It’s a testament to the game’s genius that this secret is still so ominous 10 years later, especially as Valve has said it is finally ”excited to explore more opportunities in the Half-Life universe” following the success of Alyx. Mentioned in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the Borealis is the major narrative bridge between the world of Portal and Valve’s flagship franchise Half-Life, a vision that is yet to be realised. A life ring reveals that it used to contain the Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel that mysteriously vanished. Speaking of Half-Life, in the late game of Portal 2 you could also find a secret empty dry dock with huge ramifications. It’s interesting looking back at this now, knowing how Valve would later use graffiti and murals to similar effect in order to depict Gordon Freeman’s journey from scientist to saviour in the early hours of its 2020 VR title Half-Life: Alyx. Rattman painted murals on the decaying test chamber walls that depict Chell as a messianic figure, teasing the existence of other humans in Aperture. In the sequel, these dens were expanded to build a tragic character – Doug Rattmann, a scientist at Aperture Science – out of bean tins and graffiti. Portal’s Rattmann dens were charming hovels of humanity that came back with a bang in Portal 2. The original Portal quickly became famous for its easter eggs and lingering questions, and the studio clearly understood the importance of secret-hunting to a would-be sequel. Yet it’s the way Valve toyed with the concept of the Video Game Secret that is my favourite thing about Portal 2. And then you start asking the real questions: What lies behind all of this architecture? And what’s hiding in those rooms with the purposefully glazed windows? By revisiting and elaborating on the original game’s premise, Portal 2 left players with more questions about their place in the machine. Portal’s lingering curiosity also returns as you explore the expanded and abandoned Aperture Science facility. It does this while introducing gels, gravity fields and various other whip smart twists on the portal puzzling formula that helped to maintain the interest of players. As you jump between the decades of decline at Aperture Science, the maps get grander but the things up-close – the paraphernalia and posters – still manage to tell nuanced stories. Portal 2 features a consistent, loveable aesthetic, a narrative that runs the emotional gamut, and some of the greatest puzzles I’ve ever had to wrap my head around. But even beyond the hype, nobody quite expected how much the second game would bring to the table when it arrived this month 10 years ago.
Not only to please fans but also to expand on the genius idea that underpinned the game. Thanks to endearing touches like its oddly heartwarming credits song ‘Still Alive’, it was clear that a sequel to Portal was needed. But there was more to Portal hiding behind its septic walls, and as soon as players stumbled upon its secrets and once the now-iconic phrase “the cake is a lie” started to cement itself in the internet’s lexicon, the future of this franchise was written in code. You played as Chell, a lab rat testing a portal gun in a facility overseen by the malicious AI GLaDOS. Valve had launched Portalin 2007 as an unassuming facet of the now-iconic Orange Box, and the little spats of story it had baked into its pristine puzzle foundations really stuck. 2011 was one hell of a year for video games, but when I cast my mind back to the start of the last decade, the game that sticks in my craw is Portal 2.
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