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Portal Reloaded

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Portal Reloaded
An Aperture Science test chamber in the background, with the logo of Portal Reloaded in front and the caption Thinking in Four Dimensions
Developer(s)Jannis Brinkman
Publisher(s)Jannis Brinkman
EngineSource
Platform(s)
ReleaseApril 19, 2021
Genre(s)Puzzle-platform
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Portal Reloaded is a 2021 mod for the 2011 puzzle-platform game Portal 2, developed and published by Jannis Brinkman. As in the official Portal series, gameplay involves solving puzzles by manipulating portals, which allow the player to move through chambers. The mod also allows the player to shoot a third "time portal", allowing traversal across two versions of the puzzle chamber in different time periods. The player assumes control of a test subject who has to complete puzzles inside the Aperture Science Enrichment Center and destroy a "rogue test subject".

The development of Portal Reloaded began in 2014, initially envisioned as a smaller project. Portal Reloaded was released on Steam for free on April 29, 2021, as a full-scale mod featuring a custom soundtrack and story. A 2023 update introduced a co-op mode to the game. Portal Reloaded received largely positive reception from reviewers, who praised its puzzle designs and humor.

Gameplay

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See also: Gameplay of Portal 2
A schematic containing two versions of a test chamber, each a platform separated by height. At the top, the chamber contains a portal opening located at the bottom of the gap, leading to another on a wall high above the lower platform. A human figure is shown to be able to navigate from the lower wall into the bottom portal and exit from the top portal. Alternatively, they can enter the square time portal to access the bottom chamber, which has the other portal openings positioned differently.
In this example, the player can either use the blue portal to exit from the orange portal, or enter the green "time portal" to access the future chamber, where the other portals are positioned differently.

Like the Portal series, Portal Reloaded is a puzzle-platform game played from the first-person perspective in which the player must solve puzzles in "test chambers".[1][2][3] The player is equipped with the portal gun, allowing them to create two ends of a portal, colored orange and blue, that connect disparate areas in three-dimensional space.[2][3][4]

Unique to the mod is a third "time portal", colored green, which allows the player to go between the same point in two alternate versions of the test chamber, one in the past and one in the future.[1][2] The test chambers in the future are lush and resemble early chambers of Portal 2, whereas those in the past are in fresh conditions.[2][5] The conditions of test chamber windows and floors are also different in alternate versions, allowing the player to visit inaccessible parts of chambers between the past versions of chambers.[6][7] The game also involves solving puzzles with other testing elements introduced in the official Portal series, such as buttons, cubes, lasers, and light bridges.[2]

If an object, such as a cube or a conventional portal, is manipulated in the past, it will also move in the future chamber, causing the prior duplicate to fizzle.[1][2] However, future objects can be moved independently of their past equivalents.[1][8] While past objects cannot be taken through the time portal into the future, causing a paradox, future variants of an object can be transported into the past.[2][8] A future variant of an object brought into the past does not create another future variant of itself.[9] As a result, careful usage of puzzle elements allows the player to have a duplicate of any puzzle element that can be brought through the time portal.[2]

The campaign consists of 25 test chambers, and its puzzles progressively increase in difficulty.[1][2] It features tutorial puzzles that teach the player the mechanics of the "time portal".[10] The game is intended to be completed in between 4 and 6 hours.[5] Unlike Portal 2, which it is based on, the game's initial release only featured the single-player mode.[10] A co-op mode was added in a later update.[11] The developer stated that the mod is intended as a smaller-scale complement to the original game, in contrast to other modifications such as Portal Stories: Mel.[12] It is intended for "veteran players" and is more challenging than the official series.[1][13]

Plot

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See also: Setting and characters of Portal (series)

Portal Reloaded is intended to take place in the same universe as the official Portal games; according to the developer, the narrative is designed to not interfere with that of the original series.[10] The player assumes the role of test subject 4509 in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, who is awoken from stasis to take part in a "Time Travel Testing Course".[14]

Navigating various test chambers using the portal gun, they learn how to use time portals to navigate between a version of Aperture's laboratories in the past and a dilapidated and broken version twenty years in the future, which the facility's artificial intelligence overseer states has been damaged as a visual aid. As the game progresses, it is revealed that the main character was the only one who survived initial time travel, and that Aperture cannot get it to work in any way other than the twenty-year interval. Near the end, the overseer admits the Enrichment Center was in fact destroyed under mysterious circumstances involving a "rogue test subject". They reveal the actual purpose of the testing track – to train the player character to kill the rogue subject, preventing the destruction of Aperture's facility.

