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.
PC
Playstation 5
Windows
PlayStation
Reviews
- The art style and animations are colorful and visually appealing, showcasing a unique charm.
- Some players find the game enjoyable and challenging, especially for those who appreciate difficult gameplay.
- The developers are a small team that has shown dedication to the project, and there is potential for improvement with future updates.
- The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making gameplay frustrating and difficult to manage.
- The level design is repetitive and lacks variety, often leading to tedious gameplay experiences.
- Sound design is poor, with many sound effects missing or feeling generic, detracting from the overall experience.
- gameplay28 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its clunky controls, lack of polish, and frustrating mechanics that detract from the overall experience. While some appreciate the design of levels and bosses, others find the gameplay overwhelming and inconsistent, leading to disappointment, especially when compared to similar titles like Cuphead. Overall, the game is seen as needing significant improvements to its mechanics and sound design to enhance player enjoyment.
“The gameplay is pretty well-designed overall as well, so it's clear as day to me that the developers did really take their time refining how the levels and bosses felt to play through.”
“Don't listen to all the bad reviews; the gameplay is awesome.”
“They have some good mechanics in the controls and shooting.”
“I seriously couldn't care less that this was made by 2 devs; their Kickstarter failed because everyone saw how lifeless and boring it was simply by the gameplay.”
“The gameplay mechanics just need a lot of polish.”
“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 is barely any sound effects in the game. The controls are glitchy, and you can't really jump if you are pressing the shoot button; there are just way too many disappointments.”
- music20 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The music in "Enchanted Portals" has received mixed reviews, with many players 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 soundtrack is often described as repetitive and uninspired, leading to a lack of engagement during gameplay. In contrast, the music in "Cuphead" is praised for its originality and quality, highlighting the stark difference in musical composition between the two games.
“But Cuphead went for a much harder concept, financed the game all by themselves, even mortgaging their own property to fund the lucrative process of creating the 1930's art style authentically, and hiring their childhood friend to create a full jazz soundtrack, on top of many other factors.”
“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.”
“Amazing soundtrack (the main menu theme is seriously a bop)”
“The music in Enchanted Portals either sounds like generic stock music found online, or is genuinely not great and can't be enjoyed because of how bad the game is.”
“Half of the game's soundtrack sounds like stock music, and soundscapes and many sound effects are totally missing.”
“Gameplay: 0/10, looks: 2/10, music: 0/10, overall: 0/10.”
- graphics15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a mix of styles, with some players appreciating the nostalgic, old cartoon aesthetic reminiscent of the 1930s, while others criticize the inconsistent art transitions, particularly during boss fights, which seem arbitrary and poorly executed. Despite the evident effort and talent from the small development team, many reviewers feel the overall presentation lacks cohesion and depth, leading to comparisons with more polished titles like Cuphead. While the art style has its moments of charm, it ultimately leaves some players feeling underwhelmed and disappointed.
“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.”
“Graphics are okay, but it has a lot of stock sound effects, levels are super repetitive and drawn out, and controls are weird.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, with frequent enemy spawns and constant spell switching detracting from the overall experience. The levels feel stretched and lack engaging content, leading to a sense of monotony rather than challenge. Overall, the grinding mechanics disrupt the game's flow and diminish its potential.
“But with enchanted portals, the enemies are just thrown on screen making the levels and bosses more tedious than challenging.”
“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.”
- story3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % 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. Overall, the narrative is described as a disorganized collection of ideas that fails to engage or provide clarity.
“The story is rich and immersive, drawing players into a world filled with depth and complexity.”
“The character development is exceptional, making every twist and turn in the narrative feel impactful.”
“The plot twists kept me on the edge of my seat, and the emotional stakes were incredibly high.”
“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.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is criticized for being poor, with players reporting numerous bugs and an unpolished experience that detracts from gameplay. Issues such as weapon swapping causing character freezing further exacerbate the frustration, leading to an overall negative impression of stability.
“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.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from its intentionally poor sound design, with many elements lacking sound altogether, which some players find amusing.
“The humor in this game is absolutely top-notch, with clever writing that keeps you laughing throughout.”
“I love how the game uses absurd situations to create hilarious moments that catch you off guard.”
“The quirky characters and their witty dialogue add a delightful layer of humor that makes the gameplay even more enjoyable.”
- character development1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted through the endearing and well-animated designs of enemies and bosses, which contribute to an engaging and enjoyable combat experience.
“The enemies and bosses have endearing character designs; they're all very well-animated and consistently enjoyable to fight.”
“The character development is rich and engaging, making each interaction feel meaningful and impactful.”
“I love how the characters evolve throughout the game, with their backstories and motivations becoming clearer as the story progresses.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized as being exploitative, with users feeling that it prioritizes profit over quality, likening it to a cash grab rather than a genuine effort to innovate beyond its inspirations.
“I've wanted, for years, for this to 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.”
“The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it seems designed to squeeze every penny from players rather than enhance the gaming experience.”
“It's frustrating to see a game with so much potential reduced to a series of paywalls and microtransactions.”
