Unfortunately, your adventure with Specter Knight is a bit on the short side. Both of these meters work the same as a health and magic bar, but the little changes in name are a fun adaptation for the character of Specter Knight. Also, instead of health, Specter Knight uses his will to keep himself alive. Instead of the Magic meter found in Shovel Knight and Plague of Shadows, Specter Knight uses his internal Darkness to fuel his supernatural abilities. With Specter Knight's undead affliction comes some changes in nomenclature. It also gives you some insight into Specter Knight's past, when he was still alive, and makes a previously one-note character into a much more complex one. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment serves as a prequel to the original Shovel Knight and shows how Specter Knight put together The Order of No Quarter. Also, unlike the DLC Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment takes place through whole new levels instead of a repeat of the first Shovel Knight. Although the game starts you out easy with a single lantern jump needed to get through an area, as time goes on you'll encounter much tougher multi-lantern platforming sections that require the same sort of precision that made Mega Man so fun and frustrating on the NES. Lanterns can be used to perform an upward or downward slash with Specter Knight's scythe which allows for rapid mobility in those directions.
Specter Knight is more mobile than the series past heroes as well due to the inclusion of lanterns. Specter Knight feels much more like a Strider Hiryu than a Simon Belmont, and I feel the game is all the better for it. Specter of Torment had a lot more appeal to me because of the way the player character, Specter Knight, controlled. I dabbled with Shovel Knight, but never could quite get into it. It has an illustrious pedigree as the first standalone expansion of the much-lauded Shovel Knight. Not that Specter of Torment needs to tap into that nostalgia to be a good game.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment taps into these 8-bit greats and adds some modern smoothness that will have fans rolling in nostalgia. The Nintendo Entertainment System brought us some of the 2D greats, with Castlevania, Mega Man, Mario, and others getting their start there. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment by Yacht Club Games is an ideal title to launch with the Nintendo Switch.
Complete with flashback sequences, surprise story events, an arranged soundtrack, and a lovingly detailed home base that positively drips with character, Specter of Torment is clearly a labor of love that goes above and beyond what one would expect from a free expansion.In today's climate of open world sandbox first-person shooters/RPGs/puzzle games/adventure games, it's easy at times to forget the pure satisfaction of crossing from one edge of a 2D plane to the other. A prequel to Shovel Knight, it tells the story of relic hunter Donovan’s untimely death, resurrection, and subsequent enthrallment at the hands of the Enchantress. It would have been easier for Yacht Club to simply add Specter Knight as a playable character and call it a day, but Specter of Torment is more or less an entirely new game. Enormous scythe at the ready, Specter of Torment carves out its own ghastly niche in the same retro space with a retooled campaign that feels as fresh as ever. Nearly three years later, Yacht Club Games returns with a second free expansion featuring one of the titular knight’s (demonstrably not-so-villainous) foes. Already something of a nostalgic fever-dream, it brought the indelible essence of the 8-bit platformer into the modern era, standing stalwart alongside its AAA contemporaries. I had to do a double-take when I realized that Shovel Knight first released back in 2014.