The year is 2007, I am nine years old and have decided to mess with the family computer with the orange box installed. First I started half-life 2 and shat my pants once the head crab appeared, but after I booted up Portal, my journey in pc gaming has begun.

It shouldn’t be underestimated how great the game is at teaching the fps controls. It mostly can be played as slowly as the player would like, making it in my opinion the perfect stress-free playground a nine year old could enjoy.

However, the game itself is not much more than a tech demo for the Valve’s engine, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s short, easy to follow, engaging and fun. If I were asked to recommend an fps to somebody who’s never been exposed to them, Portal 1 alongside with The Stanley Parable would be my go-to picks

This is legit one of the games of all time. Engaging, environmental storytelling, the greatest voice actors I’ve ever heard in a game, graphics that after over 10 years look alright and of course extremely satisfying puzzles. Don’t even get me started on the level editor and co-op mode that were the reason for me to have spent 500 hours in the game.

Legit, if you’ve never play it - put aside anything you do and buy and play it, any laptop would run it fine, so you don’t have any reason not to. Also, don’t mind the “2” in the title. The first one is great, but don’t risk not experiencing this masterpiece to perfectionism.

I’ll say this - this game is one of the reasons I’ve put myself together to go to psychiatrist.

The theme of self doubt is something we all experience in some way or another, and this game is great at portraying it at the most engaging way. It’s not often I see the difficulty of a game being one of the core story factors. The player’s struggle is something that connects them greatly to the main character Medaline. In my experience, I felt pain, relief, determination just as Medaline did on the first playthrough. Also the the way the game portrays these feeling in different embodiments is nothing but genius.

The soundtrack is on another level, with each “world” having its own leighmotif and remixes played at the hard versions of levels. If you’re not planning on playing the game, at least listen to the ost by the wonderful composer Lana Raine.

As for the gameplay itself - I haven’t played a better platform game since Super Meat Boy. Controls are responsive and the hitboxes never feel unfair. Though the game might feel a bit too frustrating, and even though in my opinion the game’s difficulty is an integral part of the game, don’t feel ashamed to use the assist mode, the game itself is still worth it.

Overall, I think I can call it the single favourite game of mine. It’s a masterpiece with near infinite replayability since mods and speedrunning are a thing. I applaud the developers for a such unique gift.