Doom & Animal Crossing 4Evaz!!1<3

Happy 5th Anniversary you two. Cheers to many more celebrations including both your series.


A rare moment where Isabelle gets a breather from
her hellish schedule to hang with Doomguy. He loves
shooting the shit

Ass-slappingly un-fucking-real that it’s already been five years since these two games launched in what’s felt like a blink of an eye. Even more wild when you consider these games not only launched on this very day five years ago, but it was right about that time in the U.S that the lockdown was announced due to Covid-19. In the before times…the long long ago.


Everyone had to be socially distanced more than
six pixels apart back then

Definitely in large part due to the pandemic, but not solely so, these games thrived. Mind you, many (including myself) have been humble fans of both since there relative inceptions (decades for either at this point), but when one has little else to do but fear the plague, sitting down to find some peace and quiet with a little bit of cozy comfort gaming is always an easy call.


Pictured: A piece of quiet(ening)

Even though I moved on from Doom: Eternal sooner than New Horizons, I still play both series as a duology back to back daily, having just finished doing so in the last ten minutes. There is technically still stuff for me to do in AC, even after five years (see the egregiously paced Nook Miles goals as to why), and there are nearly endless number of Doom WADs in the original games to enjoy at this point (custom level packs made by fans), so that I technically *still* have something new to look forward to, which is super groovy. One wouldn’t necessarily think that these two series would have forged such an unlikely bond between fandoms, but I think it is a rare moment that highlights how multi-layered gamers can be. There are many out there who love to get down on both the cozy and the chaotic, and once they’re done mowing down hordes of the demonic, enjoy hosing down and tending to some relaxing horticulture in their well kept gardens.


What most peoples Animal Crossing islands look
like when they finally log back in after time away

Both are games that share an under representation here on ATE, though they find themselves within a grouping of titles I so regularly and often play, alongside Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Elden Ring, that I’m not sure if I avoid talking about them due to the notion they feel so familiar and therefore so inane in consideration, or that everyone and their mother discusses them due to their popularity, and I feel as if I just truly have nothing to add to that conversation. I guess at least in terms of Animal Crossing, there has been no new news on the game or a follow up in some time. Nintendo is set to go into greater detail about the Switch 2 come April 2nd, and I’ll be amazed if they don’t showcase something from the next AC, and especially given the turn around time they’ve had on the last title, I’ll be even more amazed if they don’t announce an end of year release date.


Come on Nintendo, let’s both enjoy the sweet sound
of “bells” ringing come the holiday season…

There’s always news on the Doom front of course, as the original game continues to be ported to nearly every conceivable platform and device known to man, though I’m sure most are deadlocked on the release date for Doom: The Dark Ages, which is the direct sequel to Doom: Eternal, and set to launch on May 15th. Thinking about it, I’m a bit dumbfounded at myself for not having discussed the fairly constant stream of news regarding the title on ATE as of late, but the schedule has jammed up on my end by an almost complete lack of free time. C’est la vie. I’m going to pretend for a second that my schedule is somehow magically going to open up at some point in the next 24 hours, where then I will be struck by both a creative fervor, and somehow (insanely so) stumble onto a bunch of free time into which I may do a more in-depth follow up post of some kind detailing what I love about both series, and or even bring more focus unto the news and or culture involving both magnificent stable of games…but the devils in the details, and if we’re going by the mess left by Doomguy on a regular basis, those details have been blasted all over the god damned walls of the underworld.



What the devil must look like every time he gets
the news Doomguy has breached the walls of Hell

~Pashford

The Plucky Squire: Armed To Charm

Sometimes, you just got to stop and smell the flowers.


Maybe just don’t get too close

I’m not always topical here on ATE, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles for any number of reasons. However, and inspite of a lack of time, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself a bit, and in the brief moments I had, write about a brand new game, on the very day of it’s launch no less, something I think I’ve never done before on ATE? So while it will still be a bit sized write up, at least we both get to experience some brand spanking new content together. And how!


The Pluckiest of Squires

Enter: The Plucky Squire, a new top down action adventure romp from developer All Possible futures. The whole game has the basis of an old school isometric game akin to Zelda, and a properly cute aesthetic to boot ala a story book. You’ll be guiding your main hero Jot through the Land of Mojo in kind of a classical style hack and slash, as you make your way through the various areas to defeat the evil Wizard Humgrump, as you encounter various whimsical creatures along the way.


I figured including a screenshot without any whimsical creatures
would help heighten the mystery of just how whimsical we’re talking here

The visuals are definitely a standout moment for the title, as it blends a lot of cute imagery to help enhance the story book flair. Both the on screen action and the mini-cinematics being enhanced by visual flair utilizing various aesthetics to create cutesy eye candy throughout your adventure, which the music compliments quite nicely. The whole title kind of just screams cozy, which is most certainly the vibe you will found throughout your adventure.


Nothing screams cozy like slashing a rat to death

Cozy being a keyword that will be close at hand when describing most of the game, as The Plucky Squire is definitely geared towards more casual gamers, as the title is extraordinarily simple in it’s approach to design as a whole. The game will switch from an isometric viewpoint often, to provide some platforming goodness, but both the combat and the side-scrolling jumping sections are about as user friendly as you can imagine. The Plucky Squire, while endearing, will provide little challenge to any seasoned gamer from any walk of life.


Super Meat Boy, this is not

In my brief time with the title thus far, I only fought one boss of sorts, which ended up being a fun riff on the old Punch Out! game, where the camera is affixed behind your main character (Jot), who you can then use to give a good old one two punch to an overly zealous honey badger, though I think that may be being a bit redundant with that description.


The honey badger wanted to catch a break with a free meal ticket,
now he is going to have to catch these hands for being a thieving freeloader

There are some light elements of puzzle solving, as you’ll encounter areas that won’t be navigable until you up your “wordplay” skills, by physically swapping out words in sentences you come across in order to change the context of the scene. One example was needing to transform a forest into some ruins, so you could safely transport some well needed snacks to a cute kitty friend across the map. Charming.


WARNING: DO NOT STAND TO THE LEFT OF TOPSY

I decided to stop my initial half hour dust up with the title during a pivotal twist, in which the main big baddie had “read ahead” in a book that represented the very adventure you were progressing through thus far, and utilized a magic spell to eject your character out of the book itself, which transformed the visual aesthetic into a 3D terrain representing the real world, of which you will have to navigate to try to return to the book itself to continue the adventure.


When the 4th wall breaks you

Though my time with The Plucky Squire was short, it was a charmed experience through and through. I am not one to gravitate towards such easy breezy titles in terms of difficulty, but there are a handful of games with cuter aesthetic and an easy going nature: see Kirby’s Epic Yarn or Yoshi’s Crafted World that sit well with me. The Plucky Squire is turning out to be one in the same. I didn’t see an option for co-op play, which is a head scratcher to me, as this is the ideal kind of game to play with either your kid or a non-gaming partner for a chill session together, but aside from that unfortunate oversight, I look forward to more of the charm that The Plucky Squire effortlessly exudes in the coming days.

~Pashford