Two years ago, developer All Possible Futures announced The Plucky Squire with a Nintendo Switch gameplay trailer equal parts charming and stunning. The Plucky Squire takes place in two different worlds: the real 3D world of a young boy’s bedroom and the world of a 2D storybook, between which the protagonist can hop to solve puzzles while slashing monsters much like in a Zelda game.
Jot, the titular squire with pluck, is on a quest to save the land of Mojo from the evil sorcerer Humgrump once again. Jot, you see, always wins. However, this time around Humgrump learns the secret of their world: they’re in fact characters within a storybook. As such, he casts Jot right out of the pages, which puts the happy ending of the story in jeopardy.
Fortunately, Jot’s funky wizard friend helps him find his way back into the storybook, and with newfound powers that allow him to leap from the pages, he sets off to reign in Humgrump once more on a fourth-wall-breaking quest with a couple of adorable friends along for the ride.
Much as advertised, the story is delightful. From poetic snails to heavy metal trolls, every single character Jot and friends meet will put a smile on your face, and so too will the plethora of minigames and clever use of real-world methods to solve storybook puzzles.
From a rhythm game to a Contra-like run 'n' gun set on the side of a toy container, The Plucky Squire brings creativity to each of the minigames that close out chapters, which motivated us to press on. An early minigame sees you invade the world of a fantasy trading card to convince the elven warrior within to lend her your bow in order to shoot down bugs terrorising snails in the storybook. This triggers a turn-based battle against her that, while not difficult, had us smiling the entire time.
The puzzles, however, are the star of the story, and while they never stumped us too hard and there aren’t too many of them in the short-and-sweet 10 hours it’ll take you to finish Jot’s quest, they’re all a joy to figure out. A sentence on the page of the book might read, “The moat was completely drained of water.” To cross over to a switch, you’ll have to find the word “full” from a sentence elsewhere, pick it up, and bring it over to swap it out for “drained.” Thus the moat will fill with water, raising up some lily pads for Jot to cross to reach the switch.
You can also swap out words for some humorous effects that don’t impact the puzzle at all, like switching the word ‘huge’ into the sentence, “The tiny frog observed the bug,” making the cute frog large for no other reason than it’s fun.
It’s never as simple as swapping around two words, however. There’s often multiple words and sentences at a time to swap, and to reach them Jot will have to hop through portals into the real world to manipulate the book itself. He can turn the pages back to pull items from earlier in the story, for instance, or stamp items to stop them from moving within the book. It all comes together to create a wholly unique and charming experience.
Unfortunately, for us, the Nintendo Switch version looks and runs nothing like advertised, which may have been why Switch codes weren't available in advance from publisher Devolver Digital. Playing version 1.0.2, when Jot is within the storybook or hops into a drawing elsewhere in the real world, the game manages to stay at its 30fps target most of the time, though it’ll dip every now and then, with flipping between pages — more or less the ‘screens’ of the world — hitching and taking a few seconds too long to load.
When Jot jumps out of the storybook to acquire a new power, such as being able to lift either half of the book to cause massive pigs and blocks of cheese to move within the story, the resolution drops to eye-wateringly poor levels and can flounder down to near single-digit frames per second when there are multiple enemies on screen. A lot of Switch games run a bit better in handheld mode but here we found it more difficult to follow the action on our OLED’s screen, with no noticeable improvement to performance.
In turn, this makes the other aspects of The Plucky Squire — combat and platforming — a headache. Much like Link, Jot can swing his sword around and has a spin attack. When the game is hitching, however, it seems there’s some kind of delay that makes it difficult to know when your inputs register, causing you to attack when you want to dodge or to swing your sword a few too many times when cutting down goblins and bugs.
The platforming fares a little worse. In the storybook, it was mostly fine, but we struggled navigating the toys and paint sets of the real-world desk, often failing to make use of springboards that require precise button inputs to reach a higher area and even getting stuck in the geometry more than once.
Conclusion
Performance issues on Switch, at least at launch, bury an amazingly clever and charming adventure that we would wholeheartedly recommend otherwise. The Plucky Squire is certainly playable on the Nintendo Switch, but in no way can we recommend picking it up here if you have other means to play it. The fact that the Switch-branded trailers looked so great and that advance review copies weren't available on the platform — despite them being sent out for other systems — indicates that this version of The Plucky Squire needed much more time on the drawing board before release.
