PC PS3

Portal 2

PlatformPuzzleAdventure

Time to beat: about 10.4 hours

Overview

Portal 2 is a 2011 first person puzzle-platform game developed by Valve for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The retail versions and PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were distributed by Electronic Arts. A port for the Nintendo Switch was released as part of the Portal: Companion Collection in June 2022.

Like the original Portal (2007), players solve puzzles by placing portals and teleporting between them. Portal 2 adds features including excursion funnels (called tractor beams in files), lasers, light bridges, and paint-like gels that alter player movement or allow portals to be placed on any surface. In the single-player campaign, players control Chell, who navigates the dilapidated Aperture Science Enrichment Center during its reconstruction by the supercomputer GLaDOS (Ellen McLain); new characters include robot Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) and Aperture founder Cave Johnson (J. K. Simmons). In the new cooperative mode, players solve puzzles together as robots Atlas and P-Body (both voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). Jonathan Coulton and the National produced songs for the game.

Valve announced Portal 2 in March 2010, and promoted it with alternate reality games including the Potato Sack, a collaboration with several independent game developers. After release, Valve released downloadable content and a simplified map editor to allow players to create and share levels.