Portal Knights – Game Review: A RPG That Will Keep You Busy For Hours

Looking at Portal Knights, the first thing that will come to mind is Minecraft. But the RPG has enough to be considered a separate title.

I enjoyed playing this sandbox game developed by Keen Games and published by 505 Games. I spent hours crafting and leveling up my character in Portal Knights. Even though the main premise is traveling through portals and figuring out a mystery, you’ll soon find yourself creating a house or mansion for your character and filling it up with furniture.

The gameplay is simple enough. You create a character and assign it a class. You can be a Warrior, a Ranger, or a Mage. Each class has access to specific weapons and skills. As a Mage, I could either equip a staff, wand or scythe. Leveling up provided me with points I could use to enhance my health, dexterity, strength, etc. I could also unlock class-specific talents such as a mana-shield, be able to slow down my opponents, and more.

As a Ranger, you’ll have access to throwing knives, a bow, and a crossbow. As a Warrior, you can go for a sword, hammer or an ax.

Each island is connected with a portal. To activate the portals you’ll need to use portal stones. You can craft them by collecting loot from killing enemies or mining. The story needs you to unlock all the portals and kill the bosses you encounter. However, there’s a good chance you’ll probably hop from one island or another to gain XP and resources for crafting items. You’ll also be able to collect coins which you can trade for goods from NPCs.

The enemies on each island will spawn randomly. But the kind of monsters you’ll encounter are specific to the island you’re on. Also, nighttime is dangerous compared to sunrise, with more enemies for you to battle. The resources are specific to islands, too. This gives the game a sense of replayability as you’ll need to go back to a previous island to gather resources for something new you might want to craft.

There are a total of 47 islands for you to discover. Each island has different terrain. For example, an island can be all desert, while another one can be a lush forest or have a lot of water. The visuals are bright and colorful which helps to make each island stand out.

While Portal Knights does have a storyline, it is a majorly crafting game. There’s a lot you can do. You can craft weapons, gear, potions, furniture, blocks, and more. Furthermore, crafting tables can be upgraded to unlock more items.

Portal Knights allows four-player co-operative mode. This makes the game more fun. You’ll probably need the help of friends while trying to take down stronger enemies. Also, it is fun to make a team that has members from different classes. You can also create a new character with a different class whenever you want and send them to any of the islands you’ve unlocked to change up gameplay.

Keep in mind that you’ll die a lot. The enemies are strong and you’ll need to figure out their attack pattern. You’ll also fall off islands, too. But you’ll respawn and won’t lose any of the XP or resources you’ve collected. So, it’s all good.

Portal Knights is currently available on PS4, Steam, and Xbox One? Have you played it? Let us know.

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Note: I was provided a review copy (Steam/PC) of Portal Knights from Wonacott Communications, LLC.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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