Comments 108
Sounds like it's time for the Switch 2
Wow, very surprised you ran into so many technical issues on Switch. I’m on Chapter 4 and there’s hardly been any noticeable lag, only some longer loading when pages flip in the book. Easily an 8.5/10 so far, it’s such a unique and charming game.
Just got it on PC. It's a good game. Not for everyone though but ya avoid the Switch version!
SwitchUp said they didn't have any big technical issues on Switch overall and that it is a solid port, now I'm confused.
PC / Steam Deck it is then
Not Plucky on Switch.
Of course, that 30 fps.
Time to get the PS5 version for smooth 60 fps.
How unplucky for the Switch. Hopefully with some pluck, the devs will fix those issues soon. Cross your fingers for good pluck.
Gosh darn it. I was really looking forward to this one.
I wonder if the review copy was played pre-launch day patches?
I haven’t really experienced any technical hiccups either — though I don’t doubt the whole experience would be a bit slicker (especially the 3D sections) on more powerful platforms.
@Switch_Pro I saw that review. Not sure, maybe they got paid to say nice things.
While next year is not too late for Switch 2 or Super Nintendo Switch. With Sony and PS4 Pro disaster I love for Nintendo too blow them out of the water sooner rather than later.
I think I’ll be able to look past these hiccups. I’m pretty used to poor switch performance at this point. And it looks charming enough to push through it!
@Keegsy @Vivianeat How is the game so far anyways? One review I read it's too hand holdy and another it's a bit shallow in places with it's minigames.
I see some minor flickering, frame drops here and there, and stuttering. I did have 1 bug that forced me to pull a previous save file but that's it. Nothing too crazy. It's a great game with a whole lot of love poured into it. I'm sure I would've been happier if I bought on xbox, but im not regretting my switch purchase.
Really not sure what to make of this. Releases from the past year or two are all plagued with performance issues, or severe cutdowns on the graphical department. It's clear that people want their product to be available on Switch since the userbase is so high, but one might wonder if that doesn't affect the reputation of the developer/publisher if the games are plagued by performance issues front and centre.
To conclude; it's time for Switch's successor to be announced so people can start porting stuff to that platform instead.
Thanks for the review, sounds like a game for me apart from the technical issues... which seemingly not everyone has as some mentioned?
I'm confused, but luckily since I'm waiting to see if I can get the game physically instead of digitally I have time to see what's up with that and let's not forget that there's also the matter of Switch's successor as long as it has backward compatibility as it should!
SwitchUp didnt seem to have as many fps issues. Said its fine with a few little drops.
30fps 60fps 120fps! I would love for a developer to be like "Oh, hey guys. We can confirm that our much anticipated game Freaky McDingo 2 - Revenge of the Woolly Willy Warmer will be 83fps on PC and home consoles and a rock solid 37fps on Switch!"
And a random thing a stumbled upon yesterday for anyone interested, Dire Dire Docks with lyrics by Man on the internet. The vocals could be better but the lyrics really fit the music, an interesting curiosity. Its a few years old now so perhaps I'm last to know but just in case. Super Mario - Dire Dire Docks - With Lyrics by Man on the Internet (youtube.com)
A real shame. For anybody curious, here's a clip showing the sorts of issues Lowell ran into:
https://x.com/nintendolife/status/1836740110307524628
@Switch_Pro likewise, very odd
@DripDropCop146 I've been having a blast with it. Very nostalgic and reminds me of video gaming when I was a kid. Really enjoyable adventure and a perfect lead in to Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom next week.
@dartmonkey that doesnt look great
I miss the days when devs would change WHATEVER they had to to make a game make sense and run well on the system in question.
Sometimes even the developer would be changed for the different platform. ✌️
sorry to all the people who were looking forward to this one on Switch!
Ugh, I was afraid of this. Every time I saw the game I thought “how well can this possibly run on switch?”
We really need switch 2 to come out soon, I want to play this game and freedom wars remaster with portable console at 60 fps and at least 1080p resolutions 😃
Been playing this all night, on my Rog Ally X.
This is not something I would wanna play in 30fps, with lag.
@Keegsy Cheers! Glad it's all good then!
