The Plucky Squire

Only some incredibly infrequent and immensely minor technical hiccups interfere with Jot’s wonderful debut adventure. Here’s hoping there’s more to come.

The Plucky Squire is absolute magic, and a page-turner, from beginning to end. From its first, boisterously narrated word, the game packages so much heart and character within a rather novel, wildly creative notion. It takes what Pixar did for toys and applies it to storybooks.

The Plucky Squire is an absolute blast from start to finish and one of the more well-rounded indie games we’ve seen in some time. While we have our nitpicks, it’s a worthwhile adventure for fans of all ages.

The Plucky Squire is both a familiar and predictable, and gorgeously ambitious and creative title. At its best, it's a dimension-hopping romp with excellent meta-writing, standout set-pieces and mini-games, and undeniably creative puzzle mechanics. However, the game does suffer from an aggressively accessible approach, which makes the moment-to-moment combat and exploration feel like a derivative Zelda-clone at times. Plus, each puzzle mechanic feels like an intriguing concept that has not developed to its full potential. That being said, The Plucky Squire is an undeniably feel-good and wholesome indie title deserving of your time and attention, and while some minor bugs need to be ironed out, the trade-off for the seamless blend of 2D and 3D is well worth it. It may be the best 2D/3D mash-up since Fez. High praise indeed.

The Plucky Squire has some weird crashes, but it stands out mainly because of the playful and clever design of the game world and the variety of boss fights. The childish story is also well written, which is especially noticeable in the dialogues of the colorful characters. However, more could have been done with the creative mechanism with which the game initially draws attention.