There’s that nervous moment when you jump into a game you’ve been anticipating for a long time, hopeful it can live up to its potential and not fold under the weight of your expectations. Up to this point, everything I’d read in previous previews had hyped The Plucky Squire to a point where it couldn’t possibly let me down. We’re just a month or so away from launch now, and I’ve finally had a chance to get my hands on the latest preview build to see it all for myself. The hype, my friends, is real.
As a friendly narrator introduces us to the storybook world we meet our all-round hero Jot, the aforementioned squire, and we’re quickly pulled into a magical environment that really does feel like a children’s picture book come to life. What at first feels like a modern take on a top-down, 2D Zelda adventure, The Plucky Squire doesn’t take long to reveal its adventurous spirit. There are numerous shifts in perspective before it gives way to a fourth-wall breaking moment, as the villain of the piece discovers his fate and decides to bend the rules in his favour.
So much of the early hours of gameplay had me grinning and laughing, its creativity evident across each page as they turn. You’ve likely seen the 3rd person boxing match Jot finds himself in as part of previous trailers, a moment I knew was coming but still managed to surprise and impress me, and it controls just as well as it looks. The ode to Punch Out is just one of many amusing situations you’ll find yourself in as you roam this world that feels equally influenced by Adventure Time’s quirky sense of humour.
It’s the little things in The Plucky Squire that makes it feel so unique, despite an air of familiarity. A good example is its puzzle solving; sentences are written on the ground that can change the environment around you if you find the right word hidden in the area to alter the sentence. It’s so well-orchestrated even at this early stage, I can’t imagine how wild it will get later on as the wider world of Sam’s room becomes the driving force of the narrative, broadening the gameplay model in the process, though I do have one concern.
As much as the switch from 2D to 3D is so well handled and entertaining, I do wonder whether the larger, open environments can consistently deliver that same level of magic as its storybook equivalent as the hours tick by. There’s plenty of moments where Jot switches between his newly discovered style into 2D on the side of cups and walls, another subtle nod to The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and it’s within that clever idea where my hope remains.
Clever puzzle solving will play its part
We won’t have to wait too long now to find out, as The Plucky Squire heads to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC September 17.
Previewed on PC // Preview code supplied by publisher
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