Portal Knights

[h1]Rating: 4/10 -Disappointing[/h1] [h1]TLDR:[/h1] [b]A generic action adventure RPG that lacks spice and unique gameplay.[/b] I had this game on my mind for quite some time. I remember when it first came out in 2017. It looked interesting back then and I managed to play it on the PS4 in 2019 when it came to PS plus. I didn’t play much but I had fun. Much later in 2024, I bought the game on Steam and let it rot in my library. It’s 2026 and now is finally the time where I play the game. after nearly 9 years, I’m finally playing it. Was it worth the wait? [h1]Positive:[/h1] [b]Artstyle:[/b] The game doesn't look that impressive graphically but it does have its own style. The environment is made up of blocks while trees, enemies, items and other things are simplistic smooth models. The look of the game kind of reminds me of my childhood toy called playmobil. The game is pleasant to look at and it performs very well. [b]Islands:[/b] The game takes place on a planet called Elysia. The planet was broken into islands by the so called "fracture". You need to use portals to go from island to island. Every island is randomly generated. They have points of interest that are pre made but they will get randomly placed in the world. Each island has a differnt type of biome. There are desert islands, green grass islands and snowy islands. The world generation works fine and the islands are interesting to explore for the most part. [h1]Negative:[/h1] [b]Generic:[/b] This game is quite generic. The combat as warrior is just hit and dodge over and over again. You kill enemies to get portal shards to craft them into portal blocks to open new portals. You do boring quests to gain XP to become stronger. You mine and collect materials to craft better weapons and tools. That’s the gameplay loop. That is the whole game. I‘VE PLAYED THESE GAMES BEFORE. If you‘ve played Minecraft, Zelda or RPG‘s then you‘ve already played this game. [b]Quests:[/b] All of the quests that NPC's give you are lame. They are either a fetch quest, a "craft an item for me" quest or a kill quest. They aren't difficult and the rewards are lame. XP is mostly the only useful thing that quests can give you. You get some good items here and there but most of the items are common loot. Even after hours of playing, NPC's still gave me portal shards which is something that every enemy drops. [b]Walking Speed:[/b] You walk way too slowly in this game. Even after investing a decent amount of skill points into movement speed, you still walk too slow. You are able to roll which is mainly used in combat but you can also spam it outside of combat, which is a bit faster than normal walking. I feel like im back in Ocarina of Time again on the Hyrule field, spamming the roll button. [b]Music:[/b] The game has decent music that fits the game pretty well. However, the tracks aren’t long and loop often. I got tired of the music after 3 hours. There is outdoor and indoor music. If you explore an area with many buildings, the music will change from outdoor to indoor and outdoor again, over and over. It doesn’t sound great. [b]Can't Pause The Game:[/b] Self explanatory. I can press "ESC" to open the "pause menu" but the game world keeps running. There's a chance that monsters will attack you while you're AFK if you aren't careful. I'm playing the game in single player and I cannot properly pause the game... [b]DLC Reminders:[/b] The game often reminds you that there is DLC. I'm not talking about pop ups. It starts at the character creation screen. There are 3 base game classes and 2 DLC classes which are locked but still visible. Even the crafting menu isn't safe. You're able to see and craft items which you can't use if you don't have the DLC. I hate it when games show you DLC items, even though you don't have the DLC. This reminds me of Outlast Trials where you're able to see locked DLC outfits in your wardrobe. It's not a big deal but it just feels a bit rude and greedy. Don't clutter the crafting menu with DLC items when I don't own the DLC's. After playing for a bit more, I managed to get an armor piece that I wasn’t allowed to wear because I didn’t have the DLC class… [b]Achievements Locked Behind DLC:[/b] Self explanatory. F*ck this game. [b]Vacant Islands:[/b] Vacant islands are islands that you are able to buy. They are flat islands which are filled with flora. They are kind of like a small flatmap from Minecraft but with trees scattered around. Their main purpose is to give you space for you to build your own buildings and create your own island. Sounds really cool on paper but motivation quickly turnen into frustration when I realized how tedious it would be to edit the world. There is no way to edit your world quickly like making a mountain somewhere to give your island a bit of depth. There is no world editor mode to terraform. If you want a mountain or more varied terrain, you have to build it block by block. Im not gonna put up with that. [b]Game Difficulty:[/b] The game doesn't have selectable difficulties. There's only one for every player. The game is way too easy for me. Sure, I got clapped in the early game a bit so I went on farming materials for health potions. I ended up never using them though. I've got 50 potions that I farmed for nothing. The game gets even easier the further you progress up to the point where you don't even need potions anymore. [b]Late Game Grind:[/b] Towards the end you have to grind portal shard. You used to get tons of blue shards in the early game but the green shards appear more rarer and require you to kill more enemies. It got really annoying. [b]Minor Inconvenience:[/b] Chests have craft tiers (copper, iron and gold). Copper chests are unlocked in the early game and hold the least amount of items while gold chests are unlocked in the late game and can hold a lot more items (neat idea). I unlocked iron chests and tried to easily replace my copper chests. Turns out, you have to destroy the old chest and then place the iron chest in its place. Your items will spill into the room and you will have to reorganise your chest each time you do this. Thankfully, I only ever used 3 chests but imagine someone that has a whole warehouse of chests. If I were a dev, I would've made it so that you would be able to click on the copper chest while holding your iron chest to upgrade it. You get the copper chest back which you can sell + your chest has been successfully upgraded without much hassle. Have you played satisfactory? In this game, you're able to upgrade structures that are already in place by just selecting the blueprint of the upgraded version and then clicking on the old version. [b]Final Boss:[/b] The whole game revolves around the evil shadow king. When you finally reach him, he's just another boss. There is no dialogue or anything to make him intimidating. I was expecting something like ganondorf but he was just another mute boss. After you beat him, the game just ends. No emotion, no nothing. HE DROPPED DLC LOOT. BIG F*CK YOU TO THE DEVELOPERS. [h1]Conclusion:[/h1] Like I said in the intro: Was it worth the wait? Not really sadly. 6 hours in, it started to feel quite boring. Still entertaining but not as much as I had hoped for. I installed some other games to play alongside of Portal Knights because I got bored of it. I like Minecraft and I like RPG mechanics but Portal Knights was unable to hook me. The main gameplay loop just gets so boring after a while. You enter a new island, you explore it and gather the resources and complete quests. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s just bland and repetitive. A new gamer might really enjoy this game but for someone that has played games for over a decade, it’s really lackluster. I was planning on building a cool house but the game just isn't worth the time. This might be the lamest RPG I've ever played.

