Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
Developer(s)	Yacht Club Games
Publisher(s)	Yacht Club Games
platform	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire tv
released	September 17, 2015
Genre(s)	Platformer

“	Toss bombs in this tricky alternate quest!	”

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows is the second campaign of Shovel Knight and an alternate story to Shovel of Hope. It stars the mad alchemist Plague Knight in his quest to craft the Ultimate Potion from the Essences of his fellow knights of the Order of No Quarter. The campaign adds new related Feats and initially introduced Challenge Mode for both Shovel Knight and Plague Knight.

Plague of Shadows was released on September 17, 2015 as a free expansion to Shovel Knight.

Introduction

• Long ago, the lands were untamed, and roamed by legendary adventurers!
• But villainy ran rampant, and in time, even the most stalwart heroes fell.
• In the absence of champions, Template:Tags/Purple and her Template:Tags/Orange swept into power.
• Unbeknownst to everyone, the maniacal alchemist Template:Tags/Green had plans of his own.
• He sought nothing less than to concoct a potion of unlimited power!
• A draft so fiendishly potent that nothing he desired would be out of his reach.
• Each knight unknowingly guards a crucial ingredient. Now, the collection must begin...

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“	Long ago, the lands were untamed, and roamed by legendary adventurers! But villainy ran rampant, and in time, even the most stalwart heroes fell. In the absence of champions, Template:Tags/Purple and her Template:Tags/Orange swept into power. Unbeknownst to everyone, the maniacal alchemist Template:Tags/Green had plans of his own. He sought nothing less than to concoct a potion of unlimited power! A draft so fiendishly potent that nothing he desired would be out of his reach. Each knight unknowingly guards a crucial ingredient. Now, the collection must begin...	”

Major Differences from Shovel of Hope

• Plague Knight has a different set of abilities in contrast to Shovel Knight.
  • His primary weapon, Bombs, can be customized with different casings, powders, and fuses. This affects its range, power and play style depending on the combination.
  • He has a shorter jump than Shovel Knight, but he gets two jumps.
  • He has a Bomb Burst, done by holding down the attack button, which serves primarily as another jump, propelling him high, as well to damage enemies. It can also be customized, affecting trajectory and power.
  • Similarly to Shovel Knight's Magic, Plague Knight has a special resource, called Power, which refills over time. Power is represented with a green bar instead of a numerical value.
    • Power is used for his Arcana, which play a similar role to Shovel Knight's Relics.
  • Plague Knight can find or purchase Health Tonics that temporary increases his health. He loses all health gained from tonics upon death. Due to this Plague Knight's Maximum Health is lower than Shovel Knight's. However, his health will be permanently increased by one unit upon completing a quadrant of the map.
  • Plague Knight can equip different outfits, called Cloaks, similar to Shovel Knight's Armors, which can give new abilities and drawbacks.
• Plague Knight can find Cipher Coins located throughout the stages in addition to Music Sheets. These items are a special currency used to buy and upgrade his Bombs and Burst.
• Plague Knight's Main base of operations is the Potionarium instead of the Village.
• The stages are slightly altered to accommodate Plague Knight's different abilities.
  • All the major stages have secret paths leading to a specific Relic, which can be traded with Chester for Arcana on the same stage. These are the exact same Relics Chester sells to Shovel Knight (meaning he obtained the Relics from Plague Knight in the first place).
• Some of the in-game events happen slightly differently.
• Shovel Knight acts as the Boss for both Explodatorium and Battle Royale levels.
• A different Final Boss and Ending.

Story Differences from Shovel of Hope

The story is set parallel to Shovel of Hope, revealing Plague Knight's ulterior motives on joining the Order of No Quarter.

Although for the most part Plague of Shadows' story occurs at about the same time from Shovel of Hope, there are some minor differences between the two tales. This is due to the stories being told respectively from Plague Knight's and Shovel Knight's perspectives. Some of these differences are related to the player's choices during Shovel of Hope (i.e. helping the members of The Order of No Quarter after the Battle Royale, reentering the Village and Armor Outpost again after their initial visit). .

