History VideoGame / Portal1

->''"[[BlatantLies The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants.]] [[TheCakeIsALie Cake]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and grief counseling]] [[IWasToldThereWouldBeCake will be available at the conclusion of the test.]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thank you for helping us help you help us all.]]"''

** Listen to the cake [[http://e-wot.com/2010/01/the-cake-recipe-portal/ recipe]]... At least the [[{{Squick}} less savoury ingredients]] are just garnishes. The recipe is legit too, so long as you know the baking instructions.

->''[[BlatantLies The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants.]] [[TheCakeIsALie Cake]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and grief counseling]] [[IWasToldThereWouldBeCake will be available at the conclusion of the test.]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thank you for helping us help you help us all.]]''
-->--'''[=GLaDOS=]'''

* DevelopmentGag: The first BrickJoke example above was meant to be in the game from the beginning, but, they couldn't, so they added it in a patch later.

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* BadLiar: [=GLaDOS=]

* EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace

* GenreBusting

* MissionControlIsOffItsMeds

* MurderByCremation

* OntologicalMystery

* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated

* RoboSpeak

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''[[https://www.digipen.edu/fileadmin/website_data/gallery/game_websites/NarbacularDrop/ Narbacular Drop]]''.

* WhamLine

* WreakingHavok

* SoundtrackDissonance

[[caption-width-right:218:[[TagLine Now you're thinking with Portals.]]]]

--> '''Cave Johnson:'''...well, it’d be like, I don't know, something that would help with the shower curtains I guess. I haven’t worked this idea out as much as the wish-taking one.

* ProductPlacement: The infamous "cake" is a Black Forest cake, modeled after the one in the window display of "Regent Bakery & Cafe", a bakery near Valve corporation. Since the game's release, the bakery has boosted in popularity because of the cake itself.

* TheCastShowoff: Ellen [=McLain=] is an operatic singer, which means she sings one hell of a credits song.

* NoProductSafetyStandards: shower curtains, the emancipation grid, and probably not the Portal Gun.

* TakeThat: In-universe example: take a look at [=GLaDOS=]'s screens as she says, "... the dumbest thing...," and you'll see the Black Mesa logo.

** The DescendingCeiling is present (with spikes) in one of the extra challenge levels of the [[XboxLiveArcade Xbox Live Arcade]] version of ''Portal''.

** "A lot of people like cake." That was sufficient enough reason to put it in the game. More accurately, during a design meeting about what sort of philosophy to drive the game with the answer was the above. Of course, the dev team did not expect the reactions from the fans, which is why there is absolutely ''no'' cake in Portal 2. [[spoiler:Unless you count a reference to a "cake dispensary" in one trap. They couldn't resist putting in just one.]]

->''[[AC:[[BlatantLies The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants.]] [[TheCakeIsALie Cake]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and grief counseling]] [[IWasToldThereWouldBeCake will be available at the conclusion of the test.]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thank you for helping us help you help us all.]]''

->''[[AC:[[BlatantLies The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants.]] [[TheCakeIsALie Cake]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and grief counseling]] [[IWasToldThereWouldBeCake will be available at the conclusion of the test.]] Thank you for helping us help you help us all.]]''

* BadassNormal:
** Chell, of course.
** Doug Rattman, a schizophrenic DeadpanSnarker scientist [[spoiler: who was indirectly responsible for almost all the events of both games, and escaped [=GLaDOS=] to do so.]]

This article is about the video game titled ''Portal''. If you are searching for portal-related tropes, please refer to TeleportationTropes. If you are looking for the page for the series as a whole, [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} please click here]].

The player character is Chell, who wakes up in a seemingly uninhabited facility. [=GLaDOS=], the facility's AI robot voice, sends her through a series of puzzles as a test subject for the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which is capable of opening portals on flat surfaces (only two at a time), creating a link between them. The tests are deadly and require quite a bit of creativity for Chell to get through, navigating the bizarre twists of geometry and gravity that are exploited for all they're worth.

* YouMonster: Combined with a liberal dose of SarcasmMode:
-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any other test subject on record. Congratulations.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Just in case [[spoiler:being forced to "euthanize" your Companion Cube]] wasn't already enough of a PlayerPunch, GLaDOS consummates the awfulness by telling you that you did the deed "faster than any test subject on record." Ouch.

* HumanResources [[AC: The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake.]]

* ExcusePlot: Chell's apparent motivation for completing the tests is, as stated by [=GLaDOS=] in the page quote, "cake and grief counseling." The trope is [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] post-reveal, though, as it raises the question of how insane Chell would have to be to face trigger-happy turrets and spheres of energy that ''disintegrate you on contact'' just for this simple reward - never mind the fact that [[spoiler: she never would have received either reward anyway]].

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Or at least, that's what [=GLaDOS=] proclaims.
--> [[AC:"What are you doing? ''Stop it!'' I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-- We-e-e-e are pleased that you made it through the final challenge where [[spoiler:we pretended we were going to murder you]]."]]