The Plucky Squire Review
“Are You Feeling Plucky?” Written by: Ethan (@ChaoticAether)
The Plucky Squire has easily been one of my most anticipated indie titles in recent memory, and most of that is down to one James Turner. Known for designing and directing on various Pokemon projects throughout the years, I had become a fan of his thanks to various developer interviews and the abundance of adorable fanart of games he released back then on Twitter. When I found out a few years back that he had left gamefreak to pursue a new indie studio called All Possible Futures, I kept my eye out knowing that whatever they were working on had a high likelihood to be special.
Months go by and The Plucky Squire is finally revealed. With a trailer filled to the brim with James’ art, a Zelda-like formula with a storybook setting, and a crazy mechanic of leaping out of the page to interact in a 3D environment, it immediately grabbed my attention. Two years later, The Plucky Squire has now released and I’m happy to report that the game is just as charming as I had hoped it would be. The Plucky Squire is a wonderful experience which uses a variety of unique mechanics to blend a 2D and 3D adventure game seamlessly together. It’s not perfect, with a plethora of bugs and wonky mechanics that can sometimes lead to frustrating segments, but at its core is a game with a lot of the right thing: heart.
Image Credit: All Possible Futures, Devolver Digital
The Plucky Squire takes place in a storybook found in the bedroom of a talented artist called Sam. The book tells the story of Jot “The Plucky Squire”, a noble hero whose destiny is to save the land of Mojo from the evil wizard Humgrump. After collecting some wax for his friend and mentor Moonbeard, Jot is sent on an urgent quest to stop Humgrump after green magic is seen in the surrounding area. Along with his friends Violet and Thrash, Jot sets off to discover that Humgrump has discovered the secret of their world. That they are all in a kids storybook, and that Jot is always victorious each and every time. Using his newfound powers, Humgrump forces Jot out of the book and into the real world. With his world's reality now at Humgrump’s fingertips, and Sam’s future inspiration now on the line, Jot must set out and explore both realities to gather new powers and put a stop to Humgrump’s dastardly scheme.
It's a rather simple plot at times, and rightfully so for a children's game, with each chapter having a basic objective and a sprinkling of world building here and there. What really sells you on the adventure though is the narrator, who frequently chimes in and reads the words on the page as the story progresses. These moments can get quite funny, especially in the latter third of the game when the tone slightly changes. The same can be said for a majority of the characters found within the story: they are simple but effective. Moonbeard, Pip and Minibeard are standouts for sure, but Violet and Thrash are also endearing and have their own little arks they go on throughout. From artsy witches and wizards to heavy metal trolls, the world of Mojo is filled with charm to the point where I hope they create an actual children’s book in the future. Overall there’s nothing breath taking, but what is here is endearing enough that I couldn’t help but smile throughout most of my playtime.
Image Credit: All Possible Futures, Devolver Digital
The gameplay loop for The Plucky Squire can be broken down into the two main areas of play: the 2D storybook and the 3D bedroom outside of it. I’m sure this may come as a surprise to quite a few of you based on pre-release material, but a majority of the game takes place in the storybook land of Mojo. Here the game takes the form of many 2D adventure games like Zelda, having you move between screens like pages within a book. Jot’s controls are very simple, he can walk around, jump and slash his way through objects and enemies. If you collect enough bulbs scattered around the land, you can also upgrade his moves to include spin attacks and sword throws. A majority of the gameplay in Mojo can be broken down into killing enemies, exploration and solving puzzles. Killing enemies is rather basic at times, and can get repetitive as the game goes on. Stronger enemies appear from time to time, but there’s no real challenge to the combat, which often falls flat when compared to exploration.
Fortunately for us, the exploration and platforming fairs slightly better. The signature mechanic of leaving the book is rather important for exploration. By using portals throughout the book, you can leave the page and enter the real world. These portals have you constantly thinking about the third dimension, and may be the solution to a broken bridge, lake or enemy standing in your way. These sections may also involve platforming. From dodging boulders to exploring caves in the dark, they add a nice reprieve to the constant baddie bashing. Chapter 5 even has you exploring a city called Artia and interacting with its artful citizens. From saving pigs to solving small puzzles, there’s a lot to like here.
