Valve’s Tech Demos Set In Portal Is Making Me Yearn For Portal 3

thegamer.com:

Valve hasn’t been in the business of making games for a while; after all, the studio has been a tad too caught up trying to push forward the frontiers of gaming tech or something like that, tinkering away with devices like the Steam Deck, and before that, the Steam Controller, Steam Link and Steam Machine. But when it does release a short snippet of a game like The Lab or Aperture Desk Job, it’s a stark reminder of just how good at game-making the veteran studio can be—with the exception of a few flops like Artifact.

In particular, Aperture Desk Job is developed as a free tech demo for the Steam Deck, even though it can be played on the PC as long as you have a controller. You play as an ‘entry-level nobody on their first day at work’, and you’ll be seated behind a test… desk, with the enviable job of testing Aperture’s proprietary, high-tech toilet technologies. All that testing basically drills down to pressing a few buttons on your Steam Deck, with the purpose of familiarising the player with the functions and capabilities of the device. But you won’t be doing this without help; a Personality Core named Grady will also be chatting your ear off while you carry out the intense job of stress testing toilets. And delivered in one long, uncut shot, you’ll mostly be dragged along for a ride with Grady who, inspired by a mishap that took place in the midst of your responsibilities, has came up with an earth-shatteringly brilliant invention that he would love to show Aperture CEO Cave Johnson.

Related: Why Portal Is Strangely Empty And Devoid of Humans

Rather than creating a sequel to Portal 2 (as usual, Valve seems to have an issue with counting to three), the Portal expanded universe has become somewhat of a crucible used