The Plucky QB
Searching for a hero to save me from the Halloween horrors
In an effort to embrace the Halloween spirit I’ve started/continued through a couple horror games this week. However, I’m finding myself surprisingly resistant to playing them for too long. I play for about an hour at a time before the dread becomes too much and I need to switch to something else. So you’ll have to wait until the next edition of this newsletter to hear more about my experience with those. For now, two games in particular have been acting as my safe haven from the gore and terror of the spooky season.
The Plucky Squire | The Pen is Mightier
The Plucky Squire, developed by All Possible Futures, was recently added to the PlayStation Plus game catalog, and I downloaded it without much information to go off of. I was sucked in by the beautiful storybook animation and cheery colors that signaled the kind of emotional reprieve I was yearning for after a couple hours of avoiding space zombies. No false advertising here, this is exactly what it says on the tin.
You play as Jot, the hero of the in-game book The Plucky Squire. He’s known to routinely save the day, so when you are tasked with retrieving bee’s wax from a sunglass-wearing honeybee for your wizard friend’s vinyl it seems like just another day on the job. But when the evil sorcerer Humgrump (an absolutely perfect villain name) finds a version of the book you inhabit he starts to alter the narrative for his personal gain and throws you out into the real world. You are tasked with navigating both the 2D and 3D realms to set your story straight.
As you can gather from the description, the story is loaded with character and full of fun meta moments. The wizard is DJ’ing when you are first introduced to him, the enemies are round and cute in their own way, and your sword is the tip of a fountain pen. It would fit right in on any small child’s bookshelf.
In the opening hours the moment-to-moment gameplay is reminiscent of an early top-down Zelda entry - simple directional exploration with light, somewhat repetitive, swordplay. A few additional abilities are thrown in to shake things up, but none feel all too necessary to press forward. But it’s the clever use of the story book structure that keeps things fresh. With the aforementioned ejection into the 3D space, Jot’s adventure becomes more akin to Little Nightmares minus the Tim Burton energy. You make use of common desk objects to solve environmental puzzles all while avoiding the beetles that the owner of your book apparently lets roam free in their room. Eventually, you are granted the ability to switch between the 2D and 3D spaces for an added twist. But the best feature is Jot’s ability to manipulate the storybook’s text to his advantage. Shrink objects, fill moats, and clear passages all with the swap of a few nouns and adjectives. So far in the early game most answers are pretty clear, so this isn’t something to play if you are looking for a real head scratcher. Still, it’s a joy to discover what all you can mix and match, and it inspires creative exploration.
The Plucky Squire occupies the same lane as Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s the kind of game that could easily be shared with someone younger, but has enough charm and solid foundation to continue to be enjoyable at my age as well. It’s been a nice getaway from some of the darker games I’m playing this Halloween season. Going through a chapter in-game is like reading a bedtime story as a kid, and there’s a sense of wonder here that is more typically found inside a Nintendo game.
Ultimately, there isn’t a lot of challenge to be found - at least from what I’ve played so far - but there’s more than enough stylistic flair to make up for it. This is fulfilling the role I needed from it these past couple weeks - to be the sunbeam amongst the grim games I’ve otherwise been occupied with. I’m not asking for much else.
Funnily, I found enough challenge in an unexpected game this past week.
College Football 25 | The Opening Drive
This is the first football sports game that I’ve played in some time. Growing up it was something that was always around, and I have the most fond memories of the NCAA Football series. From mascot games with my little brother to the full-on roleplaying mechanics of the 2007 edition where I took actual tests for points it just hit different.
I’ve always been fairly good at these games. Not great, mind you, but good enough that I could hop into a game and give most of my friends and family a decent competition. It always helped that the general mechanics of the game didn’t change very much - constantly sprint to rush the passer, tackle is tackle, etc. Well, I can’t say that anymore. I have no idea if I’ve gotten significantly worse at this kind of game or if they’ve just become much more complex in the years since I last played, but I’m bad y’all.
When I booted up the game for the first time earlier this week, I immediately jumped into a recreation of this past weekend’s Red River Rivalry game with the hopes of replicating the beat down my alma mater put on Oklahoma (TEXAS FIGHT!). Within two minutes of in-game time I threw a pick-6, fumbled the ball, and failed to record a single tackle that wasn’t performed by a computer-controlled player. I felt as overwhelmed as my wife must have felt the first time I played Overcooked with her. There were so many icons of different colors whizzing across the screen. When I scanned the top half of the screen for an open man I’d get demolished by a linebacker on the bottom half of the screen. Everything was moving at a speed I couldn’t acclimate to.
Humbled, I backed out and loaded up the Open Practice mode in an attempt to get my bearings. I ran the same play over and over to get a sense of the timing of a throw. I dove into the control menus and discovered there are now two types of basic tackles one can perform - this is before considering things like the Hit Stick - and there are now sub-menus for defensive actions alone. Folks, we’re using words like “Strafe” in virtual football now - the game done changed.
Now I’m torn if that change has been for the better. On one hand, my memories of running up the score against my computer opponent seem destined to stay in the past. This isn’t the kind of game I can share with a newbie and they immediately be able to compete. There’s a barrier to entry that I’m not sure I love. But on the other hand, I can already feel myself getting better and changing the way I think about not just this video game but the game of football after a handful of exhibition matches. Player positioning, wear and tear, and stadium atmosphere all have some modicum of impact on the outcome of a particular drive. I’m no longer just selecting the first defensive play suggested for me, but considering the down and distance and the benefits of choosing a zone or man coverage in a given situation. I still don’t know which to choose, but at least I’m thinking about it now!
As I said I’ve only played a few quick play games, but there are a couple more game types to explore. I’ve been impressed with what I’ve experienced so far - I haven’t said much about it but the attention to detail for the atmosphere of the game is incredibly fun to see too - enough to attempt to dive into those deeper modes. At least initially, I’ve found the experience of learning the new systems enjoyable, but I’m curious how long that will last. Is there a place in my gaming life for a sports game that requires from me the kind of tactility I typically associate with a fighting game? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to lace up the cleats to find out.