Back in 2006, an small company you might have heard of called Valve teased a small game called ‘Portal’, making you part of Aperture Lab-ratories in experiments that would be deadly without no reason other than ‘For Science’. This game was released in 2007, part of the The Orange Box, together with Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Team Fortress 2.
17 years after its release, we got a second game aptly named ‘Portal 2’ in 2010, some Source 2 VR experiments, a game for the Steam Deck called ‘Aperture Desk Job’ set in the same general universe (although you can play it on any PC, just needs a controller), and Valve employees want to make Portal 3 happen. It got crossovers with many games, even Lego ones of all things.
It became a big name for Valve, and most of the focus went to Portal 2 and its newer aesthetics, because it took longer to make than the first game, but I’d rather play Portal 1 over 2 most times.
My issue with Portal 2
Whenever I play Portal 2 for nostalgia’s sake (the game is over 10 years old after all), I feel that it just dragsfor too long. Like, I get the point, Aperture used to be great but its deadbeat founder and CEO was toxic to the company, more than anything (I’m sure that sounds very familiar nowadays). And the game has to teach you all these amazing concepts with everything that it has to show you so you can progress through the game. The mechanics never feel overbearing as they presented but once you learn everything, there’s just so much of it. There’s the Portals, then the inertia through them, then the Turrets, then Aperture Cores, then you learn about three types of Gels, one that makes you bounce, one that makes you fast and one that makes surfaces ‘portal-able’. Then you find about pressure plates that fling you around. Then you have to combine of those in levels that are obnoxiously long.
There’s a lot of talking too and while it’s all well voice-acted and such, I feel that the whole vibe of what makes Portal was lost. I can understand that Valve wanted to make sure that both games were related to each other, after all, 2 is the sequel to 1, but in a larger regard, both games are not remotely close to each other in many ways, and the resemblance they have is mostly brief. Since Valve decided to redesign multiple parts of the game, including the test chambers, there’s only the resemblance that this is Aperture Science because they do test chambers. You might just call Portal 2 something else entirely and nothing would change.
Then I go back to Portal, which is only 3 years prior to Portal 2 (and before Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2), and suddenly my complaining (for lack of a better term) stops. Everything is where it should be. The talking is usually for the funnies in the first half of the game, and then it gets serious while keeping the comedic tone (an incinerator for test subjects? Really?) and once you get to Behind the Scenes areas, it gives you that sense of mystery, like ‘what is this place?’. I never got that from Portal 2, mostly because Valve spoiled us with the format in Portal 1, where Aperture was in a state of complete dilapidation. But instead of playing with sort of thing again, Portal 2 never tried to hide that the Aperture that knew from Portal 1 is long gone and all is left are AIs and robots, and of course the main character. You came to Portal 2 knowing that the stuff behind the scenes existed. The surprise of find out things during your exploration was replaced with actual exploration of the depths of Aperture Science. While that should be a better way to explore the themes of the game, I can’t really call it an improvement.
Games made using the Source Engine are most eerie games ever and Portal 1 is no exception
I personally don’t know how to describe it, but there’s this weird feeling with several Source Engine games. There’s plenty of videos explaining it, but the fact is: Games made with the engine have to be the most eerie games ever. Most of the early games made with it felt completely empty. The atmosphere and sound design makes it for me. The early days of Half-Life 2 (aptly named Half-Life 2 Beta by the fans), the retail version of Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch are completely desolate. It doesn’t help that the last 3 games are Multiplayer Only titles meaning that there won’t be anyone else other than real life players around. Once you join a server without players or make your own, you’ll understand what I mean.
And Portal keeps the feeling but making it even worse. Aperture is completely desolate of people and only has a sentient AI talking to you (both the player character and the player) but it also stops talking at a certain point, never repeating its lines. After that, it’s you and the environment. It’s absolutely, positively the worst feeling to have in a game. And it’s why I like the game so much.
Later Source Engine games kill the vibe slightly. Left 4 Dead and its sequel, CSGO and Dota 2 are decidedly not as desolate but playing L4D1 or 2 solo is very dangerous the way the game is set up, making it not only desolate but actively hostile against you. Garry’s Mod shares the engine and same feel that makes it even more desolate, and it’s incredible to see.
Portal 2 is indeed superior, but I still prefer Portal 1 more
Portal 1 gives me that unique sense of dread that only some other forms of media can do. It’s a puzzle game disguised as a horror game, the type of game where “you’re safe but you shouldn’t be”, and once you suspend your disbelief, you are immersed into a facility who is actually testing you and you have no clue what they are or look like, being nothing but a lab rat for them. The paint comes off later (quite literally as the back areas aren’t as white and pristine) and you see Aperture for what it is, an abandoned facility with a murderous sentient AI that just want to keep playing the most puzzle-like game of ‘Saw’ ever. And that contrast makes it a standout to me as well.
As for Portal 2, while most of the game is a journey through playing some of the craziest chambers, the feeling of dread is completely gone, since you’re never alone and even when you are, it’s not for long. Plus all the other stuff I talked about.
From all the games that we got from The Orange Box, Portal 1 was the best received, being short and sweet, and also a nice game for a really good package. This was also the third game from Valve was completely single player (excluding HL2: Episode One), which is quite wild to think about.
In many many ways, most people will consider that Portal 2 is certainly the better game. And that’s fine, because I can also agree that it’s Portal 1 but twice over. Twice as many characters, twice as long, twice as many mechanics, so on. They took the core of Portal 1 and expanded in multiple ways.
However that expansion in my opinion wasn’t really needed. I don’t think we needed to see more of the backside of Aperture, because it was pretty telling that they weren’t the company that players thought it would be in the first game. The continuity also being changed also doesn’t make sense, making the issue of disconnecting Portal 1 and Portal 2 more apparent. In the end, we got a game that doesn’t feel like a puzzle game with some unnerving parts, but a slapstick comedy skit with a puzzle game in the middle.
So yeah, I prefer Portal 1 over 2. It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s unnerving, and it’s fun.