Portal

At the time of Portal's release, it had everything possible going in its favour. There were no expectations set for it, there were no real assumptions it needed to concern itself with. It was part of a package with other complete games with much more notoriety, belonging to existing IPs and genres Valve was already known for. By their own acknowledgement, Portal was an experiment for Valve, and its relatively short length is indicative of this. To say it knocked it out of the park is an understatement, and for many (myself included) it was the highlight of the Orange Box package. In light of Portal 2's 10th anniversary, I decided that it was a fitting time to revisit the franchise for the first time since its release. Portal is still an excellent game, but in a contemporary context, it's hard to disassociate the game from its successor. It's a shorter game, one where much of what would define the franchise was still being ironed out. It feels more like a prologue to Portal 2 than a standalone game, and it accentuates all the additions made between games. With that said, however, it's still quite a good game in and of itself.

Replaying a puzzle game is weird and feels incomplete. You skip over the stage where you're getting used to the mechanics, after all -- much of the learning process has been internalized already. And while you may recall some vague solutions to puzzles in the process, even the puzzles you don't recall are solved faster than they once were. This makes replaying Portal, which is already a short game, even shorter (Steam shows that I completed it in under 2 hours). It doesn't overstay its welcome, but it also starts winding down just as it hits its stride.

Portal is sparse on narrative. It's sparse on purpose, to enable a reveal that more was going on than the player perhaps expected. It is almost devoid of narrative at the beginning, with the undertone of GLaDOS' nefariousness revealing itself as the player progresses. The writing is still just as sharp as it was on release, thankfully; the jokes still hit, save for the ones that the internet memed to death. Portal is a very solid base for the character of GLaDOS and the character of the facility as a whole that was expanded upon in Portal 2 in nearly every way. But even taken as a standalone game, it's still very good.

The puzzles get sufficiently complex given the game's runtime, but this is another aspect that highlights just how much of a leap Portal 2 takes in expanding these mechanics. It's easy to forget things like the aerial faith plate and the various laser puzzles were never in Portal. The farthest Portal goes is its use of those bouncing energy balls, something which does not return in Portal 2. What is interesting is how much more player freedom is afforded in Portal compared to its sequel. Nearly every surface is portal-able in most test chambers, so it's more likely you can find a solution that does not feel intended, but still works. It makes you feel like you are getting away with something, a feeling you rarely get in Portal 2.

The one aspect that did not age particularly well is the latter half of the game, set in the back rooms of the testing facility. It's not long, and it's not bad per se, but it's a section lacking in a distinctive tone. There's not much urgency (considering you are being hunted down), and the environments are not very interesting. You can see here more than anywhere else the game's reliance on existing Half-Life 2 assets. These sections are also the low point in Portal 2 in my eyes, but at the very least there's more going on in that game. The final boss is also okay, but for a game so focused on momentum, it's awfully slow.

Is it worth replaying Portal? I would argue yes, especially given it's short enough to play in a single sitting. Despite its successor being a superior game in many ways, it's still impressive considering the scope it's operating in. Not all of it has necessarily aged the best, but it still carves out its own identity under Portal 2's shadow.