I don't have other means to play this. What a bummer. Will you keep us up to date about any patches to performance?
Games like this makes me wished the Switch 2 would just be released faster so they could put a patch to make it 60fps. On the bright side I can wait for the Switch 2 to be released and then I can pick this up when it's on a possible sale. Some of the first party Nintendo games is fun even with 30fps so putting this at a 6/10 with performance must be really painful
@obijuankanoobie Yes, always!
Yeah, unfortunately this never looked good when they actually showed switch footage. Shame, because it seems like a great title but 3rd party games just don't really hit their full potential on switch most of the time.
@Switch_Pro I'm running into the same issues. Maybe SwitchUp's conclusion was a bit rushed.
That being said I've seen an hour long gameplay and is very surprised how good this is. Game has that Nintendo "feel". Besides that hope they'll fix the performance issues in future patches
That’s interesting, a lot of other reviewers and players have said the opposite and that this runs pretty well / smoothly on Switch 🤔
What I will say is that the lag / delay for attacking enemies is actually a purposeful mechanic, whether you get on with it or not is by the by, but it isn’t a performance issue.
@dartmonkey yeouch!
Vote with your wallet. Don’t buy games which run at 30fps.
It is what it is
Man, why didn't they just delay the Switch version of the game. Why?
I'll wait to see if they're improving anything of it, I was only going to get the physical edition next year anyways. But releasing the game in this state and not even saying anything about it (actually lying about this by not allowing pre-release reviews) makes me want to skip it all the way. How disrespectful. Same level as WB Games and their Batman "trilogy". Sorry guys, I'm not a cow waiting to be milked.
The game didn’t need more time on the drawing board, it needed Switch 2. As soon as I started it last night on PS5 and they showed a bug fly into the kids room I couldn’t imagine the 3D sections looking too good on Switch. They probably needed the world outside of the book to still be a cartoon like inside the book, maybe cell shaded.
Game is really fun though, just started chapter 4, 31% done. My hardest tricky puzzle so far was not knowing you had to HOLD DOWN TRIANGLE to enter the portal, not just press the button. The game gives you a tutorial on it, AFTER YOU GET BACK INTO THE BOOK. Not sure how that got past Q&A.
I've heard there are a few crashes and soft locks too. I'll wait for the first few patches to come out, then grab it. Looking at Grapple Dogs 2, Elsie, Gimmick 2, Peglin, Shogun Showdown ahead of it. Plenty to play at the moment!
I would have picked up this game on Switch, but I recently quit my job, so I'm trying to save money where I can. The game is free on PS Premium, so that's where I've been playing it instead. I guess I made a good call. Hopefully this game gets patched later on Switch, though.
@Vivianeat
Nah the Switch Up duo are trustworthy. They have no issue pointing out flaws even in promotional videos and one of their best features is they go back and review patched up games to see if there has been any significant improvement.
Easily the best Switch focused channel on Youtube for me.
@Ironcore why is 30fps such a problem now? I understand 60 has become the standard, but I don't notice when a game is running at 30 (I don't think)
@SBandy1 I saw the Switch Up video and even they pointed out some issues as well on the Plucky Squire.
@AnonyQ agreed, it depends on the game I guess. Many 30fps complaints I've read for games are hardly noticeable, or at least they're not a hindrance to enjoying the games.
I don't know. The game froze up on me first play through. Just to be safe I re- downloaded it and it's fine now. I think I' m on chapter 3. (Why does it take 2 1/2 hours to download e-shop games? My connection is fine so wth, Nintendo?)
I've been gaming for a long time and remember the bad old days of some games so perhaps my expectations are lower, but it seems fine visually to me. A couple of hiccups but nothing disastrous.
It's a story book game. I think some are thinking it should be Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, it can seem a bit hand holdy, but the writing is very clever and snarky and the cut scenes fit the tone of the game.
I'm hoping it plays better on Switch 2 but til then I'm enjoying it for what it is: a loving homage to a kid's dream. It's fun.
I give it a solid 8.
@DripDropCop146 It is but the game is for kids, which is great! There really is not much of a challenge in this game. U can just turn on no damage and breeze it. The only challenge is just playing it without the handicaps.
