History VideoGame / Portal1

--->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' Good news. I found out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a [[spoiler:Morality Core]] they installed after I [[spoiler:flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]] to make me stop [[spoiler:flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]].

As for the original, it has subsequently been released on UsefulNotes/Xbox360, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, Android, [=MacOS=], and Linux. The PC Steam version of the game was given a free DLC on December 8, 2022, that refreshed its 3D assets so they would look even better with Nvidia [=GeForce=] RTX 40-series video cards.

-->''the cake is a lie\\

** Among other things, beta testers caused the creation of the CompanionCube. Chamber 17 was designed for players to take the cube provided at the start of the level with them through the entire chamber, but at this point players had been well and truly trained that cubes were to be used once and then discarded, and another would be provided next time. What to do? Paint tiny hearts on each of its sides and call it a ''Companion'' Cube. Then have [=GLaDOS=] repeatedly tell you that the cube was your best friend and you should look after it. That worked!

** The receiving machines for High Energy Pellets cast a red glowing light on the surface opposite them as a guide to let the player easily know where to set up an exit portal that wil transfer a Pellet directly into the receiver. This prevents blind trial-and-error to find the right spot for the portal in rooms where the player can't aim head-on.

* AsceticAesthetic: The Enrichment Center... [[RoomFullOfCrazy most of the time]].
* AsciiArt: Used in the credits to ''Portal'' as well as in the ''Portal 2'' [[AlternateRealityGame ARG]].

* BrickJoke[=/=]CallBack:

** A lesser Brick Joke comes in the form of one of the radios you can collect for the Transmission Received achievement. [[spoiler:When [=GLaDOS=] decides to kill you at the end of the last test chamber, she'll tell you that all Aperture technologies remains safely operational up to 4000 Kelvin. One of the radios is in the incinerator, still working. This is also told to be why in the second game [=GLaDOS=] and the portal gun are still operational after being thrown in the incinerator. Although, ironically, the portal gun's model does actually burn up in the incinerator if Chell falls in.]]

* BrutalBonusLevel: The Advanced Test Chambers. ''Especially'' Advanced Test Chamber 18.
* BSODSong: "Still Alive" is a rather weird, villainous version of this.

* ComedicSociopathy: [=GLaDOS=]' is much of what makes the game so hilarious.

* CreativeClosingCredits[=/=]CreditsGag: The ending song plays over a text screen that displays the lyrics in the form of a computerized personnel file report, accompanied by some rather hilarious ASCII art.
* {{Crossover}}: With ''VideoGame/DefenseGridTheAwakening'', complete with levels that look like the Enrichment Center.
* CuteMachines: The turrets, as well as [=GLaDOS=]' curiosity core.

* DeathTrap: [=GLaDOS=] tries one on you in the final test chamber, leading to your escape.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: [=GLaDOS=] is all over this.
-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' It was a [[spoiler:Morality Core]] they installed after I [[spoiler:flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]] to make me stop [[spoiler:flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]].\\
Thank you for helping us help you help us all.

* DiabolusExMachina: Added to the ending to set up the sequel.

* DisturbingStatistic:
-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' The device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in ''[Subject Hometown Here]''.

* EnergyBall: The Aperture Science High Energy Pellet.

* EternalEngine: The facilities behind-the-scenes. Taken to further extremes in the sequel.

* ExpositoryThemeTune: Unusually, this one is an EndingTheme rather than an opening theme.
* ExpospeakGag: The "1500-Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super-Button" and "Aperture Science Thing-We-Don't-Know-What-It-Does", among others.

* GasChamber: Makes completing the final BossBattle [[TimedMission more urgent]].

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Only a ''few'' things in the game with glowing eyes won't try to kill you.

* IndustrializedEvil: The whole maze is one giant example, with however many test subjects came before.

* InterfaceSpoiler: {{Averted|Trope}}; the New Game level selection menu shows all of the test chambers. Of course, that's only half the game.

* IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: Indeed, Chell is told this. Frequently.

* KickTheDog: [=GLaDOS=] does this when [[spoiler:she forces Chell to drop the ''[[CuteMachines adorable]]'' Curiosity Core into an incinerator]] and then [[YouMonster places the blame on Chell]].
* KillAllHumans: Apparently, [=GLaDOS=] spearheaded a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7bkewdgjKA&feature=player_embedded Human Annihilation Studies]] program.
* KillItWithFire: The faithful CompanionCube. [[TheCakeIsALie [=GLaDOS=] almost does this to the player]]. Then [[spoiler:the player does it to ''[[KarmicDeath her]]'']].

* LawOfInverseRecoil: The android turrets are easily knocked over and picked up as if they are quite light, however their guns don't seem to have much recoil -- they don't tip back when they fire (and are clearly using ballistic ammo).

* LevelGoal: In each of the test chambers, the elevator to the next test chamber.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to ''VideoGame/HalfLife''.

