An indie game that gained me ever since i layed eyes on the reveal trailer was that of the The Plucky Squire. The announcement trailer was revealed two
years ago during a Nintendo livestream that was focussed on the indie developers(IndieWorld). The reveal trailer showed a colorful character known as Jot (the
Plucky Squire) who kept moving in a 2D hand drawn Zelda like environment who doubled down in a realistic 3D environment every time the character decided to move
outside of the story book. With the passing of time more game events came and went with some including more and more gameplay of the game which solidified my decision
of playing the game at some point during or after its release.
The plucky squire was developed by All Possible futures, a new studio build with veteran developers with the goal of releasing fun and exciting games. The co founders
of the studio worked together in the past(2001) as members of a team working. The two wanted to work together on a game, however, it only took them 23 years to get together
and form a studio putting together everything they learned from working in the industry for so long.
Upon its release, the game had an overall positive score from the journalist and most of the players, however the people who really wanted it seemed to have a more sceptical feedback.
The majority enjoyed the game but alot were dissapointed as they expected a better game whose potential was unlimited. At the end of 2024, the game received a couple of nominations from
a few award shows.
The game was originally released digitally on September 2024. A physical release is schedule to release on February 2025 in the following forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Deluxe Edition
Included the game, an Artbook and a Sountrack CD
As mentioned, the game had gain my interest but i was waiting for the right price to pick it up, and thus i did early in 2025.
Story of the Game
The story of the game takes place in the fictional world known as the world of Mojo, where its famous for its Creativity. In the land ofMajo, theres a hero known as Jot A.K.A The Plucky Squire. Jot often defends the land from his foes and does multiple heroic acts for its citizens. Aside from being a hero, Jot double downs as
a writer who transcribes his many adventures into multiple books. His books are some of the most popular tales amongs the people of the land. One day, Jot woke up from some energetic music and moved to investigate where it was comming from. Following the sound, Jot reached the house of the Wizard Moonbeard who wasnt just Jot's friend
but also his mentor. The wizard had a small request for the hero. He wanted him to travel to the land of Honey Peak and collect some wax from Benny Bee. The quest was relatively challenging but nothing the hero couldnt do. However after successfully achieving the wax, the sky turn dark and green lightings flew off of the Tome Tower. Moonbeard
explained that the spelled must ve been cast from Humgrump, an evil wizard that was stopped by Jot multiple times in the past.
Jot embarked on a quest to stop the evil wizard, however he was not alone. He was originnaly joined by his childhood friend and witch Violet. Not long afterwards the two friends met with the third member of the group Thrash. Tharsh was a mountain Troll and also another one of their childhood friends. The three embark together in order to reach the
Tome Tower. A mysterious cloaked figured was spotted at the entrance but it dissappeared the moment the heroes arrived. Jot proceeded alone in order to encounter the evil sorcerer however he was expecting his arrival. The sorcerer revealed how he came across a hidden book within a chamber. The book was called the The Plucky Squire and acording to
Humgrump the book was about Jot, him and everyone else in the Land of Mojo. He became aware that their lives and adventures are parts of a book with predetermined ending where he gets defeated over and over again by Jot. The Wizard came up with a unique spell that would undoubtedly get rid of Jot, putting an end to his herohood. The spell was capable of
breaking the 4th wall kicking Jot out of his storybook. Jot was lost however he came across Page a bookworm whose job is to travel around from book to book keeping everything safe and balanced. Page notes that Jot is a fictional character within a book and owes to return to it before any catastrophic events occur. The worm also becomes aware of Jots
new ability of entering/exiting portals to other realms.
With his new abilities the hero returns back to his book and embarks on his new adventure againts the evil sorcerer.
