Parents' Guide to

Portal Knights

By Marcia Morgan, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Addictive sandbox crafting adventure with RPG elements.

Game Mac, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One 2017
Portal Knights Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Portal Knights Game: Screenshot #1
  • Portal Knights Game: Screenshot #2
  • Portal Knights Game: Screenshot #3
  • Portal Knights Game: Screenshot #4

Community Reviews

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age 6+

Based on 2 parent reviews

David M.
David M. Parent of 5 and 8-year-old
November 21, 2021
age 6+

Building and adventure

Our 5 and 8 year old love to play this. This is the game that taught our 5-year old to use all the buttons on the Xbox controller. After nearly a year this is still her favorite game. You can play adventure mode, with monsters and quests (reading required to understand quests, but they aren't necessary), or you can play creative mode where you just build. A bit like Minecraft, but cuter graphics and music.
thewallaby
thewallaby Parent of 6 and 8-year-old
September 3, 2018
age 6+

Good Minecraft based sandbox title with better graphics and modes than Minecraft

There is no more violence than there is on Minecraft. However, the game is beautiful compared to Minecraft and the gameplay much more fluid. There is no nudity or bad language in this game. Also all the crafting is logical, like for example when making a stone axe you need to gather wood and stone. Minecraft is not in that aspect. A very good and cheap alternative that also supports gaming for LAN and online gaming with very easy setup. I bought 3 lisences for my kids 6 and 8 and they are going crazy over it. I actually enjoy playing it too. Think of it as a crossover between Minecraft and WoW without the violence, gore or language. The games also offers progressive worlds (adventure mode) through it's smart Portal system that makes you revisit old world for materials. +on gameplay there. One of the most kid friendly co-op titles out there.

This title has:

Great messages
Easy to play/use
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In PORTAL KNIGHTS, players are on a quest to become the ultimate Portal Knight. The world has been torn into pieces, and it's up to the Portal Knights to rebuild it from scratch. Players have to venture out to recover magical shards, which can rebuild ancient gateways connecting the fractured world. Travel between randomly generated 3-D sandbox worlds, each with unique environments, creatures, and resources for crafting. No two worlds are the same, and houses, caves, buildings, and dungeons are filled with all sorts of surprises. Along the way, the heroes will collect various resources, which they can then use to build a home filled with the treasures from their journeys. And since any adventurer worth his salt knows that it's dangerous to go alone, players can call on up to three friends to join their game and team up to fight the forces of evil and create a brand new world, brick by brick.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (3):

This adventure is best described as an adorable combination of Minecraft, bright, cute, colorful characters from Nintendo games and a generous dash of RPG elements. Combat is a little simplistic, making it easy enough for younger players to feel a sense of accomplishment. With the launch of Portal Knights to consoles, fun features have been added to keep players of all ages engaged. Pets and more than 100 NPC characters offering helpful tips and quests have been added, in addition to dynamic timed events. These events ramp up the difficulty level of the world they take place in, rewarding players with a trophy to take back to your home base after completing some of the challenges.

Creative types will be thrilled with the changes made to Portal Knights. The ability to plant farms, craft more than 100 items, and build of using dozens of materials hasn't changed. Instead, things have been refined with even more crafting options, and long anticipated water tiles have been included to create castle moats, waterfalls, and ponds. In fact, if you were content building complex structures out of only dirt, wood, and stone blocks, you could spend your entire time on the first level and still level up simply from building and crafting. But to get better materials to craft with, you must restore the portals and venture out either alone or with friends to a variety of biomes. Each zone is its own biome, with unique environments, creatures, and resources for crafting. Relaxing music, gorgeous scenery, and endless possibilities for crafting your dream castle, or any other structure you can imagine, combine to make Portal Knights the perfect recipe for fun.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about creativity. What are some positive outlets that can be used to artistically express creativity? How does it feel to build something and see it take shape?

  • Talk about teamwork and communication. What are some ways that people can work together to build large things? How can sharing tasks make for a better result?

Game Details

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