What’s the first thing that runs through your mind upon taking but a cursory glance at any gameplay footage or marketing material related to Enchanted Portals? You may have more than a few questions or thoughts – most of which will undoubtedly contain mention of 2017’s outstanding love letter to 30’s animation, Cuphead. Was this made by the same developers? Is this a sequel? If not, is Enchanted Portals and its contents at least distinct enough to potentially avoid any incoming legal documentation tied to a brick being flung through the studio’s window in response? The answers to the first two inquiries, at least, is a resounding no. The third question I’ll leave up to Studio MDHR’s discretion.

You see, Enchanted Portals wears its inspired-by-Cuphead badge on its sleeve, pants, wrists, and face. It, too, attempts (in theory) to capture the aesthetic and rubber hose glory of the cartoons of yesteryear - utilising the general gameplay formula of Cuphead as its foundation. Developed by Xixo Games Studio, a two-person team based in Spain, the title had a lot to live up to after its initial reveal if it ever hoped to stand a chance of holding its own within the shadow of its towering muse.



Unfortunately, and I truly wish I wasn’t saying this, Enchanted Portals fails spectacularly at capturing not only the magic of its source of inspiration, but also at being an enjoyable game. Launching the title for the first time and sitting through its brief opening cutscene left me with a decent enough impression, a sense of hope. The premise seemed simple enough. While tidying up, Bobby and Penny (our dual protagonists) cast a spell from within the pages of a book they accidentally knock off a shelf. Something goes horribly wrong and they’re both sucked up into a portal leading to realms unknown. You’re then dropped into the first level, or world, seemingly tasked with capturing the now sentient book that got you into this mess to begin with.

In an absolutely baffling decision, Xixo have either forgotten to or purposefully omitted displaying button prompts alongside the instructional imagery on-screen.

These side-scrolling levels are Enchanted Portals’ equivalent of Cuphead’s run-and-gun sections. You know the drill - move to the right, jump from platform to platform if necessary, and take out any enemies that stand in your way. The first area, a haunted forest, additionally serves as the tutorial zone, complete with informative imagery as you progress along the path. The only problem here is that the pretty illustrations telling me to melee a tree branch or to zap an overhead bat into nothingness with my primary magical attack are totally devoid of any actual guidance. In an absolutely baffling decision, Xixo have either forgotten to or purposefully omitted displaying button prompts alongside the instructional imagery on-screen. As a result, you’ll have to dive into the control section of the options menu if you want to know how to play. In the tutorial.



I can forgive that, though. It’s not the end of the world. As I continued onward and spent more time with Enchanted Portals, however, my concerns began to skyrocket. The side-scrolling levels consist of multiple “corridors”, each accompanied by an underwhelming transitionary image or slideshow, culminating in a boss battle at the end. Usually, death at any point sends you back to the start of the area - the only checkpoint awaiting you sits at the boss itself. You’d be forgiven for assuming otherwise, as the cheerful cat on a cloud that appears at the halfway point of each level seems to indicate otherwise. This might not sound too bad on paper, but the difficulty of getting there coupled with the sheer length of each “corridor” is a sure-fire recipe for frustration.

Your main method of offence, as already mentioned, consists of three spell types: fire, ice, and wind (or red, blue, and green respectively). Most enemies that pop up glow with an aura that reflects one of these three colours and can only be dealt with by switching to the appropriate magic type via the D-pad. Annoyingly, there seems to be no rhyme or reason when it comes to the appearance and behaviour of a large amount of (if not all, save for bosses) the game’s enemies, very rarely displaying anything resembling a solid pattern. Sometimes one will arrive, occasionally two. Maybe even more than that if you’re speeding ahead. The point is, you’re never going to run short on enemies and their attacks coming at you hard and fast. Though you might be tempted to, making a beeline for the end of each level is never a good idea as most enemies will remain visible for extended periods of time, relentless in their pursuit.



