Pine Studio's Escape Simulator, a first person puzzle game based around escape rooms, has announced an upcoming free and Valve-approved Portal DLC. Portal Escape Chamber arrives on September 7 and is based in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center from the games.
«We are of course incredibly thankful to the entire team at Valve for letting us create this new free DLC,» says the announcement, «which is truly a wish come true for all of us at Pine Studio!»
The DLC is set following «a minor workplace incident» which has put the facility on lockdown, trapping you and up to nine other players (Escape Simulator is co-op) inside. There are puzzles to solve, it's got companion cubes to play with, and your escape ultimately depends appropriately enough on breaking the Aperture Laboratory protocols. You'll also get a sweet Aperture lab coat, and there are other character skins to pick up. The room should take players anywhere from half an hour to an hour to complete, and because it's so big relative to other Escape Simulator rooms the DLC will come with a checkpoint system.
And yes, Pine Studio went there: «To make your escape a little bit sweeter, we promise that there will be cake. No lie.»
This DLC will have to do while we wait for the never-going-to-happen Portal 3. The one shining light on that horizon, indeed the hero we need, is Erik Wolpaw, the former Valve developer and writer who co-wrote the first two games. Wolpaw's been on a one-man mission to drum-up intrigue about a third entry, saying Valve has "a starting point that we like a ton", and generally agitating from outside Valve for Portal 3 to get made. Perhaps all along the cake was a metaphor for Valve's inability to do trilogies. We all want it, we must have it,
Puzzle
Simulation
UPS
Inside
Erik Wolpaw