Thoughts on the story
I personnaly liked the idea of having the plot of the game being narrated and illustrated in the form of a book. It gave the game a nice spin on a stprytelling not commontly used. What started as a typical quest of Jot stopping the evil Humgrump turned into a more intense story with the wizard becomming aware of the
universe being a story book. The game presents the idea of "the book" in an interesting way and it keeps being brought up through out the game both for narrate and for gameplay reasons. Did the plot kept me at the edge of my seat? No. Did it blew my mind with its story, its heroes and its character writting? NO but this was
never gonna be the case in the Plucky Squire. It was fun and entertainning and thats all it matters as this is what the developers tried to do. They told a creative story about a hero who embark on an adventure to save the land of Mojo by jumping in and out his reality. The characters were simple to write with each one is
offering nice moments here and there. The humor can sometimes be a hit or miss but we have to keep in mind that this game was made for a much younger audience. To sum up the story is pleasing with entertainning moments and a hit or miss humor.
Gameplay
The developers of The plucky Squire took a look at Hazelight Studios works on their games It takes two and A Way Out and thought, why dont we take their formula of multi genre game and add it to our own with our unique
twist. At its core, the game is 2D/3D platformer. The game looks like one of the older Legend of Zelda games such as Minish Cap where the players collect Jot, the plucky squire. The hero ventures around the 2D areas within
the universe of the book. Jot is also equiped with his sword which he uses to defeat his enemies. The combat is very similar to the old Zelda games since Jot uses normal slashes, a spin attack(that can be charged) that attacks in all
directions and finaly a sword throw attack that acts similarly to a boomerang. All attacks can be upgraded from the store, the upgrades simply increase damage and range. Defensive wise, the hero can only dodge attacks since there is no block
button. The life of the plucky squire is represented with a heart on top of the hero and each time he receives a blow he loses a part of the heart. Each time an enemy or a tall grass is cut, thers a potential of
dropping lamps(the games currency), a small heart which restores a piece of the heros life or a big heart which fully restores the hero.
A big part of the game is also puzzle solving. Some pages of the book consist locked sections where the hero and his friend re required to solve certain puzzles in order to proceed to the next page. The majority of the puzzles
are word plays. Since this is a book, the narrator is reading sentences such as the water was deep, and another one where it says the fridge was filled with ice. Jot will be able to lift the word Ice and replace it with the word
deep causing the water to freeze which will allow the hero to walk on top of it. The puzzles are usually easy to figure out and most of the time re straight forward. A negative critisism of the game regarding the word plays, is the fact
that although its a very unique idea, the game doesnt do much and only has one solution. This could have allowed plucky squire to have unique gimmicks and offer a huge ammout of solutions but the devs chose to limit the creativity. That
is not to say that you cant use words to create various interactions with the environment however by the end, the players will resolve the puzzle with the way the devs wanted.
As seen in the trailers and the game's cover itself, Jot's unique mechanic is that he breaks the 4rth wall and jumps out of the book into our reality through green portals. This is when the gameplay swaps from the typical 2D adventure
formula into a 3D adventure where the hero moves freely into the real world. In the real world there are different surfaces marked in green mist that allows Jot to dive into 2D segments within the 3D elements. For example Jot can enter
into sticky notes and move from note to note to pass through areas that were blocked in the 3D Segments and come out in the other area. Usually the real world segments have their own platforming segments which end with the hero obtaining
a new key item that is needed back in the book. The plucky Squire can also manipulate the world of the book by using the powers obtained in the real world. For example the hero can tilt pages causing items to move from page to page, can
turn pages to go back to previous areas or even use stamps. jot acquires stamps that can freeze items and a stamp that can drop bombs into the world of the book. Using these, will allow the hero to solve puzzles in order to solve his problems.
The last big part of the game is the vast selection of mini game sections. Through out the games the devs added minigames of different genres that were inspired by multiple games. The players can always skip the minigame but i wouldnt
reccomend doing so. Some of the minigames re inspired by Little Mac, others by super Mario and others by games like Streambolt. These genre change mechanics are mostly found within the 2D segments in and out of the book. The quantity of them is decent
and the quality differs based on the game. I would argue that the minigames of 2D shooting is way superior than the archery sections. Similarly Thrash rythm gameplay is not as fun as Violet's tetris like section. Adding this to the game made it more fun
and offered alot of different experiences throughout the plucky squire 's land of Mojo. The 3D sections of the game also receives a couple of addition that would vary with certain chapters. For example, theres a chapter where Jot will be equiped with a
jet pack to help him fly and in others where he has to be stealthy as his equipment is not available. These small changes and the addition of the 2D segments offer a pleasant experience.
