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The Plucky Squire | Review Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member

The-Plucky-Squire-Mine-Puzzle-Gameplay-Trailer-Thumb-scaled.jpg

Game Information​

Game Title: The Plucky Squire

Platforms:

  • PC (Sep 17, 2024)
  • PlayStation 5 (Sep 17, 2024)
  • Nintendo Switch (Sep 17, 2024)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Sep 17, 2024)
Trailer:

Developer: All Possible Futures

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Critic Reviews​

Analog Stick Gaming - Jeff M Young - 8 / 10

The Plucky Squire has a lot of incredible moments, with a scale of creativity that is often executed well. Unfortunately, the 3D sections are nowhere as interesting as the 2D elements, and often fail at using the best qualities of the mechanics to really stand out. All that said, when The Plucky Squire is leaning on its best ideas, it’s a truly engaging and creative title that should be experienced.
But Why Tho? - Eddie De Santiago - 8 / 10

The whole third act will especially leave you smiling like a fool, because at its core, The Plucky Squire is good, simple fun.
Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - Recommended

The Plucky Squire is one of my favourite games this year. It's filled with charm, humour, and heart. All Possible Futures understands video games don't need to be complicated and bloated—the emphasis on puzzles, platforming, and combat is straightforward but done incredibly well.
Digitec Magazine - Philipp Rüegg - German - 5 / 5

“The Plucky Squire” is a masterpiece that enchanted me with its creativity and charm. Something that generally only Nintendo can achieve.
Explosion Network - Dylan Blight - 9 / 10

A magical journey from start to finish that hooked me from page to page.
Gameliner - Anita van Beugen - Dutch - 5 / 5

All Possible Futures' The Plucky Squire offers a beautifully creative game featuring a vibrant world with wordplay, combat, and puzzles, alongside seamless transitions between a 2D book and a detailed 3D desk environment.
GamingTrend - David Flynn - 90 / 100

The Plucky Squire is an adorable adventure for everyone to enjoy. It has some issues, like glitches and a less than stellar story, but plucky really is the right word to describe the game. It's technically ambitious and impressively varied, making it easy to forgive its shortcomings.
Kakuchopurei - Jonathan Leo - 90 / 100

The Plucky Squire may not be the most challenging game you'll play. It is, however, the most charming, most beautiful, and most engrossing of these 2D action-adventure titles you'll have the pleasure of experiencing.
LevelUp - Spanish - 9.3 / 10

The Plucky Squire was worth the wait; it's the definition of indie perfection: it has a lot of quality, heart, soul, innovation and charm. Thanks to the characters, their personality, the world and all the creative things it does constantly, it has become one of our games of the year and one that we will remember with a lot of love.
MonsterVine - Joe Bariso - 4 / 5

The Plucky Squire is a fun & fresh take on a classic game style, full of heart with a great message for all ages. Just because a story seems simple, doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
Niche Gamer - Brandon Lyttle - 9 / 10

Quote not yet available
One More Game - Chris Garcia - 9 / 10

The Plucky Squire is a creative triumph and certainly lives up to the hype ever since it was first announced. The full experience is wonderful, often employing a change of mechanics from one level to the next, keeping players on their toes with fresh gameplay.
Prima Games - Ali Hashmi - 8 / 10

The Plucky Squire is an endlessly charming adventure that tells a wholesome story thanks to its likable cast and lighthearted tone. Jumping from 2D to 3D spaces is technically impressive, no matter how often you've seen the effect play out.
Push Square - Stephen Tailby - 8 / 10

The Plucky Squire is a delightful adventure that surprises with fun ideas in every chapter. The world within the book offers unique puzzles and challenges, which is compounded by Jot's ability to leap from its pages into the third dimension. Though the combat's kinda flat, and some elements deserve to be used more often than they are, there's an undeniable joy to the game's constant imaginative ideas. It's a short but sweet game that'll win over players of all ages.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored

An altogether fun action adventure with some charming, and occasionally brilliant, 2D to 3D platforming and puzzling. But don't expect to flex your own creativity, even if it gives you the tools to do so.
Stevivor - Steve Wright - 7.5 / 10

While both Astro Bot and The Plucky Squire are about creativity and joy, the latter manages to get in its own way in comparison. The result is jarring.
TechRaptor - Tanushri Shah - 8.5 / 10

The Plucky Squire is an incredible action-adventure game combining 2D and 3D, but needs just a little more shine.
WayTooManyGames - Heidi Hawes - 8 / 10

I absolutely adored The Plucky Squire. It takes the simplicity of older 2D games and mixes it with the fun exploration found in more modern 3D puzzle platformers. My only complaint is that I found the puzzles to be a bit too devoid of challenge, as I would have loved to have seen more done with the page-turning, book-shifting concepts they introduced. Still, this is a game that is truly something unique and can be enjoyed by everyone, especially with all the accessibility options available.
WellPlayed - Ash Wayling - 9.5 / 10

A wickedly creative romp through a basic storybook tale of good versus evil that ends up being anything but basic, The tale of Jot and his merry band of mates is one that you will easily enjoy - remembered long after that final page has been turned.
ZdobywcyGier.eu - Paweł Bortkiewicz - Polish - 10 / 10

The Plucky Squire is one of the best games of this year. The highly varied gameplay perfectly combines with a creative approach to building the game world in both 2D and 3D sequences. The above elements, combined with near-perfect technical condition and very good sound design, put this production next to the best games of the year.

