Ludography
42/100
Metacritic6 critic reviews
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
30/100
GameFAQsJust Right
2.5/5
Player reviews
40% positive291 reviews
Steam Deck
Unsupported
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$19.99

Where to get it

Enchanted Portals cover

2023 · Arcade · Indie

Enchanted Portals

Bobby and Penny, rookie magicians, enter an adventure to get back to their dimension and retrieve the Magic Book in Enchanted Portals, a co-op 2D platformer.

Released
5 September 2023
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchPlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/S
Genres
ArcadeIndiePlatformerShoot 'em upShooter
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
ActionFantasyKids
Country
Spain
Age ratings
GRAC 15+USK 12ACB PGCLASS_IND 10PEGI 7ESRB T
Languages
Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, English (UK), Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese and 9 more
Time to beat
4hmain story5hcompletionist

About

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. It received largely negative reviews.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

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 utilise various magical power-ups to help them overcome challenges. These power-ups include three kinds of spell attacks, a protective bubble to block an attack, and the ability to swipe at certain obstacles with the playable character's wand. Some boss levels also add certain changes in the gameplay or setting.

Story

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 spooky forest with a haunted hotel, a spaceship piloted by a cyborg cow, an island with an ancient 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.

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 6, 2023, for Windows. It was later released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on September 8. 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 in Europe on October 23, and in North America on November 1.

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.

Upon release, Enchanted Portals received a number of negative reviews, with review aggregator Metacritic summarising the critical reception of the PlayStation 5 version as "generally unfavorable". On OpenCritic, the reception from top critics is "weak", with less than 20% of the general critics recommending it.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Releases by platform
PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows5 September 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 58 September 2023Worldwide
Xbox Series X/S8 September 2023Worldwide
Xbox One8 September 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 419 October 2023Worldwide
Nintendo Switch1 November 2023Worldwide

Title IDsone per regional release, with its latest update

Title ids and disc serials by release
PlatformTitle IDRegionLatest update
Nintendo Switch01008C701C774000—v4
PlayStation 4CUSA44787Asia01.03
CUSA44785Europe01.03
CUSA44786Japan01.03
CUSA44784North America01.03

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Collections4 collections

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.