What King of Cards is
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a prequel that follows King Knight before he sits on the throne at Pridemoor Keep. You play through action-packed platforming stages in an 8-bit inspired pixel style, moving by leaping, twirling, and hitting enemies and obstacles head-on with the Shoulder Bash. King Knight's play style is built around crashing, bouncing, and throwing his heft around, so the movement reads differently from a typical Shovel Knight run. Along the way you travel through strange worlds, collect treasure, heirlooms, armors, abilities, and followers, and meet both familiar faces and new ones while the story explains how he came to rule.
Alongside the platforming sits Joustus, a collectible card game made for this game. You build a deck from more than 120 unique cards, take on challengers, and try to become the Champion of each House of Joustus while going after the Joustus Crown. The card play is where the strategizing happens, and it sits between the stages rather than replacing them.
Playing it with friends
The Steam version lists Remote Play Together, so one person who owns the game can stream the session to friends who join in. Since the game itself is listed as singleplayer, the shared session is one person driving the action while others watch along and weigh in on decisions, such as which cards go into the deck or which route to take next. That makes it a decent fit for a Discord call where the group wants something to react to and argue about between boss attempts.
Before you start
Feats and Challenge Stages offer extra tests, including boss rematches and custom-created platforming challenges, so there is material past the main path once the story is done. New Game+ is available for a harder run with multiplied wealth. The game is described as balanced enough for newcomers while still giving experts something to push against. If you already own Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, King of Cards is included with it and does not need to be bought separately.