Initial Impressions: Shovel Knight's King of Cards, by Yacht Club Games (Switch)

From The Manufacturer:
Play as King Knight, the gilded Goon himself, As he travels through 4 new worlds and more than 30 all new courses, on a journey to best the three kings who rule over the land.

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Pros: 

• It's more content for what is arguably the best indie game of all time.
• It's FREE if you bought the "treasure trove" version of Shovel Knight
• The platforming is as sharp as ever, with King Knight offering yet another set of movement mechanics to traverse the world with. 
• The game has a LOT more levels than other Shovel Knight expansions (they said levels tend to be shorter as a consequence). 
• The music is still top-notch.
• The visuals are as sharp as ever, even if a lot of assets from previous DLC is (understandably) re-used.
• As one of the earlier (if not the earliest) entry in the Shovel Knight timeline, it is interesting to see another side of the various residents of the Shovel-verse

Cons:

• I understand why King Knight has to play Joustus from a story perspective, but it doesn't mesh well with the otherwise fast, tightly-paged platforming sections.
• The game takes an even more comedic tone than previous Shovel Knight DLC, mostly at the expense of King Knight himself.  While the jokes were often funny, I couldn't help but feel a bit of tonal whiplash between King Knight's apparent incompetence / vapid nature and that fact that he wins battle after battle (be it of Joustus or a physical engagement). 
• King of Cards punishes you for losing Joustus: the winning player can take a card from the loser (as long as it was in play when a match ends).  Though these cards can be bought back, this mechanic is likely to frustrate players who want to focus on the platforming (and who would rather spend their in-game currency on upgrades for King Knight rather than on cards).
• I just haven't been as excited by King of Card's artifacts (aka Secondary Weapons).  In particular, I'm disappointed that they seem to focus exclusively on offensive / defensive abilities, rather than adding to movement tech (like they did in other Shovel Knight DLC).
• (Nit-Pick) Artifacts (aka secondary weapons) are gathered more sporadically in King of Cards, and are never purchased "in-level" (for a discount) like previous DLC.  There isn't anything wrong with this approach (hence it only being a nit-pick), but it felt like there was one less reward for skillful play compared to previous iterations.

Will I Keep Playing?

Yes.  I'm excited to see what else the game has to offer, even if I think the card game portion of this DLC should've been completely optional.  Beyond that, I'm stoked to see what Yacht Club Games does next.