This game never knows when to shut up it’s a constant barrage of dialogue, I’m sorry but a wizard taking about eating donuts might have been worthy of a slight chuckle in 2002 but now it’s just eyerolling and it’s the same with characters saying things like “press the Y button whatever that means”.
@Vivianeat the Chapter 4 boss gave me a run for my money. Took me a few attempts to carve out a strategy using the bow. Nice bit of challenge!
@SalvorHardin the dialogue is a big part of the charm though. Fans of ARPGs/RPGs/Adventure games shouldn't be too surprised.
@Keegsy that was a good boss! Wasn't too bad, got it on my 2nd attempt.
Not surprised. Already wishlisted it for the Steam Deck.
@FlyingDunsparce Yeah, this is yet another in a long line of medium-tier spec games that simply don't run well on tech as old as the Switch. It definitely feels time to pull the trigger
Welp I’ll pass then.
Oh dear, hoping this will be scrubbed up to working order on the cartridge once the physical comes out (21 Feb 2025 if amazon UK is correct)
My backlog of games keeps growing because I'm holding out to play a lot of these titles on Switch 2. Adding this one to the lot.
This is really disappointing. The game has looked great. I figured anyways I was going to wait for a sale with this releasing so close to Zelda but at this point I would definitely wait for a sale AND a significant patch or two.
It’s fine on PlayStation but the movement in the game just doesn’t feel right and the attempts at whimsy and humor are lost on me. It’s an interesting aesthetic plastered over a pretty boring game.
Eh maybe on a sale. And on the Switch. I have a PS5 but I won't play it there.
soft locked right near the end....
So far I haven't found it to be that badly performing on the switch. Not amazing but nothing crazy
How can it be a 6 when it drops to single FPS?
I'm interested in the game - and flat out upset that it would be released in such a horrible state. That's really unacceptable. If they fix it, I'll consider it, otherwise, I'll swear off ever buying anything from Devolver Digital.
I'm serious!
Not ok!
The poor Switch needs to be put in an old folks’ home.
@Vivianeat Please do not insinuate that reviewers get paid to say nice things in reviews. That is not a thing.
@FlyingDunsparce
"Sounds like it's time for Switch 2"
Sounds like it's time to just play it on PS5 instead. lol
You can play it now, on the latter, with better performance & Visuals(less lag, locked at probably 4K+60fps) than Switch 2(Which I'm guessing will debut in Spring 2025. That's around 6 whopping months), simply because the PS5 will still be about a generation ahead of it. When the PS5 Pro lands this November, Switch 2 will be even further behind.
This is why it's key to have a Switch and PS5 Pro or PC. So you can enjoy the best of both worlds without any compromises.
I hope you guys know how important these types of reviews are. I was waiting to hear from you on the performance before I pulled the trigger, and now that we see its pretty bad, you've saved me from making a bad purchase. Seems like it holds up best on console which is where I'll pick it up. THANK YOU!
@Ironcore Now I’ll buy TWO 30fps games just because of your comment
Heavily needs OC. With 1.5GHz on the CPU, 990MHz GPU and 2131MHz on the RAM, I am able to get 60fps across the board, with some dips here and there. You could go even further and basically do a locked 60...but that territory is starting to become a bit dangerous for the battery.
Stock Switch version is indeed bad and I do not recommend it, even if you tolerate stable 30fps, because it is not.
Cheers for the review. Shame about the technical issues and it will remain on my wishlist until they patch it. Nothing to do with "Switch 2", far more technically demanding games run just fine on the "Switch 1". Get it fixed and you will have a singular purchase from me if you care. 🙂
@-wc- So true, imagine if Street Fighter 2 on the SNES or Mega Drive had big arcade sprites, but with an awful framerate. Or, I think how well some arcade ports played even on 8-bit micro computers, as they were pretty much their own version.
I guess it's this whole 'scalability' that's the problem, what potential is there technically, and what skills, time and resources do developers have to make their game a pleasant experience on lesser powerful hardware. Arkham Knight is an example of a Switch port which is a total disaster, but I'm finally playing The Witcher 3 on Switch at the moment and I really appreciate the achievement in getting the game running as well as it does.
@-wc- Right? Games used to be tweaked until they ran right on whatever hardware they were for. How many games had arcade, NES, and Gameboy versions, all different? Even SNES vs Genesis, tweaked for the hardware. What happened? Looking at comments (and reviews) I'd say lowered expectations are letting developers get away with it. Hey maybe it'll get a patch, maybe not.
