History VideoGame / ApertureDeskJob

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:As it turns out, 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.]]

** 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 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.

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:You and Grady are right back where you started with fake identities and none the richer, testing toilets in the bowels of the facility that Aperture stopped really caring about upkeep on, and Cave Johnson's release from this mortal coil was not only a failure, but he's stuck with a bunch of Grady's turrets and the super generator the mantises made, keeping him alive forever until whenever he's found again by something, ''anything''. Which might take a while since [=GLaDOS=] certainly seemed unaware of his fate in ''VideoGame/Portal2''.]]

* LooseCanon: Writer Erik Wolpaw [https://www.reddit.com/r/Portal/comments/t5ui73/i_asked_valve_if_aperture_desk_job_was_canon/ admitted] in an email to a fan that this game isn't actually canon to the main ''Portal'' games, and that it and other spin-offs are simply "what-ifs?" in the expanded universe.
** 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 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.

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

* 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.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aperturedeskjob.jpg]]

* ChekhovsGun: In the beginning of the game as you are introduced to your desk, among the buttons shown are the L3-L5 buttons, which aren't really used [[spoiler: until you have to press all of them at once to activate the desk's emergency rockets during the Housewares ambush.]]

* HelloInsertNameHere: After [[spoiler:being released from jail]], the player is given the opportunity to type their name, draw their signature and, hilariously, say it to a microphone. [[spoiler: The name you type in is then used to credit you during the credits!]]

* SoulCrushingDeskJob: It's even in the game title. Your job is to inspect toilets. Hundreds of thousands of them. {{Lampshaded}} by Grady.
--> '''Grady''': You think your job is bad? Well...your job ''is'' bad.

* CallForward: Grady gets the idea for the turret toilet when an accident causes lots of ammunition to get dumped into a toilet's tank. [[spoiler:This is ''exactly'' how bullets are put inside the bodies of Aperture Science turrets in the main games, as seen in Cave Johnson's video explanation in Portal 2.]]

* {{Prequel}}: Specifically, a "playable short" set before the ''Portal'' games, taking place sometime around the 1980s, after Cave Johnson's death and before [=GLaDOS=] took over the Enrichment Center, evident by the old 70s-style logo still being used. Notably, the turret toilet Grady develops [[spoiler:is the predecessor to the turrets from the main games]].

* StealingTheCredit: The Housewares department finds out about Grady's turret invention and tries to get ahead of him in creatin and presenting their own turrets to Cave.

* TattoedCrook: [[spoiler:The player character gets a tattoo of]] a dragon holding a knife during [[spoiler:their 18-month prison sentence]].

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:You and Grady are right back where you started, testing toilets in the bowels of the facility that Aperture stopped really caring about upkeep on, and Cave Johnson's release from this mortal coil was not only a failure, but he's stuck with a bunch of Grady's turrets and the super generator the mantises made, keeping him alive forever until whenever he's found again by something, ''anything''. Which might take a while since [=GLaDOS=] certainly seemed unaware of his fate in ''VideoGame/Portal2''.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: The game starts with the player hearing an uplifting speech from Cave Johnson, looking forward to the genius they'll come up with. Then Grady shows up, says that's the wrong tape, and switches to that. This tape? Cave curtly telling thevplayer to get to work or they're fired.

''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 "product inspector" whose job is to test the company's products for defects while being instructed by Grady, a friendly personality core.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Grady's Mark II turret toilet is covered in weapons such as missile launchers and a machine gun, but they're not fully integrated into the design, hastily glued to the sides of the toilet. As such, it takes only a few seconds of the player testing it before it completely destroys itself, bringing a whole warehouse worth of products down with it.

* ChekhovsGun: In the beginning of the game as you are introduced to your desk, among the buttons shown are the L3-L5 buttons, which aren't really used [[spoiler: until you have to press all of them at once to activate the desk's emergency rockets during the Houseware ambush.]]
* CutTheJuice: [[spoiler:How the player finally turns off Cave Johnson's computer head. It works...and then the backup power comes online.]]

* 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.]]
* {{Prequel}}: To the ''Portal'' series, taking place sometime in the like 1980s, after Cave Johnson's death and before [=GLaDOS=] took over the Enrichment Center, evident by the old 70s-style logo still being used. Notably, the turret toilet Grady develops [[spoiler:is the predecessor to the turrets from the main games]].

* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Your job is to inspect toilets. Hundreds of thousands of them. Lampshaded by Grady.
--> '''Grady''': You think your job is bad? Well, your job is bad.

* TechDemoGame: This game was released to demonstrate the controls of the Steam Deck.

''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]] during the company's twilight years in the 80s, the player is placed in the seat of a "product inspector" whose job is to test the company's products for defects while being instructed by Grady, a friendly personality core.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:as it turns out, 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.]]

* PaperThinDisguise: [[spoiler:Grady wears a fake mustache as part of his Gary-persona so as to hide from the authorities after 'murdering' Cave Johnson.]]
* SmallSecludedWorld: a colony of Praying Mantises develop a civilization in the gaps between floors that grows in complexity as the game progresses.

* StealthPun: [[spoiler:the robot ''Cave'' Johnson falls through several floors and ends up in what amounts to a ''cave''.]]

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:as it turns out, 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.]]

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:as it turns out, 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 any one else, leading him to being isolated as an immobile robot encased in a giant head-sculpture in 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]]