Is Plague of Shadows Underrated?



A brand new spin on Shovel Knights’s timeless tale. Underrated is an understatement.

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(00:00) Introduction
(01:20) Warming Up
(06:34) Ye Who Wanders
(11:54) Digressing and Sidequesting
(13:07) Back to the Lab
(18:19) Certified Troupple Moment
(20:03) The Hard Part
(31:13) It’s Rewind Time
(33:18) Conclusion

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32 thoughts on “Is Plague of Shadows Underrated?”

  1. The float burst is great and all but I urge anyone who's got the hand of the controls to try the other ones for a second playthrough.
    The float is slow and predictible and thus kind of boring after a while. Think of it like training wheels!
    Go on, be a big boy and take them off!

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  2. I'm honestly surprised more games don't take this format, replaying the same story from the villain's perspective.
    Imagine how many franchises this would work phenomenally for. For example, if you replayed Halo CE from the Arbiter's perspective or played as Bowser planning the heist to kidnap Princess Peach.

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  3. I haven't played Plague of shadows yet, I've been playing Shovel of hope but this campaign looks really cool, especially the bomb customization, I'm definitely going to play it either after I beat Shovel of hope or after I beat a few more stages, anyways good video, excited for the Spector and King knight videos.

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  4. This game was the most drastic swing from ‘not really feeling this’ to ‘holy shit I must have more’ I’ve ever had from a video game. Started out hating the floating feeling and short jumping ability of Plague Knight, but once you’re a few hours deep switching up bomb components on the fly and almost answering your enemies automatically when you hit that flow state, it’s incredible. Downright stupid fun.

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  5. I hope you'll take some time to highlight Specter Knight's "hard mode" as it's way better than the ones you get with other campains. For context it makes your hp bar a countdown and killing stuff is the only remedy, making the already fast-paced gameplay an really fun and devious speedrun. Compared to the usual "now enemies do more damage" options it's incredible.

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  6. Plague of Shadows will always hold a special place in my heart. I know the next expansions take the idea of playing as a new character way further, but there is something magical about Plague Knight's moveset. It's so awkward at first but once you start getting the hang of it you fly through the levels. I replay all the campaigns every once in a while and I always love returning to Plague of Shadows, even though King of Cards is probably my favorite out of them all.

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  7. I think part of why Plague of Shadows is my favourite campaign of them all (alongside it having my favourite story) is it’s mid-max gameplay potential.

    On my first play through, i mainly stuck to the loadout I was most comfortable with, and didn’t stray away from it. But upon repeated playthroughs, and ESPECIALLY when I tried to speed run the game, I started experimenting with all the different bomb, arcana and burst combinations to find the most optimal loadout for each level. The Frost Burst would be incredible against bosses that I could jump over like King Knight and Shovel Knight, but for more speedy bosses like Spectre and Propeller Knight, I’d find myself swapping to the spin burst to charge into them like a ballistic missile. This experimentation is at its best when you aren’t just casually strolling through the game, but you’re showing off your big alchemist brain skills and aiming to beat the game in under an hour or beat the bosses without taking damage.

    Not to say the other campaigns CANT have this with their own special items, but with them their best solutions are usually the same every time (phase locket, judgement rush etc), but Plague Knight rewards you making your own choices so much that I don’t even care that the level design is reused. He’s just THAT fun to play!

    Great retrospective dude! You’ve got a new subscriber!

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  8. This campaign slowly became my favorite out of the four, I just fell in love with the gameplay. It's the only one where I can claim that Propeller Knight's stage is my favorite to play through.

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  9. Man i am lucky the algorithm sent me to this video! The quality in the editing, scripting, and voiceover shows itself in just the first minute. You have my attention and hopefully many more to follow.

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  10. Plague of Shadows will always be my favorite Shovel Knight campaign because of its *chemistry*, both in actual gameplay with his move set that makes the same levels feel super fresh, and Plague Knight and Mona, I live those two so damn much they carry the experience way more than the gameplay itself already did. Their last dance scene deserves to one of the best in gaming history. I love it so much

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  11. Did you know that in the boss fight against the Plague of Shadows (the fight between the Enchantress and the final boss) you can just stand still for like ten seconds to end the fight?

    Again, great video as usual. I really relate a lot to how much you love this game. That teaser at the end with From the Shadows playing while Specter Knight appears was just superb. Greatly looking forward to that one.

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