Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows is the second game in the Shovel Knight series of platforming games, released on the 17th of September 2015, and takes place alongside Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope.

Story

Once, in a land of shovel-wielding heroes and evil enchantresses, there was a mad alchemist named Plague Knight. Plague Knight sought nothing less than to concoct a potion of unlimited power! A draft so potent that nothing would be out of his reach. However, each ingredient was being unknowingly guarded by the members of the Order of No Quarter, which Plague Knight himself was part of. Now, the collection begins...

Gameplay

Plague of Shadows, while seeming at first to be a copy of Shovel of Hope, is actually very different to the original. For starters, Plague Knight has a different set of abilities to Shovel Knight. His primary weapons, bombs, can be customised with a variety of casings, powders, and fuses to affect the range, power, and playstyle depending on the combination. He also uses his bombs for his Bomb Burst, which serves as a way of propelling Plague Knight across gaps, in addition to his two small jumps. He also can obtain Arcana, which function similarly to Shovel Knight's Relics.

Unlike Shovel Knight, Plague Knight is unable to enter the Village, and will be shoved out if he tries. He is a villain, after all! He is, however, able to enter the Armour Outpost. Instead of the village, Plague Knight has access to the Potionarium, which serves the same purpose as the Village. And while Shovel Knight can purchase different armours to provide himself with new abilities, Plague Knight instead uses Cloaks.

Plague of Shadows also uses the world map, and takes place across similar levels, which have been modified to suit Plague Knight's abilities.

Main Characters

Plague Knight: The hero of this tale, who seeks to concoct the Ultimate Potion from the Essence of the other members of the Order of No Quarter.

Mona: Plague Knight's assistant and love.

The Order of No Quarter: A league of villainous knights (and the Enchantress) who unknowingly have the ingredients for the Ultimate Potion within them.

The Ultimate Potion: An enchanted brew that allows the drinker to shape the world to their wishes.

A few minor characters

Mostly the same as in Shovel of Hope, but they server different roles to the story, for example, Baz eventually becomes Plague Knight's henchman.

Spoilers

When Plague Knight combined the Essences of the Order of No Quarter, the Enchantresses proved to be too powerful, causing a reaction that transformed the potion into a corrupted version of Plague Knight, the Plague of Shadows, and then into the Corrupted Essence, which is a demonstration of what would happen if Plague Knight took the Potion.