Developer: Valve Corporation Publisher: Valve Corporation Release year: 2007
Spoilers: Moderate Reviewed on: PC
I never thought I would question the meaning of ‘cake’ …until I played Portal. This first-person puzzle-solving game takes their core game mechanic – the ability to make portals – and transports it into a mysterious scientific facility. Instructed by Glados, an AI robot surveying your progress through the test levels, you learn how to use the portal gun in increasingly complex ways with the lure of ‘cake’ once completed. The merging of the storyline and game mechanics of Portal have received much praise, and in this post I will be examining this relationship. Warning: spoilers ahead.
The plot within portal is deeply embedded within the game structure, sustaining player immersion. You, the protagonist, are taking part in a scientific test run by an AI called Glados: her instructions guide your understanding of what is being asked of you and fit well into the narrative. This tutorial is seamless and, only once the 19 level tutorial is complete and you reach the ‘cake’, do you realise it was the tutorial.
This can cause issues: having the tutorial seamlessly embedded can create repetition and frustration – symptomatic of the clinical setting – that causes the player to question if the game will change. Perhaps Valve could have chosen to reduce the number of tutorial levels, or not display the number of tutorial levels? This calls into question what purpose the level countdown serves. Upon reflection, this countdown helps to increase the suspense of what awaits at the end of the process and so creates more impact. The number of levels is also important in terms of pacing: each tutorial level has a specific lesson for the player, and this carefully considered level design would be disrupted by removing even one level.
During the tutorial, the use of unintrusive VO and environmental/visual storytelling heighten feelings of distrust . At level 16, we see the first signs of disturbance in the clinical environment, and are compelled to explore the red ‘HELP’ scrawled on the floor by a protruding wall panel. Behind the panel arethe infamous repeated lines of “THE CAKE IS A LIE”.
This clever use of visuals in storytelling is accompanied by the notoriously dark humour of Glados, whose apparent apathy and disregard for human life develops unease and foreboding about her true intentions. Her pacing and tone convey apathy better than static, written communication could. For example:
“We have added a consequence for failure: any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record followed by death. Good luck.”
The verbal dialogue creates more of an impact due to the monotone delivery and fast-paced utterance of ‘death’ – illustrating her rationality of death as being on par with a bad test score. Considering Glados is the game’s ‘final boss’, having her live commentary becomes even more important in building up to this moment.
The narrative is also used to emphasise the theme of surveillance: the ‘surveillance rooms’ in each test chamber are more creepy by the lack of life within them. The ratman dens – that help us realise there is more to the ‘cake’ – aid in creating the sense of duality between the clinical facility design and the dark motives of Glados. Glados becomes a satirical commentator and she symbolises the role reversal of humans and AI within the testing facility.
The design of the story cleverly leaves room for interpretation: we don’t know who we are – which maintains immersion – and we don’t find out where all the humans are. We still aren’t sure at the end, when Glados reveals she is ‘Still Alive’, what the facility was testing. But one thing we are sure of: Portal is a brilliant game, designed carefully to integrate the game mechanics with a mysterious story. Valve have thought carefully about how they deliver the story and succeed in creating an immersive game.
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