Shovel Knight Dig will take the pixellated platformer underground

Five years after the release of the original Shovel Knight, developer Yacht Club Games has dropped word that a new game is on the way. Shovel Knight Dig is a collaborative effort between Yacht Club and Nitrome that will tell an all-new story about Shovel Knight and his dastardly nemesis, Drill Knight.

As the title suggests, Shovel Knight Dig will take players underground, where they'll dig up vast riches that will enable the purchase of new, more powerful items and upgrades. Visually, it's a big step forward from the first Shovel Knight, with 16-bit-style "high color pixel graphics" and hand-crafted levels that are "stitched together using proprietary generation techniques" to provide long-term replayability. Players will encounter new knights, enemies, and other characters on their travels, but the tale will be told with the same lighthearted humor as the original game.

Then, Shovel Knight (Image credit: Yacht Club Games)

Now, Shovel Knight Dig (Image credit: Yacht Club Games)

The title and the trailer are both reminiscent of the robotic spelunker Steamworld Dig, although Shovel Knight's take on tunneling looks a little more frantic than I recall Steamworld's being. There's no word on when we'll find out how the two actually compare: Yacht Club said Shovel Knight Dig has been in development for more than a year, but "it’s got quite a ways to go still."

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.