I do hope this gets improved with a patch, my kids would love it. But paying for an incomplete product is bad for all of us.
@Ironcore I’d still debate that it depends on the game though 🤔
30FPS was standard / acceptable for such a long time in the run up to the previous generation - the problem now is that it’s becoming a lot more noticeable and jarring the prettier or more visually complex a game becomes.
On PS5 it’s pretty laughable to have visuals or performance for example. There’s no contest most of the time (especially if a game hasn’t been optimised properly) because visuals look worse in motion when the performance takes a hit.
But N64? You’re on even ground trying to hit 30FPS whilst running around a blockier world. This is completely ok.
It’s all about the balance.
I've been looking forward to this game for a while, I really hope that they can iron out some or all of the performance issues with patches later on...unfortunately for us, you won't update this review if that is the case though. It's so hard to find updated reviews that reflect the often times improved states of games after a big update... are developers allowed to set the clock speed of the Switch while it's playing their games? It seems like this happens a lot of the time where the development kits are running at a higher clock speed than our retail Switches, so things that worked fine when they tested end up being jankey once released and require patches to fix.
@dartmonkey Doesn't look too bad honestly. I'm an older gamer so I'm used to major slowdown while playing games from the 80s and 90s. I'm sure they'll make a few patches for the Switch version eventually.
"Cons:
v All-around poor technical performance
v Lag can cause input delays"
"Not Bad 6/10"
Very disappointing.
I don't have a PS5, Xbox X/S or a gaming PC (stationary, handheld or laptop).
I will wait for the Switch 2 version.
Or buy it on Switch if they fix these issues in good time - but I have my doubts..
Artia is one of the best towns in any adventure/RPG to date, so at least we have that squared away.
I'm a bit sorry to see so many here taking this review as gospel and ignoring the fact that many of us are saying it's fine on the Switch.
Something is off, but I don't know what. Ah well. Non-players loss, I guess.
@k8sMum agreed. It plays just fine (nothing game breaking or too much a nuisance to not enjoy the game) and is one heck of an indie release. So enjoyable that I'm looking forward to playing it through a second time.
Damn it, I thought it would run well on Switch... What a missed opportunity.
I'm playing it on PC and I'm LOVING it. I would like to pick it up on Switch, but I'll wait for a patch or the Switch 2 version...
A shame. A real shame. The game is fantastic.
Edit: So weird the people in the comments say they don't have any issues... Perhaps Nintendo life played a build earlier than the day one patch? I think the review should be updated if that's the case.
@k8sMum Wait, what?? The game runs well on Switch? Then why is this review so harsh...? I don't understand.
@the_beaver 5 chapters in and it plays great, some occasional minor loading slowdowns but nothing crazy.
Strange. I’ve played this game for a couple hours and have not yet noticed any serious technical issues or heavy performance dips. It plays just fine on my switch?
@trcsf I (personally) found something like Link’s Awakening’s performance massively jarring, so I’ve really got my fingers crossed for patches. I would imagine the small team is stretched to breaking point given the cross-platform release and the outsized profile of this one, but I’d also imagine (hopefully!) it’ll get there or thereabouts in the end. 🤞
Always a shame when devs. don't optimize their games on Switch(or any platform for that matter) just leads to lower sales overall. I would've bought this but now I'm waiting to see if they patch it.
Reading some comments here, it doesn't appear to be that bad though. I'm usually one to be pretty tolerant when it comes to technical issues while some others would immediately right it off as "unplayable". (Not saying that's going on with this review, but yeah)
One thing I’m reading from a lot of these comments is that people will be holding out for ‘the switch 2 version’. Is this just wishful thinking or has this been confirmed as coming to switch 2? I can’t see anything about this
I'm playing it through PSplus, and it looks amazing. The game is okay... a little disappointed. The frame pause on enemy hit is a little too long and the constant interruption of dialogue boxes grows tiresome after almost every page turn. It almost feels like a storybook first and a game second.
It is a beauty though, and the concept makes you want to love it.
I'll review some gameplay footage ahead of a purchase, and if it really turns out to be a stinker, I'll hold out for the inevitable Switch 2 version.