• Mona is involved with Plague Knight as his closest ally and romantic interest. In Shovel of Hope, she is not implied to have any association with any Order members except for the ending, where she is seen hosting her mini-game in The Lich Yard for Specter Knight. However, it is made clear that Mona's role in the Village is simply a cover so she can work alongside Plague Knight in the Potionarium, a secret base constructed under the Village.
• Mona leaves the Potionarium and the Village after the second encounter with Black Knight. In Shovel of Hope, should Shovel Knight visit again, Mona is still in the Village and is hosting the Potion mini game.
• For all The Order of No Quarter stages except Explodatorium, it's unclear when Plague Knight reaches and battles the other Order members. Though it is implied that Plague Knight is ahead of Shovel Knight as he traded the Relics to Chester for his Arcana, it's also unclear how much time difference there is between Shovel Knight and Plague Knight's encounters with the Order.
• Shovel Knight reaches the Explodatorium first as implied by one of Plague Knight's minions who reports that there is an intruder roaming. Despite this, Plague Knight reaches the boss room earlier and prepares for their meeting. Right next to the boss room, inside Plague Knight personal chamber, the mask he is seen wearing in Shovel of Hope is found, implying that he may have switched to the more menacing look for his encounter with Shovel Knight. This event however is not directly shown.
• Plague Knight wins against Shovel Knight in all of their encounters but is sucker punched by Shovel Knight while he is celebrating.
• The Armor Outpost is conquered by Plague Knight and the Aerial Anvil leaves the town. In Shovel of Hope, this does not happen and Shovel Knight can reenter the Outpost as many times as he pleases.
• Baz is defeated by Shovel Knight, and then Plague Knight. He can join Plague Knight to become one of his minions. However, Shovel of Hope's ending sequence has no indication of this fact due to his clothes not changing.
• When Plague Knight reaches the Hall of Champions it is no longer haunted. Since he would later destroy all of the paintings inside, it is implied that this visit occurs after Shovel Knight's ghost busting activities.
• It is implied that Shovel Knight reaches the Tower of Fate: Entrance and defeats Black Knight first, as he already has the power The Enchantress bestowed upon him when Plague Knight battles him. Plague Knight however would later surpass Shovel Knight and reach the dining room in the Tower of Fate: Ascent first, albeit by just a few minutes.
• During the Battle Royale, Shovel Knight is seen dazed and half-unconscious until the final battle with Plague Knight, who defeats the Order before falling to Shovel Knight in a similar fashion as their previous encounter. Shovel Knight does not help the Order and escapes on his own.
• Plague Knight battle the Enchantress first. However she is not defeted, she just prefer to surrender her Essence because she is unwilling to kill Plague Knight, deeming it too much of an asset to lose. Her battle with Shovel Knight takes place immediatly after her retreat, in what it can only be assumed, to be a different yet identical section of the Tower.
• Black Knight reaches Plague Knight, bringing Mona along with himself, seconds after the alchemist battle with the Enchantress. Upon hearing of his lateness, he leaves in her search, only to find Shield Knight locked into battle with the Remnant of Fate and Shovel Knight knocked out.
• After collecting all the Essences from The Order and Shovel Knight, Plague Knight fights the Plague of Shadows in Tower of Fate: ????. It then transforms to the Corrupted Essence as his Final Boss. Plague Knight then decides to detonate the Supreme Potion, causing the collapsing of the Tower seen in Shovel of Hope after the battle with the Remnant of Fate.
• Shovel Knight is seen with the Wandering Travellers in the ending. Shield Knight is never mentioned or directly shown during the entire campaign.

Credits Sequence

From the Village many villagers are seen watching the Tower of Fate. As the tower starts to crumble the villagers start rejoicing.

Pridemoor Keep - King Knight - Knighted by the King

The Deposed King decides to knight Plague Knight, while King Knight continues to clean the floors of Pridemoor Keep. When Plague Knight is knighted he starts to jump up and down excitedly and bumps the Deposed King's crown off of his head.

Troupple Pond - Dancing the Night away

The Troupple King is seen dancing as is the Troupple Acolyte and the Female Troupple Acolyte. As they dance, Oolong can be seen playing music from his head.

Lich Yard - Specter Knight - The Missing Locket

Specter Knight is seen desperately searching the chest where Plague Knight found the Phase Locket. He is very aggravated by its absence, lifts the chest telekinetically and slices it in half with his scythe. This plot element would later be explored in great detail in Specter of Torment.

Iron Whale - Treasure Knight - Pillaging the Pillagers

Plague Minions are seen leaving the Iron Whale with sacks of gold as Plague Knight throws a Bait Bomb towards Treasure Knight who is sitting in the corner.

Explodatorium - Plague Knight - Under New Management

Percy and The Magicist are watching the Hedge Pupil launching Plague Minions out of a catapult. Percy gets close to the Magicist as a heart forms around their heads.

Lost City - Mole Knight - Cooperative Cloning

Mole Knight can be seen making Slimulacras for Plague Knight and Mona.

The Wandering Travellers - The Battle Rages On

Liquid Samurais are seen rushing. Shovel knight takes them all down and sees Baz, Reize, Mr. Hat and Phantom Striker. He then proceeds to raise his shovel while the others strike their battle poses.

Clockwork Tower - Tinker Knight - Tweaking the Torque Lifts

Tinker Knight is looking at his torque lifts while Plague Knight and Mona stand next to him. As the torque lifts start to get out of control Tinker Knight proceeds to panic while Mona and Plague Knight start moving up the lifts.

Stranded Ship - Polar Knight - Reunion

Polar Knight and Black Knight are seen together by a campfire.

Flying Machine - Propeller Knight

Plague Knight and Mona go on a date on the Flying Machine, with Propeller Knight as the waiter.

Post Credits scene

Plague Knight and Mona are seen dancing in the entrance of the Potionarium .

Trivia

• In Specter of Torment, after defeating Plague Knight, talking to the Plague Minions inside the Tower of Fate hints that Plague Knight has a secret base (the Potionarium) in addition to the Explodatorium, and that he is on a new project involving Essences. Furthermore, the ending shows Plague Knight's first romantic interaction with Mona while working on the same vat which will later hold the Essences harvested from the other knights.
• It is implied that Shovel Knight has already defeated Treasure Knight prior to his battle with Plague Knight, as Shovel Knight already has the Throwing Anchor. Plague Knight also uses the Vat Arcana in the Shovel of Hope battle.
  • However Shovel Knight can sometimes be seen using the War Horn during the Explodatorium battle, despite not defeating Polar Knight yet, making it more of a gameplay vs. story type of situation.
• The location and aesthetics where Plague Knight steals the Phase Locket are different from Specter Knight's room found in The Lich Yard. However during the ending sequence of Specter of Torment, we can see that water has began seeping into the room, giving it a transitional look between its previous appearance and what it will become in Plague of Shadows.

Gallery

Title logo.

Promotional art.

Promotional art.

Release date reveal.

The beta Character Select screen.

Mona and Plague Knight (image different from final version).

3DS and WiiU second screen when starting a stage.

3DS and WiiU second screen upon death.

3DS and WiiU second screen when navigating on the map.

3DS and WiiU second screen for the character select menu.

Title screen on the 3DS and WiiU second screen.

Official Artwork celebrating Plague of Shadows fourth anniversary

Videos

Shovel Knight Plague of Shadows Trailer!