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The Plucky Squire Review – An Inventive and Bright Adventure With an Easy Charm

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The Plucky Squire Review – An Inventive and Bright Adventure With an Easy Charm

As someone who has spent countless hours traversing the pixelated landscapes of classic video games, I must say that “The Plucky Squire” has managed to tap into my nostalgic heartstrings with its charming blend of adventure, humor, and puzzle-solving. The game’s unique take on dimension-hopping reminded me fondly of the delightful madness of Link Between Worlds, but with a twist that felt distinctly its own – a bit like finding a forgotten toy from your childhood and discovering it still brings you joy after all these years.

The protagonist of “The Plucky Squire,” penned by E.N. Arthur, is Jot, a swiftly depicted young character, who dashes throughout the book embarking on noble battles. The main character of “The Plucky Squire,” published by All Possible Futures under Devolver Digital, is the very story itself – the setting, characters, and portal intertwined. Jot possesses the ability to jump from the two-dimensional and materialize on Sam’s desk in reality, bulky and inflated. Imagine a world similar to that of “Toy Story,” but instead of a child fond of molded plastic toys, Sam is an art enthusiast. His room brims with cards, crayons, scissors, string, and flip-up trays adorned with bright watercolor sockets. When no one is around, the creations within come to life. The most intriguing aspect of all is the window in Sam’s room, where a gentle breeze stirs, and the houses across the street are softly blurred. Essentially, this tale delves into the wonders of indoor spaces – those cozy realms filled with comfort, clutter, and the unbounded power of imagination.

The Plucky Squire Review – An Inventive and Bright Adventure With an Easy Charm

Initially, the game follows a loop of its own narrative. The character named Jot frequently defeats his adversaries, chronicles his mundane deeds in popular books, and is universally adored. This seems reminiscent of John Grisham. However, a wizard called Humgrump becomes tired of this situation. Frustrated by Jot’s consistent victories, he discovers that their lives are predestined according to a prophecy in a book. He then uses magic to transport Jot into Sam’s room. This solves the problem for now. Unfortunately, we learn that these stories without heroes will lose their appeal and “will no longer serve as an inspiration,” not even for Sam, who is fated to create tales of his own, with potentially profitable merchandise deals and corporate partnerships.

From my perspective, the straightforward issue I see with this plotline is quite clear. It seems no one at All Possible Futures considered the possibility that our protagonist, sporting a permanent smile, a sword like a fountain pen nib, and a turquoise mohawk, could be utterly detestable. Perhaps a more fitting symbol of inspiration for Sam and others would be Humgrump. Who wouldn’t prefer to carve their own destiny rather than getting entangled in someone else’s tale? As for the trio, soon Jot departs, accompanied by the exuberant Violet who splashes paint, and Thrash, a drum-beating, blue-skinned ogre.

The first time I encountered “The Plucky Squire” a few years back, I dismissed it based on my belief that anything overly cute tends to devolve into unbearable smugness. Moreover, I’m usually wary of games that use self-awareness as a tool; even if the plot is engaging, excessive cleverness can lead to narrative inconsistencies. However, the story does indeed incorporate numerous clever elements (“Is my whole life just a plotline?,” one character exclaims upon learning about her lack of a third dimension), but it manages to succeed due to its abundance of pure silliness. One chapter takes place in Snailford-upon-Avon, where the snails speak in verse and hold Shakespeare in high regard. It’s hard to fault jokes as clever and foolish as these, ones that abandon rhyme and reason or, even better, blend the two wonderfully together.

The Plucky Squire Review – An Inventive and Bright Adventure With an Easy Charm

The group is motivated by Moonbeard, a benevolent wizard well-versed with the terrain – he’s familiar with the lay of the land, if you will, and can navigate Jot effectively. He says, “It’s quite metaphorical,” but his advice is down-to-earth practicality. In line with Moonbeard’s approach, game creators Jonathan Biddle and James Turner proceed. Regardless of the twists in the narrative, the gaming aspects move in the opposite direction. We get top-down exploration, straightforward combat, and a dose of puzzles. These elements make Jot shift between dimensions and backgrounds, all while maintaining a sharp wit and consistent logic that leaves you amused. Watch as he begins on Sam’s desk, then ascends to a cardboard fort, electrifies the paper of its banners, and scales its vertical wall – not because he has defying-gravity powers, but because on a 2D plane, up is merely forward. These touches are just as captivating as anything else, and Biddle and Turner recognize it. One sequence requires you to leap across flags to traverse towers of blocks; and I won’t easily forget the scene of Jot slipping from one triangle to the next, passing in and out of reality, between tiny crayon landscapes and nothingness.

The Plucky Squire Review – An Inventive and Bright Adventure With an Easy Charm

Previously, we’ve found ourselves in similar situations. A comparison could be drawn to “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds“, where a hero’s silhouette was etched onto walls with chalky pigment. However, surprisingly, the game that seems to have left a deeper impact on All Possible Futures is “Chibi-Robo!“. In this game, you controlled a tiny robot, about the size of a fist, exploring the rooms of a family’s home. The mix of gentle domesticity and grand scope mirrored Shigeru Miyamoto’s idea of play as an extension of home life. He once described “Zelda” as “a miniature garden that you can put away and revisit whenever you want”, and this blend of wildness and warmth has remained consistent. Coming up soon is the release of “Echoes of Wisdom“, and what tasks does it present us with? Creating beds and tables in the soil.

While The Plucky Squire isn’t an exact replica, it certainly borrows heavily from its predecessors. It captures the essence of those games and pushes them forward. However, I wish it had gone a bit further – provided more humor, presented a tougher challenge, made its mini-games (boxing, arrow shooting, drumming) more substantial, and created a more immersive experience overall. Yet, these aren’t major complaints. There’s enough enjoyable entertainment here to keep you occupied, and there are fleeting moments of genuine creativity. Try spinning the book and watching a giant pig roll towards the edge without smiling to yourself for an hour. Or delete a word from a previous page, flip ahead, and insert it into a new sentence of narration, turning day into night, fragmented. Or leap from vibrant colors to a beam of dusty sunlight in Sam’s room. In the end, a portal between worlds can be something you casually explore on a lazy afternoon, a realm of whimsical wonder. Are there life-or-death consequences? No, especially when your story is enclosed within knowing quotation marks. Are there characters here that will make you ponder deeply? Of course not. Does it matter? Not at all.

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2024-09-19 18:12

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