After causing a sensation when it was announced at Summer Game Fest, we were able to get our hands on “The Plucky Squire” to bring you our full review of the game.
Unveiled during the Summer Game Fest 2022, the game “The Plucky Squire” quickly caused a sensation. The title was first presented as a small top-down game with strong inspiration from the first “Legend of Zelda”. An idea that already seemed nice, but which then surprised its entire audience when the main character came out of the screen to appear in 3D.
It didn’t take much to spark the interest of many players eager to try “The Plucky Squire”. Available from September 17, the game was able to pass through our hands for a few days exclusively and clearly surprised us with its imagination, but somewhat frustrated by its ease.
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A sword, a pencil and ideas
“The Plucky Squire” begins like many small adventure games. We meet Laius, a little page who already has a great background since he is considered a hero in his region. He is also accompanied by his mentor, the sorcerer Barbelune and his two childhood friends, the sorceress Violette and the troll Crash. Together, the three friends frequently thwart the plans of the Machiavellian Ragecuite.
As you will have quickly understood, the goal of “The Plucky Squire” is to prevent the wizard Ragecuite from doing his thing. But while you and your friends leave to confront him as usual, the dark magician uses a new power… Which ejects you from your book! And yes, our hero is therefore only a character in a comic strip and you will now have to alternate between our book of the “Vaillant Petit Page” and the office of real life to progress and stop the machinations of the wizard Ragecuite.
A rather surprising story therefore and which takes the time to set up in the first chapters which delimit the adventure of the game. If the first hours turn out to be very childish, the discovery of another other world allows to open the field of possibilities in terms of narration, but also of gameplay.
3D gameplay but on two levels
Let’s say it straight: the first hours of “The Plucky Squire” are not exciting and have all the makings of a video game for the little ones. Laius is able to jump, roll, carry objects and strike with his sword. The pure basis of a game that is inspired by the “Zelda” in top-down view. The puzzles are basic and the enemies remain few in number and do not really represent any threat. A feeling that is fortunately swept away after the first chapters of the game.
The real concept of “The Plucky Squire” is more in the fact that your character, Laius, is able to leave his book of drawings to venture in 3D into the real world. If the first hours spent with this power are quite classic, the real good ideas of the studio All Possible Futures are revealed little by little. In addition to the fights against goblins, bats and other monsters of the sorcerer Ragecuite, you will find all sorts of puzzles calling on your deduction and the possibility of alternating between the book of the “Vaillant Petit Page” and the real world. Do you need a heavy object to activate a switch on the floor? You can go outside to get a die on the desk in real life and use it in the book.
The best illustration of the connection between the book and the real world probably comes from words. The cutscenes of “The Plucky Squire” are told by a narrator external to the adventure and whose words are written on the pages of the book. After progressing a few hours in the game, Laius gains the power to manipulate these same words in order to assemble and disassemble them. Let’s imagine a page of the book with the words “Laius arrived in front of a closed cave” written on it. It is then possible to remove the word “closed” from the book and replace it with others that you can find on other pages. Here, your objective will be to find an “open” word to unlock access to the cave.
This creativity has its limits, however. While it is still possible to have a little fun with the words offered (like turning a block into cheese instead of making it a block of light as the game requires), the possibilities are still limited to the few words you will find in the surroundings.
These concepts of playing with the book of the “Vaillant Petit Page” will then direct your entire adventure in “The Plucky Squire”. Better yet: the developers multiply the sequences of new gameplay like when you come across a card clearly inspired by Magic The Gathering on the desk of real life and face the character represented on it in a turn-based fight. “The Plucky Squire” tends to reveal at times new mechanics that prove to be refreshing and break the sometimes slightly redundant rhythm of the title. Too bad that these latter only come back very little during the adventure.
Graphics that you wouldn’t see in a painting
The graphics of “The Plucky Squire” are thus divided into two categories: 2D drawings in a top view and 3D models on the real-life desktop. Each, in its own way, proves to be a great achievement.
The 2D levels in the book of the “Vaillant Petit Page” are full of vitality. The movements are fluid and the characters well animated. We will have great pleasure in exploring the different biomes available in order to discover the local fauna, but especially its wacky characters and sometimes inspired by other works of art. Special mention to one of the cities in the game which is full of NPCs inspired by Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Mona Lisa and other big names. We feel in the graphics and inspirations of the game, a certain love for Art on the part of the developers.
The 3D world is a little wiser. Forced to represent reality, this part of the game surprises more by its mechanics that play with everyday objects than by their representations themselves. The graphics remain very correct, however, especially when some light effects are added during the night or when your character becomes able to gain mobility to explore new areas. There remains a little feeling of “je ne sais quoi” that tells us that this real world could surprise us more at times.
The other small problem with “The Plucky Squire” is that, at times, we don’t really know what the game is doing. While the first few hours are disconcertingly easy and worthy of a game for little ones, some puzzles and boss fights will clearly rack their brains and it’s hard to imagine them completing them without outside help. Fortunately, “The Plucky Squire” has a multitude of accessibility options to artificially reduce the difficulty of the game. Two modes are available when you start your first game: adventure and story, depending on whether you want to approach the game normally or by lowering the overall difficulty. If that’s not enough, the options also include options such as invincibility for the main character or clearer display of certain objectives.
A lifespan longer than a fairy tale
The developers have indicated that “The Plucky Squire” has a lifespan of 8 to 10 hours for the main adventure. The game is relatively easy to navigate, we finished the story in just over 8 hours.
“The Plucky Squire” does however have several collectibles to collect, including the game’s art galleries that represent several drafts of the title during its development. These artworks are also interesting to consult thanks to the little comments from the developers that accompany them. It is also possible to find little men well hidden in certain levels, but above all to unlock new powers and improvements for Laius. All of these collectibles are however quite easy to find and this should give a few small hours of bonus life. So count a maximum of 10 to 14 hours to platinum “The Plucky Squire”.
Our conclusion to the test of “The Plucky Squire”
Our expectations for “The Plucky Squire” were quite high. From its very first trailer to the latest trailers, the game had largely piqued our curiosity and it did not disappoint.
The title is a series of creative ideas that play on two main ideas: the 2D/3D alternation and the world of comics. The first point turns out to be rather successful even if the three-dimensional levels are often below their 2D counterparts. We will remember more the passages anchored in the comics of the “Vaillant Petit Page” especially since the latter represent ¾ of the game and often have the best passages.
If we really had to find some flaws in “The Plucky Squire”, we could note some optimization issues on Steam Deck (blocking our progress) as well as a certain ease for those used to adventure games.