Sounds like it might be interesting. Is it still a platformer game?
Yup. It’s a kind of a metroidvania/puzzle platformer hybrid. Requiring you to use teamwork and your characters unique abilities to access different areas and clear dungeons.
The story is as follows. After being forgotten in Half-Genie Hero, Holly Lingerbean ended up in The Void, a kind of afterlife/prison for insanely powerful supernatural beings who have been defeated (aka Final Bosses). But Holly being here is a mistake. She’s really not powerful enough to qualify. And thus, a lot of the realms security measures to prevent its inhabitants escape, do not work on her. And this is taken advantage of by a powerful demon, the Enchantress. She makes a pact with Holly and the two escape and begin wreaking havoc, merging together the Shovel Knight and Shantae universes.
Shovel Knight is introduced to Shantae when Enchantress/Holly kidnaps Shield Knight and leaves him in Scuttle Outpost (a fusion of Scuttle Town and Armor Outpost). Along with Plague Knight, Mona, Specter Knight, and King Knight; each fresh off their own encounter with Holly. Each character hits it off with Shantae or one of her friends. Mona and Uncle Mimic stay behind to develop upgrades and try to science out Holly’s next move, while the rest set forth to stop Holly and The Enchantress
You can play the game as one of four pairings of characters, kind of like Sonic Adventure where each one has their own dedicated level design, though you can choose which pair you are currently using in the hub world. You have Shantae and Shovel Knight, Bolo and Plague Knight, Sky and Specter Knight, and Rottytops and King Knight. Like I said before you gotta use your pairs unique abilities and teamwork to advance through linear levels and non-linear dungeons in a sort of action-puzzle-platform-vania type game. Finding upgrades as you progress unlocking new abilities for your characters. One mechanic is the Fusion Stones from Seven Sirens, allowing your characters to temporarily combine into a super powerful fusion character, which is needed for certain puzzles and can wreck bosses.
Holly and the Enchantress also have fusion stones however, and they have been using them to create the bosses you will face in the game. Combining each of the Barons of Sequin Land with the remaining knights of the Order of No Quarter to create their minions. Squid Baron and Treasure Knight, Ammo Baron and Polar Knight, Hypno Baron and Mole Knight, Techno Baron and Tinker Knight, and Armor Baron and Propellor Knight. In addition, she also combined Risky Boots and Black Knight to act as your reoccurring rival, and forced Shield Knight to be the host for another powerful supernatural entity The Enchantress befriended in The Void, The Pirate Master.
Set forth and dance through the danger in the name of honor and shovelry!