Wow, @nintendolife makes this sound way worse than SwitchUp did. It’s like they had a different build.
@brandonbwii
It's like they played a different game. Mine plays fine.
I think SwitchUp said they played version 1.2. Nlife must have played an earlier build
@Vivianeat no way. Those dudes are stand up and would never just say nice things because they were making money. Even with their sponsorships they are brutally honest about the quality of the game.
The fact the Switch has trouble running THIS is evidence enough we need the Switch 2 sooner than later.
Yeah, I'm so over this run of slightly crummy switch ports of games that by all accounts aren't exactly pushing the boundaries of graphical hardware.
Only managing 30fps is one thing but all these technical hitches - while understandable on the potato switch are very frustrating.
It is time to put the old girl out to pasture and sell us something with a bit more oomph! And preferably has no more cloud versions of games, a proper online environment and eshop and no more hardware failures like stick drift please.
I just read the first book in the Story Thieves series 2 days ago (and an already on the last one lol), so the plot of "magician discovers that he is in a book" is nothing new to me now! That said, it really is a shame that you guys ran into so many issues with this game; its trailers looked so promising..!
I’ve had some hiccups and frame rate issues but I’d honestly still rate the game an 8 or 8.5 😆 I’ve really been enjoying it! I think I’m willing to look past the lag issues due to the teams size and experience. The game is creative and charming. I love all the little details.
I am playing on PS5 so I can’t speak on the Switch version performance but the game is not very fun. It’s charming but there’s not much actual game to it
Ah well, I always thought it was too good to be true for a Switch game. More and more I wonder if Switch Deux will be backwards compatible, and if it will improve load times, frame rates, etc. of games like these that were a bit too ambitious for 1st gen Switch. It sure would be a desirable feature!
@LoroTalby I don't really watch YT reviews. Typically with famous channels like that, they don't finish many of the games given to them all the way through since they have so many other games to review.
It's not the Switch's fault. Sounds like No Man's Sky runs better than this. It's simply a bad Switch port.
So Last Action Hero meets Epic Mickey, I can dig it. Oof, so this was probably about an 8, but Switch performance dinged it up. I'm not in a rush to play it, hopefully they can iron out the kinks in time.
I played finished the game on the PS5, and yeah I can confirm there are numerous soft-locks and glitches, but they don’t really start appearing until late in the game. One glitch: an item required for progression just vanished while navigating book never to return. Didn’t respawn where I found it. Had the game auto-saved at any point, I fear that would have been a hard-lock. Fortunately game loaded to point right before getting item. Phew.
Inexplicably, my spin attack stopped working halfway through game. Not a game breaker, just mildly annoying.
Waiting on the first major Switch update before telling my girlfriend about it (not my kind of game but it looks really cute).
@NeonMullet yeah I'd love to be able to afford both and have a dedicated TV but that's more and more not the case for people
@jake1421 I think what happened was the vastly more complex differences in porting high resolution 3d games across comparatively more different console architectures
@BoFiS I believe switchup do updated reviews (on YouTube) when games are patched?
I know we say the Switch is underpowered, but given the first party games that run fantastically as well as third party miracle ports, I struggle to see how this is justified. When No Man's Sky runs pretty well on Switch, it feels like they rushed this one to get it out at the same time as other consoles rather than optimising it.
Aw man. I was looking forward to this. Why bother going to the trouble of producing a Switch version of it's going to be unplayable at launch?
I still don't get how a game with 'input delays' and 'stuttering' can be called "not bad". To me, that's the definition of bad. Inputs and feel are the most important part of a game, in my opinion.
As others have said, I miss the days when a game was tailored to the console it released on. I get it, with games taking so much more time and manpower to develop, but maybe don't smear the reputation of your studio by putting out stuff that makes you look like amateurs.
May check this out on PC if it doesn't have denuvo though. Looks like a great game.
Good thing I’m subscribed to @Lowell’s YouTube channel. He saved me from some buyer’s remorse with a timely video. I play most indie games on Switch, but this one clearly didn’t target Nintendo’s handheld. I’ve added it to my wishlist on GOG instead.
@Roz1281 The Steam version of course has Steam DRM, but a DRM-free version is coming to GOG at a later date. That’s where I’m planning to buy.
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