Portal 2 has its own Awesome Music page here.
- "Still Alive"
, well on its way to cult classic status among video game tracks. Part of its universal appeal is the instrumental arrangement and vocals make for a catchy tune that still works even if you've never heard of Portal.- It's even better with typography.
- What else could make "Still Alive" more charming? Having it performed by a children's choir.
- You want charming? Try performing it on a music box.
- How about this minor key version. It's even more villainous than the original.
- And, of course, the jazzy upbeat version that plays from the radios over the levels. In December 2022, the Portal 2 soundtrack was actually updated to include this version as well as the clean, uncompressed version for maximum listening quality.
- Not quite beautiful enough for you? Try slowing it down by 800%.
- How about a dancehall electropop version? With shotguns.
- And here is Delicious and Moist, an upbeat Ska rendition of "Still Alive".
- Peter Hollens, who previously produced a cover of "I Want You Gone" from Portal 2, produced an acapella verison of "Still Alive" with his wife Evynne. Evynne's plastic smile, plus the fact that she doesn't appear to blink once during the video, sell the performance. Devin "Supertramp" Graham put together this version showing three Aperture employees using a Portal projector to lob cakes at random people.
- It's even better with typography
- "4,000 Degrees Kelvin", which plays at one of the most tense moments in the game. It fits the scene perfectly, especially with GlaDOS' comments.
- The genuinely creepy music, "No Cake For You", that starts up when you discover the Room Full of Crazy in Test Chamber 16. Now that's thinking with portals.
- GLaDOS' boss theme, "You Can't Escape, You Know", is an intense and glitchy piece of electronic music that emphasizes the A.I.'s desire to rid of you once and for all.
- While playing through Portal, most people don't consciously realize there's music. It's so subtly woven into the ambient noise, it's barely even noticeable, except at a few very key moments (the radios and "Still Alive", of course, but also the end of Chamber 19, getting the fully-functional portal gun, and so on).
- Self Esteem Fund kicks in right about the time where the player begins to feel the isolation of Aperture Laboratories, having seen no one but Chell and heard no one but GLaDOS despite all the testing they have been doing. And this song perfectly augments that feeling... it is quiet and atmospheric, but solemn, reflective, and tugs at your heartstrings, making you feel truly alone in these bright walls of the testing facility.
- "Taste of Blood" is a stunningly beautiful ambient piece that plays just before you obtain the blue Portal Gun. It's the first song you hear after the radio music, and in spite of its wonder, it also has a slight sense of loneliness.
- Not strictly from Portal, but "The Device Has Been Modified" is a catchy electronic dance mix with quotes from GLaDOS and the turrets. "Put me down. Put me down. Put-put-put-put me down." The song got a focus in Audiosurf the week before Portal 2 released.
- Also not strictly from Portal, both tracks by Silence, from the main menu of the mod Portal: Prelude.
- "Particule" is a slow song setting the tone for the player's isolation in the Aperture Science test chambers before GLaDOS's activation.
- "Larmes" (French for "tears") is a melancholy song that begins with a piano melody, and synth drums kicking in later on. It accompanies the intended visuals of a room in ruins after GLaDOS's activation.
- "Particule"
