Source was showing its age by this point but a combination of art tweaks, new tech, and a larger production budget produced a much better-looking effort.Įven the more challenging Portal 2 sees Switch compare favourably with Steam Deck on maxed settings. Technically Portal 2 ran on an evolution of the Source engine technology featured in Half-Life 2 Episode 2, which meant an extensive use of shadow maps, HDR-based lighting, and high quality particle effects. Areas were genuinely varied and were broken up by extended cinematic gameplay sequences through large environments.
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Portal 2 was based around the same conceit as its predecessor - a linear series of puzzle rooms - but it depicted the gameplay environment after years of disuse, giving the artists an excuse to fill environments with foliage and natural light. In this case, it's the design of the game that shines through to this day - but the sequel improves matters in all regards. The artistic constraints of a game like Portal might make this effort more challenging but there were certainly accomplished depictions of small-scale spaces in earlier titles, like 2004's Doom 3, for example. Portal mostly lacks normal-mapping, has little in the way of specular lighting, and has no environmental shadow maps, techniques common in other games from the period. Unfortunately, the Source engine and tools at the time were incapable of delivering the sort of subtle detail that a smaller-scale game demands. Oh, and Xbox 360 and Steam Deck comparisons? You've got it. Watch on YouTube Oliver Mackenzie presents this detailed technical breakdown of the new Portal Companion Collection from Valve. Given the constraints of the project - developed by a team of about 10 people - these limitations make sense. The game has an austere look with repetitive, straightforward artwork. The puzzles are interesting enough but the environments are simple, with rudimentary flat-textured walls, angular geometry and a heavy reliance on baked lighting and shadows. Portal is essentially a series of basic puzzle rooms. However, brilliance in game and art design make both titles a great match for Nintendo's hybrid console and it's been fantastic to revisit these games, which turn out to be a perfect fit for the platform.īefore we go into platform differences, it's worth discussing the basic graphical makeup of both titles and the huge artistic and technical improvements made between the two games. Both games run on the landmark Source engine, most famous for powering 2004's Half-Life 2, so obviously, we're not looking at state-of-the-art technology here. This new double-pack from Valve and Nvidia Lightspeed Studios combines Portal 1 and Portal 2 along with bonus gameplay content at an attractive £13.49/$19.99. The good news is that this changed spectacularly last week with the release of Portal: The Companion Collection.
Aside from enhanced backwards compatibility support on Xbox, we've seen nothing new from either game since the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 era. However, the fact is that these games have essentially been absent from the console space since their original releases in 20 respectively. The Portal games are genuine classics - brilliant, inventive first-person puzzle games that combine an inventive gameplay mechanic, mind-bending designs and witty storytelling to create a truly special experience.