Yes, it’s lovely to look at.
Yes, hopping out of a storybook and making friends with an illustration on a coffee mug is cool.
And yes, everyone can have a mildly fun time with its puzzles and fights.
But that’s the problem: who is everyone?
At first I thought, “This game is for young kids and that’s fine!
“, given its relative simplicity.
Then I hit some puzzles and thought, “Ain’t no kid figuring this out”.
Then it hit me.
Presentation, though, isn’t everything.
Cheers, I guess?
Story aside, early on your adventure is confined to the pages of your storybook.
Combine this ability with that page-flipper and you’ve got a recipe for some interesting stuff!
Clever, isn’t it?
These are, essentially, structures built by the mysterious kid.
These involve some platforming and some light puzzling, as you use blocks as booster pads for traversal.
Still, these are somewhat balanced out by bespoke bits that’ll have Jot partake in some off-piste activities.
Like battling an elven archer inside her domain: a legally distinct Magic The Gathering card.
The fight against the elven archer is turn-based (cool!
), but it’s entirely on rails (…oh).
The bullet hell arcadey bit?
Yeah, it’smiddlingand nothing more than it needs to be.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
This means that, yes, you and/or your kid might be less overwhelmed while playing - a positive.
Yet, it also strips a lot of the organic puzzle-solving or creativity out of each solution.
Nope, didn’t work.
Instead I’d overlooked a different bit with a box I could use to activate another plate.
I thought my solution was better!
Or simply because I didn’t trust the game’s cues.
Its energy is great and upbeat and lovely - a perfect balm in the face of today’s horribleness.
The combat is fine, the platforming is fine, mostly everything feels justfine.
Scratch away the ink and I don’t think there’s much beneath The Plucky Squire, sadly.
