Yacht Club Games hands-on preview at PAX East 2020

See what Yacht Club brought to Boston for PAX.

Steve Tyminski

March 15, 2020 9:00 AM

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Yacht Club Games, known for Shovel Knight, brought with them a few new games to PAX East this year. We were lucky enough to get hands-on time with Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon and Cyber Shadow during the convention so let’s take a look.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is Yacht Club Games’ take on Tetris. You play as a micro Shovel Knight with different blocks falling into the play area. You’ll have to survive by matching three or more of the same item as well as attack enemies that fall. You’ll be able to match enemies as well but you’ll take damage from them. There are also rocks and potions that fall into the play area but the rocks don’t hurt you and potions recover your health. The random treasure chest will drop as well but you’ll need a key to unlock it so stay vigilant.

You’ll be able to find upgrades during gameplay that will make you stronger. It’s needed as some of the enemies take multiple hits to destroy. Proceed enough in the story and you’ll fight boss battles; in this style of play, it will take a little getting used to since you can only deliver one hit on the boss at a time. During the demo, we fought King Knight and when you realize you can attack him quickly, it will be a fast victory.

Yacht Club also brought Cyber Shadow with them to PAX. Cyber Shadow is a Ninja Gaiden-styled platformer that has you playing the role of the ninja, Shadow. You need to fight the synthetic life forms that have taken over the world. You’ll be able to wall jump, dash, and use special attacks to stop the uprising. Some of the boss fights take up the whole screen and you’ll need to use the whole area to defeat them. In the demo the boss fight was against a water dragon and you needed to hit the area inside his mouth. The catch was he would move all over the area and you needed to hit platforms so you could jump on them to maneuver your way through the location.

You’ll start out with a basic sword but as you progress in the adventure, you’ll be able to find special attacks that range from shuriken throwing stars to fire attacks that lift you into the air. Knowing what special attack to use will be key for advancing in the adventure.

Check out our PAX EAST 2020 coverage!

Steve Tyminski

Contributing Editor

Steve is from the great state of New Jersey.  He went to college for History and has experience working in photography and video work. He’s grown up on Nintendo and loves sports, fighting, and role-playing games. He’s also big into video game soundtracks.