- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Release Date: Sep 17, 2024
- Also On: PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Mar 25, 2025Jot’s big adventure is presented as a children’s story, and it’s hard not to feel like a kid playing it in the best and worst ways.
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Sep 18, 2024The Plucky Squire has a nice art style and some clever tricks with shifting between two different perspectives on the world, though ultimately this storybook will appeal to younger players the most.
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Edge MagazineOct 3, 2024It's a testament to the strength of the core concept, then, that The Plucky Squire remains as entertaining as it does. [Issue#403, p.108]
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Sep 17, 2024It’s not that it needed to be longer, as it would outstay its welcome and short games are 100% fine by me, but perhaps some adjustable upwards difficulty, or breaking out the mini-games into their own unlocked sections – while they’re quite derivative, they’re well realised for the most part — or a way to encourage just a few more puzzle variant solves wouldn’t have gone astray here too.
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Sep 17, 2024The Plucky Squire is a short but charming Zelda-like filled to the brim with ideas and creative twists. Had we not gotten stuck on multiple occasions due to bugs, with the final time costing us our playthrough, we'd recommend it wholeheartedly.
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Sep 17, 2024Once upon a time there was a little hero who, wanting to be appreciated by all, arranged himself in the manner of the lords of his time. Charming as a prince, he invented specialties with eloquence, “a mind as sharp as a fist” he promised. But behind his pleasant features, our adventurer had a hard time hiding his limits. “Stop trying to swell up, or you will die” a lady who saw through his game said to him. That day, he understood: if he did not become a new revered ambassador, he would remain this valiant little esteemed page.
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Sep 17, 2024When the credits rolled, the writer immediately thought: if I had a daughter or a son, I would recommend them to play The Plucky Squire with me. While not a brilliant production in every aspect, we are faced with a title aware of its potential, and for this very reason it wisely decides to focus on what it does best. The 3D sections, undoubtedly the weakest of the game, seem almost disfigured when compared to the 2D ones; a real shame, especially if we consider their playful potential.
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Sep 17, 2024The essential excitement of turning the page to discover what's next is so powerfully represented in The Plucky Squire, and the game retains this energy into its final chapters, even while otherwise lacking notable tension or danger. It’s an entertainingly busy book to play through, but it's a pity that many of The Plucky Squire’s best ideas are ultimately underexplored.
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Sep 17, 2024Although the game was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the actual gameplay elements of it, the story just didn't grab me. Initially, I was also deterred by the massively contrasting art styles and the finicky menus. Overall, the game is a pleasant experience, appropriate for gamers of all ages. If the story had some more flashy dramatics, it may have pulled me in earlier. The Plucky Squire is very evidently a product made with a lot of love, and you can tell that from the level of polish it has.
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Sep 17, 2024In the end, the title’s glittering potential was blotted out by its somber execution.
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Sep 17, 2024The Plucky Squire is all about that lineage of art, inspiration, and creation. The most important role Jot fills as the hero of his book isn’t that of Humgrump’s vanquisher, rather it is his ability to inspire the kid whose desk his book sits on to create something of their own. Every person has a story about what game made them fall in love with the medium, and there is a chance that The Plucky Squire becomes that for some kid that plays it—the thing that will push them to create. How can you not be romantic about video games?
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Sep 17, 2024The Plucky Squire can’t compete on either count. It’s a fantastic concept but a lackluster design that neither surprises players nor meaningfully empowers them. It’s a classic example of a game that must have made for a thrilling half-hour demo at the pitching stage, but that never quite found itself in production. For all its borderline-smug jollity and borderline-twee sense of wonder, and for all the careful craft and evident effort that went into its making, it lacks inspiration in itself, and engenders none in the player. The light bulb is there, but it never pops on.
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Sep 17, 2024I do feel a bit bad about ragging on The Plucky Squire, a game that's ultimately a fairly fun, inoffensive time and absolutely meant for people who aren't as ailing as me. Its energy is great and upbeat and lovely - a perfect balm in the face of today's horribleness. But I do think it suffers from trying to do lots of things and getting a bit lost within them (for what it's worth, I think it would've done better fleshing out the word-chopping ability, as it really can feel magical sometimes). The combat is fine, the platforming is fine, mostly everything feels just fine. And necessary restrictions on your ability usage means that you're always hunting for a one-note solution, as opposed to feeling like you're really altering the narrative. Even games 'meant for kids' still have those deeper layers beneath the simplistic surfaces, where the creativity of teens aren't underestimated and the oldies can flex their mastery muscles. Scratch away the ink and I don't think there's much beneath The Plucky Squire, sadly.
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