The Plucky Squire

Developer: All Possible Futures
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 17 Sep 2024
Price: $29.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

I recently covered The Plucky Squire in a preview, but now that I’ve had the chance to dive into the full version of the game, I’m back with a more detailed exploration. The timing of this deep dive couldn’t be better, as I’ve been craving a high-quality puzzle platformer lately. What caught my attention with The Plucky Squire is its intriguing mechanic of switching between 2D and 3D perspectives, which introduces a dynamic layer to the gameplay. Furthermore, I must reiterate that, as a fan of Devolver Digital, I have yet to encounter a game from this publisher that hasn’t lived up to expectations. With its stunning artwork, intuitive yet challenging puzzles, and some downright hilarious boss fights, The Plucky Squire seems to have all the makings of a memorable adventure. So, let’s journey back into the whimsical world of this magical picture book, shall we?

Story

I’ve already gone through most of the story in the preview so I’ll try to summarize it here. There is a nameless magical land in a picture book filled with magical creatures, scary monsters, and (of course) an evil wizard. The evil wizard Humgrump is destined to lose from our protagonist Jot over and over again. After all, every story needs to have a happy ending, right?

However, the plot takes a fascinating turn when Humgrump becomes self-aware of his existence within the book. In a desperate bid to change his fate, he rewrites the narrative, banishing Jot from the picture book and thrusting him into our 3D world, which is both bewildering and perilous. Jot now finds himself navigating a strange new dimension, encountering quirky companions such as talking snails and perpetually hungry cats. It’s up to Jot to find his way back into the 2D realm, solve intricate puzzles, fend off adorable yet formidable monsters, and ultimately confront Humgrump to restore the story’s balance.

Gameplay

The gameplay of The Plucky Squire is a little bit of everything thrown in. You have your adventurous sections where you just have to swing your sword at the enemies and avoid their telegraphed attacks. Then there are puzzle sections where you have to jumble a couple of words in a puzzling text (puzzling heh, see what I did there) until you get a solution that will open you a new path.

As you might imagine, the combat in The Plucky Squire is nothing revolutionary. You try to hit enemies faster than they get a jump on you, avoid their attacks, go for openings, and win. It’s that easy! Boss fights are a whole different story (and they feel like they were taken from other games) since every one of them is a different mini-game where you either need to win in a boxing match against a badger, shoot some arrows a la Robin Hood or try to catch a slippery fish for the win.

Puzzles are also pretty straightforward once you get the gist of them. Let’s say you enter an area with a large closed door and there is a sentence on the ground saying “These doors are closed.” It’s describing exactly what you see, right? Except there is a word not far away that says “open”. What you need to do is to take that word and replace it in a sentence instead of “closed” and voila, the doors are open now. The more you progress the more intricate and complicated such puzzles are even though they all follow the same premise. Later on, you’ll have to find the necessary words in previous pages (by leaving the picture book yourself and flipping the pages to go back the puzzles will slowly “level up” as you move through the story.

Visuals

As I said, the game will often switch from 2D to 3D where the main goal will be pretty much to get back into the book. I have to say that I like the 2D sections much more since they seem designed with so many details and love while the 3D sections kinda look like they were cobbled together with free Unity assets. Every new chapter in The Plucky Squire feels like a story on its own while introducing new characters, and new platforming gimmicks, and all of that will often conclude in a hilarious boss fight or a mini-game.

Some 3D sections in The Plucky Squire occasionally steal the spotlight, such as the makeshift cardboard castle level, which is a delightful and visually striking departure from the norm but still, the picture book levels are where the game really shines.

Audio

As far as this segment goes, The Plucky Squire has some incredible voice work and the characters are all hilarious – no exceptions! It’s a shame that voice acting isn’t more present in the game since I really love that narrator. Everything else in The Plucky Squire, including some events that progress the story, will have the usual moving text bubbles and that’s pretty much it.

When it comes to music, the game features a charming soundtrack that complements its whimsical aesthetic. The tunes are catchy and fit well within the fantasy theme, though none of the tracks stand out as particularly memorable. The music serves its purpose effectively, enhancing the overall experience without becoming intrusive or repetitive.

Overall

What makes the overall formula of The Plucky Squire is that, as you play, the game tries a little bit of everything. A somewhat hectic mix of puzzle platforming and chasing collectibles that sticks the landing. One thing I would hold against The Plucky Squire is a bit disappointing length of The Plucky Squire and overall game difficulty that’s a walk in the park on both settings. In any case, in the end, it is a cute little platformer with unique gameplay gimmicks that’s definitely worth your time.

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