The Plucky Squire – Hands-on Preview
From the moment I saw the first trailer for The Plucky Squire, it was clear it was going to be something special. It presents itself with such an instantly affecting charm that quickly inspires the kind of childlike whimsy that only a storybook can really evoke. After playing the first four chapters of the game ahead of its release, I can confirm that I’m just as in love with it as I was after that first trailer and am so confident in saying that this game is going to live up to its (already immense) hype.
Our story (both in the in- and out-of-game universes) centres around the titular ‘plucky squire’ – Jot – an adventurous young lad with big hero energy who was clearly born to be an adventure game protagonist. He’s courageous, kind, and occasionally freakishly buff – all qualities that make him perfect for defeating the powers of evil. In this case, ‘evil’ takes the form of Humgrump, a villain who seeks to take down Jot and his friends and generally wreak havoc on the world – just classic antagonist nonsense.
Humgrump, however, is taking his villain era to the next level – he has become too self-aware (usually this is a great journey for a villain to go on, but not this time) and realised that because he is the villain and Jot is the hero, he is destined to lose forever. He must therefore amp up his evil efforts, trying to break the cycle of defeat by setting in motion a plan to rid the world of Jot forever. Somewhat unfortunately for him, this also leads Jot to become just as self-aware, and to learn that in order to save his storybook world (that he is apparently a protagonist of – it’s a big day for him, there’s a lot for him to take in) he will need to travel in and out of his own story.
And this forms the basis for this 2D/3D masterpiece that, as someone who has worked in game development and is constantly amazed by what it takes to make any kind of game function, is quite frankly mind-boggling. When Jot is inside his storybook, the game is a 2D platforming adventure clearly inspired by games like SNES-era Zelda with the worldplay puzzle-solving of Scribblenauts, Beacon Pines or Baba is You mixed in. It has a beautiful handdrawn style to it, and the perfect british narrator who brings a bit of LittleBigPlanet energy into the fray. Jot fights off enemies with classic sword slashes, and solves puzzles by inserting words into sentences to rearrange the world around him to give him access to new areas, or assist the local characters. It’s straightforward, and perhaps not groundbreaking, but the loving way in which it’s told makes it captivating.
And then Jot jumps out of the storybook and onto the desk it sits on, and this is where things truly become a technical masterpiece. Jot, in his perfectly-rendered 3D form, must now navigate the 3D desk-world to obtain new items to use in his in-book quest, with the help of his new friend the bookworm and no help from the weird creepy bugs that apparently live on this desk now (my own personal nightmare). It evokes memories of It Takes Two, and is told with a similar tone – though is about a much lighter topic – as you climb over blocks and stationary, jumping in and out of drawings and bits of paper on your quest. From there, you can jump in and out of the book, going back to the page you came from or throwing Jot onto an earlier page that might contain something else he needs.
You can do a lot of things, and (if the demo is anything to go by) will jump back and forth a lot, but it’s the way these transitions feel so seamless that really has a hold on me. Items can go back and forth with you between the 2D and 3D worlds, and let me tell you, seeing a word from a 2D page somehow perfectly rendered in a 3D space and carried around is extremely cool. You’ll also take part in a selection of WarioWare style minigames that sort of come out of nowhere and shake up the gameplay a bit, all of which are fleeting but fun. Arcade shooters, boxing mattles, Pokemon-style battles – nothing seems like it’s off limits, and the world feels fully realised enough that the possibilities for what the rest of the game will hold are endless. Jot, in the short space of time I had with him, got help from a cool old wizard, his childhood friends, a bookworm, a fish, and an elf from a Magic the Gathering-style card – so really, anything could happen.
I genuinely cannot wait to be delighted by the rest of The Plucky Squire – and honestly, I have almost no doubt in my mind that I will be delighted. Even if the rest of the game gives me nothing new, I would be happy just to live in that storybook world for however long the developers wish, and I am excited to read the rest of the tale of Jot and friends. Also, I feel like maybe this game is going to make me cry. I’m not sure why. Just a feeling.
Time Until Launch (September 17, 2024)
The Plucky squire is set to release on PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch.