* MoralityChip: The titular Morality Core, which was ''supposed'' to change [=GLaDOS=]' sociopathic tendencies into a desire to do science experiments. [[spoiler:It's the only core that's completely silent, implying that it's not working correctly (if it ever was). In addition, Lab Rat reveals that She used the ForScience loophole to finish the job of gassing the facility by asking the scientists for Neurotoxin.]]
* MotivationalLie: The cake is a lie!
* MurderByCremation: [=GLaDOS=] forces the player to do this to the Companion Cube.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When you [[spoiler:destroy [=GLaDOS=]' Morality Core]]. She names the trope shortly thereafter. Funnily enough, this is both a subversion and a straight play. She's [[spoiler:lying her ass off to get a dig at you in, but it also happens that the Morality Core was keeping her from assuming a much more openly lethal and sadistic role. It was pretty much the sole reason that the entire facility didn't immediately rip itself up from its roots to compact you like a garbage truck, something she has no qualms with when woken up in Portal 2.]]

* NoOSHACompliance: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in-game.
--> '''[=GLaDOS=]:''' The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment. In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you. Try to avoid it.
* NoProductSafetyStandards: Shower curtains, the emancipation grid, and probably not the Portal Gun.

* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: This line from [=GLaDOS=], who is well established as a liar by then:

* PortalCut:
** {{Averted|Trope}}: The developers wanted players to feel safe, so if the player tries to put a portal elsewhere when the player or an object is in the middle of a portal, the player or object gets pushed out. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYg1-t1PRU Most of the time.]]
** {{Inverted|Trope}}: ''Opening'' a portal pops off security cameras.
* PortalSlam: Gets completely averted, at considerable programmer effort.
* PressurePlate: The 1,500-Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super-Button.

* PuzzleGame: One of the only genres in which ''Portal'' readily fits.

* RoomFullOfCrazy: I [[HeartSymbol <3]] CompanionCube.

the cake is a lie\\
the cake is a lie\\
the cake is a lie''
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Several, including one at the final boss fight: if you turn on the closed captions (at least for the 360 release) there will be a grammatical error of [=GLaDOS=] saying "I don't want to tell you ''you're'' business" instead of the correct "I don't want to tell you ''your'' business." This can dampen the gravity of the situation quite a bit.
* SarcasmMode:
** "Sarcasm sphere self-test complete."
** "Still Alive" is full of sarcasm, especially the second verse (presumably drawn from the memories of a previous test subject).

* SarcasticConfession: "Do you think I'm trying to trick you with ReversePsychology? I mean, seriously now."

* SecondHourSuperpower: You originally start out with the ability to just shoot blue portals, but a little bit into the game, and you can shoot both ''orange'' and blue.
* SecretTestOfCharacter:
** Test Chamber 09, the one [=GLaDOS=] tells you is impossible. Once you've solved it, she says,
--->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism.
** [=GLaDOS=] ''claims'' that [[spoiler:the incinerator]] was one of these so she can make you feel bad.
* ShapedLikeItself: "...and sediment-shaped sediment."

* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: "I have an infinite capacity for knowledge, and even ''I'm'' not sure what's going on outside."
* TheSnarkKnight: With her tendency towards nuclear-level sarcasm, [=GLaDOS=] is made of this trope.

** A {{subver|tedTrope}}sion, but then that just makes it funnier. "The Weighted CompanionCube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak."
** Played straight with [[spoiler:the Morality Core -- [=GLaDOS=]' attempts to get you to destroy it with ReversePsychology]] are blatantly obvious.
* TacticalSuicideBoss: [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] with her rockets.]]

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Referred to in the credits song.
-->''[[spoiler:I'm not even angry\\
I'm being so sincere right now\\
Even though you broke my heart and killed me\\
And tore me to pieces\\
And threw every piece into a fire]]''

* TotalitarianUtilitarian: In the credits song, [=GLaDOS=] claims her actions were for the greater good of mankind... at least, what's left of it. Also, she fully intends to keep killing innocent people ForScience. See page quote.
* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: As with many Valve games, the game never breaks from Chell's perspective, aside from [[spoiler:a closing cutscene depicting a robotic hand snuffing out a candle on top of a chocolate cake]].

* UnreliableNarrator: Keep in mind what computer appears to be working as the Aperture web server (at least, before its December 2010 change, which removed the site's viral advertising features). This also applies in the actual game; you can't really trust what you're being told.

* VisualPun / StealthPun: As the effects of [=GLaDOS=]'s [[spoiler:morality core]] begin to wear off, her monitors display a small pile of screws. [[spoiler:She ''does'' have quite a few screws loose by this point.]] On top of that, she's about to screw your survival odds. Also, when [=GLaDOS=] mentions "violent behavior", a picture of a [[VisualPun violin with a knife on it]] flashes on the screens.

