Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

Shovel Knight arrived on PlayStation 4 in 2015 and instantly became one of the most talked-about tributes to the 8-bit era. The hero, a knight armed with a shovel, journeys through eight themed lands full of enemies drawn from the golden years of platformers — from Mega Man through DuckTales to Zelda — with each area closing on a boss fight against a striking member of the Order of No Quarter. The core of the gameplay is precise jumping and the so-called "shovel bounce," a downward bop off enemies and objects with the shovel that serves both as an attack and as a means of traversal, opening paths to otherwise unreachable treasures and shortcuts. On top of that, the player loses part of their accumulated gold upon death, so the game balances risk and reward much like the classic action platformers of its era.

Visually the game imitates the aesthetic of NES titles but with modern refinements — smoother animation, a richer color palette, and more precise collisions that remove the frustration of the old titles without losing their character. Jake Kaufman's music ranks among the most praised soundtracks of the indie scene, and its chiptune compositions manage to evoke nostalgia without feeling like mere pastiche. Over the years Shovel Knight grew into the full Treasure Trove collection, which added further campaigns with different playable characters — each with its own style of movement and attack — turning the original game into effectively four games in one, tied together by a shared world and cross-references between each hero's story.

Critically and commercially, Shovel Knight was received exceptionally well and became a symbol of a successful crowdfunded indie project that matches or exceeds the quality of the classics that inspired it. The game has also enjoyed numerous guest appearances in other indie titles, which only confirmed how quickly the shovel-wielder became a recognizable icon of the independent gaming scene. To this day it is often recommended as a textbook example of how to do a retro platformer right — with respect for history, but without compromising on controls or level design.

Why play it: For fans of retro platformers who want respect for history without any compromise on controls or level design — a textbook example of a successful crowdfunded indie project that became an icon of the independent scene.