Udon Entertainment Has Revealed 'Shovel Knight: Ultimate Design Works'
- The Artbook Collector
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
October 16th 2025
Publisher Udon Entertainment have shared on social media that a new version of Shovel Knight: Design Works is on the way, making the book available again for fans of Yacht Club Games' 2D side-scrolling hit.
This new version is titled Shovel Knight: Ultimate Design Works and can be pre-ordered exclusively on Udon's website right now, but it will also be making its way to other retailers soon. If you do choose to order through the Udon store, you will also receive an exclusive Shovel Knight Metal Card with art by Edwin Huang.
The book is expected to ship in May 2026 and comes as a 8.25" x11.75" hardcover, an upgrade of the paperback original from 2017. It will include over 100 additional pages with art and designs from all Shovel Knight games, making this release not only the perfect those that missed out on the original, but also for fans that want more from the Shovel Knight world.
You can check out some page previews below that include character art for the game.
For those that didn't pick up the original book, Shovel Knight: Design Works showcases the early designs and sketches for the game, which includes the characters, bosses, enemies, weapons, and levels. It was a fantastic book that was very generous with sharing concepts that were not used, perfect for players that wanted a peak behind the curtain at the development of the designs.
This is not the first 'Ultimate' artbook from Udon, as they revealed Marvel vs. Capcom: Ultimate Design Works in summer for release in November, which also upgraded the original to a hardcover and increased the page count. Very few publishers go back and reprint their books, let alone upgrade them, but Udon Entertainment does both, as they have also recently announced on social media that they would be printing more copies of the three Dark Souls Design Works books too.
The publisher previously rereleased The Art of Darksiders and The Art of Darksiders II as hardcovers, matching the other two in the series. They also publish many Japanese Kadokawa books for the West as hardcovers too, translating them into English to make them available for a larger audience, as seen with the artbooks for Elden Ring and the upcoming release, The Art of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Fellow collectors will know that hardcovers are almost always the preferred option, as it allows for more reliable binding and is much better for the preservation of the book. When featuring a large number of pages, especially with higher quality paper, a softcover can in many cases prevent pages from opening flat and in worst case scenarios, slowly come apart or have the cover come loose. I'm happy to see Udon continue its trend of using this format and revisiting past books.
Future updates for Shovel Knight: Ultimate Design Works will be shared here and be sure to visit the Udon store to place your pre-order and find other items for your collection here.