* WhamLine:
** After you throw the Aperture Science [[BuffySpeak Thing-We-Don't-Know-What-It-Does]] into an incinerator, [=GLaDOS=] reveals exactly ''what'' it did:

** Also, from the new ending, especially for those who'd seen and been used to the old one:
--->[[spoiler:'''Party Escort Bot:''' Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position.]]
** This arguably happens when you get your first ''real'' indicator that [=GLaDOS=] isn't just a mindless set of prerecorded messages triggered by your progress and actually has real agency, when you [[spoiler:escape the fire pit at the end of Chamber 19]]:
--->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' ''What are you doing?!''

* WhyDontYouMarryIt: "Maybe you should marry that thing since you love it so much. Do you want to marry it? ''Well, I won't let you.'' How does that feel?"

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe:
-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' You are kidding me. Did you just stuff that [[BuffySpeak Aperture Science Thing-We-Don't-Know-What-It-Does]] into an Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator? That has got to be the dumbest thing that -- Whoa. ''[-Whoa.-]'' '''[--Whoa...--]'''

%%* TeleportGun: The Portal Gun.%%Administrivia/ZeroContentExample

* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: The radios in the game default to playing a short jazzy loop based on "Still Alive". The latter even made its way into the jukeboxes in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2''.

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

The sequel, ''VideoGame/Portal2'', was released April 2011. Chell is awakened an uncertain but very long time after the events of ''Portal'' by an AI core named Wheatley, and in an attempt to leave the facility, they accidentally awaken [=GLaDOS=]. [[Videogame/Portal2 Now, please enter your local Aperture Science Enrichment Center for further testing.]]

* ActionGirl: Chell, the PlayerCharacter.
* ActionSurvivor: For most of the game Chell is simply trying to make it through the test chambers in one piece.
* AbandonedLaboratory: Ain't no one in the Aperture Science labs except you and [=GLaDOS=] [[spoiler: and Doug Rattmann]].
* AdorableEvilMinions: The gun turrets.

* AIIsACrapshoot: A pleasant, amusing, physics game is turned into a brilliant story demonstrating the power of the medium merely by the judicious application of an Insane Killer Disk-Operating System. [[TheCakeIsALie And cake.]]
* AllThereInTheManual: The Aperture Science website revealed much of the backstory, this was removed in December 2010. Then [=GameInformer's=] Portal 2 hub listed [[http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/03/24/Aperture-Science_3A00_-A-History.aspx an updated version of the history as stated in the Aperture website.]] The [[http://combineoverwiki.net Combine OverWiki]] can also help. The names of [=GLaDOS=] and Chell are never stated in-game, except in the optional developer commentary. However, Chell is listed in the credits, and [=GLaDOS=] has her name on her side.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Chell.
* {{Antepiece}}: The puzzle design is very varied and deals with rather sophisticated ideas. Yet it's approachable for everyone and very concise. To introduce ideas to the player, the designers often use antepieces: small, unchallenging tasks that act as a stepping stone to something more complex. For example, test chamber ten is a three section chamber: the second and third sections are about throwing yourself down a pit into a portal at the bottom and flying out of a wall. But the first section of chamber ten is barely a puzzle at all; it's just a panel and a staircase. All the player has to do to keep moving is make a portal anywhere and go into it. But it introduces a structure that is to be repeated.
* ArcWords: *warping sound* "[[AC:"C-C-Cakecakecakecakecake...]] To an extent, anyway. "TheCakeIsALie" fits the bill. (Even though it's never actually spoken in-game -- the Rat Man has scrawled it [[MadnessMantra repeatedly]] on the wall of one of his dens [[spoiler: and over a tube you have to go through a while after escaping the incinerator]]). ForScience is also repeatedly thrown around.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[AC:"I'm going to kill you. And all the cake is gone."]]
* AsceticAesthetic: The Enrichment Center...[[RoomFullOfCrazy most of the time]].

* {{Autosave}}: The games autosave in certain places or intervals. If you want to go back before an autosave, you can always load the previous save file.
* BadLiar: [=GLaDOS=].
* BagOfSpilling: The Emancipation Grill (also called "the fizzler") is a forcefield which is harmless to Chell and her Portal Gun, but prevents her from taking foreign objects like cubes through it, and there's one at the end of each level, which prevents you from cheating or breaking the game. Additionally, you can't shoot portals through one, and passing through erases all current portals. Many puzzles force you to circumvent Emancipation Grills creatively.

* BlatantLies: [=GLaDOS=] attempts to convince you that [[spoiler:attempting to murder you]] at the end of the testing procedure was just another test "[[spoiler:[[AC:where we pretended [...] to murder you]]]]". She then claims that there's a big party being thrown in your honour if you'll just stop right there and lie down. She's not terribly convincing when her test subjects go OffTheRails. This is {{lampshaded}} toward the end:
---> [[AC:"Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room?"]]

* BodyHorror: [=GLaDOS=] mentions offhand that the Emancipation Grill may, "[[AC:in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth.]]"

** Also, [[AC:"any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official record, followed by death."]]

** The patch added one to the ending of ''Portal''. [[spoiler: [[AC:"Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position..."]]]]

