The Plucky Squire Review: Childlike Charm in Spades

I’ve been sold on the concept of The Plucky Squire since its first trailer debuted in 2022. The idea of a 2D and 3D action-platformer centered around a child’s storybook was absolutely perfect and had me eagerly waiting for its arrival. Luckily, after having now fully played The Plucky Squire, I’m happy to say the finished product is one that met my expectations and then some. 

The Plucky Squire centers around a young boy named Jot, who is the hero of a line of children’s books. Alongside his two friends Violet and Thrash, Jot adventures across the land of Mojo to primarily thwart the plans of the evil wizard Humgrump. This is how the tale of “The Plucky Squire” always goes until Humgrump realizes he’s merely part of a story and decides to use his magic to upend the outcome. The result sees Jot punted out of the pages of his own book and begins his latest quest to set things back to how they were. 

From start to finish, the story The Plucky Squire tells is adorable. The writing is dripping with charm and is easy enough for children to understand while still being smart enough for adults to want to engage with. One stage that predominantly centered around heavy metal particularly appealed to me, although I imagine most of its references wouldn’t be understood by younger players. I find it’s really difficult for many games to be for “all ages” as this term is more often than not associated with titles strictly for children. That isn’t the case with The Plucky Squire, though, as it’s a game I think anyone could find enchanting. 

The real star of The Plucky Squire, though, is its art direction. This is the element of the game that first grabbed my attention two years ago and it proves to be just as gorgeous in full motion. During the storybook sequences of The Plucky Squire, in particular, the colors and accompanying animations really pop. The game’s appearance when outside of these pages is largely still great, but it definitely pales in comparison and left me wanting to return more often to the in-book areas. 

Art direction alone often isn’t enough to make or break any game, but fortunately, The Plucky Squire is just as fun to play as it is to look at. One of the best things about The Plucky Squire is that it’s constantly keeping you on your toes and doesn’t commit to any single genre. While the standard, storybook sections of the game might play in a similar manner to old-school Zelda titles, it also throws these conventions out the window left and right.  There are sequences scattered throughout The Plucky Squire that draw inspiration from games like Super Mario Bros., Punch-Out!!, Resogun, and even bubble shooter games synonymous with the late 90s. This diversity of playstyles keeps The Plucky Squire constantly feeling fresh and keeps you guessing about what will happen next. 

Outside of these gameplay moments, the majority of the time in The Plucky Squire will be spent jumping in and out of Jot’s storybook. The biggest benefit to this style of play is the puzzles as you’ll have to go back and forth between the two worlds to advance past certain roadblocks. As Jot unlocks more abilities that allow him to interact directly with the storybook, these puzzles become a bit more complex in nature and become that much more enjoyable to solve.

Unfortunately, some of the only problems that I ran into during my time with The Plucky Squire were related to these puzzles. These issues seemed a bit random and included one instance where a block at the center of a puzzle clipped into the environment and kept it from working properly. None of these problems were ever enough to prevent me from outright completing the game as a simple reloading of my most recent save often fixed things. Other than these few struggles, I never had any additional issues of note. 

Over the past year, I’ve been looking for more games like The Plucky Squire. In a market that feels oversaturated by live-service, free-to-play fodder, The Plucky Squire is a breath of fresh air that reminded me of just how inventive and unique video games can be. It’s not just a game that I enjoyed myself, but it’s one that I plan to introduce to my kids to watch them play, too. If you’re also looking for more games of this type, then I cannot recommend it enough. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Plucky Squire is out today across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms. An advance copy of the game was provided by the publisher and was reviewed on PS5.