The huge downside to the way enemies work manifests in the form of frequent instances of guaranteed cheap damage or overlapping colour types resulting in you not knowing which spell to pick and effectively blocking one enemy from taking damage entirely. For example, a red and a green enemy may sit directly on top of each other. You whip out your wind magic and blast away, only to realise that the game has decided the red enemy is on top, rendering the green guy untouchable.

The list goes on and on, each small issue enthusiastically playing its part in forming the greater, unpleasant whole.

These kinds of issues carry over into nearly every aspect of the combat and controls, much to my dismay, combining to create an altogether unpleasant and imprecise experience. You’re allowed to fire off attacks while double jumping but are unable to switch spell types while airborne, for example. A bubble shield can be briefly activated (featuring a slight delay) to mitigate incoming attacks, with the caveat of not being able to move while encased. There are many instances where a simple ducking move would suffice to dodge an approaching projectile, a feature mysteriously absent from Enchanted Portals. Meanwhile, the dash ability sends you flying off to either the left or the right and would be of more practical use if it didn’t come with a roughly 2-second cooldown. The list goes on and on, each small issue enthusiastically playing its part in forming the greater, unpleasant whole.



Quickly swapping between attacking and dodging can often feel slow or unresponsive and, despite your best efforts, you’ll likely never feel totally comfortable with manoeuvring around or responding to enemies. You can have the fastest reactions in the world, but it doesn’t mean a damn thing if the game itself fails to facilitate consistent rapid controller input.

You’ll have to get used to having spell switches momentarily halt your character’s forward momentum as well, in addition to having to push the attack button again if you were holding it down when the switch took place. When you’re dealing with multiple on-screen hostiles at the same time, many requiring different spell types to down, this can really screw you over. There’s no satisfaction to be gained from these attacks, either - enemies don’t seem to visually react to your arcane pea shooter at all, and your spells lack any serious sense of impact. At least they drop hearts fairly often, so keeping yourself healthy shouldn’t be too much of a worry.



Easily the biggest positive and charm point of Enchanted Portals lies in its art direction – most (not all) of the enemies are filled with plenty of that 30’s-era animation goodness. Having said that, there are extremely noticeable differences in visual style, animation fluidity, and quality between the various worlds, some areas even looking a bit on the unpolished side. The side-scrolling backgrounds, despite their inconsistent appearance and tendency towards repetition, are detailed and colourful enough to hold my interest. Some even remind me of the illustrations from the Usborne Puzzle Adventures books I’d become engrossed with when I was younger.

The side-scrolling backgrounds, despite their inconsistent appearance and tendency towards repetition, are detailed and colourful enough to hold my interest.

These pieces of artwork dutifully serve as the contrasting backdrop to the often-monotonous gameplay that makes up much of the title, giving one the impression that more attention was spent on the visuals than the actual controls, gameplay, and sound effects – many of which simply don’t exist. Boss fights are another highlight and a slight breath of fresh air from everything leading up to the clash itself. These battles are largely more tolerable than the average mob swarm and come in some rather interesting forms and flavours.



For all the negatives I’ve mentioned, there is a shot at improvement here, as Xixo has since committed to addressing as many issues as reasonably possible post-launch. A recently introduced turbo mode addition was patched in, offering a speed increase for players who find the current pacing to be too slow for their liking. How much these patches will fix the core gameplay issues remains to be seen.

Enchanted Portals is a soulless, disappointing attempt at capturing the magic and ingenuity that filled Cuphead to the brim. Its bland gameplay, frustrating controls, and erratic difficulty spikes (for all the wrong reasons) don’t hold a candle to the mostly pleasant visual elements on display here. The time investment and colossal patience it expects of its players has no worthwhile payoff or associated sense of achievement, and many will likely see no reason to push on beyond the first boss encounter. That is, if they even make it that far. As it stands, I can’t in good conscience recommend this game. I strongly suggest waiting for any further updates from the devs regarding post-launch fixes or gameplay tweaks before spending any cash.

*PS5 Review code provided by Xixo Games Studio | Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius