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