Portal Reviews

Best nostalgic game for physics puzzels. Have very much fun with this game and it ages very well

I come back to Portal twice a year or so to replay it. It's never boring to revisit it, and I'll never forget my first playthrough. It's not a long game, but what it does in the short runtime is incredible.

Android hell is in fact real and its the bonus chambers

Portal is an elegantly designed puzzler with the now iconic titular portal mechanic. The game does a fantastic job of explaining the main mechanic and slowly ramping up the complexity of each puzzle. The introduction is so well done that Portal also works as a good introduction to FPS games in general. The game is fairly short, however I found that to be a strength compared to the second Portal game. I found the length and pacing to be just right, while Portal 2 felt like a bit of a drag at times. The mix of aesthetic, comedy and environmental storytelling all resulted in a very unique vibe that has not been recreated quite like that ever since.

Portal 1 is one of the best games ever. But whenever I try playing it these days it keeps crashing :( Valve pls fix

In 2007, it was a puzzle game. Today, it is a time machine. Replaying Portal feels like visiting an old home. The sterile white walls still hum.They hold an eerie, familiar loneliness. GLaDOS’s banter hits differently now. She feels less like a villain. She feels like an old friend. A friend keeping you company in the dark. The radio music still brings a smile. The companion cube still breaks hearts. They rarely make masterpieces like this anymore. If you were there, you know. If you weren't, grab a portal gun. It is time to go home. 10/10. Still alive.

I picked up Portal way back in 2010 as part of the Orange Box goodness (or whatever bundle it was in at the time), and even though my stats show I only knocked out the core story achievements (Lab Rat, Fratricide, Partygoer, and Heartbreaker), it left a massive impression. This game is pure genius in the smallest package possible. The moment you get the portal gun, everything clicks. The puzzles start simple and ramp up beautifully, teaching you mechanics without ever feeling like a tutorial. By the end, you’re solving rooms that would have seemed impossible an hour earlier. GLaDOS is one of the best video game characters ever—witty, sinister, and hilariously passive-aggressive. The cake is a lie, but the fun is very real. My playthrough was straightforward: I beat the main campaign and called it there. No advanced maps, no challenge medals, no turret-killing shenanigans or 30,000-foot falls for me. But honestly? The base game is so strong that it didn’t matter. It’s short, sweet, and replayable. The physics, the humor, the “eureka!” moments—Portal nails every single one. If you’re on the fence, just buy it. Even in 2026 this game holds up perfectly. Short enough for a weekend, memorable enough to stick with you for years. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go stare at a companion cube again.

Portal gun go pew. Even after 18 years, Portal still feels surprisingly fresh. The gameplay is simple to understand but incredibly satisfying, and using the portal gun to solve increasingly clever test chambers never gets old. Some of the puzzles can be frustrating at times, but figuring them out always feels rewarding. I expected the achievements to be much harder to complete, but they ended up being really enjoyable with just the right amount of challenge. The bonus challenge levels are also a lot of fun and add some nice replay value. What really makes the game stand out is GLaDOS. Her dark humour and constant commentary make an already great puzzle game even more memorable. Short, sweet, perfectly paced, and without a second of wasted time. [spoiler]R.I.P. Companion Cube (Test Chamber 17 – Test Chamber 17) — you will be missed.[/spoiler] [i]The cake is a lie.[/i] 9.2/10

Game is perma crashing since today, taking steam with it. looking at reddit it seems like I'm not the only one

[h3]Uh-oh, somebody cut the cake. I told them to wait for you, but they cut it anyway. There is still some left, though, if you hurry back.[/h3] Portal has reached a point where it doesn't matter whether one more review is positive or negative. The game is a masterpiece, and that is simply common knowledge. I completed it recently and I can confirm that myself. It was very interesting from the beginning, but what I enjoyed the most were the challenge maps. Some of them took me hours to crack the code, and I absolutely loved it. I completely missed all the hype around the original release, so now I am catching up - and luckily, the game has aged very well. I have already played Black Mesa and Half-Life 2 but still couldn't figure out how Portal is connected to the overall lore. I hope the sequel will make things clearer. I know that everyone knows, and now I know as well, that the cake is a lie. [list] [*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45567891] Curator page [/url] [/list]