Critical-darling and Game of the Year contender Shovel Knight is a hark back to gaming's 2D golden age, presenting a bare-bones basic narrative premise (Knight with a shovel? Here's some levels!) and a simply gorgeous pixel-art aesthetic that even if you're getting sick of how many indie titles are on the market, you have to admit is quite the stunner. The real genius is in the programming of a handful of core gameplay mechanics you can easily master within a few levels to settle you in, only for the more ridiculously laid out multi-tiered ones to test how good your reflexes are. With enemies who can engulf the screen in flames - leaving only a tiny safe area to stand in - and others placed to bounce over in a certain order to avoid plummeting to your death, along with Dark Souls, Shovel Knight is the perfect mix of old-school gameplay mechanics designed with the knowledge gained from the years that followed.
