As you get older, you lose your sense of wonder. There’s a sense of “seen it all, done it all” that accompanies days, and it becomes harder for media to make an impression. But in The Plucky Squire, you’ll find a game that blasts away those bitter, boring feelings. Its sense of pure wonder and imagination is infectious, and if its opening hours are anything to go by, the full game is set to be something really, really special.
This upcoming action-adventure from All Possible Futures and Devolver Digital is set within and without a children’s storybook. You are Jot, the hero of the story, and in every iteration of your tale, you destroy the villain of your world. That is, until this evil sorcerer clues into the fabric of reality, and realises he’s trapped in a looping story. With terrible magic, he pulls Jot from his storybook’s pages, and casts him out into the “real” world, where he must chart a new dimension to restore order.
Against this rich backdrop, The Plucky Squire begins a wild adventure of 2D and 3D proportions, as Jot traverses both worlds – throwing objects between them, finding new allies, and transforming his home world for the better. All Possible Futures seems to have worked real magic into the design of The Plucky Squire, because I can’t think of another explanation for half of the dazzling sights that follow Jot’s travels.
There’s one scene where 2D boulders bounce down the pages of Jot’s storybook, only to “pop out” on the surface as 3D objects. There’s another scene where a 3D Jot enters a 2D storybook, then rappels across 3D flags in the real world, to solve an environmental puzzle on the other side of a desk.
The seamlessness by which The Plucky Squire combines multiple realms is stunning, and it’s genuinely mind-boggling at times. Speaking to developer Jonathan Biddle in an earlier hands-off preview for the game, I asked about how these transitions were possible.
“We have one main level, which is the desk, and it’s all 3D and everything on it,” Biddle explained. “We have the outside [out the window] that changes based on the weather, and we have arrangements on the desk that change every chapter … Just sitting above the room, there is actually another 3D space. We basically take the data and we draw it to a texture that’s actually projected in 3D onto the page.”
Even knowing the theory on how it’s done, The Plucky Squire is frequently mystifying.
That’s not to mention the silly fun and games you’ll find beyond the more groundbreaking features of the game. Between major set pieces that seem to defy the bounds of video games, you’ll plenty of fun, funny little scenes and mechanics that add to the game’s strong sense of imagination and humour.
Read: The Plucky Squire is pure delight
Many puzzles are solved with words, for example. As you travel through the storybook realm (which can be entered and exited through glowing portals), you’ll find a variety of phrases that can be changed to make your way further into the story. If a SMALL lillypad isn’t enough to help you cross a stream, maybe a LARGE lillypad will do – and wouldn’t you know it, another sentence on another page contains the very LARGE word that you need.
Sometimes, you need a FULL lake to cross a battlement. Sometimes, you need an EMPTY lake. Picking up words and swapping them around will reshape your environment, allowing to progress. And in keeping with The Plucky Squire’s themes, you’ll need a childlike sense of whimsy to solve these challenges.
At one point while playing The Plucky Squire, my young niece was watching over my shoulder. The brighter, vivid colours of the game were a particular delight for her (she’s a big fan of Spyro and other kid-friendly platformers) and she was also fascinated by the word puzzles of the game.
In trying to wrap my head around one particular puzzle involving paper and a large hole, she immediately got the solution – with the logic that she was always being asked to clean her room. She understood immediately, in only the way a child can. Meanwhile, I was still scratching my head trying to figure out the exact formula for the wording.
Even past these puzzles, my preview of The Plucky Squire was still brimming with neat and well-designed surprises that made each chapter a joy to discover. There’s hand-to-hand fist-fighting with a honey badger, in a Punch-Out!! style mini-game. Then there’s archery against angry mosquitos, using point-and-click mechanics.
The Plucky Squire consistently presents new ideas at every turn, making it a smorgasbord of creativity – and that’s just in the first three hours of the game! That’s room for a brief setup, some exploration of Jot’s powers, and the first steps of his magnificent journey.
There is still a long path ahead for Jot – and I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s next. In my awe, all I can say is bring on the next chapters.
A preview version of The Plucky Squire was provided by the publisher and played for the purposes of this preview. Stay tuned for a full review, closer to the release of the game.
