Shovel Knight ‘out today’ on PS4, PS3 and PS Vita

Shovel Knight on PlayStation, with triple-platform cross-buy and cross-save? We dig that, but it’s AWOL in the UK.

Natty retro platformer Shovel Knight is a very popular game, with critics and public alike. After a successful Kickstarter – smashing its original target four times over – developer Yacht Club Games released the title (albeit a little bit late) onto Windows and Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS in June 2014. Later that year, Shovel Knight trickled onto Mac OS X in September and Linux systems in October. It seemed inevitable that further platform ports would follow, and at Sony’s PlayStation Experience in December 2014, Shovel Knight’s PlayStation debut was announced for April 21 2015.

That day is finally here. Shovel Knight however, is apparently not. Not in the UK, at any rate.

At the time of writing, it’s 23:45 GMT and Shovel Knight still isn’t on the PlayStation Store. It does look to be available in the US when we browse through a Stateside proxy, but there was no indication in any of the release notes that the date was exclusive to the US. We’re not surprised, though – Shovel Knight’s Wii U release in the US came months before the rest of the world.

When it does in fact appear for download in the UK we can expect the classic Shovel Knight experience, plus some added extras exclusive to the PlayStation release (as taken from the PlayStation blog post about the announcement):

• Cross buy — Shovel Knight supports cross buy! Buy the game on one PlayStation platform, and you’ll get it on the rest!
• Cross save! — That’s right! At any time you can transfer your save file between PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. You can make sure you never have to do anything twice!
• Vita Back Touch — A few easter eggs are littered throughout the game. Try poking the back of your Vita and see what happens!
• PS4 DualShock 4 Light Bar — We found some fun ways to light up your hands during Shovel Knight’s most dramatic moments. Keep your eyes peeled!
• Platinum Trophy! — Are you good enough to tackle Shovel Knight’s toughest challenges? Prove it and earn the Platinum!
• BATTLE KRATOS! — Take up your Shovel Blade against the legendary hero from God of War. Try to find and take him down in Shovel Knight. Maybe he’ll teach you a thing or two about how to fight…

But right now, we’re going to bed. It’s late, and we’ve got stuff to do tomorrow. Maybe Shovel Knight will be on the PlayStation Store when we get up? We won’t be holding our breath for the impending Xbox One release “next week” either, thank you very much.