The Plucky Squire Review: A Storybook Adventure that jumps of the page

Once upon a time.... 

There are some rare magical moments where a parent, grandparent, sits with their (grand) child and live an adventure through a grand and beautiful illustrated story book together. With colorful pictures, and expressive dialog many kids have their favorite book hero of which they cannot see, hear and read enough. Especially with great narration the characters often feel like they just jump of the page and into our own world, sparking imagination and a sense of adventure.

Plucky Squire leans into this feeling by centralizing its gameplay around a book and break the bonds of reality as the hero of the book does his best to save his own story, the world he lives in, and his biggest fan, the owner of the book.

A Tale Well Told: Storytelling at Its Core

One of The Plucky Squire's most charming features is its narrative. You play as Jot, the dashing hero of a children’s book, who discovers that he’s merely a character in someone else’s story. This whimsical, self-aware premise drives the adventure, leading to some delightful "breaking the fourth wall" moments. The game seamlessly weaves between the 2D pages of Jot’s picture book and the 3D real world of Sam’s bedroom—an imaginative child who collects all things Plucky Squire. The game feels like Toy Story meets A Link Between Worlds with a dash of Mario Odessey, containing layers of meta-humor and presented with a delightful, family friendly lighthearted tone.

With a superb job of Philip Bretherton as the narrator, the storytelling in plucky squire is a major draw. The writing maintains a witty, playful vibe throughout the journey which feel like it belongs firmly with other real classic children's books out there. In fact, it made me want to see actual books been written about our new young hero.  However, due to the nature of the games setting and tone, there is sometimes a tendency to over-explain plot points through lengthy dialogue sequences that might feel a bit heavy-handed or too long for older players. In my case though it did not have that effect at all, especially on first playthrough. Combined with great illustrations it really helps set the tone and sell the world to the player.   

A Feast for the Eyes: Visual Design

Visually, The Plucky Squire is a vibrant and enchanting experience. The hand-drawn art style inside the book is stunning just by itself, offering beautifully animated depictions of the land of Mojo with its beaches, villages, and mountaintops. Each area is unique and feels alive with color and warmth as well as its own musical theme creating a real sense of wonder as you guide Jot and his friends across the story.

Jot's story is not bound to the pages of the book however, when his archrival 

Humgrump finds secret knowledge about the world they live in and wields new power allowing him to push Jot out of the story, and literally into the "real" world of Sam in order to make himself the new lead character.

When you step outside the book and into Sam's 3D world, the game takes on a whole new dimension—literally.  It reminded me a lot of the story of flat land and how by moving out of the 2d space you have a world of new possibilities.  Sam's bedroom is a cleverly designed playground, filled with everyday objects like toys, building blocks, and sticky notes that Jot can jump in and out of.  The developers clearly put a lot of love into making the world feel like a child’s imagination brought to life. It's hard not to smile while watching Jot run across playing cards or scale the side of a cardboard fort. 

This 3d world introduces a new game mechanic where you can step out of the book to solve puzzles or explore the 3d space around you for objects that can help you back in the book world. Along the way you will use your new 2d-3d world hopping powers to overcome puzzles and dangers in the book and in and around Sam's desk/play area. There are some areas where you literally switch between drawings to scale obstacles within the 3d world to make the experience even more trippy. Something similar you have probably seen if you played Mario Odessey on the Nintendo Switch, and it is a fun way to play the game.  If you see a green portal swirly you have a way to cross the boundaries of reality.

unfortunately the 3D world the game left me wanting more as it is not a widely explorable at will as I would like to. The moments this world offers more is determined by the chapter you are playing. If the mission is not in the 3D world itself you will find yourself pretty confined in a small area with not much to see, explore or do when you step out of the book.  They are clearly designed this way for clarity and focus and not have people be lost, straying in totally the wrong areas, But I found myself wishing for larger, more open spaces to uncover hidden secrets with a little free roam from time to time. The visual design is just so much a joy to look at and explore.

Puzzles and Play: A Mix of Old and New

In term of gameplay, The Plucky Squire offers a mix of clever puzzles, light combat, and a bunch of mini-games, many of which take full advantage of the game’s book-based mechanics. With his new powers, Jot can manipulate words within the story to change the state of things in the book, like picking up the word “Open” from a sentence and using it to unlock a previously closed gate. Or change the forest into much easier to navigate ruins. It is not a very deep and difficult mechanic, but it is great fun to experiment with word combinations and turning a frog into a giant frog or a diamond frog just because you can. It is actually impressive how many different combos actually worked. 

You also will use your world jumping powers to step into the 3D world, and then flip pages back and forth to find different areas to discover or return to in order to solve the puzzle problem you are on. Of you lift the entire book to move heavy object out of the way. It is very inventive and fun to do, but the game tends to give full expose on what to do next a little quick, where I wanted to discover more for myself. Then in later stages you get confronted with new game mechanics, that are actually under explained but never left you a breadcrumb earlier in the game to deal with. Causing small moments of frustration. For instance, near the end of the game you find objects you can transfer to other pages if you stick them together. What was not clear is that you first move them to right spot and then close the entire book. If you placed it correctly, a sound would play. And all the game would tell me was the obvious part. 

