Line #3 VideoGame/PortalPrelude


1	[[quoteright:198:[[http://fav.me/d4is8in https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portal__prelude___boxart_by_rcmero-d4is8in_9491.jpg]]]]
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3	''Portal: Prelude'' is an unofficial GameMod[=/=]{{Prequel}} to ''VideoGame/Portal1''. The game takes place before [=GLaDOS=] was activated, when tests were monitored by real Aperture Science employees. The game is notable for being [[NintendoHard significantly more difficult than the original]]. It was developed by a team of three in 2008, just one year after ''Portal'' and three years before ''VideoGame/Portal2''.
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5	In 2023, a remastered version was released on Platform/{{Steam}} through a partnership with NVIDIA, six months after the latter did the same to the original ''Portal'', having fully re-recorded the voice lines of most main characters.
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7	It can be downloaded for free [[https://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-prelude/downloads/portal-prelude-115-complete-installer1 here.]] Its official website can be found [[http://www.portalprelude.com here.]]
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9	----
10	!!This game includes examples of the following tropes:
11	* AdaptationalBadass: Unlike in her debut game, [=GLaDOS=] is capable of directly attacking Abby during her boss fights, rather than having turrets and neurotoxin do it for her, and possesses such weapons as electric shockwaves, laser beams, and a tractor beam.
12	* AffablyEvil: The human overseers are rather chatty and don't act very evil, but they don't seem to mind how ridiculously lethal their tests are. One of them even calls out the other for not treating Abby like a human.
13	** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Erik, who shows signs of being sadistic and enjoying the sight of test subjects dying. (On the other hand, he's also the happiest of the bunch when you reach the final chambers and, eventually, complete them...)
14	* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Did Abby die? Who was the masked scientist dragging her outside? Did the G-Man have something to do with the recent disaster involving [=GLaDOS=]?]]
15	* BattleThemeMusic: "Believe" by Music/TheChemicalBrothers is used for [[spoiler:the FinalBoss. According to the credits, [=GLaDOS=] loves this song more than cake.]]
16	* BlindIdiotTranslation: Mostly averted: the English is almost always correct despite the creators being French and not very fluent in (spoken) English. A few awkward or grammatically incorrect lines do slip through, though, such as "Welcome to the test chamber number twelve" and "That was close, doesn't it?"
17	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The first level that introduces [[GravityScrew gravity-changing panels]] is set up in a test chamber where everything is turned in random directions.
18	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The RTX remake removes all instances of profanity (with the exception of a "Damn!" by one of the scientists) & blood, as well as Erik's comment about Abby giving them a "reward" if she keeps their assistance a secret.
19	* BossBanter: [[spoiler:Unsurprisingly, [=GLaDOS=] taunts Abby while throwing her around the chamber.]]
20	* TheCakeIsALie: There really is a cake, but [[spoiler:you never get to eat it.]]
21	* TheCameo:
22	** The G-Man can be seen in several places, but is usually rather hidden (exceptions including him standing very close to a window in the upside-down chamber and [[spoiler: TheStinger.]] He's also mentioned by one of the scientists by description.
23	** Anime/{{Domo\|TV}} also appears as a drawing on a whiteboard and in the intro.
24	* ChekhovsGun: Before Abby starts her journey to the Central AI Chamber, she stumbles into the observation room of Test Chamber 06 from the original Portal. Through the window she spots a Handheld Portal Device dropped by a test subject who didn't make it. [[spoiler:She'll later need it & others from a storage room to "defeat" [=GLaDOS=].]]
25	* ChromosomeCasting: [[Main/ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged:]] all the employees you meet in-game are male, but at one point an announcement is made by what sounds like a female employee, [[spoiler:& one drags you out of [=GLaDOS'=] chamber at the end of the game.]]
26	* ContinuityNod: The game draws from a lot of continuity from ''Portal'' lore, including:
27	** It's mentioned that it's [[spoiler:bring-your-daughter-to-work-day.]]
28	** [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] floods the Enrichment Center in neurotoxin, before having a morality core installed (not that that stops her from continuing to do so anyway).]]
29	* ContrivedCoincidence: The first time anyone ever completes the lethal test course just so happens to be the day that [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] is turned on.]]
30	* CurseCutShort:
31	-->(Rocket Turret deploys)
32	-->Mike: Oh, shi-
33	-->(Rocket Turret fires)
34	-->(BOOM)
35	* DarkerAndEdgier: At the end, [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] kills everyone in the computer AI chamber right in front of you.]]
36	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:After you install the morality core, you realize that it's too late and [[TheBadGuyWins GLaDOS kills everyone with neurotoxin.]]]]
37	* DoomedByCanon: [[spoiler:You can't prevent [=GLaDOS=] from filling the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin and [[EverybodyDiesEnding killing everybody in it]], even after you place the Morality Core on her.]]
38	* DullSurprise: Thanks to the [[SyntheticVoiceActor computerized voices]], there are many hilarious moments of this. This is averted in the remaster however.
39	* EasterEgg:
40	** An early test chamber has a secret passage leading to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 a ''Super Mario''-style Warp Room]], complete with authentic textures and music. They let you shortcut to the start of the fourth, fifth and sixth levels of the game.
41	** Using noclip to go out of the map in Test Chamber 11 and enter a green square reveals [[spoiler:the "Badger Badger Badger" web animation.]]