* ChromosomeCasting: The cast essentially consists of Chell and [=GLaDOS=], both of whom are female (well, [=GLaDOS=] is an AI, but still speaks in a woman's voice). There is the Rat Man [[spoiler:aka Doug Rattman]], but he never makes a physical appearance. The turrets also speak in a woman's voice. The only possible exception is one of [=GLaDOS=]'s personality cores, who is voiced by Music/MikePatton, but that's just part of [=GLaDOS=]'s personality rather than a character in its own right.

--> '''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.

--> '''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:While safety is one of many Enrichment Center goals, the Aperture Science High-Energy Pellet, seen to the left of the chamber, can and has caused permanent disabilities, such as vaporization. Please be careful.]]

* CompanionCube: The TropeNamer. An inanimate object with a heart emblem that must be used to complete a level, and in doing so, the player becomes attached to it. The entire level must be completed using this block, but the developers felt that the players wouldn't realize how important the block was to beating the level and might leave it behind at some point. The anthropomorphization of the Weighted Companion Cube was a way to ensure that the player kept the block around for the entire level [[spoiler: until it had to be incinerated to continue]].
* ContraltoOfDanger: When [[spoiler:you destroy her Morality Core]] and [=GLaDOS=] switches from robotic monotone to a lower, emotive (described by the subtitles as ''seductive''), and more obviously female voice... the contrast is actually ''creepier'' than the robotic monotone that you've been listening to all game. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGp-YceTOK8 Listen for yourself]]

* CoolGate: Portals.
* CoresAndTurretsBoss: [=GLaDOS=]
* CreepyMonotone: Or at least very passive-aggressive.

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:It was a [[spoiler:Morality Core]]]] [[AC:they installed after I [[spoiler:flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]]]] [[AC:to make me stop [[spoiler:flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin.]]]]\\
\\
[[AC:Thank you for helping us help you help us all.]]

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]''': [[AC:The device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in ''[Subject Hometown Here]''.]]

%%* EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace
* {{Everything Is an iPod in the Future}}: Or more accurately, about the time the iPod came out. The similarity between Aperture's aesthetic and Apple's has been noted and was even exploited for one of Valve's teaser pictures when they were about to release Steam for the Mac.

-->Even though you broke my heart and killed me.\\

And threw every piece into a fire.

* ExactTimeToFailure: The Deadly Neurotoxin [[spoiler: that [=GLaDOS=] releases during the FinalBattle]] will kill you as soon as the timer runs out, no sooner or later. Chell will start to choke as the clock approaches zero.
* ExactWords: [=GLaDOS=] claims that she will stop lying to Chell in 3...2...''[[SoundEffectBleep (cut to static)]]''

* ExpospeakGag: The "1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super-Button" and "Aperture Science Thing-We-Don't-Know-What-It-Does", among others.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[AC:"You will be baked, and then there will be cake."]], [[AC:"You will be ''[static]'' cake."]][[note]]This iteration is what is transcribed in the subtitles.[[/note]], and [[AC:"When the testing is over, you will be... missed!"]] Guess what [=GLaDOS=] attempts to do later?
---> [[AC:"You're curious about what happens after you die, right? Guess what...? I know."]]
** A pretty subtle case, but in on of the Ratman's secret rooms, you can actually find a reference to Cave Johnson, from the second game. The secret rooms in general are also foreshadowing that there's more to Aperture than just the test chambers.

* GeniusLoci: The Enrichment Center is alive, and reshapes itself according to the whims of the AI in charge. This becomes much more apparent in the sequel.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: The ''only'' thing Aperture Science has made that hasn't (yet) had terrible repercussions or just been a flat-out terrible idea? The Portal Gun, and that's only until the singularity inside it destabilizes.
* GrowBeyondTheirProgramming: [=GLaDOS=].
* HeroicMime: {{Lampshaded}} by [=GLaDOS=], naturally. Chell's lack of response to her monologues leads her to say "[[AC:Are you even listening to me?]]" According to the developers, Chell won't offer her the satisfaction of speaking; she's just that stubborn.
* HighVoltageDeath: Used to justify Chell's Super Drowning Skills; falling into water causes the portal gun to short out and (presumably) give her a fatal dose of electricity

* InterfaceSpoiler: Averted -- the New Game level selection menu shows all of the test chambers. But that's only half the game.
* InventionalWisdom: The actual functions of Aperture Science's inventions are almost entirely tangential, if not antithetical, to their ostensible purpose. [=GLaDOS=] and the portal gun started as a fuel system de-icer and a shower curtain, respectively... at least until the retcon established in the sequel.

* KickTheDog: You as Chell get to do this when [[spoiler: you drop the ''[[CuteMachines adorable]]'' Curiosity Core into an incinerator.]] YouMonster.

