fallen prey of the object, and set out to explore the depths of its Dungeons while trying to recruit the other prisoners to his cause.
As the unified group began collecting the Key Fragments, they discovered the presence of the Cloaked Figure, aka the Enchantress, as well as Prism Knight involvement. Reaching the Scholar's Sanctum, Puzzle Knight revealed himself as the Master of the Pocket Dungeon and tried to forcibly make someone else take his place.
In the regular ending, Puzzle Knight, after being defeated, regretted his earlier actions, and after opening a single-person exit for the dungeon, bid farewell to the lucky escapee.
In the true ending however, Prism Knight reached Puzzle Knight after the fight, revealing to him that all the Key Fragments had been collected. However, before they could use it, the Enchantress used her powers to block the way, forcing the group to confront the sorceress. After being bested, the Enchantress threw a fit and abandoned her projects with the Pocket Dungeon, teleporting away, but not before transforming the poor Puzzle Knight into the monstrous Master Mind as a last spiteful gift.
After the battle, with the exit finally free, everyone was able to safely escape the Pocket Dungeon. Puzzle Knight, reunited with his daughter, revealed to her what was the treasure guarded by the now de-activated Pocket Dungeon: a magical Telescope, with the power to summon a new shooting star each time the night sky is gazed upon with it, a gift made so that the two of them would never be apart, connected by the starry sky.
Areas[]
- Camp- The base of operation for Shovel Knight, Puzzle Knight, and the other prisoners.
- Castle Quandary- A legendary castle, built among the clouds of the Pocket Dungeon, that hosts challenges; it becomes connected to the Camp, through the Adult Bean once he is fully grown.
Dungeons[]
Most of the Dungeons areas are copied from their true counterparts in the outside Valley, due to the presence inside the Pocket Dungeon of individuals strongly connected to said area.
- Plains
- Pridemoor Keep
- Lich Yard
- Explodatorium (Paradox Pack DLC)
- Magic Landfill
- Iron Whale
- Chromatic Caverns
- Clockwork Tower
- Stranded Ship
- Lost City (Paradox Pack DLC)
- Flying Machine
- Scholar's Sanctum
- Tower of Fate
Trivia[]
- A picture of the Pocket Dungeon can be seen in Shovel Knight Dig, hanged on the wall of the secret treasure room of the Tower of Fate, giving a clue on how The Enchantress was able to to find the puzzle box.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ AMA Reddit post by Sean and Woz