Basic stats, bad controls, and terrible camera angles completely ruin this game. Playing as an archer or mage requires no aiming; it's just brain dead single button gameplay. Add in a skill system that makes no sense with frustratingly boring maps and missions, It's an easy pass. Not recommended. 3/10.

The game has a surprising amount of depth. I have had an absolute blast playing with my 5 year old (who much of the time I had to carry). The game allows you to mix and match armor and spells from different classes giving a bit of build variety. Late game you can use this to open up some cool movement options not expected for what looks on the surface to be a Minecraft clone. If you are able to make sure to craft Wings and use it alongside the Warriors Leap skill to fly across the map. The Rogue class in the Rogues and Elves DLC is some of the best Rogue game-play I have ever seen.

i will always maintain that a game 20 dollars or over should not have dlc over 5 dollars this game has 10 its alright and kinda fun but it also feels super lonely compared to other sandbox games. I don't know how to describe it, it feels like you're playing on a long abandoned server. Like you're playing a game from the early 2000s and know all the devs have moved on with their lives like you're playing a ghost. Its alright tho

A good game that runs well but it seems like it needs some updates to make it better and have more depth but it is good as is

[b]Introduction :[/b] Portal Knights est un jeu d'action-RPG bac à sable développé par Keen Games et édité par 505 Games, sorti en version 1.0 en 2017 après un passage en accès anticipé. Le concept mélange exploration, construction à la Minecraft et combats RPG : on incarne un héros qui voyage d'île flottante en île flottante via des portails, en récoltant des ressources, en bâtissant son repaire et en taillant du monstre, seul ou jusqu'à quatre en coopération. [b]Ce que j'ai aimé :[/b] [list] [*]🎨 La direction artistique colorée et chaleureuse fait mouche : chaque biome a son ambiance, sa faune et ses matériaux, et l'ensemble dégage un charme cartoon vraiment agréable à parcourir. [*]🏝️ La génération des îles offre une vraie variété d'écosystèmes : monstres différents, végétation, minerais, on a toujours envie de franchir le prochain portail pour voir ce qu'il y a derrière. [*]🔨 Le volet construction est suffisamment riche pour s'amuser à bâtir son coin sans la lourdeur de certains sandbox plus exigeants : parfait pour poser ses ressources tranquillement. [*]👥 Le coop jusqu'à quatre joueurs transforme le jeu en pur défouloir entre potes : c'est là qu'il prend toute sa dimension, un vrai jeu "popcorn" à plusieurs. [*]🎵 Les musiques sont mignonnes et la prise en main est immédiate : on lance, on comprend tout en deux minutes, et on enchaîne les sessions sans prise de tête. [/list] [b]Ce que j'ai moins aimé :[/b] [list] [*]⚔️ Les combats sont simplistes et deviennent vite répétitifs : on tourne autour de l'ennemi en tapant, et le système ne se renouvelle pas vraiment sur la longueur. [*]📜 Le scénario et les quêtes sont anecdotiques : la plupart se résument à « va chercher tel objet » sans réel effort d'écriture ni contexte motivant. [*]🧩 Le mélange des genres ne contente pleinement personne : trop limité pour les puristes du sandbox, trop léger pour les fans de RPG d'action pur. [/list] [b]Conclusion :[/b] Portal Knights ne révolutionne rien et ne satisfera pas à fond ni les mineurs acharnés de sandbox ni les fans de RPG nerveux. Mais pris pour ce qu'il est — un jeu d'aventure cosy et coloré à dévorer en coop — il remplit parfaitement son rôle. Avec mes 1200 heures dessus, je peux dire que c'est un excellent jeu détente, accessible aux petits comme aux grands, idéal pour une bande de potes ou une partie en famille. Si tu cherches un sandbox-RPG sans prise de tête à partager, fonce. Recommandé. [b]Note :[/b] ★★★★☆

