History VideoGame / Portal2

** When Cave Johnson makes his famous rant about how he's going to "make life take the lemons back", he mentions how he will get his engineers to invent an "Combustible Lemon" to burn down life's house down with. An exploding lemon could also be called a lemon grenade. In other words, Cave Johnson takes lemons and makes [[IncrediblyLamePun Lemon 'nades.]]

** In co-op mode, [=GLaDOS=] expresses disappointment when the bots die, such as "If I made these tests any easier, they wouldn't be tests." Falling down a BottomlessPit in the HubLevel has her ask how you can fail at something that isn't even a test.

** This very same section has Chell carry Wheatley through parts of Aperture's behind-the-scenes areas while he's [[MotorMouth talking her ears off]]. Those players who get fed up enough to try and throw Wheatley [[BottomlessPit over the walkway railing]] will soon notice that the 'interact' button is disabled during that segment.

* TheFifties, TheSeventies, TheEighties: The condemned areas of the original Aperture Science test facility fall into three sections, each of which embodies the aesthetic and practical sensibilities of one of these decades. For example, the first area is lined with red carpet and has a person employed for every task imaginable, even operating the elevator. The second area is colored in shades of orange and brown and is much more thrifty. The third area is all white and also utilitarian, with signs of technical advances and burgening A.I. development.

-->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:He's not just a regular moron. He's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together to create the]] ''[[AC:dumbest moron that ever lived]]''.

* LighterAndSofter: There's far less of a sense of dread or hopelessness compared to the first game. Rather than the running away from an AI who wants to toy with you only to then kill you... okay well, you're still running away from exactly that, but now you're never really without an ally since Wheatley is on your side and [[spoiler:after he turns on you, [=GLaDOS=] soon [[EnemyMine creates a begrudging partnership with you]], which ends in you two becoming VitrolicBestBuds and [[HappyEnding Chell getting her freedom]]. Compare this to the last game's ending in which [[DownerEnding Chell, injured and down for the count, gets a brief glimpse of sky only to be dragged right back into the Enrichment Center]]]]. Your companions also provide much more levity and even a sense of camaraderie to the game's mood than the first.

* Egopolis: After rising to power, [[spoiler:Wheatley hurriedly renames Aperture to "Wheatley Laboratories."]] However, the only place this is seen outside of loading screens is on Frankenturrets and his bomb-proof shields.

* ArbitraryMaximumRange: Averted [[spoiler:when you shoot a portal on the Moon]], with the speed of light delay [[ShownTheirWork actually accounted for]].

* AdorableEvilMinions: The sentry turrets.
* AffablyEvil: [=GLaDOS,=] of course. [[spoiler:Wheatley]], after the FaceHeelTurn. Also, Cave Johnson.

* EnemyMine: Chell is forced to work with [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] after Wheatley's FaceHeelTurn]].

** You can also notice this if you've listened to the developer commentary and noted that originally Cave's assistant is a scientist named Greg, who is replaced by Caroline to save actor cost, while in Earth-Prime Greg is Cave's assistant, and Prime Cave never mentioned Caroline. Plus, if you play enough maps, the last couple of voiceovers have [[spoiler:Cave Prime and Dark Cave each finding a universe made of money, basically giving Aperture all the funding it will ever need, thus avoiding the financial woes Aperture was clearly in around Cave's death.]]

* NeverRecycleYourSchemes: Though in this case, it's more "never recycle your boss fight tactics." [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] dispenses with her previous boss fight tactics this time around, settling for just trapping and killing Chell, but this fails because Chell and Wheatley sabotaged the turrets and neurotoxin. When Wheatley becomes the main villain later, he looks over [=GLaDOS=]'s tactics and revises them to make himself more formidable. He doesn't succeed, but he comes closer to killing Chell than [=GLaDOS=] did.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Apparently, the moon rock poisoning Cave Johnson was afflicted with is a real hazard. Lunar dust is just as destructive to human lungs as [[{{Irony}} asbestos]], which means like Cave, you will suffer a slow, horrible death if you breathe too much of the stuff in. The effects are similar to silicosis, symptoms of which are displayed by Cave. Many scientists have even noted that lunar dust poisoning will be a significant issue if/when humanity eventually colonizes the Moon[[note]]Lunar dust is dangerous because without the erosion provided by wind and water on Earth, it remains very sharp and spiky on a microscopic level, which tear up the inside of the lungs[[/note]].

* CreativeClosingCredits / CreditsGag:

* DarkerAndEdgier: In comparison to ''Portal'', triumphantly so. Which is funny, considering that due to the absence of blood in ''Portal 2'', it actually has a lower rating.

** In the second act, [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] somehow knowing exactly what Caroline is about to say. This is also the first time the player will hear both voices in short order, and may realize that Ellen [=McClain=] is TalkingToHerself.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: Non-magical version. [[spoiler:Wheatley "installs" [=GLaDOS=] into a potato battery (presumably from the science fair) after she pisses him off. Because potatoes can generate electricity, she's [[MemeticMutation still alive]], but they generate so little voltage that she can't really overtax herself (like say, getting too angry about her situation) or she shuts down briefly due to lack of power.]] Also comes with a BrickJoke, see below.

* SpringsSpringsEverywhere: Aerial Faith Plates.

->''[[AC:"Okay, look. We've both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."]]''

''Portal 2'' is a sequel to the game ''VideoGame/{{Portal|1}}''. It picks up the story of [[HeroicMime Chell]] an unspecified number of years after the events of the first game. The Aperture Science Enrichment Center has fallen into ruin, and Chell is awakened from cryogenic sleep by [[ArtificialStupidity Wheatley]], a talkative Personality Core who needs her help to escape the lab. While roaming the remains of the facility, the two accidentally repower [=GLaDOS=] -- who is, needless to say, not too happy to see Chell again. [=GLaDOS=] puts Chell right back into a series of test chambers while she works on getting the Enrichment Center to rebuild itself, while Wheatley continues to attempt to engineer an escape.

Achievement Unlocked: The Part Where [[spoiler:He Kills You]] (The achievement's subtitle: [[UpToEleven "This is that part"]].)\\

* GilliganCut: [[spoiler:Wheatley]], having taken over the facility, is making Chell do test after test [[HereWeGoAgain again]]. [=GLaDOS=] remarks he'll run out eventually, as she never stockpiled test chambers. Cue [[spoiler:Wheatley]] announcing his discovery of a sealed wing containing hundreds of test chambers. [[UpToEleven With skeletons]].

* UnnecessarilyLargeInterior: In the first game, you thought the Enrichment Center was quite big. In the second game... you find out that the Enrichment Center is ''big''. ''[[UpToEleven Really big]]''. And was built atop the ''old'' Enrichment Center, which is even bigger.

->''[[AC:"Okay, look. We've both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. [[ForScience For science.]] [[YouMonster You monster.]]"]]''

** [[spoiler:The opera piece that the turrets sing in Italian for Chell as she leaves is an aria composed and sung by [=GLaDOS=]' voice actress, Ellen [=McLane=], called "Cara Mia". The title translates in English to "My Dear" and the song's lyrics describe a begrudging farewell to a loved one.]]

'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:Yes...]]''[[AC:you're]]''[[[[AC: the tumor! You're not just a regular moron...you were ]]''[[AC:designed]]'' [[AC:to be a moron!]]\\

* AngstNuke: [=GLaDOS=] finds this out the hard way when [[spoiler: stuffed into a potato battery. Since it can only generate ''1.6 volts of electricity'', emotional outbursts or stress cause her to temporarily short-circuit.]]