Eleven years ago today, Portal was released.
I happened to have picked the game up a few years later, in 2009, as part of one
of the many Steam sales on The Orange Box.
And like many games I’ve procured during Steam (and Humble Bundle sales), it
took me another three years (2012) before I got around to playing it.
See the thing was, I had constantly been told and have read about how amazing the
Half-Life series, especially Half-Life 2 is, and I did want to eventually check
it out.
Hence picking up the bundle, Portal just happened to have been a wonderful bonus.
The thing is, I don’t play a lot of first-person shooters any more. Hell, I
really don’t play a lot of games anymore. For all intents and purposes, I am
definitely a filthy casual when it comes to gaming.
With that, upon originally playing Portal, I was completely captivated.
Even without a high end graphics card, everything looked great. The gameplay was
familiar but amazingly unique with the addition of the portal gun of the game’s
namesake.
Unlike a traditional FPS run and gun, there was a puzzle element that provided a
good amount of challenge without being too frustrating.
All that said, I only ever played half way through the game.
And even though I never beat the original, I picked up Portal 2 in 2015 during
yet another Steam Sale.
Fast forward to September 2018, I picked up a new rig and wanted to
test it out playing some games.
I gave Minecraft a go, and the fan spun up like crazy as per usual.
I attempted to give Diablo III a go, but that included a ton of hackery with
Wine and I’ve yet to get it running.
So I installed Portal, on Linux, roughly 11 years after it was originally
released.
Starting the game over from the beginning, I was blown away yet again.
It’s been as smooth as I remember and even though the graphics are a bit dated,
the story and gameplay have held up well and the portal gun concept still
tickles me to no end.
Yes, I actually giggle like Nick Offerman from time to time as I do
something absurd with the the portals.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you have yet to play Portal and are apprehensive
because it’s over a decade old, you should hang that up and give it a shot.
