The free expansion to Yacht Club Games’ awesome indie platformer Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows has received a release date. It will be available for PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS, PC, Linux and Mac OS X on September 17th.

Plague of Shadows will introduce a new Challenge mode, which has been anticipated for quite a while, along with alchemy but it will also offer a brand new campaign with players taking control of Plague Knight. He controls differently from everyone’s shovel wielding hero but has his own set of deadly abilities.

To access the new campaign, you’ll need to finish the main campaign in Shovel Knight. A code will be provided for those who need to start from scratch for whatever reason though so you don’t have to grind through the old content for the new story.

Will you be playing Plague of Shadows (and you should, especially since it’s free)? Let us know in the comments.

Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight will be receiving a brand new free expansion in the coming months with Plague of Shadows, which features a new protagonist in Plague Knight, and the developer has revealed one of the major new modes for the same.

Challenge Mode features quite the variety – as the developer states, “Are you more into digging than distillation? Already have your Feats book long filled out? Well, then sharpen your skills for Challenge Mode!

“Prove your mettle by taking on new scenarios and returning foes alike. Use every bit of Shovel Knight knowledge you have to take on speed run challenges, boss rematches, and other rule-benders…and expect some tricky puzzles too!”

There’s other content on the way as well including new upgrades, alchemy items and more. There will also be plans to localize Shovel Knight for Japan in the coming days. Stay tuned for more information on Plague of Shadows, including announcements regarding its release date.