Great games don’t age, and Portal is a perfect example of such a game.
What is Portal?
Portal is a puzzle game in which players, using a portal gun, have to solve a variety of environmental puzzles that involve creating titular two-way portals. Whatever enters one of the portals will come out of the other one; the point of the game is to create portals and use them to navigate between traps and obstacles, reach seemingly unreachable places, and get safely to the exit.
Physics also plays a role here; you’ll often have to rely on gravity and Newton’s laws of motion, as things that enter portals maintain their momentum. Utilizing these properties will be crucial to solving some puzzles.
This simple idea was so novel and fascinating when the first Portal came out that it immediately made players fall in love with it. Not to mention that there’s also a bit of story behind the gameplay, an iconic antagonist GLaDOS, and a dose of humor on top of that.
If you’re still not convinced, here are 3 big reasons why you should play Portal today.
Innovative Puzzles and Stylized Graphics That Don’t Age
First and foremost, the puzzles in Portal don’t age. They’re not becoming worse with time. New games from the puzzle genre don’t make Portal puzzles feel outdated or irrelevant. Portal is a truly timeless and unique game.
The same goes for its graphics; games that aim for a realistic look but lack any sense of art direction tend to age badly. In the case of Portal, even the original game from 2007 still looks perfectly fine because it never tried to closely mimic reality in the first place.
The difficulty is also set just right; some stages may be difficult, but you shouldn’t rush them. Don’t look up guides if you’re stuck; give yourself some time, sleep on it, and return with a fresh mind. Solving puzzles on your own is totally worth the dopamine hit you’ll get.
There are no Real Alternatives to Portal
Considering how loved and popular the Portal series became, it’s quite surprising that it didn’t spawn an ocean of clones. There are games that include portal mechanics as part of the gameplay, but more often than not, the portals are not the main point of the game, and the game itself isn’t about solving puzzles either.
The reason could be that, surprisingly, making a good Portal-like game is difficult, as the core of such a game is interesting puzzles with clever twists. There’s no room for copy-pasting or cutting corners; every puzzle must be unique, fun, and designed with clear intent from scratch, and that requires quite a lot of effort. Not to mention that all the novelty is already gone; the original Portal was great partly because of how new and unique it was.
Don’t quote us on that, as we’d like to leave ourselves some breathing room for potential mistakes, but you probably won’t find a sufficiently similar game to Portal. As such, Portal remains the only game that offers this kind of timeless gameplay, making it enough of a reason to give it a try if you haven’t already.
Why Play Portal? Story, Humor, Multiplayer Co-op, and Secrets
Portal replay value is not particularly high; once you finish the game, there’s not much to return to, as all the mystery is gone and you already know how to solve the puzzles. However, there are some things that are quite easy to miss on the first playthrough and things you wouldn’t even have thought to try, such as messing around with the Companion Cube. You may even get a better and deeper understanding of the game’s story.
If you have already played Portal and Portal 2, we strongly suggest giving them another go, as there’s a high chance that you’ve missed some cool details. Feel free to use a guide if your goal is to uncover all secrets, but if you’re playing for the first time, definitely go in blind and learn everything as you go. And if you’re afraid you’ll get bored replaying the game, we’re more than certain that you’ve already forgotten most of the dialogues. Hearing GLaDOS’ snarky comments again will surely lighten your day.
It’s also worth mentioning co-op in Portal 2; if you’ve never played in co-op, you should, as it comes with a complete set of its own puzzles to solve, separate from the single-player campaign and designed specifically to require two players working together to complete them.
Conclusion
Portal certainly belongs to the category of timeless puzzle games. It doesn’t matter if you missed the original release; it’s never too late to jump into the game and experience it like it’s 2007. The puzzles in the Portal games are just as good today as they were back then. The humor also didn’t age, so you won’t find it awkward. Portal isn’t trying to be funny; it is genuinely funny.