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2. Shovel Knight (3DS/Wii U)
Current Release Date: Q4 2013 or Q1 2014
Shovel Knight probably needs no introduction to you. This game, which is created by former WayFoward developers at Yacht Club Games, has taken the Internet by storm since it was announced on Kickstarter. The praise is well deserved, as the game features a beautiful 8-bit art style with fantastic Mega Man and Castlevania inspired gameplay. Yacht Club even got one of the Mega Man composers to help out with the soundtrack!
However, Shovel Knight‘s main draw doesn’t lie within its nostalgic value. Of course, the most interesting concept of Shovel Knight is the lack of a conventional weapon, since the main protagonist carries around a shovel throughout every level. You can use this shovel in a multitude of different ways, such as attacking foes, digging into the ground, and hopping around with it like a pogo stick. It’s silly, yet so brilliant at the same time, and I can’t wait to utilize this shovel in many inventive ways!
Two things. First, if they were further along in development I’d add the Kickstarter projects Hyper Light Drifter and Paradise Lost–and fairly high up–but since they’re really still at the stage of hopeful we can just keep them in mind for a similar list this time next year. Second, if you made a list of the top ten anticipated major studio games, I’d be hard pressed to say which I’d rather play, especially if you excluded games like Zelda U and X, which are similarly not far enough along (so far as we know). I hope that says more about indie gaming than it does the major studios.
Really anticipating Two Brothers, that game has a lot of potential and makes me happy to see a developer showing appreciation for Game Boy’s graphical stylings; GB games are often unceremoniously slammed for their graphics, which is a real shame.
Interested in 5 out the 10 listed… including a couple that I hadn’t heard of before this article. Not bad!
Lots of indie games don’t live up to the hype, but there have been enough really *really* good ones to make up for any disappointment. 3DS eShop has been by far the best part of that console for me, and it looks like Wii U has a lot of great content coming before long too. Awesome!