Videogame Review: ‘The Plucky Squire’ – A Mind-Bending Storybook Masterpiece

From the first glimpse I had of The Plucky Squire I could tell it was something special. The Squire is a fourth-wall-breaking storybook hero who is destined to defeat the forces of evil even if he needs to leave his own book to do it.

The concept of The Plucky Squire is so charming. A courageous, humble and skilled warrior continually fights off nemesis DHumgrump while creating logs of his adventures that become The Plucky Squire books.

Very few people in the stories know that they are in fact characters in a book, but DHumgrump returns and figures that out, as well as how to manipulate events so he wins. This could set off a terrible chain of events in the real world so the Plucky Squire and his friends harness new powers to fight back.

Gaining ever progressing abilities to exit, navigate and manipulate the story book, they work towards determining what DHumgrump is up to and stopping him. The constant newness of the game had me grinning ear to ear as did the near-perfect presentation.

The game itself is a vast combination of gameplay styles and options. In the book it is a Zelda-like action game with light puzzles. Outside the book, it is a 3D Mario-esque quest to find a new tool to leverage abilities in the book and progress.

Sprinkled into the whole experience are amazingly fun experiences, like a Punch Out-style fight, a Contra-style shooter, a simple targeting game with arrows, and rhythm games. Developer All Possible Futures threw the kitchen sink at the game and instead of bloating it just made it impossibly fun every step of the way.

The art style and presentation is by far my favorite aspect of the game. The story book levels are presented directly in the pages of the book and go full screen when the Plucky Squire exits to the real world.

The way they show story segments, panels, and the playable areas is just stunning and gave me many wow moments. Moving into the 3D area of the desk where the book is kept just keeps getting deeper and different as the story progresses; the kid who owns the book plays with different things and that shifts the world.

Puzzles are abundant in the game and there are plenty of hints and cues to figure them out. I felt my hand was held too tightly at times, but that did not detract from the fun. Manipulating the book and visiting alternate pages is always a blast and offers a very cool way to revisit pages of the book.

What I loved about progressing through the game is how the title character is such a pure hero that he just keeps moving along while his friends evolve and catch up. The entire ensemble of characters is great and help set the tone as the game continues towards its conclusion.

I just can’t say enough good things about The Plucky Squire. The art style, music and sheer fun of the game are so refreshing to see and I truly hope as many people as possible check it out when it releases Sept 17.

We were given a Steam code for review purposes and The Plucky Squire will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.