Yacht Club Games finally announced the release date for their spin-off to beloved indie-darling Shovel Knight nearly two years after the game was originally unveiled. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon brings the trademark storytelling of the franchise into a frantic dungeon crawler meets Tetris package on December 13.
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon sees the team-up of Yacht Club and Vine for a game that involves less of the franchise's tight platforming and more of searching rooms and defeating enemies with your spade. The catch is that more enemies and objects are constantly falling from the top of the screen and you need to line up your foes for a massive chain attack. You can move your knight of choice through the room, but each step you take shifts your surroundings, calling in more objects from above to complicate your puzzle solving.
Pocket Dungeon isn't afraid to shake up the formula either, as there are bosses to fight and loot to collect while working your way through each level. Your playstyle is also determined by whatever knight you play as. The trailer teased the return of each member of the "Order of No Quarter" as playable puzzle solvers with each utilizing their unique abilities, like Plague Knight's potions and Propeller Knight's, well, propeller, to clear enemies and reach chests. At launch, Yacht Club promises a story mode with the narrative and humor that make the original so great, as well as versus mode and daily challenges.
As an added bonus, Yacht Club announced that Pocket Dungeon will receive three DLC packs sometime in the next year that further expand on the game. They hae promised more details will follow soon after the game drops. The studio has been hard at work on the spin-off for three years now alongside the sequel to Shovel Knight titled Shovel Knight Dig which was recently delayed until 2022. Scrap Knight, a character set to appear in Dig, will make her debut in Pocket Dungeon.
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon releases on Switch, PS4, and PC on December 13 and will cost $19.99. Watch the trailer below: