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Shovel Knight
Developed by: Yacht Club Games

You know those games that you put on your "to do list" and you never seem to be able to find the time to put into said games on said list? Well, Shovel Knight is that game for me. Or at least it would have been had I not recently picked it up on Xbox. And lemme tell ya, it's good.

It's basically a genuine throwback to the games of old pixelated goodness while also acting as a stellar platformer. You play as what you'd expect...a knight, with a shovel as a weapon. May not seem super stellar right off the bat, but by not only being a weapon you can use on enemies and also allowing for some creative maneuvering when the platforming elements come into play, the game feels very natural as a game going for the retro feel. Plus, you're killing enemies with a shovel. Just that notion alone is enough to pick this game up.

Whether I played it back when it was released, or whether I played it somewhat recently, the game does what it needs to do right and allows you to simply enjoy a, as mentioned prior, a genuine pixelated throwback. The boss fights? Same thing. Think Mega Man style but again with its own twist and turns that makes it feel its own. And as far as difficulty goes, I wouldn't be too surprised if you ended up having some trouble getting through the game as the difficulty can certainly ramp up, but as you learn to go through the game and get upgrades for your health etc, it doesn't feel too punishing. I honestly wouldn't even say the game is really all that hard, just things to get used to as is the case with most platformers.