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The Plucky Squireis a whimsical and innovative action-adventure game that blends the best of 2D and 3D gameplay. As you guide your hero through both storybook pages and coffee mugs, you’ll encounter clever puzzles and engaging combat, with enemies at times too cute to kill.
The game’s unique mechanics invite players to think creatively as they navigate between dimensions, jumping seamlessly from page to wooden desk. While not the most challenging game out there, The Plucky Squire is a different enough experience that some guidance can help you reach the ending in no time.
Explore Every Corner
In The Plucky Squire, exploration is key. Each page of the storybookholds some form of secret, from hidden paths to interactive elements that may be crucial for solving puzzles. It’s tempting to rush ahead to the next page, but doing so can lead you tomiss out on hidden glitchbirdsor solutions to puzzles.
Some areas contain items or clues that aren’t immediately visible, somake sure to explore thoroughly. The word puzzles in particular hide many secrets, withachievements tied to mixing words upthat, while not necessary to progress, often generate an amusing outcome.
Interact With NPCs Twice
NPCs often provide more than just charming dialogue. Many of themoffer important hints that can help you with puzzlesor point you toward hidden secrets. Always take the time to read through conversations carefully, and always speak with each NPC twice, since they follow the FromSoftware rule of not saying everything the first time around.
If you find yourself stuck,Minibeard is the dedicated NPC for hintsthat spell out the solution for you. However, if you just want to enjoy the dialogue without getting the solutions spoiled, considerignoring Minibeard until he is really needed.
Use The Skip Button
The Plucky Squire featuresa somewhat hidden Skip Buttonin the pause menu, which allows you to bypass certain puzzles and boss fights. This option is particularly helpful if you find yourself stuck on a particularly difficult section or if you’d prefer tofocus more on exploration and story progression.
The Skip Button is only available for puzzles or boss fights within the story book, specifically the ones that change the perspective in a unique way.
When deciding whether to use the Skip Button, consider the potential rewards you might miss by skipping a fight or puzzle. The main thing you’ll be missing out on isthe different achievements tied to these challenges, but not every one of them has one attached.
Transition Often Between 2D And 3D
One of the core features of The Plucky Squire isits seamless transition between 2D and 3Denvironments. Many puzzles require youto think in both dimensions, and understanding how these two spaces interact is essential to progressing through the game; the solution is often related to the latest item unlocked, but by the end of the game, you’ll have to know how to combine them.
If you can pick something up,then you can take it with you across realms, although most puzzle elements are used in the 2D realm while the 3D one is used for their traversal. The stamps, on the other hand, are only used in the 3D world to influence the story book from outside.
Study Enemy Patterns
Each enemy in The Plucky Squire hasunique behaviors and attack patternsthat can be exploited for easier combat, even when their movements seem deceptively simple. Knowing how each enemy attacks or jumps around is useful in both 2D and 3D, sincenearly all enemies make the dimensional jump with you.
This is especially crucial during boss fights, wherelearning the timing of attackscan help you deal with them easily, especially when most of them are reused at least once in the game. The bow and boxing bosses in particular can be a breeze or a serious challenge if you don’t learn the patterns right.
Use The Environment To Your Advantage
In The Plucky Squire, the environment is as much a tool as your sword or quill. Many puzzles and combat scenarios rely onyour ability to manipulate objects within the world, such as pushing blocks to create platforms or replacing words to open secret doors.
Combat is another area where the environment is key, sincehazards that affect you’re able to also hurt your enemies.There is even a level of friendly fire when dealing with large enemies, so you should guide your enemies to strike each other when the opportunity and your surroundings allow it.
Backtrack For Secrets
As you gain new abilities and tools throughout your journey in The Plucky Squire,previously inaccessible areas will open up.Don’t be afraid to backtrack and re-explore old areas after unlocking new skills, or even after passing a single page, since the parts where the narrator sets the scenecan also be explored by the Squirelater on.
If you miss something out, don’t worry, you won’t have to go through the entire game to reach that secret that eluded you. Simplyload your save file and choose the chapter you need; you’ll have to replay it in its entirety, but each one is short enough that it becomes manageable.
Focus On A Single Combat Badge
The only way for you to gain new moves in the Plucky Squire isby buying them off the Shopkeeper, a seemingly sentient building that follows you around during your adventure.It can upgrade your damage, as well as give you three different badges that unlock new moves.
These moves, however, aren’t all that usefulunless maxed out, and mostly underperform when compared to your basic attack. You should focus onmaxing one out first, and only then buying another one;we recommend the Spin Attack, since it can easily deal with the limited scenarios where the Squire is surrounded by many minions.
