Portal is a puzzle game from Valve, released in 2007 as a stocking-stuffer to make up for a delay in the promised release of Half-Life 2, an influential FPS (first-person shooter). However, that’s only the most dry and definitive way to describe the game.
Portal is a game where you run around like a laboratory rat, solving puzzles to satisfy a computerised voice. This is GlaDoS, the computer that runs the facility you’re in. You’re given a portal gun, a device that shoots paired holes in reality, to help you.
The controls are very similar to any first-person shooter; strafing movement, you have your “gun” at the bottom of the screen, and you can shoot your portals at almost any surface. A blue portal links to an orange portal; go in one, and come out the other, essentially putting two very distant places right next to each other.
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This mechanic naturally builds on itself, from simple box-on-switch puzzles to flinging yourself through the air to land higher than you started, thanks to momentum.
As you go, the story unfolds; GlaDoS is the only voice in the game, and her voiceovers slowly shift from dry instruction to sarcasm, humour and eventually taunts and insults as you proceed further.
For a game that can be more or less completed in the average afternoon, Portal is richly packed with detail. It is best played blind, both so the puzzles remain puzzling and the story unfolds naturally.
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Portal’s brain-teasing makes it a much more suitable few hours than a third round of Fortnite or Counter-Strike, and its sequel, Portal 2, even comes with a co-op campaign dripping in the same aesthetic.
So download Portal and give it a shot. It’s only R75 on Steam, and you will get more than your money’s worth.
