Pokemon Sword and Shield Art Director's New Studio Announces The Plucky Squire
News broke Thursday morning that Pokemon Sword and Shield art director James Turner had left Game Freak to open a new studio, All Possible Futures, with The Swords of Ditto director Bidds. The news came as a shock to many who associated Turner with the design of new Pokemon going back through several past Pokemon generations. A bigger surprise was to follow, however, as Turner and All Possible Futures' first game, The Plucky Squire, was since announced during the Devolver Direct 2022 presentation.
At first glance, The Plucky Squire looks to have taken a significant amount of inspiration from The Swords of Ditto. The Devolver Direct announcement trailer opens with a 2D sequence where players journey through a storybook as its pages turn. The Plucky Squire quickly rewires expectations, however, as protagonist Jot the squire ends the book and leaps off the page. It seems that The Plucky Squire will mix both 2D adventuring with 3D.
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Describing The Plucky Squire's gameplay as simple adventuring does it a disservice, however. It's clear that the team at All Possible Futures plans to fill The Plucky Squire with a wildly diverse range of gameplay experiences. In 2D alone, Jot is shown performing both isometric and side-scrolling combat, completing adventuring puzzles with collected items, fighting a bear with mechanics from Punch-Out!!, shooting bugs with SHMUP action on the side of a mug, and more.
The 3D gameplay of The Plucky Squire isn't given the same amount of time to showcase the diverse range of ideas that the 2D side of the game does, but they're there. There's some Pikmin-style ally gathering, melee combat, and unique traversal elements. The bedroom where the game is set
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