Thoughts on the Gameplay
The gameplay of the plucky squire is really fun and creative. As mentioned all the inspirations drawn into the game were handled with care. Jot's movements are smooth and the hero responds to the players inputs. The puzzles are
all very creative and smart despite having a singular final solution. The word play mechanic was very smart and something quite original. The entire idea of the game being a book also added gameplay elements with the player being
forced to swap pages to go back and forth, to tilt the pages to move heavy objects and even use stamps in order to freeze items or make them explode. The 3D parts of the game follow the formula of a typical platformer and combine
simple combat mechanics. The minigames are all different adding more variety to plucky squires formula which helps it stand out as a better puzzle platformer.
On the other hand, the game has some issues. To be cleared the word play mechanic despite being great and original could have offered more solutions to their puzzles than just being simple and one dimensional. The combat of the game
despite not being the focus of the game still feels very simplistic and one directional with Jot only having three moves. The minigames as mentioned some are very polish and good where as others have the issue of not being as good
and re less interesting.
Post Game Content
The game has a few things to do after completing the main campaign of the game. First of all, certain challenges are requiring certain objectives that can easily be missed during the initial playthrough. For example catching the fish on the first go as early as chapter 4 or solving puzzles in a certain way.
Furthermore, the player can go out of their way to rescue all the Glitchbirds. These small creatures are lost and they require the help of the hero. Once Jot finds them, they will happily return to their homeplace. There are 10 lost Glitchbirds. Last but not least, the player can collect alot of
art scrolls. These scrolls are scattered around both the land of Mojo(which is the 2D world of the book Jot comes from) and the real 3D world which is where Jot can escape to. Each one of them represent concept and character art. Theres a total of 50 Art scrolls to find and collect
Sound and Graphics
One thing that is very unique to the PLucky Squire is its unique art style. The game has various ones based on the games sections. The basic style is the artbook coloring found within the adventure of the Plucky squire. It is very cartoonish and very colorful. The 3D sections make the art style different where there
are different materials placed on the desk fo Sam(the owner of the book). The pencils, books and toys look very realistic however Jot himself looks like toy soldier. When Jot dives into the 2D segments of the world his style once again changes. When he enters a sticky note, Jot looks like he was hand drawn to match the style
where as when he joins into a mug, his style looks more like a sticker. Last but not least, when Jot enters the medival area or when he receives the Elf's bow those items and Jot himself looks like a combination of the two.
On the sound department the game doesnt dissapoint but doesnt stick out either. The game has mostly melodic sounds that escort that of the gameplay. Similarly to the artstyles, the games audio changes with every segment. For example, when visiting the troll mountain, rock music plays the entire time and when Jot interacts with
the elf, the music that escorts it is that of an Elvish harp. During the stealth sections theres almost little to none music where we can only hear the sounds of Jots steps and the hissing of the bugs. The characters of the game do not have a voice to interact with but they do make scream sounds everytime they fight or collect
a key item. The spoken dialog is comming from the narrator who does a decent job narrating and adding his emotions on his words. For example he has a lighter tone when the heroes succeed and also changes his interpretation when things go south.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, The Plucky Squire is an excellent game that makes it stand out from the 2024 indie releases. The plot of the game is quite interesting and is being presented in acreative way. Despite not having voice acting for the
heroes, the narrator does an excellent job to make up for it. The gameplay is very creative and it allowed for some interesting concepts both in 2D and in 3D. The puzzles although being simple, were very creative and entertainning.
The combat of the game felt simple which to some is a win but for others its a loss. The artstyle of the game is once again very creative and combines different art styles. Similarly the audio of the game follows the same pattern
which compliments the game. Upon completing the game, there are a few collectibles to collect which can expand the gameplay. Some of them are even concept art which shows how the game evolved from the drawing page to the final concept.
The game can be completed within 7 hours and 10 for the 100% completion. For me, the game did not dissapoint me(thus the plat), however it did leave me with a bitter taste as i was expecting a bit more here and there. Overall, i believe
its a game worth experiencing.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
