Aegis Defenders, featuring Shovel Knight, Hits Consoles and PC Today

Metroid. Castlevania. Shovel Knight. If you throw all of these into a pot and mix them together, you apparently get Aegis Defenders, an all-new crowd funded title that has officially gone live on multiple platforms today. The title takes pixel art into a new frontier with scenic backgrounds and artsy touches to standard retro-style games, and gives players four characters to adventure in the shoes of, each with their own special qualities and abilities.

The story follows an Engineer named Bart and his tough-as-nails grand daughter, Clu, as they head out to find a solution for terrors that have brought their land into the dark ages. The pair discovers a weapon known as the Aegis, which is said to have been the root of this devastation. Together with newfound friends, this tiny family must not only learn to wield the weapon in order to bring peace to their land, but also protect it from countless other powers who threaten to steal it away, bringing even more turmoil to the land.

Here's everything that players will be able to do at launch:

• ​Play as up to four different heroes at once using our dynamic character swapping system, each with their own unique set of equipment and abilities:
  • BART: The Engineer
  • CLU: The Hunter
  • KAIIM: The Monk
  • ZULA: The Thief​
• Utilize an arsenal of over 20+ different turrets & traps to defeat massive waves of enemies
• Play with a friend at any time with Drop-in / Drop-out local splitscreen Co-op
• Upgrade your equipment through an in-game shop and unlock new "fusions" that allow heroes to combine turrets with themselves or even each other
• Experience an epic story that spans across the world of Elam
• Strategize your way to victory across 18 different levels and an estimated 8-10 hours of gameplay.

A stand-out title on Switch and PS4 for its online and couch co-op modes, the game also gives players control over both main characters during single player, letting them delegate roles and challenging them to form strategies in order to advance. It seems like a nice addition to any collection, especially for the explorer types out there.

Aegis Defenders is available now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam.