The Plucky Squire Preview
The Plucky Squire is set to be one of this year’s most magical games.
I was lucky enough to play through the first couple of hours of the Zelda-like 2D to 3D adventure and I can’t wait to play more.
You take on the role of the Plucky Squire, Jot, the adorable protagonist of a series of children’s books that have inspired a young boy called Sam to become a writer and illustrator. However, when his arch-enemy the dastardly sorcerer Humgrump finds out they’re characters in a book, he casts a spell to kick the squire out of the story and become the hero of a much less inspirational read.
Thus it’s up to the Squire to defeat Humgrump and set things right.
On his adventure, the Squire is accompanied by his best friends Violet and Thrash, and helped by his next-door neighbour, the good wizard, Moonbeard.
The story opens with the Plucky Squire sent on a quest to scale Honeypeak to get some wax from Beeny Bee so Moonbeard can press more records. After arriving at the hive, jot finds Benny’s hive is under attack from a hungry honey badger. Leaping into action Jot prepares for a dust-up with the angry animal straight out of punch out.
It’s the first of many fantastic asides and unique boss encounters on your quest to defeat Humgrump and set the world right.
However, after knocking out the boxing badger something strange is happening at the nearby Tome Tower, as an ominous shadow can be seen cackling atop the distant library as eldritch lightning crackles across the realm, and that’s all I’m going to say about the plot because I don’t want to ruin it.
As you explore the pages of the book you see it spring to life before your eyes, with the warm welcoming tones of the narrator pushing you on, but the words of the book aren’t just there for effect they’re also integral to one of the game’s many magical mechanics. At various points you’ll need to swap words with others found either on a page or later in different pages of the chapter which then transforms the world with it. See that huge bug blocking your path, if only that tiny frog could do something about it. That solid statue would be far more useful if it were a set of stairs.
The most mind-blowing part of the adventure though is when you gain the ability to leave the book entirely Jot instantly transforms into a small toylike model and explores Sam’s desk, littered with art supplies scraps, and escaped goblins from the book. At this point, the gameplay shifts from something akin to Zelda 2, to a 3D platformer crossed with Zeldery elements, with Jot scoring the desk for new equipment that will help him when he eventually returns to the book. There’s even a simple stealth section straight out of Ocarina of Time.
What hit me though is how fluid the whole experience is, flicking back and forth between the desk and the book, or drawings in the wider environment in an instant never failed to impress, and the fact it’s wrapped up in some incredibly cute art, top-tier voice acting, and is dripping with charm and atmosphere is little more than the icing on the cake.
The Plucky Squire is out on September 17 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.
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