The Plucky Squire is a 2024 action-adventure platform game developed by All Possible Futures and published by Devolver Digital. The game follows the magical adventures of storybook characters Jot and his friends who discover a three-dimensional world outside the pages of their book. It was released for Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on September 17, 2024, to generally positive reviews from critics.
The Plucky Squire is centered around the heroic Jot who is kicked out of his story book by the villainous Humgrump, forcing Jot to explore and face challenges both within his story book and the outside world. When the malevolent Humgrump realizes that he is the villain of the story who is destined to be defeated by the forces of righteousness led by the heroic Jot, he kicks the hero out of its pages and changes the story forever.[1]
In order to restore the storybook's happy ending and save his friends from Humgrump's dark forces, Jot must face various challenges unlike anything he's ever seen. On his journey to restore the book's ending Jot finds himself with the ability to jump between the 2D and 3D worlds encountering puzzles he must solve and mini challenges to complete such as boxing badgers, jetpack flying, and many more obstacles as he becomes the hero of a living storybook.[2] Some of the mini challenges involving playing as Jot's allies: these being Violet, a trainee witch and artist; and Thrash, a mountain troll and heavy metal drummer.
The Plucky Squire was developed by indie game studio All Possible Futures which was founded by James Turner and Jonathan Biddle.[3] [4] Before co-founding All Possible Futures, Turner was a designer for Game Freak and directed the video game HarmoKnight as well as the art for various Pokémon games.[5] Co-founder Biddle has previously worked with Devolver Digital as the creative director for The Swords of Ditto and founded the studio Onebitbeyond who also developed the game.[6] [7]
Characters Jot and Moonbeard were originally created by Turner for an online comic before using them for The Plucky Squire. English actor Philip Bretherton serves as the game's narrator.[8]
The Plucky Squire was originally scheduled to release for Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch in 2023,[9] but Devolver Digital delayed the game to 2024.[10] In August 2024, it was announced that the game would release on September 17.[11] At launch, It was made available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers at no additional cost.[12]
The Plucky Squire received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, and 90% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic.
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Golden Joystick Awards | Best Indie Game | [13] | |
| Best Game Trailer (Launch Trailer) | ||||
| The Game Awards 2024 | Best Debut Indie Game | [14] | ||
| Best Family Game |