When we walked into the Devolver booth for The Plucky Squire at the Summer Game Fest Play Days, we felt like we were going back to childhood. On the wall was a huge colorful mural depicting the upcoming adventure game All Possible Future ahead of us. A cute, cozy couch was placed to our left; soft plush and deep orange-red. On the floor was a carpet with a bright geometric print. And tucked away in the corner was a small table with a book called ‘The Plucky Squire’ written by EN Arthur and published by Peanut. Final edit? A large TV with the game shining from the screen, an Xbox controller and a PC hidden in the closet. It felt like the childhood den of our dreams.
The book itself was blank – apologies to The Plucky Squire co-director James Turner for revealing the secret – but that’s kind of the point. The Plucky Squire is a game about discovering the story of the hero Jot, preserving that story and preserving creativity, all to preserve the innocence and imagination of children. In the game itself, it’s a boy named Sam whose favorite book is the title book, but in reality we couldn’t help but think of children. everywhere and we want to protect the creativity that youth gives us – and that age can sometimes take away.
So we were a little misty-eyed booting The Plucky Squire, even with Turner sitting next to us. It’s clearly a project from former Pokemon series art director and co-director Jonathan Biddle (or Bidds as he’s familiarly known), who was the designer of The Swords of Ditto. And that passion bleeds from every single color on the pages of the gamebook and from every nook and cranny of the table the book sits on. “We love Nintendo games,” Turner told us as we played the demo, “I think there’s a lot.”
And we couldn’t agree more. Even in my short time with it, The Plucky Squire felt like something Nintendo had created themselves, even without playing it on Switch. Parallels to Zelda, are evident, but it’s all done in such a whimsical, childish way that pays loving homage to a particular green-tuniced adventurer. Jot’s feathered cap, brown boots, and simple design all fit the template for a child hero for whom the player can create a variety of possible futures and stories. outside that the book represents.
Plucky Squire plays in both 2D and 3D top down. All the 2D sections take place in the book itself, while the 3D section sees Jot jump out of the book and onto Sam’s desk. We played through Chapter 6, which in the book takes place in a mountainous area leading to a mining town, while the table is more space-y, with rocket ship art, alien decals, and other surface decorations. Every single sticker in the game is designed by a different artist or friend of Turner and Biddle. The parallels between the table and the book in this level are clever, but the visual and thematic contradictions are just the beginning of the relationship between the two worlds.
The goal of this chapter, and the main plot point of The Plucky Squire, is to get rid of the mechanical—the “anti-creative,” as Turner puts it. Enemies throw tomatoes at Jot – kind of like how disgruntled audience members used to throw tomatoes at performers – a really lovely touch that hammers home the divide between creative and mechanical. Progress in the book will be blocked by machine-like structures that use a completely different art style than the sketchy thick line of a storybook. Gears separated the mountains from the mining town and the only way to fix it was to leave the book.
For this, Jot must use green portals. Once on the table, Jot can collect items or change things to progress through the book. If the sections are based on books like Zelda from top to bottom, then the tabletop section we played is much closer to a small, explorable Super Mario Galaxy type level with secrets to uncover. Each individual chapter has a 2D and 3D section, with the tabletop levels taking place at different times of the day – for the space one we played, for example, it was night, which perfectly set the tone for the space-inspired adventure.
Almost everything Jot can do in the book, he can do on the table. The sword cuts are identical and of course he has his own little spinning sword. The hero can even throw his sword like a boomerang and summon it back. There’s no problem or perspective on the page – because the “world” is flat, the Jot can run over enemies that are technically a level up, since no such plane actually exists in the book. You can’t that on the table, but you can attack in all directions. Eventually, you’ll also be able to buy new attacks and skills using the bulbs you collect throughout the level.
However, the table in Chapter 6 gives us something new to play with – the jetpack. Turner told us that not every level will have a trick like this, but the more open structure and theme of the table for this level allowed the team to be creative. We had to rescue dad’s little jetpack – which is on one of the mugs on the table – by collecting dad’s three broken pieces, and this involved completing objectives or mini-games.
We got a little lost on the table and Turner admitted there was still work to be done on the markings. But with his guidance we were able to uncover them. One piece involves helping the Jelly King and you have to light some tea candles on the table. Some of them were hidden behind books on the table; others went off to the side, requiring some tricky platforming to get around the front of the table. Plucky Squire’s 3D sections play with perspective in a fun way, allowing you to immerse yourself in the design and layout of the table. It felt like a table we might have had as a kid, with paper clips, tape, toys and other things. And how do you light candles? With a jetpack, of course.
The care and attention to detail makes the 3D sections appear much larger than they actually are. You can jump into many drawings on the table – if those portals are there – and often you have to get to the next place. The 2D action isn’t locked to the book either, which is perfectly demonstrated when we picked up the final piece, which takes place in what looks like an 80s cartoon set in an apocalyptic world.
What’s great about these 2D tabletop worlds is that they all use very different art styles. One long strip of paper looked as if a child had scribbled all over it; others looked like night lights. But this 80s cartoon section goes one step further and throws you into a completely different kind of game – a side-scrolling shooter, complete with Jot and becoming an 80s action man. The art style mixed with the fantastic arcade music accompanying the section combined to create something magical that made us gasp. It speaks to the level of creativity and passion that All Possible Futures seems to be brimming with. In addition, we were promised that there will be many more such sections throughout the game. We can’t wait.
Everything about The Plucky Squire filled us with childlike joy and captures the idea of ​​finding “a new surprise on every page,” as Turner put it. From the minimalist user interface to the story told by British actor Philip Bretherton – perhaps best known as Alastair Deacon on the BBC show Over time – it feels like a story brought to life; mixture of Jackanor and projections of children’s imaginations. We miss being kids with limitless creativity and a world of possibilities before us, and The Plucky Squire made us feel like we recaptured that feeling. We are desperate for its next taste.
Plucky Squire is scheduled for release later this year. How excited are you? Get sketching in the comments and share your thoughts.