Originally published on Pixelitis.net on June 26, 2014.

Playing Shovel Knight will result in you knowing more puns about digging than you’d ever wager.

Seriously, indie developer Yacht Club Games even has a town NPC dedicated to making as many puns about the titular game hero’s weapon of choice as possible. And yes, I chortled at almost every single one.

It’s been more than a year since that fateful reveal of the retro-styled action platformer on the eve of PAX East 2013. With Ex-Wayforward folks and composer Jake “virt” Kaufman working on it, it’s easy to understand the hype.

But like with every crowdfunded project, there ultimately comes the time when an indie developer has to start putting its money where its mouth is.

So dig deeper to find out if Shovel Knight really is the retro bombshell that everyone was hyping it up to be. Or is the game too grounded in the 8-bit days of yore?