42	* EvilLaugh: Some of the scientists have some really terrifying ones for no particular reason.
43	* FanSequel: Inverted, in that it's a prequel.
44	* FinalBoss: [=GLaDOS=]. Relatively uncommon for mods.
45	* ForeShadowing: During your trek through the personnel areas of Aperture Science, you can see numerous deactivated Rocket Turrets mounted on the walls and ceiling, [[spoiler:hinting that they'll be activated later and become obstacles/enemies.]]
46	* GreaterScopeVillain: The G-Man is likely this, although it's not confirmed.
47	* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: [[spoiler:Placing the morality core on [=GLaDOS=] completes the game, but it doesn't really stop her in any way. In fact, she (possibly) kills you right after that.]]
48	* {{Irony}}: Why is it that the humans' tests are so much more lethal than the ones made by [[SelfDemonstrating/GLaDOS the murderous AI]]?
49	* LightningReveal: The G-Man appears in the parking lot's tollbooth this way, during TheStinger.
50	* MadScientist: Erik gives off these vibes. He designed several of the more dangerous chambers, and is perversely proud of their high body count.
51	* MoodWhiplash: At first, it has the atmosphere of ''Portal 1'' until it takes a shift in tone near the end.
52	* NightmareFetishist: One of the scientists, Erik, likes to see test subjects die. According to a few other scientists, some of the test chamber hazards were designed by him.
53	* NintendoHard:[[AC:"CAUTION: This game uses advanced portaling techniques and ''may not be suitable'' for EVERYONE. Be prepared to think with portals"]] You have been warned.
54	** Executed in a strange fashion, though. The game is, indeed, very difficult, but more so from an action perspective. Most of the puzzles (except for a few) are only somewhat more complex than ''Portal''[='s=], but the solutions are much more difficult to execute. (And let's not even talk about the advanced chambers...)
55	* NonstandardGameOver:
56	** Test Chamber 06 requires you to put a cube on a button under a DescendingCeiling. If you allow the ceiling to go all the way down (with you not under it), it does not activate the button; instead, your test supervisor says that the rules prevent him from giving you another try, and end the test.
57	** A similar game over occurs in Test Chamber 08; if you let the ceilings descend under you to the point of no return, Erik tells you that he always wanted to kill you, and activates the disintegrator.
58	** The last example occurs in Test Chamber 16 (right after the behind-the-scenes sections). Go inside the button room, throw the cube into the main room, and put both portals in the button room. The current supervisor Peter points out your stupidity, and the game fades to black.
59	** This can also happen if you trap yourself behind a wall panel as it closes. No way to reopen it.
60	* NoobBridge: Even if you have played ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', there are a lot of places you'll probably get stuck if you don't know what to do. One early puzzle requires to you push forward, crouch, and jump while in midair to clear the ledge.
61	** The developers mention that the orange-only portal gun serves the same purpose, establishing the difficulty of the mod off the bat and separating the skilled players from the "basic" players.
62	* OffTheRails: You get to go behind the scenes after Test Chamber 15 catches on fire.
63	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Several "ratman dens" exist in the game, some more hidden than others, using identical scribbled ramblings and tributes to the Companion Cube from the original game. Though this predates when "''the''" Rattmann began hiding, as [=GLaDOS=] is yet to be turned on, the overseers mention another test subject had gone crazy and had been hiding about the facility in a similar fashion.
64	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Around the middle of the test course, Erik stops observing your progress out of frustration that you didn't die, and waits until the 17th chamber to return.
65	* SilentProtagonist: Abby.
66	* SoundOnlyDeath: [[spoiler: Mike can be heard on the facility's intercom system being killed by a rocket turret right after he finishes telling Abby what might stop [=GLaDOS=].]]
67	* TheStinger: [[spoiler: As a nighttime storm rages, someone, presumably Abby, as the grunts come from a female voice, slowly walks up to the Aperture parking lot exit booth seen in the original ''Portal'' ending, before collapsing to the ground. As her vision fades in and out, the lightning flashes to show G-Man standing in the booth...]]
68	* StockFootage: [[spoiler:Although some of [=GLaDOS=]'s lines are original, the ones during the fight were taken from ''Portal''.]]
69	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Abby is based on Chell's model, but with blond hair.
70	* SyntheticVoiceActor: Ironically, in the era before testing was done by a computer, the humans are voiced by robots.
71	** While the mod was in development, it was stated that it was an alternative to the scientists being recorded by the game developers, and therefore, since the game developers are French, everyone having French accents.
72	** The 2023 remaster averts this on all characters but [[CreepyMonotone GLaDOS]], for obvious reasons.
73	* TooDumbToLive:
74	** [[spoiler:In the final cutscene, a scientist is waving his arms around frantically in front of [=GLaDOS=], practically begging to be shot by a deadly laser.]]
75	** [[spoiler:Also, the scientists who decided it was a good idea to activate [=GLaDOS=] before the morality core was ready.]]
76	* WarpZone: One can be accessed by [[spoiler:crawling through a light in Test Chamber 09. Its graphics are taken straight from ''VideoGame/{{Super Mario Bros\|1}}'']].
77	* WaxingLyrical: [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=] speaks the opening lines of "Still Alive" when she hears it on the radio.]]

Context VideoGame / PortalPrelude