As a lifelong Zelda fan, I’m all the time hesitant when different builders got down to make a recreation so clearly impressed by Nintendo’s acclaimed action-adventure collection. I discover that the puzzle design by no means fairly reaches Zelda’s extremely lofty bar, and I’m normally left wishing I used to be simply taking part in Ocarina of Time or A Link Between Worlds as an alternative. However The Plucky Squire breaks that pattern, with a mix of intelligent mind teasers, easy however efficient swordplay, and a brave silent protagonist that may really feel proper at house in Hyrule. The journey is held again by an excessively wordy script and a few critical pacing points in its remaining act, however this debut recreation from developer All Potential Futures remains to be a journey price taking.
The Plucky Squire’s elevator pitch is sensible: You play as Jot, the hero of a youngsters’s guide who learns early on that he’s, in truth, simply the hero of a youngsters’s guide. This results in a surprisingly meta story the place Jot leaps between the 2D pages of his image guide and the 3D actual world round it, which is represented by the childhood bed room of a younger Plucky Squire superfan named Sam who collects all of Jot’s tales and merchandise. That distinctive premise paves the best way for The Plucky Squire’s impressed puzzle design.
Whereas throughout the story’s fantastically animated depictions of seashores, villages, and mountaintops, Jot can manipulate the guide’s textual content to change his actuality and get previous obstacles. Want a closed gate to swing open? Jot can actually decide the phrase “Open” off the web page from one other sentence within the guide and swap it into the prose mendacity in entrance of the shut gate. It performs out like a (considerably) lighter model of Baba Is You’s rule manipulation, and it’s a blast to experiment with totally different mixtures of nouns and adjectives to see how the world reacts, like turning a tiny frog into an enormous frog for no purpose aside from desirous to see if it will work. (Spoilers: It did.) It’s not the most versatile system – every situation with this idea solely features a handful of eligible phrases Jot can interchange – nevertheless it’s nonetheless a very spectacular mechanic the builders use in a number of good methods all through the journey. By way of the ability of language, I crammed a drained moat with water, turned sturdy columns into crumbling ones to be able to topple them onto an enemy blocking my path, and an entire lot extra.
Wordplay is only one good approach The Plucky Squire takes benefit of its storybook setting. Jot may come out of the guide and switch from an lovable hand-drawn 2D character into a totally 3D model of himself that’s paying homage to the toyetic look of the Link’s Awakening remake and the upcoming Echoes of Wisdom. When exterior of the guide, Jot can play God and instantly manipulate the world inside, with powers like tilting the guide on its facet to slip blocks round and even flipping again to an earlier web page to seize a phrase or merchandise that he wants on the present one. Backtracking by means of pages to seek out The Plucky Squire’s non-obligatory hidden collectibles additionally resulted in some cool “aha!” moments, and I might see myself going again to snag those I missed. The guide’s myriad makes use of compelled me to zoom out and assume larger in regards to the instruments at my disposal, and The Plucky Squire hits some superior puzzle-solving highs inside these segments.
The one concern is what number of hints The Plucky Squire consistently throws at you. Earlier than I used to be set unfastened on most puzzles, Jot’s endearing companions Violet, Thrash, and Moonbeard have an entire dialog about what you have to do. This inclusion is much more complicated once you keep in mind The Plucky Squire’s well-implemented non-obligatory trace system, the place a recurring character that’s just about all the time round will inform you precisely what you have to do subsequent should you ask for assist. It’s irritating that the builders lay out an excessive amount of info by means of obligatory dialogue reasonably than leaving it to the trace system so skilled gamers can attempt to piece all of it collectively with out hand-holding.
In truth, chattiness is an issue all through the whole thing of The Plucky Squire. Characters are all the time stopping to have prolonged conversations about what to do subsequent, and whereas it’s all well-written dialogue, I discovered myself desirous to mash by means of these intensive sequences to get again to the motion. The incessant over-explanation of Jot’s mission to take down the evil Humgrump is a method The Plucky Squire feels aimed squarely at a youthful viewers, however the witty humor and lighthearted tone simply barely reserve it from changing into a significant downside.
The skin world goes nicely past the pages as Jot explores Sam’s bed room to seek out new talents to work together along with his guide. These exploration sections are a beautiful change of tempo from the puzzling nature of the storybook, and Sam’s bed room is a delight to run round. Such as you’d anticipate from a younger boy’s room, toys and LEGO bricks are littered all over the place, and Jot platforms throughout taking part in playing cards and constructing blocks to seek out his subsequent improve. In these sections, Jot can hop out and in of sticky notes and kids’s drawings, which makes the entire thing really feel like a artistic tackle A Hyperlink Between Worlds’ wall-merging mechanic. There are a number of minor technical points in the actual world – I seen some shadows flickering out and in and I had one onerous crash – however for probably the most half The Plucky Squire seemed and ran nice on PlayStation 5.
Fight works the identical whether or not Jot is in or out of the guide. He can swing his sword, throw it at enemies like a boomerang, and make use of highly effective leap assaults and spin assaults. These strikes can all be upgraded at outlets that pop up throughout the land of Mojo, the place you spend foreign money that’s principally discovered – fittingly – by chopping grass. The swordplay is straightforward, enjoyable, and infrequently difficult, however for a recreation principally targeted on puzzles, I don’t thoughts that the fights are primary bouts to tear by means of in your solution to the subsequent massive riddle.
The Plucky Squire can be repeatedly working to shake issues up. There are many 2D platforming segments throughout the guide’s pages, and generally the guide turns vertically to present issues a contemporary perspective. However The Plucky Squire actually flexes its artistic muscle mass throughout the minigame segments that crop up often all through Jot’s journey. There are homages to issues like Punch-Out!!, rhythm video games, shmups, and extra that I gained’t spoil right here. Whether or not you’re uppercutting a honey badger or preventing off aliens whereas flying round inside a toy field, each minigame right here is so charming and enjoyable to play, and I liked seeing how the builders shook up the artwork type and character designs for every one.
With nice pacing between the storybook, actual world, and minigames for the primary 5 hours of the roughly eight-hour marketing campaign, it’s jarring when The Plucky Squire utterly loses its stride within the remaining act. First, Jot loses all his talents, and also you’re compelled to undergo a really generic stealth part to get better all of the powers you already spent your complete recreation gathering. It’d be like if Metroid ripped all of Samus’ upgrades away moments earlier than the ultimate boss and compelled you to collect the Morph Ball and Grapple Beam a second time. What’s worse, this part takes place in a wholly monochrome world, sucking all the enjoyment and colour out of Sam’s bed room and turning it right into a boring trudge over drained floor. This part doesn’t take all too lengthy, nevertheless it’s adopted up with The Plucky Squire’s remaining dungeon, which is a repetitive march by means of samey rooms together with a rhythm stealth minigame I needed to repeat three separate occasions. After going through a remaining boss that additionally goes on a part too lengthy, I used to be able to be completed earlier than the credit even began rolling. It’s a disgrace, as a result of The Plucky Squire is so pleasant for many of its runtime, however that final third sadly leaves behind a bitter aftertaste.
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