Enchanted Portals is a platform video game developed and published by Xixo Games Studio. It was released on September 5, 2023, for Microsoft Windows, September 8, 2023 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and November 1 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game drew comparisons to the 2017 platformer Cuphead, with whom it shares its gameplay and visual style, and received largely negative reviews.
| Enchanted Portals | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Xixo Games Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Xixo Games Studio |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch |
| Release | September 5, 2023
|
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
Enchanted Portals is a 2D platformer in which players take the role of Bobby and Penny, rookie wizards stuck between dimensions after an accident involving a magic book. The game can be played either alone or cooperatively. Enchanted Portals consists of platforming stages broken up by boss fights, with players being able to utilize various magical power-ups to help them overcome challenges.
Plot
While Bobby and Penny are doing housework, the former accidentally knocks a book off of a shelf. When the two look at it, they see instructions for creating a portal and follow the steps to make one. However, the portal that Bobby and Penny create ends up sucking the two inside of it, along with their pet cat and the magic book, which soon becomes alive.
Bobby and Penny explore a variety of different worlds, including a forest with a haunted hotel, a spaceship piloted by a cyborg cow, an island with a temple, a castle with frogs, and a town populated by roosters. While making it through all of these dimensions, they fight the worlds' hostile inhabitants and look for the sentient magic book.
After making it through every world, Bobby and Penny end up in a wormhole, where the magic book tries to kill the two with his spells. After Bobby and Penny finally defeat the magic book in battle, they return home right when an older wizard (presumably their caretaker) arrives. Later, the magic book tells another book (most likely his father) about what Bobby and Penny did to him, hinting that the latter book might seek retribution against the two wizards.
Development
In October 2019, Xixo Games Studio, a Spanish two-person development team, announced that they were planning to fund Enchanted Portals via a Kickstarter campaign. After a delay due to negotiations with a prospective publisher, the campaign was launched in 2020. The Kickstarter failed to meet its €120,000 goal.
Enchanted Portals was released on September 5, 2023, for Windows via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and three days later for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. A physical release of the PlayStation 5 version referred to as the Tales Edition was released on September 29. The game was released on the Nintendo Switch on November 1, 2023.
Reception
A trailer for the game was released on YouTube and Twitter on October 8, 2019. Viewers negatively compared the game to its inspiration, Cuphead.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 42/100 (PS5) |
| OpenCritic | 10% |
Upon release, Enchanted Portals received a number of negative reviews, with review aggregator Metacritic summarizing the critical reception of the PlayStation 5 version as "generally unfavorable". Jaz Sagoo of COGconnected criticised the game's imprecise controls, uneven difficulty, lack of sound design, and sometimes inconsistent aesthetics, but noted that it almost captures the 1930s art style overall. Writing for WellPlayed, Kieran Stockton voiced similar criticisms, calling the game an "Aldi-style mimicry of Cuphead" and giving it a "poor" rating overall. Joey Rambles of Cultured Vultures reviewed the game more favourably after having played a pre-release demo and stated that Enchanted Portals was frustrating but also rewarding, but revised his impression after the game had been released and noted that it primarily failed where it diverged from Cuphead. On OpenCritic, the reception from top critics is "weak", with less than 10% of the general critics recommending it.