The Plucky Squireis a delight. TheGamer’s own Ben Sledge said as much inhis review, praising the way in which it incorporates multiple different artistic styles and ambitious mechanics into a single package. One that echoes Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, and Zelda all at once.
I’m a few hours into the adventure now and continue to find myself surprised by each and every new trick it pulls from its seemingly bottomless bag, while it’s been a breeze to grow closer to its lovable cast of characters and their distinct quirks. This feels like a bedtime story you’d be told as a child, desperate to see where it goes and what revelations await on the next page. Unfortunately for The Plucky Squire though, that only ever goes a single way.
Upon its reveal, myself and thousands of others were blown away by the central gimmick of hopping from a hardback book into the real world, where a swashbuckling hero could roam the desk of the young boy who avidly reads these stories. It mimics the crafting workstation of a dude in his forties more often than not, but the magic is still present and accounted for.
While the combat and puzzles you engage with on each plane leave something to be desired, the act of jumping from a story book into the real world never gets old.
The first few times I hopped out of the titular book and realised I could turn its pages myself or tilt it to influence objects within I was bowled over, while exploring random pieces of giant stationery before doing battle with imaginary bugs was charming from the off. But like all good playthings that capture your imagination at first glance, it soon settles into a sense of routine.
At least right now, every single puzzle or combat encounter I’ve stumbled across possesses only a single solution, and any desire to move outside the box or create your own future in this storybook with seemingly endless possibilities is pushed back on. Sometimes, it presents a chance to play around with word puzzles to make mushrooms out of cheese, but these momentary distractions are easily missed, and don’t feed into the core experience.
The Plucky Squire is an easy game to define, and after having my sister round this weekend and showing her the opening levels, she was transfixed. But the more we played and further we got into the story, it began to settle into a predictable, Zelda-esque routine of puzzles and minigames and combat where the only relevant path was forward. You can occasionally pop back to previous pages to find specific solutions or pick up collectibles, but those are more of an illusion of choice than actual freedom.
If you’re at all curious to discover the secrets this game has to offer, I would recommend flipping backwards through previous pages whenever you have an opportunity.
Maybe I came in expecting something from The Plucky Squire that it never intended to give me, but when your central premise is about a character upending his 2D origins and busting into the outside world, it’s not too far-fetched to expect the gameplay mechanics to follow up on that premise. But whenever I left the book, it was to receive the required object to progress as I defeated waves of enemies, navigated platforming challenges, and collected pieces of an item. This was all fun, and filled with inventive minigames and visuals, but the linearity is something that ultimately holds the game back.
If The Plucky Squire was a typical hand-drawn fantasy adventure with the same elements of friendship and whimsy, it would still be sickeningly delightful, but so far, it doesn’t commit to a compelling premise nearly enough. At least not when it comes to player freedom, and that is where it really matters.
The Plucky Squire
WHERE TO PLAY
All Possible Futures' The Plucky Squire is an adventure game ripped right out of a storybook. A children’s book’s hero, Jot, has to not only overcome his universe’s challenges but also face the unknown when he is flung from the safety of his 2D pages into the real 3D world.