* KillItWithFire: The faithful CompanionCube. [[TheCakeIsALie [=GLaDOS=] almost does this to the player]]. Then [[spoiler:[[KarmicDeath the player does it to]] ''[[KarmicDeath her.]]'']]

--> [[AC:"In layman's terms, speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."]]
* LawOfInverseRecoil: The android turrets are easily knocked over and picked up as if they are quite light, however their guns don't seem to have much recoil - they don't tip back when they fire (and are clearly using ballistic ammo).
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: [=GLaDOS=] tells the player, "[[AC:the difference between us is that ''I'' can feel pain.]]"

--->[[AC:"For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from... *crackle* *static* ''Por favor de donde fallar muchos gracias de fallar gracias.'' *crackle* ...stand back. The portal will open in three... two... one..."]][[note]]For the curious, the Spanish is a bit nonsensical, but it literally translates as "Please from where to fail thank you very much for failing thank you."[[/note]]
** Subverted later on. The (somewhat inaccurate and probably to-the-script) subtitles say, "...you will be baked *static* cake". But the audio track clearly says "...you will be baked, and then there will be cake."

---> [[AC:"Do not touch the operational end of the device. Do not look directly at the operational end of the device. Do not submerge the device in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you--"]] *power drain*

--->[[AC:"As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in three... two..."]] *static*

* MadnessMantra: TheCakeIsALie
* MadScience: One kind of gets the sensation Aperture was run a little like this even before [=GLaDOS=] took over; the test rooms don't really seem to be built with "safety" or "sanity" in mind. The sequel plays this for all it's worth.
---> ''[[AC:CAUTION: This Sign is Radioactive.]]''
* MeaningfulName: Aperture means opening, hole, or gap. Additionally, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture in optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels]]. This may also be why everything they invent than can have eyes only has one eye, and may also be the basis behind their logo.
* MinimalistCast: A HeroicMime and a [[TheVoice disembodied voice]]. That's it, besides an absent nutcase who wrote messages on the walls, an [[CompanionCube inanimate box]] and some [[AdorableEvilMinions automatic turrets with cute voices]]. The web comic "Lab Rat" establishes that Rattman, the "nutcase", was actually still there. He [[spoiler:[[DownerEnding apparently died at the end of the comic when he saved Chell from the Party Escort Bot]],]] but a particularly creepy easter egg in the second game implies that he's still alive: the sixth and final Rattman Den you can find is just like the others. When you leave, any and all portals you made inside the den mysteriously vanish and the wall closes so you can't get back in.
* MisappliedPhlebotinum: The Portal Gun originated as an "improved" shower curtain. [=GLaDOS=] originated as an "improved" fuel system de-icer. Aperture developed wormhole teleportation and artificial intelligence, yet used them for nothing more than to run hapless subjects through mazes like lab rats.

* NeverTrustATrailer: In one trailer, a spike plate descended from the ceiling while the path was blocked by a pit of fire. Neither actually shows up. [[spoiler:However, the fire pit does show up later, but in an entirely different form, and there are spike plates in the sequel (again, in a very different form).]] Although, [[HandWave it can still make sense]] since the "Real Life" footage came from a time when the game was in extreme beta.

* NoFairCheating: The steps, portals, and time challenges. Also, you can't get achievements with cheat mode on.
** Amusingly, all you have to do to bypass this is get to the elevator while cheating, save, load your save so the cheats deactivate, & enter the elevator.
* NoMedicationForMe: Inverted in the ''Lab Rat'' comic. Doug Rattman has been saving the last of his anti-psychotic medicine so that he'll have a clear head when Chell destroys [=GLaDOS=] and he can escape, even if the CompanionCube tells him he doesn't need it.
* NoOSHACompliance: {{Lampshaded}} in-game.
--> '''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment. In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you. Try to avoid it.]]

* NothingIsScarier: Despite the humour, the sheer stark ''emptiness'' of the test chambers, accompanied by understated ambient music, does create an effectively unnerving atmosphere. [[spoiler:It gets even more desolate once you break out of the test chamber as the rest of Aperture Science is rustic and abandoned, making you wonder what exactly you're stuck in]].
* OffTheRails: For the first half of the game you're stuck following [=GLaDOS=]' game plan, but when you find out there is no cake waiting for you, it's time to improvise.

-->"Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room?"

%%* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated
* PeopleJars: Implied in the Relaxation Vaults.
* PleaOfPersonalNecessity: [=GLaDOS=] asks Chell, "[[AC:Who's going to make the cake when I'm gone? You?!?]]"

** Averted: The developers wanted players to feel safe, so if the player tries to put a portal elsewhere when the player or an object is in the middle of a portal, the player or object gets pushed out. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYg1-t1PRU Most of the time.]]
** Inverted: ''Opening'' a portal pops off security cameras.

** Also the reason you're forced to incinerate the Companion Cube is because the devs realized that incinerating stuff hadn't been established as something one could do prior to [[spoiler: the final encounter with [=GLaDOS=].]]

