Sometimes you feel like a video game was made just for you. Of course, that never happens unless you’re a solo developer making your own indie game, but I think you know the feeling. It happens when a game just speaks to you, when the graphics, music, and gameplay are tailored to your taste and you can’t assist but smile while playing. That’s how I felt playing The Lucky Squire, the first game in All Possible Futures.
You play as Jot, the titular Plucky Squire, a… well, a squire of great fame who defends the land of Mojo, a place of unbridled creativity, from the sinister Humgrump. Jot is also a writer, and his skills with the pen allow him to turn his adventures into books that people love. A hero who saves the world, a beloved author? What more could a guy want?
The first thing you notice about The Plucky Squire is its appearance. It’s literally set in a children’s storybook, with areas mapped out on every page. As you progress, the page turns, taking you to the next area or revealing a little more of the story, and each “level” in The Plucky Squire is its own chapter. It’s a charming premise, but a great concept is only half the battle. The Plucky Squire ties it all together with lovely sprite art that evokes the children’s books you might find on the shelves of your local library. Everything is brilliant, colorful, and wonderfully animated. Seriously, I think it’s one of the most lovely games I’ve ever seen. I mean, just look at it.
My three-hour demo began with me being sent on a mission to assist my wizard friend, a guy named Moonbeard who wears sunglasses and looks like Merlin from The Sword in the Stone, get some beeswax so he can press more vinyl records. What can I say? He likes being a DJ. An appropriately modest origin story, but every hero’s journey starts somewhere. Plucky Squire starts out playing like the top-down Zelda games of yesteryear; Jot is armed with little more than a sword, a dodge, his wits, and a cunning hat with a feather to match Bard’s. You’ll be dispatching little goblins and bugs, but the game is as good as it looks.
Master of Magic
But that’s not all Jot or The Plucky Squire is. There are platforming segments that wouldn’t be out of place in a Mario game, and in order to get the beeswax Moonbeard needs, you’ll have to face off against a honey badger in a boxing match that looks like it was ripped (get it? Get it?) straight out of Punch-Out. Alright, Plucky Squire. I see you. Needless to say, Jot delivers the knockout punch, because that’s what heroes do.
Yeah, things are going great for Jot until Humgrump starts causing trouble again. That’s when things really get complicated. You see, Humgrump has figured out that the whole world is a stage and you’re just players. History has been written, which means he’s doomed to lose every time he and Jot clash, and he’s not a fan. Not at all. Luckily for him, and unfortunately for Jot, Humgrump is a wizard. That means magic, and he uses it to throw Jot out of the book and into the real world.
Suddenly I wasn’t playing a 2D game anymore; I was playing a 3D game. The lovely sprite graphics? Replaced by equally gorgeous 3D models that look like they came straight out of the Switch remake of Link’s Awakening. I had to get home to Jota’s book, which meant platforming around the desk of Sam, the kid who owns this particular copy of The Plucky Squire, while avoiding Sam’s beetles.
Mightier than the sword
Jot may not be as powerful in the real world as he is in his book, but he soon learns a modern trick from a genial bookworm named Page: the ability to enter any piece of paper as his sprite, A Link Between Worlds style, provided he has a portal to let him in, and bring objects into the book from the real world and back. Armed with the power to enter and exit the book and turn pages at will while on his desk, you return to the book with a pair of special gauntlets called Turn Gauntlets.
This is where The Plucky Squire really, really, gets engaging. Humgrump has used his magic to really mess with the plot of the book, but that won’t stop Jot. He’s a writer, which means he can manipulate the words on the page, and in doing so, he can also change the book. Can’t get to what you need in this forest? Replace the word “forest” with “ruins” and you’ll be able to maneuver more easily. A giant bug blocking your path? Replace the word “huge” with “tiny” and you’ll overtake it in no time.
What makes The Plucky Squire so delightful and unique is the way all of these mechanics come together to create fun, engaging scenarios. Here’s an example: at one point I had to make the page day so I could get past the frogs that come out at night to sing. Now, I love a good chorus of frogs at night as much as anyone, but they were blocking the paths I needed to access. So I exited the book, went back to the previous page, grabbed the word “day,” went back to the page I needed, jumped back into the book, and replaced “night” with “day” to let the sunlight in and out of the way. Of course, this created modern problems, but thanks to my ability to enter and exit the page at multiple points, and Jot’s skills as a wordsmith, I managed to get to the next page.
A truly gripping title
And the special one-off section where I played Punch-Out against a honey badger? That kind of thing is everywhere. Once, when I needed a bow, I jumped on the Legally Distinct Magic Card on Sam’s desk to fight an elven archer. She was sure I was in cahoots with Humgrump, but I managed to convince her otherwise. The coolest part, though, was that the whole sequence played out like a turn-based RPG battle. And later, when I had to operate the bow to take out the bugs? I was basically playing a featherlight gun game. All of those sections were fun and unique, and none of them were overused.
Of course, the core gameplay isn’t bad either, whether it’s wandering around Sam’s desk or fighting goblins in the storybook. Oh, did I mention you can operate the currency you find in the world to upgrade Jot, giving him things like the ability to throw his sword, operate a spin attack, or buy concept art? Because you can, although there’s not enough of it to buy everything, at least not in the sections I played, which hopefully opens up some engaging choices in the full game. And then there’s the charming supporting cast, from the funky-yet-smart Moonbeard to Jot’s friends, the powerful intern witch Violet, who should probably believe in herself a little more, and the totally radical mountain troll, Thrash, who… well, seems like he’s just there to have fun. Oh, and Minibeard, a miniature version of Moonbeard who hands out puzzle tips. Minibeard rules.
If I had to sum up my time with The Plucky Squire in two words, it would be “charming” and “unique.” There are influences from The Plucky Squire, but what I played was so well put together that it never stopped feeling like something other than itself, and its excellent sense of pacing meant that it never overstayed its welcome. It’s a game that immediately resonated with me, and when I finished the demo, I was a little sorrowful. It’s infrequent to find something that feels so unique, and I can’t shake the feeling of awe I had while playing it. I hope All Possible Futures maintains that feeling throughout the game.
As any good writer will tell you, a good story takes time, and I’m more than willing to wait until All Possible Futures writes its final words and puts down its pen. In the meantime, I’ll be rereading the chapters I’ve read, looking for things I missed, trying out other improvements, and just enjoying the atmosphere while I wait for it to be time to turn the next page.
