Xixo Games Studio has addressed the criticism regarding the similarities between its recently announced 2D platformer Enchanted Portals and Studio MDHR‘s September 2017-released Cuphead in a message posted on Facebook.
In short, studio co-founders Daniel and Gemma said they are big fans of Cuphead and want to see more games like it on the market—“not to attack it or compete with it.” The pair also said they agree that having more differentiating elements “would greatly benefit the game,” so that will be teh focus going forward.
Get the full message below.
Hi everyone! First of all, we want to thank all of you who have reached out to us to say that you love Enchanted Portals and can’t wait to play it! We think our intent with the game has been greatly misunderstood and we wanted to clarify some points and also give some context as to why the game is the way it is.
Xixo Games Studio is a small indie studio of only two people, Daniel (CEO, game director and programmer), and Gemma (artist and composer). Enchanted Portals is our very first game, we are both avid Cuphead fans and our initial idea was to make a game heavily inspired by it, not to attack it or compete with it, but to celebrate it and because we’d love to see more Cuphead-like games out there. We’ve put all our love and care into this project, and it all comes from a place of respect and admiration for the original.
That being said, we’ve been listening closely to the criticism and we agree that having more elements that further differentiate ourselves from Cuphead would greatly benefit the game, so from now on we’ll work towards adding some more original gameplay mechanics, a more whimsical soundtrack that fits the setting, and as many other unique elements as possible. Above all our goal is to make a game that people like and want to play, but still celebrating the legacy of Cuphead and paying homage to it.
We hope this clears things up a bit, you can be sure we’ll be working hard to make the best game we can, and we’ll be closely monitoring the response from the community. There’s still a long road ahead of us and we couldn’t be happier for what’s to come.
Again thanks a lot for your words of encouragement and your ongoing support, it means the world to us!
Daniel and Gemma.
A Kickstarter campaign for Enchanted Portals will launch on October 24.