Shovel Knight Officially Returns With Surprise New Release

3 hours ago 15

Shovel Knight in front of a pixel art level showing trees and a grassy area.

Published Jun 30, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT

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If you can believe it, Shovel Knight was first unveiled in early 2013, three years before its release. It's come a long way since then, and Yacht Club Games has learned many lessons from the very early days of crowdfunded development. They've even published a few games at this point.

Since then, the goodwill of Shovel Knight has opened a lot of doors, allowing the character to cameo in a variety of places (from indies to AAA), with several spinoffs to boot. It's a treasure trove for Yacht Club Games, but there's more to come, as you can't keep this series down, much like its title character.

That drought is ending even sooner than you think, too. Officially revealed this week, Shovel Knight is returning with a surprise release (via Nintendo Everything).

Revealed by Ubisoft, the digital version of Uno just got a Shovel Knight DLC pack. Think of this as a reskin for the base edition, with a new game board, a Shovel Knight-themed card deck, chiptune music, avatars, and other cosmetic effects. At $3.99, it's not a bad price, as it puts it squarely in between the other packs priced at $2.99 and $4.99.

For reference, here are some other Uno themes on offer (Rabbids is also included in the core package):

Brawlhalla
Rayman
Fenyx's Quest
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
The Call of Yara [Far Cry 6]
Just Dance

You might notice a recurring theme: Ubisoft first-party titles get prime placement, but third parties are mixing in as well. Confusingly, Uno changed hands at one point. You may recall the beloved Xbox 360 edition, published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Well, Ubisoft took over the reins in 2016, and released the game on PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X/Series X, and Switch, so you can play it pretty much anywhere. It features standard play (four player) as well as 2v2, with online support for both. House rules can also be applied, and mixed and matched with themed deck DLC.

This isn't the end of Shovel Knight, either. Although Yacht Club Games has a new IP in Mina the Hollower, two more projects are planned for their inaugural hero. There's Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX (an enhanced port of the original game with 20 playable characters), which aims to relaunch the adventure that started it all, including all its DLC.

Plus, there's a mystery mainline Shovel Knight game, and we don't have any concrete details for it yet. It's going to be many years until we see this knight ride off into retirement.