Enchanted Portals
- September 5, 2023
- Xixo Games Studio
- 298h median play time
Get on Steam"Enchanted Portals" is a co-op 2D platformer where players, as rookie magicians Bobby and Penny, must fight their way back to their dimension after being stuck between dimensions. The game features challenging platform stages set in various worlds, thrilling boss battles with unique settings and phases, and a powerful arsenal of spells and moves. It offers both CO-OP and SOLO modes, with catchy music and charming old-timey art.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
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Reviews
- The art style is colorful and whimsical, with some well-animated characters and environments.
- Some players found the gameplay to be fun and challenging, especially for those who enjoy bullet-hell mechanics.
- The developers are a small team that has shown dedication to the project, and there is potential for improvement with future updates.
- The game suffers from poor controls, making movement and combat feel clunky and unresponsive.
- Levels are often repetitive and randomly generated, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences with little variation.
- Sound design is lacking, with many sound effects missing or feeling generic, detracting from the overall experience.
- gameplay57 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 28 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its clunky controls, lack of polish, and frustrating mechanics, particularly in bullet-hell scenarios. While some appreciate the design of levels and bosses, others find the gameplay overwhelming and inconsistent, leading to a lack of enjoyment. Overall, the game is seen as needing significant improvements to meet player expectations, especially in comparison to similar titles like Cuphead.
“The gameplay is pretty well-designed overall as well, so it's clear that the developers took their time refining how the levels and bosses felt to play through.”
“It's not like Cuphead's difficulty spike when going to expert where you are forced to master the game's mechanics and boss patterns, and it's actually fun and doable.”
“Don't listen to all the bad reviews; the gameplay is awesome.”
“All in all, this is an overpriced, short 4-hour experience, which is of average quality in terms of art, and is very lacking in the gameplay department.”
“This was disappointing; the gameplay is weak and either not much is happening or too much is happening. There isn't any tutorial for the game, and there isn't anything new after the opening cutscene. It's literally just a reuse from the teaser trailer because you can hear the beat drop from the trailer before the game starts. There are barely any sound effects in the game, and the sounds aren't even that good and don't really fit. The controls are glitchy, and you can't really jump if you are pressing the shoot button. There are just way too many disappointments.”
“I'm very disappointed with this game because it had a chance to be huge, but it failed big time to deliver the gameplay that was expected from it.”
- music41 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The music in "Enchanted Portals" has received mixed reviews, with many users criticizing it for sounding like generic stock music and lacking variety, which detracts from the overall experience. While some tracks are noted as decent and fitting the game's vibe, the absence of unique compositions and sound effects leaves a negative impression. In contrast, the music in "Cuphead" is praised for its originality and quality, highlighting the stark difference in musical execution between the two games.
“Though some positives are that the music and animation are good; I also do like the creativity in some portions.”
“Amazing soundtrack (the main menu theme is seriously a bop).”
“From a presentation standpoint, the animations and music are great, but the level transitions and game over screen feel unfinished - just still images that appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly.”
“Half of the game's soundtrack sounds like stock music, and soundscapes and many sound effects are totally missing.”
“Any sounds and music you do hear sound like stock assets, so I assume the devs (which consist of only 2 very hard-working dedicated individuals) probably just bought a sound asset pack, but it does fit the game's vibe well, thankfully.”
“Gameplay: 0/10, looks: 2/10, music: 0/10, overall: 0/10”
- graphics30 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a charming art style reminiscent of old cartoons, with some reviewers praising the effort and talent of the small development team. However, the frequent and seemingly random changes in art style throughout the game, particularly during boss fights, have led to criticism, with some players perceiving it as inconsistent and lacking a clear thematic purpose. While the visuals are appreciated, many feel the overall execution falls short compared to similar titles like "Cuphead."
“I absolutely love when the art style switches to this sort of Tim Burton-esque thing during the Meowitch fight.”
“There's obviously talent on this two-person team, as the drawing quality and the visuals do have something that captures an alternative old cartoon.”
“As a fan of old school cartoons from the 30s, I adore the art style and the work people put into the characters to bring the cartoon to life.”
“The art style will also randomly change throughout the game in some sections, up until the very end where the final boss will randomly switch styles per phase for seemingly no reason. The only argument is that potentially you're experiencing different universes, and thus their world style, but there is no serious indicator of this specifically happening for any reason, making it seem like just lazy or even budget art style.”
“Unfortunately, despite the obvious effort put into its animations and artwork, it was decried as shovelware trying to copy Cuphead.”
“Shit was just disappointing; the art style was semi-consistent, the levels, if you don't kill enemies, get really hard, and the levels don't have any checkpoints.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with frequent enemy spawns and constant spell switching detracting from the overall experience. The repetitive nature of the gameplay, combined with a lack of engaging content, leads to frustration rather than challenge, undermining the game's potential.
“Having to change spells every 5 seconds to kill a new enemy is just tedious.”
“It's super tedious, and there isn't a single good game I can name that has a feature like that, because it just ruins any flow and loop that your game has.”
“I really wanted to see this game come alive as the early trailers and gameplay made this seem like more than just a neat concept, but from the stock sound effects to the tedious weapon switching and the run-and-gun levels that feel stretched out and devoid of content, I don't really know.”
- story6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's story is widely criticized for being incoherent and poorly developed, with many players feeling it lacks a solid foundation or meaningful backstory. Reviewers express frustration over the absence of a proper narrative and tutorial, leading to a disjointed experience. Overall, the storytelling is deemed a significant weakness of the game.
“The whole game is just a mess of bull crap and messy ideas thrown together to call itself a 'game' with essentially a non-existent story as a basis.”
“Whoof, I hardly know where to begin... with some backstory, maybe?”
“Speaking about it, we didn't even get a proper story or tutorial.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs and an overall unpolished experience that detracts from gameplay. Weapon swapping mechanics further exacerbate the issue, as they freeze players in place, leading to frustrating moments during combat.
“The game genuinely plays and feels terrible, and is in an unpolished, buggy, and annoying state, which is completely the developers' fault.”
“When you're constantly switching through weapons, you don't have time to move since swapping freezes you in place for a second.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is largely derived from its intentionally poor sound design, with many players finding the absence of sound amusing rather than frustrating. This comedic element adds a unique charm, albeit unintentionally, to the overall experience.
- character development2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted through the endearing and well-animated designs of enemies and bosses, which contribute to their appeal and make encounters enjoyable. The consistency in animation quality enhances the overall experience of fighting these characters.
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, with users expressing disappointment that it fails to offer more than a superficial experience reminiscent of Cuphead.
“I've wanted, for years, to have this be more than just a Cuphead clone, but after spending some time with it, it's clear that this wasn't meant to be more than a cash grab.”
