Portal
2007
Audio: German, Spanish, French, English, Russian, Chinese · Subtitles: German, Polish, French, Chinese, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Hungarian, Russian, Danish, Czech, Korean, English, Italian, Norwegian Bokmål, Finnish, Spanish, Thai, Ukrainian, Turkish
- platform
- puzzle
- adventure
- action
- science fiction
- comedy
- single player
The story
Waking up in a seemingly empty laboratory, the player is made to complete various physics-based puzzle challenges through numerous test chambers in order to test out the new Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, without an explanation as to how, why or by whom.
What it’s like
Clean, sterile test chambers in cool white light, with pale grey panels, scuffed orange and blue portal surfaces that glow against the concrete, and the hum of fluorescent tubes everywhere. The first-person view stays steady and close to the floor-level machinery, so every room reads as a precise diagram you are solving. The sound design is dry and clinical until a dead-eyed, relentlessly chipper computer voice starts narrating, deadpan and spiky with dark jokes, while a sparse ambient score swells only at the right moments. Pacing is brisk and puzzle-driven, with long pauses of quiet thinking broken by sudden, absurd reveals; the mood is wry, slightly eerie, and playfully unsettling rather than frightening. Violence is cartoonish and minimal, with robots that fizzle and sparks rather than gore, though the dark humor and a few unnerving, faintly sinister moments in the facility's history give it an edge. It suits a focused evening at the desk, a sharp-witted puzzle session, or a return visit for the jokes, and it is best for players who enjoy clever, self-aware problem-solving with a mischievous streak.
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