Here's my review in Spanish (10/10) with some 4K screenshots and videos: https://www.pcmrace.com/2024/09/17/the-plucky-squire-analisis-review-pc/

There are more videos on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PCMR_LATAM/search?query=the plucky squire

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Magic Carpet

Gold Member
Just bought it using my cellphone steam app. I had just enough money in the Wallet to cover it.
I really enjoyed Astrobot and I'm looking forward to another fun platformer.
Actually got the Deluxe version for an extra 8 bucks.
 
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skit_data

Member
This looks awesome! Looks even better and more innovative than the first trailers, I'm gonna give it a go in the weekend!
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I've got a $10 credit burning a hole in my pocket. Might get this today, but I'd like to beat some other stuff first. Definitely getting it sometime soon.
 
I thought it was $29.95 AUD on the Australian store but it's showing as $39.95 now. Did they have a launch discount which I missed?
 

StueyDuck

Member
glad the game is doing well, it's on my backlog, still haven't gotten to astrobot even yet so I've got some good months of old school gaming ahead of me
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Probably gonna be the last game I play thanks to Extra before my sub runs out. Good that it's going out on a banger.
 


He enjoyed it a lot it seems.


Another rediculously EASY game though ....this trend is ruining so many games for me and it's very obvious this trend started a few years ago when devs started removing lives and timers from platform games. The whole "accessibility" trend coincides with this.

Mario games dyring Switch era for example are easier than any Mario from any other gen.

I was going to buy this too but i need "some" challenge at least
 

StueyDuck

Member
is anyone else finding this game a bit of a dud...

i put a few hours into it so far, maybe i had too high of expectations but it constantly stops you from engaging with the game with constant dialogs and it's painfully linear from what I've played, i thought it would open up like a zelda game.

has anyone beaten the game, does it get better? (the writing is painfully awful too, i just mash x through all dialog)
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
is anyone else finding this game a bit of a dud...

i put a few hours into it so far, maybe i had too high of expectations but it constantly stops you from engaging with the game with constant dialogs and it's painfully linear from what I've played, i thought it would open up like a zelda game.

has anyone beaten the game, does it get better? (the writing is painfully awful too, i just mash x through all dialog)
I'm up to chapter 3 and I've already written it off. It's aggravating to the point that I get mad when the 'story' happens.
I was hoping to finish it this weekend but I think I'm going to bail early and move on. I might come back to it someday but It's going into the Steam backlog. :(
 

StueyDuck

Member
I'm up to chapter 3 and I've already written it off. It's aggravating to the point that I get mad when the 'story' happens.
I was hoping to finish it this weekend but I think I'm going to bail early and move on. I might come back to it someday but It's going into the Steam backlog. :(
pretty much how i felt. the game stops you as much as possible from actually playing the game, it's really annoying, the characters don't have to say shit on every single page
 

Hookshot

Member
pretty much how i felt. the game stops you as much as possible from actually playing the game, it's really annoying, the characters don't have to say shit on every single page
I guess they are taking the "book" aspect a bit too far? I was waiting until after Zelda (Which I'm a bit worried about) but then I saw lots and lots of times you had to switch up text to progress and it seemed a little bit lame.
 

StueyDuck

Member
I guess they are taking the "book" aspect a bit too far? I was waiting until after Zelda (Which I'm a bit worried about) but then I saw lots and lots of times you had to switch up text to progress and it seemed a little bit lame.
the text puzzles aren't bad, they are tedious at times though, you will have to hop in and out of 3d multiple times to move the words around.

it just sadly doesn't open up like a zelda game which is what i thought it would be, i know that's my mistake but as a straight forward linear adventure game that is fairly simplistic, it struggles to keep your attention.

adventure games need the exploration in my opinion.
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Fell off it too, but only because Broken Sword came out and somehow Ive been sucked into Ass Creed Odyssey :messenger_confounded:

I dont think its a bad game at all. Definitely more style over substance for sure. I dont even mind the lack of difficulty (up to Chap 5), I just wish it was closer to an old Zelda and not as linear.
 

Hookshot

Member
the text puzzles aren't bad, they are tedious at times though, you will have to hop in and out of 3d multiple times to move the words around.

it just sadly doesn't open up like a zelda game which is what i thought it would be, i know that's my mistake but as a straight forward linear adventure game that is fairly simplistic, it struggles to keep your attention.

adventure games need the exploration in my opinion.
It's a shame because at first I thought it was going to be a crazy sort of Link between worlds. where you switch out of the story to break it's boundaries. But if it's linear when you leave the book that's not that exciting.
 

StueyDuck

Member
It's a shame because at first I thought it was going to be a crazy sort of Link between worlds. where you switch out of the story to break it's boundaries. But if it's linear when you leave the book that's not that exciting.
that was exactly my expectations, that's why i originally ask from anyone whose beaten it if that does eventually happen? is it worth pushing through.
 
is anyone else finding this game a bit of a dud...

i put a few hours into it so far, maybe i had too high of expectations but it constantly stops you from engaging with the game with constant dialogs and it's painfully linear from what I've played, i thought it would open up like a zelda game.

has anyone beaten the game, does it get better? (the writing is painfully awful too, i just mash x through all dialog)

The game doesn't really get going until Chapter 4. So I wouldn't judge it until then.
 

Hookshot

Member
Checking out some more of it, it's more like Minish Cap where instead of shrinking into new parts of the environments you go 3d. I might still get it, Have to finish up the Castlevanias and Zelda first though.

A sequel or copy of this where once you leave the book you find other books to go in and out of picking up skills and items that allow you to progress in different ways in each story so it turns into a giant "choose your own adventure" would be neat. And probably a lot of work.
 

Flabagast

Member
For what is worth resetera is overall very negative on the game, seems past the art direction and the general concept it's not that good
 
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