This game gets DIFFICULT, even for a Portal veteran. I had to stop playing several times because it simply hurt my head to try and picture how on earth you were supposed to solve some of the chambers. This isn't inherently bad, as this made figuring it out all the more satisfying, but it's worth knowing form the outset. It's also not by any means a LONG game, aligning much more with the length and less epic tone of Portal rather than Portal 2.

The mechanics are mindbending at first, but surprisingly easy to grasp. You have your standard orange and blue portal, as well as a third, green portal. This portal takes you into the future, visually distinguished by looking destroyed and partially reclaimed by nature. And action done in the present (moving a portal, or a cube) is echoed in the future, but not vice versa. The game spends much of its intro explaining these mechanics to you, easing you into them. It never QUITE became intuitive the way standard portals have, but it got close.

The voice work (done by the venerable Harry "Harry101UK" Callaghan) is fantastic, giving you a great version of the announcer from the beginning of Portal 2 as a guide throughout the game itself. The music is great too, never too terribly obtrusive, but very evocative of the music from Portal 2. It also has subtle changes from past to present, altering extant instruments or bringing in new ones, in a subtle yet clear way that makes the part of my brain that appreciates sound design happy.

Furthermore, the game looks fantastic. Of course, it's running on the Portal 2 engine, and Portal 2 holds up very well even a decade later. But some of the levels, particularly their destroyed, future variants, had me stopping in my tracks for a moment or two to appreciate just how good they looked.

My one gripe is that it has no epic conclusion, no equivalent to the GLaDOS or Wheatley fights that Portals 1 and 2 provide. While it has two endings, both feel somewhat abrupt and have very little gameplay difference between the two. However, this is a minor gripe, and given that the game was primarily developed by a single person, it should be lauded as an achievement of game design, innovative mechanics, and just being straight up fun. In an ideal world, Valve would take notice and offer them a job, as this would be one hell of an application.

This game gets DIFFICULT, even for a Portal veteran. I had to stop playing several times because it simply hurt my head to try and picture how on earth you were supposed to solve some of the chambers. This isn't inherently bad, as this made figuring it out all the more satisfying, but it's worth knowing form the outset. It's also not by any means a LONG game, aligning much more with the length and less epic tone of Portal rather than Portal 2. The mechanics are mindbending at first, but surprisingly easy to grasp. You have your standard orange and blue portal, as well as a third, green portal. This portal takes you into the future, visually distinguished by looking destroyed and partially reclaimed by nature. And action done in the present (moving a portal, or a cube) is echoed in the future, but not vice versa. The game spends much of its intro explaining these mechanics to you, easing you into them. It never QUITE became intuitive the way standard portals have, but it got close. The voice work (done by the venerable Harry "Harry101UK" Callaghan) is fantastic, giving you a great version of the announcer from the beginning of Portal 2 as a guide throughout the game itself. The music is great too, never too terribly obtrusive, but very evocative of the music from Portal 2. It also has subtle changes from past to present, altering extant instruments or bringing in new ones, in a subtle yet clear way that makes the part of my brain that appreciates sound design happy. Furthermore, the game looks fantastic. Of course, it's running on the Portal 2 engine, and Portal 2 holds up very well even a decade later. But some of the levels, particularly their destroyed, future variants, had me stopping in my tracks for a moment or two to appreciate just how good they looked. My one gripe is that it has no epic conclusion, no equivalent to the GLaDOS or Wheatley fights that Portals 1 and 2 provide. While it has two endings, both feel somewhat abrupt and have very little gameplay difference between the two. However, this is a minor gripe, and given that the game was primarily developed by a single person, it should be lauded as an achievement of game design, innovative mechanics, and just being straight up fun. In an ideal world, Valve would take notice and offer them a job, as this would be one hell of an application.