Zelda-Inspired Plucky Squire Shows What Happens When A Game Doesn't Trust Its Players
kotaku.com
This charming adventure could afford to take a few steps back

You see, The Plucky Squire falls prey to one of modern gaming’s most well-intentioned, but still utterly annoying, sins and overtly tutorializes everything. When it deigns to allow the player to pop out of their storybook for a 3D platforming level, the camera pans across the entirety of the stage outlining the intended path before you’ve even really set foot in the world. Even within the confines of the 2D world in the book, The Plucky Squire will often deploy humorous narration via onscreen text and a corresponding voiceover, which adds flavor to the game but also explicitly communicates what is expected of you at every turn.

At just about every step of the way, the game lacks any faith in your ability to figure out solutions and paths forward for yourself, preferring to bludgeon you over the head with answers before you can even be afforded a chance to think for yourself. It’s a frustrating wrinkle in an otherwise charming tale.

  • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.netOP
    17·
    3 months ago

    I’m currently playing UFO 50, which is a game by Derek Yu and friends. The games are “fake” 1980s NES games. You pick a random game out of the list of 50 and there’s little to no instructions on how to play any of the games.

    You just press start and see where it takes you, just like classic games.

    There’s a lot of joy in discovery.

    • Chloyster [she/her]@beehaw.orgM
      8·
      3 months ago

      Gotta agree on UFO 50. It’s an absolutely stellar game. I’ve mostly dropped plucky squire in favor of it, although I do want to at least finish it

    • Exec
      2·
      3 months ago

      Is that a modern take on Action 52?

      • Chloyster [she/her]@beehaw.orgM
        8·
        3 months ago

        More or less. It’s like action 52 but good.

        It also has a whole fake narrative tied to it. The collection is 50 games released by the company “UFO Soft,” a fake game company. Each game has little blurbs on its history. Some games have multiple entries to their series, some are one off. Others are “spiritual successors” to others. It’s a whole little universe in the game. And even though not every game so far has been for me, they are all at the least creative and interesting. And some games I absolutely adore and want to play through to the end asap. I’ve only just touched the 25th game and have ~ 15 hours. And I know some will take me a long time. There are also secrets to find outside of the 50 games. The menu has a terminal and you can find hidden codes that give God modes to games, and some provide hidden lore of the universe this game company exists in