As for the game's puzzles, these may be as simple as finding a key, but the solution may involve using a variety of Jot’s abilities that allow him to interact with the storybook in various ways. One of these abilities is being able to move and swap written words in sentences found on the page. You may see a closed gate in front of you and the word “open” in a different sentence. Just give that “open” a whack, pick it up, and replace the word “closed” to make the gate swing open. They also catered to some wacky combinations here, so feel free to carry the word “cheese” and go mad with your newfound power. These can lead to some really fun puzzles to solve, and when you mix this with the page turning mechanic that allows you to go back and forward between game scenes and carry things in and out, puzzles can get complex rather quickly.
These are just the tip of the iceberg though, from launching yourself between portals, stamping parts of the book to stop them, to stamping bombs from outside of the world, there are some really fun puzzles here. The only dud for me is the page tilting mechanic, allowing you to move items by tilting the page in a given direction. These puzzles always felt obtuse to me, and felt awful to control. There’s a puzzle involving this in the final chapter of the game that felt so sloppy that it left a bad taste in my mouth. On the whole the puzzles are a blast, but a few rough instances in later levels leave something to be desired.
Image Credit: All Possible Futures, Devolver Digital
Speaking of desires, we all know what you came for: how are those signature 3D sections? Well they are shockingly good, and I wish there were more of them. Every chapter or so has you needing to leave the book for a powerup found somewhere on Sam’s desk. This essentially leads to a brand new 3D level for you to explore each time an item is needed. From stealthily sneaking around giant beatles in the dark, to busting down a fort and taking out escaped monsters from your book, there’s a lot to love here. One of my favourite aspects of these levels is the constant hopping between both 2D and 3D environments. You may be entering wall murals to get to areas or climbing a wall by walking up a path. It's all so seamless.
My favourite 3D section had to be the jetpack level. After teaming up with a little rocket buddy you find printed on a cup, you now have this massive platforming stage to explore, and more coffee cups to find in order to find the parts of your rocket buddy’s dad. It feels like it’s straight out of a Toy Story game, having you fly to new heights and reach areas you’ve previously been unable to explore. This all ends with a 2D shoot 'em up around a 3D object that just works so damn well.
The final thing to mention is the variety of bosses found throughout the game, both in 2D and 3D. From a Punch Out styled fight with a Badger to an RPG battle within a Magic card, to Puyo Puyo. There’s a lot of them and they are all quite fun. My personal favourite was a Rhythm game with Thrash, which honestly kept me on my toes even as a rhythm game fanatic. There’s honestly a lot to love, including a rather fun final boss fight.
In terms of presentation, you don’t need me to tell you how good this game looks. Whether you’re in the 2D storybook or exploring Sam’s desk, the whole game is just eye candy. The Turner-inspired look of Mojo is the highlight for me, with the 2D sprite work being extremely solid. The animation work is a particular highlight, and the way the light bounces off the ink makes it look like you're reading from an actual storybook. Mix these with the claylike models and pixar-esque lighting for the 3D world and you have a wonderful looking adventure.
This is matched by a wonderful soundtrack that fits the game perfectly. From Moonbeard’s dubstep to more whimsical fantasy melodies, the soundtrack really captures the childlike feeling of wonder and joy. Top this off with excellent voice acting from the narrator and you end up with such a beautifully made game. There may be a few bugs in terms of rendering, I had some mismatched sprites and some weird pop in, but it really doesn’t detract from what's otherwise a very solid presentation.
Image Credit: All Possible Futures, Devolver Digital
Summary
The Plucky Squire is a charming adventure that merges its 3D and 2D worlds to create something really special. With intricate puzzles, a charming pair of worlds to explore and a bunch of really fun characters to discover, it had me hooked for its entire 7 hour runtime. It may not live up to the likes of Zelda at the top of its genre, but what's here is an excellent attempt of taking a tried and true adventure game and bringing it to a modern audience, innovations in hand.
I can happily recommend The Plucky Squire to anyone who was remotely tempted on picking it up. It may be oftentimes simple and some of its chapters may drag, but Plucky is filled to the brim with so much charm and joy that I couldn’t help but overlook its faults and just have a great time regardless. I’m really happy that All Possible futures got to make such a wonderful game, and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next. It honestly feels great to say after so many years of waiting, but it looks to me like their future is bright.