We've been waiting for it with bated breath... Le Vaillant Petit Page (The Plucky Squire in English), a game developed by the fledgling studio All Possible Futures, has been waiting for you on PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch since September 17, 2024! The game was first shown at Summer Game Fest in 2021, then at a PlayStation Showcase in May 2023, before announcing its release date last August.
You play as Laïus, a courageous page from a children's book who lives out his own adventures within the pages of the book... until he leaves the pages to live other adventures outside the book, in the children's room where the book is located. The game is graphically impeccable, as the trailer shows, and was imagined by James Turner, an artist who worked for GameFreak on the Pokémon saga.
As far as the game in question is concerned, two phases seem to be taking shape: the first in 2D, with different views, on the pages of the book, offering various gameplay mechanics, and the second in 3D, more like a platform game, outside the book. Two gameplay "phases" that you'll need to alternate to progress through the children's bedroom, through books and other images on game boxes.
Our review of Le Vaillant Petit Page :
Playing time: 19h, story over
This may well be one of our favorites of the year! Le Vaillant Petit Page charmed us on many levels, starting with its cute 2D and 3D graphics. A lovely, childlike art direction that hits the nail on the head and serves the story of Laïus' adventures.
The gameplay is ultra-innovative: the pages of the book serve as a screen for each area of the map, in 2D, and the possibility of leaving the book via portals, in a totally different 3D universe (a children's office), is a brilliant idea, varying the way you interact AND inside the book, AND outside it. The interaction of the two gameplays is also clever, though not sufficiently exploited.
We also appreciate the accessible dimension of the game, easily playable by children: here, when the character runs out of life, he doesn't die. A page turns, indicating that he gets up and rolls up his sleeves, and returns to the previous page to defeat the enemies. A nice, non-frustrating idea for enjoying the game's story.
We also like the "slightly" educational side of the software, since Laïus also has the ability to remove words from a sentence (usually an adjective) and replace them with others found on the same or other pages, thus changing the functionality or characteristic of an object. Simple sentences to help younger children learn French and the meaning of certain words.
A well-written story, full of twists and turns, and characters as amusing as they are endearing. In short, Le Vaillant Petit Page is a game to put in everyone's hands, and yours in particular, to make sure you have a good time. All you have to do is make up your own mind!
Le Vaillant Petit Page (The Plucky Squire) will be released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch. To your controllers!
For other trailers, click here:
Dates and Opening Time
Starts September 17, 2024
Official website
thepluckysquire.com
