Portal 2 is the first-person puzzle game sequel to Portal, developed by Valve. You awaken in a Aperture’s testing facilities once again and are introduced to basic controls by a voice over a speaker until it seems something is a bit off. A strange glowing eyeball robot enters and essentially informs you that you must evacuate. Through some unconventional means you two manage to find a portal gun and a potential escape route. However, the way out requires going through the chamber of your old pal GLaDOS. The good news is that she’s offline… the bad news is that your new friend can’t crack the code to your way out before she wakes up again. She’s not exactly happy to see you, but you both know that neither one of you can resist the thrill of testing. So once again you are thrust into the testing chambers as your newfound friend tries to help you both get out alive.

You’ll slowly be introduced to a host of new puzzle elements to consider in order to resolve the test chambers. You can use reflective cubes to redirect laser beams into energy receptacles. You can use anti-gravity tunnels to move objects your yourself around. You can manipulate hard light beams to make walls and bridges. There are launch pads that can fling you or obstacles around for instant momentum. There are also three gels that fall out of dispensers and can be applied to surfaces. The blue gel lets you jump and bounce high. The orange gel accelerated your running speed. And the white gel creates portalable surfaces. You’ll need to use all these new mechanics along with old ones to survive long enough to make your great escape. But things take an interesting turn when you finally make your move. You end up replacing GLaDOS as the main computer system with Wheatley (though I’m not sure if they ever mentioned his name or not in the exposition quite honestly) but he goes mad with power being able to control the entire facility. It seems no matter who is in charge, the programming is designed to invent test and record the data. This is only the beginning, and I don’t think we’re getting any cake this time either.

Portal 2 definitely makes some impressive strides to follow up the first installment. All of the extra puzzle elements make problem solving even more interesting. There are also many more puzzles to solve in this game as well. But everything still revolves around using portals to complete the tests. There’s also a lot more lore in this game as well. We learn about some of the past endeavors of Aperture Science and glimpse of what may be happening right now. It’s very interesting yet also isn’t even necessary to enhance the experience because the core gameplay is so fun. They’ve also refined the mechanics a bit. It’s not much easier to enter portals and to perform actions when exiting them in mid-air. There are also fewer action-oriented and momentum-based sections. The jumping is also a little better for basic platforming. Lots of simple tweaks to make this more enjoyable to play and solve. The voice acting in the game is pretty great. A lot of it is comedic monologues but it is performed very well and there’s something rewarding about clearing a puzzle to get to more voice lines. There are also a lot of interesting sections where you’re outside of the testing areas and using the mechanics to get around the facility more organically. I also really enjoy that a lot of rooms have more of an exploration element to them. Sometimes you have to solve part of a room and to get to the next part, and often you’ll need to use elements from different sections of a room you’ve scoped out to get the final solution to move on. They’ve done an excellent job expanding and improving upon the core gameplay mechanics, and all of the extra spectacle built around the core of the game is a great way to keep you engaged without taking anything away from that core.

That’s not to say Portal 2 is perfect. There are still some difficult sections with making falling loops and timing/aiming shots to progress. The momentum from portals is easier to keep when falling out upwards through them, but it’s still hard to orient yourself for the next step when you keep flipping around through them depending on how you set them up. I do feel like a few sections focus a bit too heavily on the same mechanic, though it IS used to teach you about them. Some mechanics feel used more than others as well. You’ll see a whole lot of those gels, but the lasers aren’t used too often and I feel like the hard light beams are mostly contained in one pocket of the adventure. Also, and this is a minor nitpick as well as a matter of taste, but the ending song here isn’t as good as the first game.

But that’s maybe the only thing the first game did better. Everything else is expanded and improved upon here to the point that I can’t imagine fans of the first game not also loving this one. It’s more of the same, but with more to it. It’s an excellent example of how to make a sequel. And this is all from me just playing the main solo campaign. There’s also community content where you can play other people’s puzzles and make your own. There’s a co-op mode full of levels and puzzles built for two players. There’s so much content here that I didn’t even play and I’d STILL recommend it. It also routinely goes on sale on Steam for a dollar and it available on multiple platforms now for around 10 or twenty bucks full price. If you liked Portal, you’ll love Portal 2. Just don’t hold your breath for a sequel. Portal 3 is the cake.