** Hoopy the Hoop was what the devs thought would become the meme for the game (apparently having it become the focus of the last cutscene and appear throughout the levels). instead "The Cake is a Lie" took that spotlight and Hoopy ended up more or less as an office joke.

--> '''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:I'd just like to point out that you were given every opportunity to succeed. There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend the Companion Cube. Of course, he couldn't come because]] [[spoiler:[[AC:you murdered him]]]]. [[AC:All your other friends couldn't come either because you don't have any other friends. Because of how unlikable you are. It says so here in your personal file: Unlikable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikable loner whose passing shall not be mourned. 'Shall ''not'' be mourned.' That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official. It also says you were adopted. So that's funny, too.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The turrets.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The portal gun could revolutionize the world: Perpetual Motion Machines, CasualInterstellarTravel, resolve all supply and transportation problems, but there's no suggestion that it was ever used for anything other than testing.
* ReminiscingAboutYourVictims: [=GLaDOS=] is quite happy to chat about [[spoiler:forcing you to kill CompanionCube.]]

%%* RoboSpeak

--> the cake is a lie\\

the cake is a lie

** "[[AC:Sarcasm sphere self-test complete.]]"
** "Still Alive" is full of sarcasm, especially the second verse (presumably drawn from the memories of a previous test subject). "I'm not even angry. (I'm being ''so sincere'' right now.)"

* ScienceIsBad: Exaggerated and PlayedForLaughs. [=GLaDOS=] and Aperture Science in general regard science with a three-way combination of ComedicSociopathy, CrazyIsCool and ForTheEvulz.
* SequelHook: In the form of [[spoiler:all the spare [=GLaDOS=] cores turning on and the end song stating she was "still alive."]] Then the official patch to the end sequence itself, as part of the announcement of the sequel.

--->'''[=GLaDOS=]''': Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism.

* ShapedLikeItself: [[AC:"...and sediment-shaped sediment."]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: [=GLaDOS=] originally tries to kill Chell in the final test chamber. The revised ending also shows that Chell is going to be dragged into another "test", so her escape attempt was still a ShaggyDogStory.]]

* SnarkKnight: With her tendency towards nuclear-level sarcasm, [=GLaDOS=] is made of this trope.

%%* SoundtrackDissonance

** ''Portal'''s trailer showed a room with a DescendingCeiling with these, presumably from a testing room that never got into the game. This very room (and the next one in the trailer) was recreated in a mappack named [[http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/40710 Hetzchase Nailway]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYz8jDSk8_Q Video here]]) and later in [[http://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-project-beta Portal: Project-Beta]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''[[https://www.digipen.edu/fileadmin/website_data/gallery/game_websites/NarbacularDrop/ Narbacular Drop]]''. The team behind it were hired by Valve to develop this game.

* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: Subverted, in that the only way to progress is to ''escape'' from an apparently inescapable trap. Even more so since, if you get killed there, the game reloads an automatic save point just before you enter that area, allowing you to try to escape again.

** A subversion, but then that just makes it funnier. "[[AC:The Weighted CompanionCube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak.]]"
** Played straight with the [[spoiler:Morality Core]] -- [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=]' attempts to get you to destroy it with ReversePsychology]] are blatantly obvious.
* TacticalSuicideBoss: [[spoiler: [=GLaDOS=] with her rockets]]
* TakeThat: In-universe example: take a look at [=GLaDOS=]'s screens as she says, "... the dumbest thing...," and you'll see the [[VideoGame/HalfLife Black Mesa]] logo. Black Mesa is the much more successful corporate rival of Aperture Science.
* TeleportGun: The Portal Gun.
* TeleportInterdiction: Portals can only be created on certain types of surfaces (e.g. white tile, yes; bare metal, no). Navigating through areas with few or no portal surfaces becomes an increasingly common puzzle element in the later stages.
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: The radios in the game default to playing a short jazzy loop based on "Still Alive". The latter even made its way into the jukeboxes in ''VideoGame/{{Left 4 Dead 2}}''.

-->[[AC:[[spoiler: ...I'm not even angry/I'm being so sincere right now/even though you broke my heart and killed me/and tore me to pieces/and threw every piece into a fire...]]]]

* TheToothHurts: Apparently the emancipation grid can vaporize people's teeth.
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: In the credits song, [=GLaDOS=] claims her actions were for the greater good of mankind...at least, what's left of it. Also, she fully intends to keep killing innocent people ForScience. See page quote.
* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: As with many Valve games, the game never breaks from Chell's perspective, aside from [[spoiler:a closing cutscene depicting a robotic hand snuffing out a candle on top of a chocolate cake.]]

** Some of the autosaves are placed over toxic waste. Oops. Also, if you really try, it's possible to exploit the physics to trap yourself or otherwise make the level unwinnable. Thankfully, much of the time the game will notice when you've trapped yourself in a place you can't get out from, and will let you out.