Игра в которой воин единственный нормальный класс, у остальных проблемы с балансом и талантами и как бы ты не старался, вывести их во что-то невозможно. Боссы с ваншот атаками, а также их приспешники с ваншот атаками, которые переживает воин и друид, а у других вообще нет шансов, может если повезет. Я думал закрывать игру на фул, но войдя в рифт я охуел, высокий рифт уничтожает моралку, когда тебе ставят таймер и говорят иди ищи сундуки, еще убей всех, а ну еще разгадай загадочки + найди обелиск, ну это ♥♥♥♥♥♥ просто уже, даже видосы с гайдами не помогли, потому что все рандомно. Игра подавала надежды, но как, только я стал тестить разные билды против хард-боссов и на них урона вообще не было, то это повергло меня в шок, как можно было сделать такой баланс? Только воин и друид сносят хард-боссам больше 60 % хп за 1 ходку, а другие идут нафиг и с учетом того, что я использовал усиление воина с талантами на силу и абилками мага и один фиг, ман и рейнджер не показали из себя ничего. Игра, которая вынесет тебе мозг, вот и все.

It's ok

combat mechanics could be better, but atmosphere is good and the game is overall really fun

Portal Knights is a difficult game to review because it’s a decent game at its core, but it’s really easy to tell that they planned for it to be much more than it is. Further, I suspect the team could have elevated it into a truly great game if they continued to support it. Unfortunately, my understanding is that the publisher effectively has full control at this point, and the original team has moved on to their next project. As it stands, PK is an interesting blend of genres that mostly adds up to a hodgepodge of shallow mechanics. Combat is serviceable, being pretty simple but never really feeling satisfying. There is an elemental system, which I usually found mildly annoying instead of satisfying. Crafting is good enough, but I felt certain materials (even within the same tier) were abundant while you had to actively farm others. While I was happy to upgrade my equipment, upgrades usually felt at least a little lackluster. Further, upgrades seemed to be somewhat rare (4 Tiers, usually delayed by the need to upgrade your furnace before you can process ore into bars), wherein then you would unlock a couple of very similar options that only marginally impacted playstyle. Crafting also interacts a little awkwardly with the light looting elements and the ability to occasionally buy equipment. Mostly in that crafting is always the better choice. While looted armor sets are nearly as good as what you can craft, looting is also very inconsistent. You can occasionally buy unique weapons and armor, but the one time I was actually able to buy a meaningful upgrade (which was available through a [i]random[/i] event), the armor set was level capped. By the time I could actually wear the set, my next crafting upgrade was imminent and rendered the purchased set obsolete. To be fair, I may be overselling the issues, but the progression curve is off enough to be noticeable, and I suspect that a little tweaking after release would have made a big difference. Related to crafting (and leading well into building), storage was a major problem. Available space always felt at least a little too restricted. Storage upgrades are available, but they require you to manually replace the old chests (which involves moving items from that chest to another, so you can then move the old chest to replace it with the upgrade, then you can start filling the new one). There’s also a weird interaction with building here. You unlock new island types and materials (including those for building) as you play. This kind of incentivizes you to hold off on building a base until you have a good idea of what’s available. However, because storage is kind of limited, you really need to build a base immediately to organize things and use your crafting stations. At that point, because you have to manually move items, you aren’t going to want to relocate. There are empty planets you can buy access to (via Title Deeds) for building (one for each type of planet), but most of these aren’t available until pretty late game. Most people seem to just make Squire's Knoll (the first island) their homebase. I’d recommend that, or one of the building planets you can buy from Island Merchant Tori in Fort Finch, for most players. Otherwise, building is actually pretty enjoyable. It’s a little rough, too, but the system will pleasantly surprise you. If you just want to build, there is a creative mode available. While I wouldn’t recommend Portal Knights - and honestly kind of felt like playing it was mostly a waste of my time - I liked it enough and, more importantly, was impressed enough with it’s potential that I’m following [i]Enshrouded[/i], the team’s current project, and would be interested if they ever came back to make a Portal Knights sequel. I [i]might[/i] recommend it as a casual couch co-op experience or if someone was looking for a building game with a creative mode, but I honestly think it doesn’t excel at either. My strongest recommendation may be to game designers looking to do something similar; it can be really creatively inspiring to interact with media that is almost there while also having flaws that allow room for development and personalization.