During the latest PlayStation Showcase, The Plucky Squire received an updated trailer giving players a better look at the dimension-hopping storybook adventure which could place it as the next LittleBigPlanet success story. At its inception, the LittleBigPlanet series was an alternative to a sweeping trend in the gaming industry of increasing realism and violence that matched improving technology and maturing players. With its strong emphasis on community and creativity, LittleBigPlanet earned critical acclaim and secured itself as a game for everyone, but with no new mainline LittleBigPlanet games since 2014, The Plucky Squire could pick up this mantle instead.
Backed by the indie publishing powerhouse Devolver Digital and former art director James Turner from Game Freak, The Plucky Squire has all the pedigree it needs to easily place it alongside LittleBigPlanet for its own chance to succeed. With a similar approach of transforming household items and environments into clever level design, The Plucky Squire immediately emulates the same visual and play feel that LittleBigPlanet strove for. Yet, the debut game from All Possible Futures appears to aspire to so much more, blending 2D and 3D gameplay together with parallels between Link's Awakening and Paper Mario.
Creating Games That Everyone Can Enjoy
A recent trend within indie games is a concerted effort to be different from the current competition, whether this is through art style, gameplay mechanics, or story. For example, successful indie games include the likes of Cuphead, which was celebrated for its authentic 1920s rubber hose animation, while Hollow Knight gained support for its enigmatic story about a diminutive insect kingdom. But these games and many others like them have steep learning curves and often aim for an older audience of players, ultimately leaving a gap that games like LittleBigPlanet once filled which focused less on challenge and instead looked to build communities.
So while The Plucky Squire could be compared to Paper Mario for certain gameplay mechanics and 2D art style or Link's Awakening's toy-like 3D design, it still stands as an outlier among many other indie games as it aims to be a game everyone can enjoy instead of just an older crowd. While an older range of players might be more likely to play and support the game such as through live streams and lets plays, The Plucky Squire seems to be aiming for the coveted position that LittleBigPlanet held in its heyday that aims to provide a fun and creative experience through which it can build its own community.
The Plucky Squire Should Embrace LittleBigPlanet's Creativity
One of the biggest selling points for LittleBigPlanet was its focus on user-generated content. While there were story campaigns that could be played solo or with friends, the series hosted an extensive collection of player-created levels that showcased their ingeniousness and creativity with the game mechanics and level editors.
If The Plucky Squire is to follow on from where LittleBigPlanet left off, then it will need to do more than draw players in with a fourth-wall-breaking story. With The Plucky Squire's multimedia style and seemingly modular approach to hybridizing 2D and 3D level design, there's ample creative potential to explore.
Though this might present a challenge for a debut game from an indie developer, especially for an expected release later in 2023, a possible level editor and online community could really help secure The Plucky Squire as the next LittleBigPlanet. Even if not available at launch, it isn't uncommon for even the biggest games such as Portal 2 or Fall Guys to update with a level editor, so The Plucky Squire could prioritize delivering a polished game and then follow this with its level creator. With the breadth of game styles, characters, enemies, and environments already showcased, The Plucky Squire could truly take over in LittleBigPlanet's stead.
The Plucky Squire is set to be released in 2023 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