At the end of the game, the main character is sent back to a stasis chamber. The player can either obey this order, or escape through a time portal to the future. If the player does the former, the test subject successfully returns to stasis, with the AI commenting that they will now "change the course of history", possibly causing the events of Portal to never happen. Otherwise, the player escapes via an elevator, and their portal gun is deactivated. Once reaching the surface, they encounter a pack of "headcrab" zombies.[a]

Development and release

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Portal Reloaded was developed and published by developer Jannis "Portanis" Brinkman.[15][16][17] The development of the mod began in 2014; it was initially a side project, without the intention of turning it into a full-scale modification.[10][13][15] All the mod's gameplay alterations were done via a scripting language instead of Portal 2's code directly.[12] Brinkman wrote on the Portal Reloaded website that he wanted to push the time portal concept to its fullest extent, and that his goal was to explaining the concept as best as possible.[3]

Portal Reloaded was released for free on Steam for Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms on April 19, 2021, to coincide with Portal 2's ten-year anniversary.[2][3][13] Considering that it is a mod, users must own Portal 2 to play Portal Reloaded.[3][5] Portal Reloaded also features a custom soundtrack.[10][13] Harry Callaghan, the composer of Portal Stories: Mel and Aperture Tag, was credited as a voice actor for Portal Reloaded.[16] Upon its release, the developer published a walkthrough of the game on YouTube.[13][8] After a test release the previous month, Brinkman released an update in June 2023 that introduced a co-op mode to the game, comprising 20 additional puzzles with new music.[11][18]

Reception

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Portal Reloaded was positively received by critics, who considered it a well-designed complement to the official Portal series.[2][6][19] Danny Paez of Screen Rant said that Portal Reloaded "creatively enhanced" Valve's Portal series.[10] Will Nelson of PCGamesN ranked Portal Reloaded as "one of the best free fan-made DLCs ever" made, while Rock Paper Shotgun listed it as one of the best Portal 2 mods.[7][11] Shacknews rated it as their "best mod of 2021".[20] The mod received an "overwhelmingly positive" reception on Steam.[10][21]

Rick Lane of PC Gamer did not consider the time portal mechanism to be particularly stunning, but he did laud the game for how it used the idea.[2] Additionally, multiple reviewers criticised the game for lacking replayability.[17][19] However, David Plecháček of Hrej.cz [cs] appreciated the general overall gameplay design, calling it "original".[19] Rob Bellamy of JV praised the puzzle design and the progressive increase in difficulty.[17] Lane remarked that Portal Reloaded "recaptures the wow factor of the original game", but felt that the additional elements in the puzzles could cause frustration occasionally.[2] He also questioned the mod's short length.[6] Lane argued that the looks of Portal Reloaded were not on the level of Portal 2.[2]

Critics praised the game's writing and the announcer's humor.[2][6][17] However, Plecháček argued that it was inadequate in comparison with Portal 2, stating that the mod "was created more in the hands of the designer, not the screenwriter".[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ The Portal games share the same universe and continuity as the Half-Life games.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Morton, Lauren (April 19, 2021). "The Portal Reloaded mod adds a time travel portal and 25 new puzzles". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lane, Rick (June 23, 2021). "Portal Reloaded is the closest we're likely to get to Portal 3". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e McGlynn, Anthony (April 24, 2021). "This Portal 2 mod is basically Portal 3". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  4. ^ Ocampo, Jason (July 11, 2007). "The Orange Box E3 2007 Preshow Hands-On – Portal". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Strzala, Arkadiusz (November 5, 2020). "Portal Reloaded Mod is Coming and It Brings Back the Future". Gamepressure. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Lane, Rick (June 29, 2021). "Portal Reloaded is the game Portal 2 should have been". Bit-Tech. Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Pearson, Craig (December 20, 2021). "The best Portal 2 mods". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Yoshimura, Naoki (April 20, 2021). "『ポータル2』に時間軸の概念を加えたPC版MOD『Portal Reloaded』が無料配信開始" ["Portal Reloaded", a PC mod that adds the concept of a timeline to "Portal 2", is now available for free]. Famitsu (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  9. ^ The Rules of Portal Reloaded – Part 2/3. Portal Reloaded. April 5, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2024 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Paez, Danny (April 28, 2021). "Portal Reloaded Is The Closest Thing To Portal 3 Available". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Nelson, Will (May 21, 2023). "The time travel mod that's basically Portal 3 now has co-op". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  12. ^ a b "FAQ". Portal Reloaded. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e Kent, Emma (April 24, 2021). "Portal 2 mod adds third portal with time travel". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  14. ^ Werner, Adrian (April 20, 2021). "Portal Reloaded Mod Introduces Time Travel". Gamepressure. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Taylor, Mollie (April 20, 2021). "Portal Reloaded mod adds a third portal that lets you travel through time". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Jannis "Portanis" Brinkman (April 19, 2021). Portal Reloaded (PC). Scene: Credits.
  17. ^ a b c d Bellamy, Rob (April 26, 2021). "Notre avis sur Portal Reloaded, le nouveau mod gratuit de Portal 2 !" [Our opinion on Portal Reloaded, the new free mod for Portal 2!]. JV (in French). Archived from the original on December 31, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  18. ^ Maksym, Hladky (June 10, 2023). "Portal Reloaded отримала кооператив та українську мову" [Portal Reloaded got co-op and Ukrainian language]. PlayUA (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  19. ^ a b c d e Plecháček, David (May 19, 2021). "Recenze Portal Reloaded, fenomenální modifikace pro Portal 2" [Review of Portal Reloaded, a phenomenal mod for Portal 2]. Hrej.cz [cs] (in Czech). Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  20. ^ Jarrard, Chris (December 27, 2021). "Shacknews Best Mod of 2021 – Portal Reloaded". Shacknews. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  21. ^ Zwingmann, Dominik (April 20, 2021). "Portal Reloaded: Riesige Portal-2-Mod mit brandneuer Story und Features veröffentlicht" [Portal Reloaded: Huge Portal 2 mod with brand new story and features released]. PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on January 10, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
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