* UnreliableNarrator: Keep in mind what computer appears to be working as the Aperture web server. (Before its December 2010 change which removed the site's viral advertising features.) This also applies in the actual game; you can't really trust what you're being told.

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:Stop squirming and die like an adult or I'm going to delete your backup. Okay, STOP! Okay enough, I deleted it. No matter what happens now, you're ''DEAD.'' You're still shuffling around a little but believe me you're ''dead.'' The part of you that could have survived indefinitely is gone. I just struck you from the ''permanent record.'' Your entire life has been a mathematical error. ''A mathematical error I'M ABOUT TO CORRECT.'']]
* VisualPun / StealthPun: As the effects of [=GLaDOS=]'s [[spoiler:morality core]] begin to wear off, her monitors display a small pile of screws. [[spoiler: She ''does'' have quite a few screws loose by this point.]] On top of that, she's about to screw your survival odds. Also, when [=GLaDOS=] mentions "violent behavior", a picture of a [[VisualPun violin with a knife on it]] flashes on the screens.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Darkly subverted in the sense that [=GLaDOS=] somewhat treats Chell in this manner, as one-sided as it is.

** Anytime you use a portal to deal with turrets. There are lots of ways to do it: teleport behind them to deal with them manually, open a portal under them, open a portal above them and drop a cube on them. In [[VideoGame/Portal2 the sequel]] you can also use portals to redirect lasers at them.

* [[WhamEpisode Wham Level]]:

** Test Chamber 19. Naturally, as the last test chamber, something interesting was bound to happen. Most people probably didn't expect that that would involve [[spoiler: being lowered to your death into a pit of fire.]]

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:Good news. I found out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a [[spoiler:Morality Core]].]] [[AC:they installed after I [[spoiler:flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin]]]] [[AC:to make me stop [[spoiler:flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin.]]]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Party Escort Bot]]:''' [[spoiler: [[AC:Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position.]]]]
** Arguably this happens when you get your first ''real'' indicator that [=GLaDOS=] isn't just a mindless set of prerecorded messages triggered by your progress and actually has real agency, when you [[spoiler:escape the fire pit at the end of Chamber 19]]:
-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' ''[[AC:What are you doing?!]]''

* WhyDontYouMarryIt: [[AC:"Maybe you should marry that thing since you love it so much. Do you want to marry it? WELL I WON'T LET YOU. How does that feel?"]]

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:You Are Kidding Me. Did you just stuff that [[BuffySpeak Aperture Science Thing-We-Don't-Know-What-It-Does]] into an Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator? That has got to be the dumbest thing that -- Whoa. ''[-Whoa.-]'' '''[--Whoa...--]''']]

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

->[[AC: Thank you for assuming the Website/TVTropes Article Viewing Position. [[VideoGame/Portal2 *whir* *bzzt*]]]]

->[[AC: Thank you for assuming the Wiki/TVTropes Article Viewing Position. [[VideoGame/Portal2 *whir* *bzzt*]]]]

* TheTetrisEffect: You ''will'' start thinking with portals.

The sequel, ''Videogame/Portal2'', was released April 2011. Chell is awakened an uncertain but very long time after the events of ''Portal'' by an AI core named Wheatley, and in an attempt to leave the facility, they accidentally awaken [=GLaDOS=]. [[Videogame/Portal2 Now, please enter your local Aperture Science Enrichment Center for further testing.]]

** Levels where the player uses flinging.

* ArcWords: *warping sound* "[[AC:"C-C-Cakecakecakecakecake...]]" To an extent, anyway. "TheCakeIsALie" fits the bill. (Even though it's never actually spoken in-game -- the Rat Man has scrawled it [[MadnessMantra repeatedly]] on the wall of one of his dens [[spoiler: and over a tube you have to go through a while after escaping the incinerator]]). ForScience is also repeatedly thrown around.

** Listen to the cake [[http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Cake#Ingredients recipe]]... At least the less savoury ingredients are just garnishes. The recipe is legit too, so long as you know the baking instructions.

* UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}: [[http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/File:Borealis_plans_01.png Apparently]], Portal takes place in Cleveland. Specifically, it takes place in the ''massive'', miles-deep remains of the [[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/07/eveningnews/main7327498.shtml real-life salt mines]] near Cleveland that were, in-story, purchased by Cave Johnson back in the 40s and expanded into a gigantic labyrinth of testing and production facilities. The sequel, however, apparently {{retcon}}s this by placing the mine in Michigan.

--> '''[=GLaDOS=]''': Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism.

** ''Portal's'' trailer showed a room with a DescendingCeiling with these, presumably from a testing room that never got into the game. This very room (and the next one in the trailer) was recreated in a mappack named [[http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/40710 Hetzchase Nailway]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYz8jDSk8_Q Video here]]) and later in [[http://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-project-beta Portal: Project-Beta]].

