History VideoGame / ApertureDeskJob

** A building in the mantis colony's skyline bears the logo of [[Pun Manntis]] [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Co.]], and the Mark 2 uses some of that game's weapon sound effects.

** A building in the mantis colony's skyline bears the logo of [[JustForPun Manntis]] [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Co.]], and the Mark 2 uses some of that game's weapon sound effects.

** Though the game was explicitly designed to be played with only a controller, the doorbell on the menu can be rung only with a computer mouse.

** After the player character [[spoiler:gets out of prison]], lowering the camera lets you see that [[spoiler:they etched out counting lines on their desk.]]

* TechDemoGame: This game was released to demonstrate the controls of the Steam Deck. In fact, the player's inspection desk actually has the Steam Deck logo etched into its surface.

** Even with this confirmation, there are already a couple of inconsistencies in-game from the main ''Portal'' universe, such as the existence of the personality cores in 1970/80s-era Aperture and [[spoiler:the successful uploading of Johnson into a robot body – Caroline would not have been forced into [=GLaDOS=] had this effort worked.[[note]]Although that depends on whether Aperture considers Cave as a panicking killer computer a "success" or failure, and tried again with Caroline [[WhatAnIdiot thinking they'd get it right the second time]].[[/note]]]] Also, there's no mention of Caroline.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aperturedeskjob.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:"You think your job is bad? Well...[[BrutalHonesty your job]] ''[[BrutalHonesty is]]'' [[BrutalHonesty bad]]."]]

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:As it turns out, in this universe Cave Johnson was able to survive his fatal moon-rock poisoning by uploading his mind into a computer. In a fit of panic, he killed the scientists who uploaded him and threatened to kill anyone else who came close, leading him to being isolated as an immobile robot encased in a giant head-sculpture of his own likeness for several years. He's remarkably well-adjusted given his usual personality and length of isolation, but he does wish for death. This expands even further in the credits due to being [[BrickJoke powered by the mantis colony’s super reactor]] as his head can no longer run out of power, so he is damned to the bowels of Aperture along with the toilet drones.]]

* RedEyesTakeWarning: {{Averted}}. Grady is nothing but pleasant and patient with the player character, and does nothing to betray you throughout the course of the short [[spoiler:(If you don't count letting you take the fall for the destruction of the warehouse)]].

* SoulCrushingDeskJob: It's even in the game title. Your job is to inspect toilets. Hundreds of thousands of them. {{Lampshaded}} by Grady in the image quote.

''Aperture Desk Job'' is a video game created by Creator/ValveSoftware and released in March 1st, 2022, serving as the TechDemoGame for the Steam Deck handheld console, though it could also be played on PC with a controller. Taking place at [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Aperture Science]] in the years prior to ''[[VideoGame/Portal1 Portal]]'', the player is placed in the seat of a "[[PlayerCharacter product inspector]]" whose job is to test the company's products for defects while being instructed by Grady, a friendly personality core.

* SmallSecludedWorld: A colony of praying mantises develop a civilization in the gaps between floors that grows in complexity as the game progresses. [[spoiler:It's destroyed when the giant Cave Johnson head falls through the floor.]]

* RedEyesTakeWarning: {{Averted}}. Grady is nothing but pleasant and patient with the player character, and does nothing to betray you throughout the course of the short.

* PaperThinDisguise: [[spoiler:Grady wears a fake mustache and a tattoo as part of his "Gary" persona so as to hide from the authorities after 'murdering' Cave Johnson.]]

* StealthPun: [[spoiler:The robot ''Cave'' Johnson falls through several floors and ends up in what amounts to a ''cave''. What's more, he ends up down there because the floor ''caved'' in beneath him. Even the player isn't safe from this: the only way to progress in this section is to ''cave'' under pressure and shoot Cave as asked.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aperturedeskjob.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:"You think your job is bad? Well...your job ''is'' bad."]]

* {{Prequel}}: Specifically, a "playable short" set before the ''Portal'' games, taking place sometime around the 1970s, after Cave Johnson's death/disappearance from his own employees, and before [=GLaDOS=] took over the Enrichment Center, evident by the old 70s-style sunset logo still being used. Notably, the turret toilet Grady develops [[spoiler:is the predecessor to the turrets from the main games]].

** Even with this confirmation, there are already a couple of inconsistencies in-game from the main ''Portal'' universe, such as the existence of the personality cores in 1970/80s-era Aperture and [[spoiler:the successful uploading of Johnson into a robot body – Caroline would not have been forced into [=GLaDOS=] had this effort worked.]] Also, no mention of Caroline.

** In a meta sense, Grady and the product inspector are the reason the Aperture Science Turrets in the ''Portal'' games exist in the first place.

** Grady's clipboard during his introduction is fully rendered with legible text. Hilariously, Grady pretty much gets through the Do list incorrectly (he didn't ensure the correct Cave Johnson greeting was playing and did not get confirmation from the player that they understand the "concept of firing light") while completing the Do Not list incorrectly too (he tells the player his name, engages in small talk, and "shares intimate personal details" with the player.

* CutTheJuice: [[spoiler:How the player finally turns off Cave Johnson's computer head. It works...aaaaaand then the backup power comes online.]]

* DevelopersForesight: Should you [[spoiler: shoot the proto-turrent in the middle of Cave's speech, Cave will stop and briefly chastise you before resuming. The voice lines even vary depending on ''when'' you shoot.]]