The Plucky Squire
A storybook hero jumps between 2D and 3D worlds.
The Plucky Squire is a platform game released in 2024 by British developer All Possible Futures and publisher Devolver Digital. It centers on Jot, a storybook hero, and his companions as they venture beyond their book’s pages into a three-dimensional realm. The game launched on Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on September 17, 2024, and earned generally favorable reviews.
The story begins when the villain Humgrump, realizing he is fated to lose to Jot, expels the hero from the storybook, altering the narrative. To restore the happy ending and rescue his friends from Humgrump’s forces, Jot must navigate both the 2D book world and a 3D external environment. He solves puzzles, completes mini-challenges—such as boxing badgers and flying a jetpack—and occasionally controls allies: Violet, a trainee witch and artist, and Thrash, a mountain troll and heavy metal drummer.
All Possible Futures was co-founded by James Turner and Jonathan Biddle. Turner previously worked at Game Freak, directing HarmoKnight and contributing art to Pokémon games. Biddle served as creative director for The Swords of Ditto at Devolver Digital and founded the studio Onebitbeyond. The characters Jot and Moonbeard originated from a Turner webcomic. English actor Philip Bretherton narrates the game.
Originally slated for a 2023 release, Devolver Digital delayed The Plucky Squire to 2024. In August 2024, the September 17 launch date was confirmed. At release, it was available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers at no extra cost.
Critics on Metacritic rated the game “generally favorable,” praising its art direction and creativity but noting mixed opinions on its low difficulty, abundance of minigames, and frequent genre shifts. On OpenCritic, 85% of critics recommended it. The Nintendo Switch version received “mixed or average” reviews, with criticism focused on performance issues. Following the Nintendo Switch 2’s release, the game was noted to run better on that system via backward compatibility.
- Developer
- All Possible Futures
- Publisher
- Devolver Digital
- Release date
- 17 September 2024
- Platforms
- Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
- Metacritic reception
- generally favorable
- Opencritic recommendation percentage
- 85
Lore & Background
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. 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. Some of the mini challenges involve playing as Jot's allies: these being Violet, a trainee witch and artist; and Thrash, a mountain troll and heavy metal drummer.
Reader's Guide
The Plucky Squire was developed by indie game studio All Possible Futures, co-founded by James Turner and Jonathan Biddle. Turner previously worked as a designer for Game Freak and directed HarmoKnight, while Biddle was creative director for The Swords of Ditto. Characters Jot and Moonbeard were originally created by Turner for an online comic. English actor Philip Bretherton serves as the game's narrator. Originally scheduled for 2023, the game was delayed to 2024 and released on 17 September. At launch, it was made available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers at no additional cost. The game received generally favorable reviews, with praise for its art direction and creativity, while critics were more mixed on its lack of difficulty, abundance of minigames, and frequent genre switching. The Nintendo Switch version received mixed or average reviews due to performance issues, though it ran better on the Nintendo Switch 2 through backward compatibility.
More in Platform Games, Further Titles 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced