On February 25, 2022, Valve secretly premiered a trailer for a game called Aperture Desk Job. The video deliberately didn’t explain what the game was about, but it was clear that it took place in the Portal universe as well as having the word Aperture in his title. At the end of the trailer, it’s revealed that it will be released just days later and will be free.
As promised, the game was released on March 1st, but it feels like no one is playing it. It’s a shame because, as Valve mentions, it’s a great “Playable Short.”
Aperture Desk Job does not have portals, but it is a portal game. Portal’s established character and a new one named Grady, voiced by one of my favorite comedians (and maybe your comedian if you watch the clip below) Nate Bargatze. A character will appear.
However, perhaps the game’s most compelling claim to Portal fans is that it’s canon. You spend most of your time with him, Grady, but you also spend time with Cave Johnson. Not only did the Portal and Portal 2 writers create more dialogue for the lemon-hating Aperture founder, JK Simmons popped into the recording booth for new dialogue. Neither Cave Johnson nor his JK Simmons participation were teased in the game’s limited marketing. It was quite a surprise when I played it, but if you haven’t played it yet, I thought I’d tell you because it might push you over the limit to finally start downloading.
The whole idea behind the Aperture Desk Job is to be a showcase piece for your Steam Deck. It’s best played with the Steam Deck as it takes advantage of the console’s various hardware capabilities, but it’s not. I need steam deck. This game may be underrated as it was released at a time when Steam Decks were very hard to come by. Many of you probably thought you needed a Steam Deck. The comparison isn’t perfect, but it’s a bit like Astro’s Playroom on PlayStation 5. If it was also released on PlayStation 4.
If you love Portal as much as I do, there’s no excuse not to play it. It’s fun and takes Portal’s story a little further. If more people don’t play this, I’m afraid Valve will point to it as a reason not to continue making games in the Portal universe.one completely random people on twitter said about it: It was a short experience, but I was very happy. ’ Wow, they certainly sound smart.
Here is the direct link to add the game to your Steam library:If you have a Steam deck, try playing there. If not, play while you can. A great one, a short one, and probably the closest we’ll get to a new Portal game any time soon.