Another big part of the gameplay leans heavily on homages to classic genres. You'll find rhythm games, Punch-Out style boxing matches, puzzle bobble and more throughout your journey. These mini games are charming, but there’s a sense that they rely a bit too much on nostalgia and get repeated to much near the end of the game. What is great about the game is that if offers you the option to skip these mini games and move forward, though you will maybe lose out on an achievement or two by doing this.  While the variety is welcome and plenty in the game, some segments feel more like quick tributes than fully fleshed-out ideas that add much to the game. Of course, the Plucky Squire does these with incredible flair and style, making them more palatable than they probably would be otherwise. 

The Combat: Simple Yet Effective

Combat in The Plucky Squire is straightforward but satisfying. Jot can slash at enemies with his pen-shaped sword, roll out of the way with a nice i-frame, jump and perform spin attacks, he can even throw his sword like a boomerang. The swordplay isn’t particularly deep, but it’s fun and rarely frustrating. You can upgrade Jot’s abilities at shops, adding some progression to the combat system, but battles never become the focus of the game. The simplicity of the combat makes it more of a brief, enjoyable distraction between puzzles.

I would also recommend swinging at all the plants, trees and bushes you find to get upgrade materials and find all the collectable scrolls and glitch birds. You can skip all that of course but you would miss out on content.

Sometimes our Hero Stumbles

This entire game is just one great vibe that is fun to play and enjoy, a not too difficult adventure to go on that really delivers a special experience in many ways. However there have been some areas where technical and design choices have put a little cloud over the game.  For instance, there are some areas where the game ends up soft locked because an item is not available or stuck in a place where it does not belong. The dev team is aware and now, a little late for yours truly, issues some warnings of the areas known and a patch is on the way. But I also had plenty times the game would freeze or get me stick on the page turning mechanic, unable to let go of the book to jump back in etc. These moments meant I had to quit out and lose some of my progress as the game only does auto save and the save points could sometimes be a good time in between. Lucky the game loads quick but after many times getting stuck it can really put a damper on the experience. Especially when I lost over 5 hours of gameplay and had to start all the way over.  I hope that the patches that are upcoming will smooth this out soon.

This block is glitched and now we have to start the game over.

And there is the artistic or design choices. As much the first two-thirds of the game have brought variety, color and fun to explore areas the final act felt too limited for too long. Though it all fits with the story, where of course all goes wrong right before things go right again, the gameplay sections here felt more tedious.

Without too many spoilers for the game adds some tedious stealth sections in a dark grim section of the world that is devoid from its whimsical charm. This is intentional and a big part of the story the game is presenting, but I felt it drag on a little too long.  The final encounter then became a surprising retread of mini games we played before but just more difficult.  Feeling repetitive gameplay that overstays its welcome and I wish there was a more unique ways to use those same powers for the final showdown sections with Humgrump.  Interestingly they did exactly do that for the final phase as it changed up the perspective and playstyle into a massive insane battle. As a result, I had a very enjoyable time finishing that final, final battle.  

Final Thoughts: A Plucky Recommendation

The Plucky Squire is a game I’d recommend to anyone looking for a unique, story-driven experience that blends whimsy and creativity. Despite its reliance on familiar mechanics from other genres, it’s a joyful journey through a beautifully crafted world that really draws you in and keeps you engaged. The music, sound design and narrator holds you in a warm comfortable grip along this magical journey. Th e plucky Squire is not a hardcore game, with light combat and easy, but unique, puzzles, it is all about the journey. And if you are in the mood for something plucky, fun and whimsical this is a game to check out. 

The game is super family friendly with a few shocking moments, and twists, and I think younger players or those who enjoy light-hearted, imaginative adventures will likely have a great time. Just be prepared for some technical hiccups a rougher final stretch.

Reading skills is a helpful skill to have with this game, so I agree with the ESRB rating of 10+ to be able to fully enjoy this game. But younger children can enjoy this game as well, especially with the accessibility options build in the game or under the guidance of a parent. Together you can enjoy this interactive story book adventure of the Plucky Squire and all his friends. 

The end.

Title: The Plucky Squire

Developer: All Possible Futures

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Platforms: PC (steam) , PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, XBOX X|S
Review copy: XBOX

ESRB: E 10 + | Fantasy Violence

MSRP: $29.99

Release Date: September 17, 2024

About the writer: DadGeek (Rob) is the co-founder of GeeksVsGeeks. He is a product of the eighties and never let go of his geek interest and hobbies no matter how often someone told him to stop. His love for gaming and all things geeks has been part of his parenting style and permeates throughout the whole family. A family of Geeks vs Geeks