Review: The Plucky Squire

I’ve been excited about The Plucky Squire since Devolver Digital first announced it back in 2022. Even though I don’t usually love platformer games, I was instantly drawn to its peculiar, dimension-bending mechanics and a particular type of art style I’ve been familiar with for years.

I was worried at first, too. I’ve had my heart broken one too many times, banking on my admiration for its style, only to wind up with a messy, incoherent, or straight-up boring ordeal. There was a small part of me harboring hesitancy, hoping this wouldn’t be the same. Thankfully, making an optimistic-fueled gamble with my time paid off, and I walked away happier than ever before after venturing out of my comfort zone. Well, except during a few puzzles, but that lies entirely in my problem-solving abilities.

The Plucky Squire (PC [Reviewed], Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5)
Developer: All Possible Futures
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Released: September 17, 2024
MSRP: $29.99

Throughout The Plucky Squire, you play as a famous hero named Jot whose goal is to thwart the villain, Humgrump’s, plans of spreading evil and chaos across the land of Mojo. While it starts as your typical 2D RPG experience of defeating monsters and chapter bosses, you’ll soon learn where the game’s meat and potatoes come from: Jot and his friends are all characters in a book, and thanks to Humgrump’s magic, you can hop between dimensions and advance your journey in the real (well, game) world.

I’ll come right out and admit it: the jumps between 2D and 3D maps were already enough to sell me on the game before I even hopped in and checked everything out for myself. The last time I experienced anything remotely similar was when I played Super Paper Mario. I went in already feeling eager to play, and that only continued to grow as The Plucky Squire proved just how far you can push creativity and gameplay experimentation once you combine multiple game genres under one title.

When I say multiple genres, I mean it in the best way possible. At its core, it’s an action-adventure game that feels like your standard “hero saves the day” premise, but there’s a whole lot more you’ll find as you continue forward. I even got to play a brief rhythm game along the way, initially catching me off guard but making me chuckle as I realized what was going on. You can spend a few minutes fighting enemies, only to find yourself back on the desk flying around the map using rockets. There are a ton of seemingly random elements thrown into the mix, but it makes for some hilariously entertaining moments.

With that said, the game relies on this a lot. The Plucky Squire takes around 9-10 hours to complete, and during this, you’re introduced to so many features that, on occasion, it gets a little hard to remember everything. You’ll also briefly use several one-off abilities for various bosses or puzzles before they disappear, leaving you either wanting to try it again or being thankful you never have to do it again. I found most of them quite fun, but a few had some funky mechanics that were a tad difficult to control. Sometimes, a trusty sword is all you really need. Either that, or I’m not meant to wield a bow.

Speaking of combat, expect to fight a lot. In both the 2D and 3D world, you’re constantly up against random enemies and surprisingly unique chapter bosses. Something All Possible Futures and Devolver Digital pulled off particularly well here is giving you a reason why all these monsters are just kind of here. You also have unique battles for nearly every boss, so you won’t have to worry about mindlessly slashing your sword around for minutes straight each time. If anything, my only wish was to have more to do in the 3D world, as most of its excitement came from later chapters.

I could say this about a good chunk of The Plucky Squire itself. On one hand, it’s a book that follows a linear story of having a brave hero set off to defeat an evil villain. At the same time, there’s barely any opportunities to venture off the beaten path and set off on brief side adventures or exploration. The puzzles add some variety and opportunity to explore. Beyond this, you’re set on one particular path with no way to differentiate one playthrough from another unless you go back to find every collectible.

Fortunately, this leads to a major plus: the story. The entire game takes place in a storybook and the world beyond it, and it manages to weave everything together perfectly. This is where linearity also serves as a strength to make the plot easier to understand, digest, and immerse yourself in without getting too distracted. Every aspect of The Plucky Squire — the visuals, landscape, characters, and even audio — is all fine-tuned to fit and enhance the story. Whether you’re looking for beautiful art, comedy, or occasional sad moments, you’ll see all of it here. There are even plenty of puns, which I was more than happy to appreciate.

It is clear right from the start that this is Jot’s story, though. While this doesn’t come as a surprise, especially with him being the Plucky Squire himself and the main protagonist, the other characters are either there to give you information or follow you around as Jot does everything. A few eventually help you out later in the story, but for the first few hours, they almost serve as distractions rather than companions. Some locations give a similar vibe, acting as places you can run around in and check out but not necessarily interact and immerse yourself in. They’re just kind of there, whether you like it or not.

Even with that said, I really enjoyed exploring the game’s environments, especially the 3D landscape. Getting lost in all the clutter reminded me of how messy my desk usually is and got me to do some organizing. I’ve forgotten just how many times I accidentally found collectibles because I went behind the wrong bottle of paint, wooden block, or tree, but it cracked me up every time it happened. You can even change the world through word manipulation, making for some wacky shenanigans if you grab the right words later.

The Plucky Squire manages to expertly craft an adorably interesting story full of lovable characters, enjoyable narration, and near-perfect parallels between its 2D and 3D worlds. While some parts need just a bit more polish, it exceeded my already high expectations and gave me nearly a dozen hours of laughs, fun, and mental exercise. Plus, well, seeing its cast of cute little characters suddenly turn into buff badasses is a great bonus.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}