It's unlikely that Yacht Club Games knew exactly how successful Shovel Knight would end up being. An NES-inspired platformer starring a diminutive hero armed with a gardening tool doesn't seem like the kind of intellectual property that would become a phenomenon. Yet, here we are five years later, and the game has not only been a huge hit, but it has spawned multiple expansions, while Shovel Knight himself has popped up in several games, even making an impressive cameo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

However, all good things must come to an end, and we've reached the final piece of additional Shovel Knight content included in the Treasure Trove. Shovel Knight: King Of Cards is another delightful adventure set in the Shovel-verse and a fitting end to this series (for now.)

Not So Humble Beginnings

Shovel Knight: King Of Cards stars the dastardly and egotistical King Knight as he begins his quest for regality. He has a rather ignoble start, as his first palace is his mom's house and his first royal subjects are flying propeller-powered rats that he trained to whisk him away on his journey (which is a pretty impressive feat when you think about it). He soon learns that his best chance to become a full-fledged king is to master the trading card game Joustus and defeat the three wise judges who preside over a grand tournament. Doing so will earn him the title of "King Of Cards" and finally give him a throne to call his own.

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It's a silly little story, but it's filled with a ton of callbacks to Shovel Knight lore and appearances from beloved characters such as the Troupple King. Having King Knight be the last of the Order Of No Quarter to get his own campaign is pretty amusing, as he's a vain, arrogant jerk who's also kind of a loser and maybe a tad delusional. It makes for a funny, lighthearted affair and a good way to close out the Shovel Knight saga.

Twirling Towards Freedom

Much like the rest of these additional campaigns, King Of Cards plays similarly to the original game with some key differences in how the main character controls. In this case, King Knight's main attack is a shoulder bash where he charges forward through enemies and breakable obstacles, and upon doing so, is flung into the air. When he lands, he does a screw-attack that he can use to bounce off of, damage enemies, or dig through rubble for treasure like a drill. This move can also be used to reach higher areas by bashing into walls which launches him upward. He has special abilities like other Shovel Knight characters, although they're much more comical than usual. These include skills like throwing a remote-controlled exploding rat or having a temper tantrum so he can recover his health, which doesn't seem like particularly kingly behavior.

It's a unique style of platforming, as it requires you to plan out the way you're going to get around the levels. It's very easy to misjudge a bash and end up twirling to your death, so you need to cautious about when and where you're going to move. You need to use a certain amount of finesse to hit a wall and then bounce off enemies and hanging lamps to reach the end, and I liked how challenging that became throughout this game.

I was a little disappointed at how many enemies and locations seemed to be reused over the course of the campaign. It's not surprising, as this is supposed to be another prequel that tells a little more about the backstory of Shovel Knight lore, and the other campaigns reused assets as well. But after five years of games in this world, it can get a little repetitive jumping on the same bug enemies over and over again.

Royal Flush

King Of Cards has one major addition that you might have guessed from the title: a playable trading card game. Joustus is easy to learn at first, but has a surprising amount of depth and strategy. It's played by placing cards on a board that looks like a grid. Each card has a directional arrow, which either moves another card around the board by forcing it out of its space or blocks movement in a certain direction. There are gems on some of these spaces and you collect them by making sure one of your cards is on the gem spaces by the time the board is full. The winner is the person who collects the most gems by the end of the game. Since King Knight is a scoundrel, you can also purchase cheats to turn the tide of the game to your advantage. However, really tough Joustus players get their own super moves as well.

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It's not the most complex game in terms of rules, but it does allow for difficult card battles. It can be pretty fun to play, but I found it occasionally frustrating, as losing costs you one of the cards in your deck. This means if you keep getting destroyed by one opponent, by the end they might have taken a majority of your best cards, thus making it harder to do any better. This could really draw things out, as your deck gets weaker and you have to keep facing off against the same player.

It's a decent card game, but after a while, I just wanted to get back to looking for treasure and shoulder bashing people. Thankfully, you can bypass the whole Joustus part of the game if you want to, so you're not stuck forever if you don't want to play cards all day.

The Final Dig

Shovel Knight: King Of Cards looks, sounds, and acts like the other games from the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Whether or not that's a good thing is going to depend on your affinity for this world and its characters. King Knight was a good choice for this last game, as he's a bit of a pompous douche and his interactions with other NPCs were pretty hilarious. The platforming is as solid as ever, and Joustus can be fun, although it's not quite Gwent or Hearthstone when it comes to solid TCGs.

It leaves me a little sad that this game is finally coming to a close after five years of adventures, but it's probably time for Yacht Club Games to move on and try their hand at another franchise. With this game and Shovel Knight Showdown, purchasing the Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is a crazy good value and gets you hours of retro-themed platforming gold. As of now, the Shovel Knight legend has come to a close, and Shovel Knight: King Of Cards makes for an entertaining final chapter.

A PC copy of Shovel Knight: King Of Cards was provided to TheGamer for this review. Shovel Knight: King Of Cards is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Shovel Knight: King of Cards

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