An adventure game at its heart,The Plucky Squirestarts as a spunky but standard experience before quickly expanding to a wide variety of genres to create something wholly and completely entertaining, almost from start to finish. There are a few lapses in the design choices, such as the mini-games being very, very simple, along with most of the games' puzzle-solving being too easy as well, but these detriments are hardly enough to bring downThe Plucky Squire. Developer All Possible Futures has crafted a rare gem for those looking for something uncomplicated, family-friendly, and good for those simply looking for something fun.
The Plucky Squireis the story of Jot and his friends fighting an evil wizard, partying with a good wizard, rescuing friendly critters and creatures, and exploring a space they never knew existed. The transitioning from a 2D plane to a 3D one has been done before, but rarely, as well asThe Plucky Squire,does it. The transition is smooth and quick and makes sense within the context of the adventure. It adds more to the game as well, allowing players a space away from the book that most of the game takes place in.
The 3D space is limited, though, as it’s supposed to be a child’s desk space for their creative efforts. It’s neat how the desk layout changes with each chapter, simulating changes in time outside the book that also coincide with the story. Despite the small size, these 3D areas are a good break from the walking left, right, or up that makes up most of the game. It does suffer from what most older players will discover after only a few chapters: that the puzzles just aren’t that difficult. Most consist of simply replacing words until the way opens to progress forward or to obtain an item that will help finish the area’s puzzle.
The Plucky Squire Sparks Curiosity With Its Story
Most of the game is simply moving from one area to the next, but if users can immerse themselves in the story, there is almost a weird sense of nostalgia emanating from the game. Be it from being read to as a child or perhaps reading to their own kids; older players might find an odd sense of sentimentality as they play.
It’s a badge of honor thatThe Plucky Squireshould wear proudly, as not many games can speak to users in such a way. This feeling also helps create a desire to see what happens next, like reading a book that has truly captured your attention and is difficult to put down. There are also a variety ofentertaining boss-fighting mini-games, based on mostly older titles, that are varied enough to keep a user’s attention the first time through.
These boss battles are slightly jarring in that the vast majority of them remove the player from fighting on a 2D or 3D plane to try their hand at different mini-games like a super-basic version ofPunch Out!!or an arrow-shooting mini-game vs. many, many angry hornets and their queen. Pulling players from the game world entirely was a bold choice, and player’s enjoyment of them will come down to how they feel about mini-games as a whole.
The Mini-games, though not challenging enough, are a visual treat and help progress the story!
They suffer from the same lack of difficulty that much of the game exhibits, but they are entertaining visually and as a way to continue the story. Some may even start to find themselves disappointed when mini-games are not popping up as often as they expect. It’s a weird conundrum that is caused by having something fun but having to restrict it because it’s so fun.
The Plucky Squire’s Visuals Compliments The Story In The Best Way Possible
Graphically, the game excels at crafting cute and simple designs for both the world and NPCs.Enemy creatures are uninvolved in their design and movement, but since the premise is a story created by a younger child, it makes sense that most creature designs are not overly complicated. This stretches into the game’s level design as well. Sketches of terrain are turned into hills simply by folding paper in a way that makes it feel like traversing up a giant hill. Sketches can appear broken apart, but players can move from one to the other, which helps to create the feeling of a much bigger area.
A big highlight players will discover is the way items and Jot move from the game’s 2D space into its 3D areas and back out again. There is a section near the beginning of the game where rocks are falling down a mountainside on the pages of the book, and as they roll down the page and reach the edge, they suddenly jump out of the book and roll off-screen in the 3D world. It’s a neat visual that continually hammers home the magic at play. Puzzles requiring players to traverse through both areas and styles end up being some of the most fun and challenging ones.
The way the pages of the book play a huge role is a very fun aspect that isn’t utilized enough, including how some puzzles require the user to turn pages of the book with an ability unlocked before the halfway point. Players may need to go back a few pages to find the word they need, jump back into the page, and then jump out with the word before returning to the most recent page. It’s an idea that works well within the book idea, but unfortunately, players can only go through the explored areas of the chapter they are currently in, meaning a missed chance for puzzles that would require searching deeper backward to find what they needed. Creating added challenges like this would more than likely have gone against the difficulty curve the developers intended, though.
There were a few in-game technical snarls where interactive or moveable objects would stop working or stop moving, but quitting the game and restarting fixed each of these issues. There are some odd design choices when it comes to combat that will feel a little off to users, such as how Jot can throw his sword into objects and then call it back into his hand from a distance away,except the sword won’t damage enemies on its return path.
It takes away a combat option that feels weird at first, though the ease of the game means combat isn’t very hard at all, even with such an odd combat design choice. A challenging combat adventure game, this is not, but all the good things: its charm, design, and general enjoyability make up for just about all of its combat shortcomings.
Those looking for a deep challenge won’t find it inThe Plucky Squire, but any gamer looking for something fun and charming will be entertained by the story of Jot and his friends. Despite its lack of difficulty, it’s easy to think that most users will want to finish the story once they’ve started. Its creativity and level designs go a long way in turning something mediocre into something artfully enjoyable. Be it for the children who remember their parents reading stories to them or for the parents who remember reading to their kids, both will find a bounty of nostalgic adventure inThe Plucky Squire.
WHERE TO PLAY
The Plucky Squirewas released on September 17 for the PC, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.
