Developer All Possible Futures

P ublisher Devolver Digital

Format PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Xbox Series

Release Out now

Little in fiction is as dull as the hero who always wins, in particular those who do so while barely breaking a sweat. So as Jot, the star of The Plucky Squire children’s books, heads off to stop the evil wizard Humgrump once again, it’s hardly a shock that everyone – Jot included – seems to be going through the motions. We’re thankful, in fact, that Humgrump has a trick up his ample sleeves when we arrive to confront him. Having figured out he’s a fictional character in a story, and that he’s destined to lose, the mage has mastered the art of ‘metamagic’ and banishes Jot to the reality beyond the book, along with the certainty of a happy ending.

This switch, although fully expected if you’ve seen so much as a trailer for The Plucky Squire since it was announced, is as magical as the story would have us believe, and All Possible Futures commits fully to its concept, even before Jot is ejected onto the bedroom desk of the book’s owner, Sam. When you’re moving inside the pages of the wide, squat hardback, each scene is depicted as a two-page spread, sharply illustrated and bathed in blocks of colour, the words of the story emerging as you tread around the paper. The default view here is classic 2D Legend Of Zelda, but anything two-dimensional goes. Side-on platforming pages are a common turn, some rotating the book vertically so you make your way up or down, while set-piece battles zoom in on Jot’s surprisingly muscular frame for minigames – a Punch-Out!!-style duel with a honey badger the earliest example.