Aperture Desk Job and Steam Deck Release; 5 Portal Mods That Kept Portal Still Alive feature

With Valve's newest console the Steam Deck also came the surprise announcement of a new Portal game - Aperture Desk Job! Read on to learn more about this and five great Portal mods to get you in the mood!

Portal Stories : Mel

By Prism Studios

1952, in the early years of Aperture: Science Innovators, Cave Johnson’s scientists experimented with whatever they wanted. The protagonist, Mel, unfortunately took part in a faulty test, falling asleep for years. When she finally wakes, there is a fake Cave Johnson telling her she needs to escape the facility. Using the portal gun, it's up to you to uncover the truth about what's really going on here.

Portal 2 | Memories

By Skinnycap

An episodic-styled mod, each chapter has its own twist, theme, and setup, with the goal being to bring cores from each chapter's individual levels to a hub that will open up the next chapter. Secrets are common, innovative mechanics make every level feel distinct, and the result is a loosely connected but competently made puzzles for any Portal fan.

Portal: Prelude

By Portal: Prelude Team

Portal: Prelude is one of those mods any long-time fan is probably already familiar with - but with all the new ones that might be being drawn in by this latest instalment by Valve, you can't miss this historical piece of mod work. A solid campaign with many new ways to test your puzzle solving skills to their limits, there's a good reason this is one of the all-time classic mods on the site.

Factum Solus

By Fearlezz

Factum Solus is a story driven episodic Portal mod. Player plays as Chell from the original Portal, but in a totally new exciting universe where the Aperture Center is not controlled by GLaDOS but a AI called Ben.
As the player goes through new, creative and well thought out puzzles, she discovers that there is someone watching her. Someone not from the staff of the Enrichment Center. Who could it be?

Portal: Still Alive For PC

By Lever Softworks

On the Xbox 360, Portal received its own set of special levels to give console fans a little more Portal than they bargained for. However, these levels were never officially ported over to the PC, leaving PC Portal fanatics left out in the cold. Thanks to this team, nobody need miss out again, with all-new ways to think with portals.

Still Alive

The Portal franchise is almost as recognisably iconic as Half-Life, forming an integral part of the Orange Box with its original release and the sequel becoming one of the most highly-reviewed games of all time. Portals open up entirely new avenues of puzzle-solving that, at their hardest, present some genuinely tough brain teasers.

Never Wanted Gone

Although the last full Portal game release was a decade ago now, Valve regularly demo their new technology in this universe thanks to the spirit of invention Portal represents. Hand Labs, Moondust, and now, the entirely free Aperture Desk Job are all minigame-sized experiences that do a solid job of leaving fans wanting more whilst aptly showing off the power of new hardware. Desk Job sees you operate a construction line with the help of a new AI buddy as Portal's characteristic tongue-in-cheek entertains throughout.

Party Position

Desk Job reiterates Valve's awareness of Portal's value as a franchise, with all manner of spinoffs having appeared over the years. With Portal and Portal 2 coming to the Switch and a recent appearance in popular advertising, some are speculating this is the lead up to something bigger - not helped by Valve's own mentioning of the words "Not Portal 3" in the description for Desk Job. For now, we have another free demo to sate our Portal curiosities - and plenty more mods to enjoy.