Despite effectively being bundled into the Orange Box last minute as a stocking-stuffer-come-sacrificial-offering to apologise for the wait for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal ended up being an amazingly tight game with an innovative core puzzling system that is still a joy to engage with in its own right, with the special sauce of brilliant comedic writing tying the whole experience together. It's ultimately the writing that remains Portal's greatest asset, to say nothing of certainly being its legacy -- it was years before you could mention cake on the internet without attracting legions of nerds who love when reference, and while she would go on to acquire some welcome depth and backstory in Portal 2, the GladOS of Portal remains fantastically written and hilariously passive-aggressive when she isn't being aggressively aggressive. She exists as a standout figure in the grand lineage of dismissive voice-in-your-ears dungeon masters and quest-givers, though most closely resembling System Shock's SHODAN, and while imitations of her comedic stylings can be seen still in modern titles, it is rarely, if ever, done with as much wit, discipline, and skill as it was in Portal.

Esse aqui foi sem querer kkkk

Só tava no tédio de domingo de manhã com preguiça de continuar alan wake 2 ou a hat in time, então abri portal porque tava afim de jogar uns puzzle, e sem querer fui do começo ao fim numa tacada só kkkk

Mas o jogo é muito bacana, os puzzles são bem montados super legais de desvendar o que fazer, tem uma atmosfera super imersiva e a Glados traz uma dose de diversão bem "desconfortavel" durante a jogatina kkkk vou fazer os mapas bônus antes de jogar o 2 que agora fiquei ate animado kkk

I generally don't give new games a chance. So I think they are in no rush. I think it is more important for me to play classic games that have already proven themselves first. Unless there are important games from companies I'm waiting for, like Elden Ring, I probably won't look into new games much. Even though I'm a huge Skyrim fan (150 hours and still playing) I've never looked at Starfield, for example. I probably won't play any game in recent history except GTA VI as soon as it's released. My priority is the games on my own list, and these are generally proven classic games.

One of them was Portal. Of course, the portal has gone beyond the game size. There is no need to play this game anymore to understand what Portal is. It is possible to see Portal references in any game. The portal has found a place for itself not only in games but also in popular culture for a long time. The two holes, one blue and the other orange, are so popular that even though most people are aware of these things, they may not have played the portal. As you can see, Portal is a very iconic game, it is more than just a game. So why is Portal so famous? What's the deal with this?

This game is all about creativity. Although it did not seem very revolutionary at that time, it was impossible to experience impossible physics events, as you can imagine. So portals to one another that can be used in real time are actually an incredibly good idea, so good that it's a shame we'll never be able to experience it. We can only imagine this, and perhaps we read about people experimenting on these dreams. This is exactly where this game comes into play. Valve, which already has the best game engine with the Source Engine, sets out to gamify this idea and comes out with such a great game. Source Engine is a game engine you may know from HL2. This engine is generally known for its highly realistic physics. The limits of what we could do in the HL2 game were limited to our weapons, and Valve really made a show of it with the Gravity Gun in that game. They wanted to do the same show in Portal, but this time the genre of the game changed.

Portal is a puzzle game. So the game does not have such an animated theme with weapons. Portal is a game where you advance by solving puzzles. I really liked how they incorporated these puzzles into the story of the game and I don't want to leave it without mentioning it. There is a weapon we use to open a portal in the portal game. It's actually more of a tool than a weapon. Because it cannot cause direct harm, but it can harm indirectly. We are the test subjects they will use to test these portals. In this place, which we probably came to voluntarily in exchange for money, we solve various puzzles with the Portal Gun and move forward. Of course, these puzzle sections become increasingly difficult, but they are all part of the experiment. As the experiment progresses, we come across sections with turrets that threaten our lives. At the end of the experiment, we are told that we will eat cake. Even though this is not the player's motivation, the character we play is very interested in this job, so we do not give up. When we come to the last part, we learn that the cake is a lie, but we continue the experiment. Finally, we have a boss fight with the friend who constantly talks to us and guides us, and our game ends.

The game is an extremely short game. I think we can say between 2-3 hours. The game basically has a mechanic, and we can add mechanics by interacting with the environment. There are energy balls in the game, for example, these energy balls are generally useless on their own, but it is possible to direct these energy balls and make them useful for us by using the Portal Gun. Likewise, we can neutralize the turrets by escaping from them through portals or, better yet, by opening portals under them, and these interactions are fun up to a point. In addition, the puzzles progress through physics and we can create an endless jumping loop using portals. The portal revolves around such mechanics. Maybe there are as many as I mentioned, maybe not, but it is definitely a refined game. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find refined games nowadays. Everyone is stretching their game and wanting it to last longer hours. Portal is not like that, it ends before the mechanics start to get boring and the puzzles start to feel forced. If the boss fight at the end of the game had been a little better, maybe it would have been more enjoyable, but that part was a little inadequate. Even though I couldn't figure it out for a long time, I think it's my fault. Because it feels like work after solving it.

Finally, let's come to the sensory aspects of Portal. Even though the game doesn't look ugly to me at all, it certainly doesn't look as good as MW2 and Bioshock. Of course, this has a lot to do with the environment. There is nothing around that looks good. I mean, there is no such thing as a view that we can enjoy to our heart's content, we are literally running away here and there in a factory. But it's okay since the game doesn't look ugly either. The music was wonderful. Even though I didn't realize there was music in the game until a certain point, once I realized it, I really liked the music. Some games surprise me by giving more value to music than I expected. In other words, they make albums that we can listen to even though they are released separately from the game, like Undertale. This isn't that good of an album, but there are still tracks that provide incredible atmosphere. Moreover, the song at the end is so sweet that normally I would not watch the credits, but this time I listened to the song with pleasure.

Portal is a very refined experience. Short term, using his mechanics very well. I think it's a great game that has designed the atmosphere very cleverly and beautifully. It is a game that has been very influential in the gaming world. There's nothing better about physics. It is a great concept in science to invest in reality and play games with things that unfortunately we can only imagine and exist in theory, and they seem to have made the best of it. Although Valve has not made a name for itself for a long time, it is a company that has created classic milestones in the gaming world and deserves a lot of respect. Portal is a game that I can recommend to everyone, as its puzzles are not too difficult.