* StuckOnBandAidBrand: [=GLaDOS=] is apparently programmed to use the full name of all Aperture Science products every time she refers to one. Thus, you don't have a "Portal Gun", you have an "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device". Even something that she doesn't know the name of ([[spoiler:supposedly]]) gets called the "Aperture Science [[BuffySpeak Thing We Don't Know What It Does]]".

* UnwinnableByMistake:

* VisualPun / StealthPun: As the effects of [=GLaDOS=]'s [[spoiler:morality core]] begin to wear off, her monitors display a small pile of screws. [[spoiler: She ''does'' have quite a few screws loose by this point. On top of that, she's about to screw your survival odds. Also, when [=GLaDOS=] mentions "violent behavior", a picture of a [[VisualPun violin with a knife on it]] flashes on the screens.

The game nominally takes place in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' universe, but (at least in this installment) there's nothing connecting them other than random hints on walls referring to Black Mesa and the fact that Aperture Science is mentioned in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' episodes. [=GLaDOS=] herself also makes vague references to the events of ''Half-Life'' during the final confrontation, and then refers to Black Mesa in the credits song, and

* ScienceIsBad: Exaggerated and PlayedForLaughs. [=GLaDOS=] and Aperture Science in general regard science with a three-way combination of ComedicSociopathy, CrazyAwesome and ForTheEvulz.

* ThemeTuneCameo: The radios in the game default to playing a short jazzy loop based on "Still Alive". The latter even made its way into the jukeboxes in ''VideoGame/{{Left 4 Dead 2}}''.

** Listen to the cake [[http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Cake#Ingredients recipe]]... At least the [[{{Squick}} less savoury ingredients]] are just garnishes. The recipe is legit too, so long as you know the baking instructions.

* BrutalBonusLevel: The Advanced Test Chambers. ''Especially'' [[ThatOneLevel Advanced Test Chamber 18]].

* EvilSoundsDeep: After the [[spoiler:Morality Core is destroyed]], [=GLaDOS=] voice deepens and becomes much smoother and, dare we say it, [[EvilIsSexy sexier]].

* FlatJoy: "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

* HeroicMime: {{Lampshaded}} by [=GLaDOS=], naturally. Chell's lack of response to her monologues leads her to say "[[AC:Are you even listening to me?]]" WordOfGod is that Chell won't offer her the satisfaction of speaking; she's just that stubborn.

* MinimalistCast: A HeroicMime and a [[TheVoice disembodied voice]]. That's it, besides an absent nutcase who wrote messages on the walls, an [[CompanionCube inanimate box]] and some [[AdorableEvilMinions automatic turrets with cute voices]]. The web comic "Lab Rat" establishes that Rattman, the "nutcase", was actually still there. He [[spoiler:[[DownerEnding apparently died at the end of the comic when he saved Chell from the Party Escort Bot]],]] but a particularly creepy easter egg in the second game implies that he's still alive: the sixth and final Rattman Den you can find is just like the others. When you leave, [[ParanoiaFuel any and all portals you made inside the den mysteriously vanish and the wall closes so you can't get back in...]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When you [[spoiler:destroy [=GLaDOS=]' Morality Core]]. She [[TropeNamers names the trope shortly thereafter.]] Funnily enough, this is both a subversion and a straight play. She's [[spoiler:lying her ass off to get a dig at you in, but it also happens that the Morality Core was keeping her from assuming a much more openly lethal and sadistic role. It was pretty much the sole reason that the entire facility didn't immediately rip itself up from its roots to compact you like a garbage truck, something she has no qualms with when woken up in Portal 2.]]

* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Chell wears a pair of "advanced knee replacement" heel-springs in order to ensure her legs aren't shattered. [[WordOfGod The commentary bubbles]] indicate early on that the reason was that playtesters complained that Chell could survive falls that would kill [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]]. Despite the fact that the springs are patently insufficient to realistically protect her, they stopped the complaints, so mission accomplished!

* SequelHook: In the form of [[spoiler:all the spare [=GLaDOS=] cores turning on and the end song stating she was "still alive."]] Then the official patch to the end sequence itself, as part of a ViralMarketing announcement of the sequel.

** [=GLaDOS=] ''claims'' that [[spoiler:the incinerator]] was one of these. And if you believe that, I've got a [[LandmarkSale bridge in California I'd like to sell you]].

* VisualPun / StealthPun: As the effects of [=GLaDOS=]'s [[spoiler:morality core]] begin to wear off, her monitors display a small pile of screws. [[spoiler: She ''does'' have quite a few screws loose by this point. On top of that, she's about to screw you, and not [[CargoShip the fun way]]]]. Also, when [=GLaDOS=] mentions "violent behavior", a picture of a [[VisualPun violin with a knife on it]] flashes on the screens.

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

The game nominally takes place in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' universe, but there's nothing connecting them so far other than random hints on walls referring to Black Mesa and the fact that Aperture Science is mentioned in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' episodes. Black Mesa is also mentioned in the credits song, and [=GLaDOS=] herself makes vague references to the events of ''Half-Life'' during the final confrontation.