Portal 2/The Courtesy Call

''“Good morning! You have been in suspension for 50 days.”''

The game opens in a hotel-style room. As you groggily get out of bed, an automated voice walks you through the controls. You learn to look up, look down, walk around, and even to admire some art for a cathartic experience. After you learn the basics of moving around, you’re asked to hop back in bed and go to sleep. You’ve now learned the basic controls.

''“Good morning! You have been in suspension for nine-nine-nine-nine-nine…”''

You wake up, and everything looks off. You’ve been asleep for a very long time! It’s dark, and everything in your room looks ruined.

You’ll hear Wheatley, a personality sphere, knock at the door. Walk over to it and press the action button to open the door. Wheatley rails inside, a bit worried. It seems that things aren’t going well! He tells you that he’s going to get us out of here, and then to hold on to something.

The room starts to move. Wheatley comes down and he tells you that you have “a very minor case of serious brain damage”; jump in response to his questions. He tells you to hold tight again.

Wheatley then “pilots” your room around Aperture Science, breaking it apart and showing you the ruined state of the facility. Things aren’t looking good! Wheatley runs it into things, smashing it up. Eventually, he drops you off at a docking station.

He tells you your mission: “You’re looking for a gun that makes holes!”

Once it’s time, Wheatley will tell you to be off. Head down through the rubble and you’ll crash into a small glass box. If you’ve played the first Portal title, you’ll recognize this room (and the next few bits of the game). The announcer will tell you that you can still continue despite a potential apocalypse. He’ll then open the first orange portal. Walk through it; you’ll see that a “magic door” has been created between the two spaces. Once on the other side, walk around the glass box and through the door.

In this room, a box will be dropped out of a tube in the ceiling. Pick it up and place it on the giant red button on the floor. The door will (partially!) open, allowing you to continue.

The announcer will note the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, and you should too: you can’t bring objects through this particle field. Portals also disappear when you pass through.

Continue ahead and into the elevator.

''“If you feel liquid running down your neck, relax, lie on your back, and apply immediate pressure to your temples. You are simply experiencing a rare reaction in which the Material Emancipation Grill may have emancipated the ear tubes inside your head.”''

The elevator will open up. Continue forward, up the stairs, and through the door. This room will teach you a bit more about portals. There are three boxes, each with a corresponding button and important piece of the puzzle. The first is the box, the second is the big red button, and the third is the exit. To solve this puzzle, you need to get the box onto the button and pass through the door. Press the small red button outside of the box room first. Pass through the portal in the “main” room, pick up the box, and pass back through it. Press the small red button outside of the red button room next. Pass through the portal in the main room again, while carrying the box, and place the box onto the button. Portal back into the main room again. Now you’re ready to exit, so hit the last red button by the exit. Portal into the last box.

Head through the emancipation grill, down the stairs, and into the elevator for the next test.

“If the earth is currently governed by a manner of animal king, sentient cloud, over other governing body that either refuses to, or is incapable of, listening to reason…”

Head out of the elevator and up the stairs. Turn right at the glass panels and through the door. You’ll hear Wheatley call out to you. He’ll tell you that there should be a portal device in the center of the room. Walk up to it.

You’ll crash through the floor without a portal gun and land in some water, but you’ll be okay. (You can’t get hurt from falls, luckily!) Head towards the light and you’ll see a spiraling mash of debris. At the top, you’ll find the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device! You’ll now be able to place blue portals on certain surfaces. Place a blue portal on one of the white wall-panels and walk through it. Head up the railed “ramp” to the right of the orange portal. Continue ahead, though a small maze of testing offices, and drop down through the broken glass panel.

Pop a blue portal on one of the walls next to you and pass through to the orange one. When you pass through it, look left to see the exit. Put a blue portal on the wall next to the exit and then pass back through the orange portal to be right next to the exit!

Meander down the stairs and into the elevator.

''“This next test is very dangerous. To help you remain tranquil in the face of almost certain death, smooth jazz will be deployed in 3, 2, 1.”''

This next bit may look familiar to those of you who have played the original Portal.

Enter the room. You’ll see that there’s a button that opens the door to the exit, and you’ll need a block to keep it down. There’s a pit in the middle of the room that should have a block at the bottom. Shoot a blue portal at it and it should fall up to the top. (If you should fall into the pit, simply shoot a blue portal at your feet and you’ll be back safe at the top!) Once both you and the block are up there, grab it and place it on the button. Pass through the door and continue testing!

Continue ahead into this next puzzle. To get through the door, two buttons need to be pressed, so we’ll need two blocks. An orange portal sits up on a platform out of jumping range.

The first block in this puzzle is at the bottom of a pit. Get it like you did in the previous room; fire a blue portal at it to get it up onto that higher platform. (If you should fall into the pit, once again just shoot a blue portal at your feet and you’ll be back!) Once it’s up on the higher platform, you need to get there too; walk through a blue portal (of any kind) and you’ll be up there. Pick up the first block and place it on one of the buttons.

The second block is a tad tricky as well. Get back to the orange-portal platform with any blue portal. Once there, shoot a blue portal at the opposite wall by the other platform. Walk back through the orange portal and you should be standing right next to the next box. Like the first, pick it up and place it on the other button. Head through the door.

“Great work. Because this message is prerecorded, many observations related to your performance are speculation on our part. Please disregard any undeserved compliments.”

Once in this room, fire a blue portal anywhere and drop through it. You’ll land on the glass panel, causing it to crash down. Luckily, you can walk up it and continue ahead. You can also veer off to the left and see some graffiti on some testing walls, but that’s just “decoration.” Once you’re done walking around, head into the elevator.

“If the Enrichment Center is currently being bombarded with fireballs, meteorites, or other objects from space, please avoid unsheltered testing areas …”

Head up the stairs and through the door.

You’ll be able to see much of this next test chamber but can’t get through. Luckily, there’s an orange portal on the other side of the door! Place a portal at your feet somewhere in this room and you’ll drop into the main chamber.

The first thing you’ll need is (maybe you guessed it) a block. Find the small red button (behind the larger one) and follow the dotted line from that button to the cube. Shoot a blue portal at the floor below the block and it should fall into a spot where you can grab it. Place it on the large red button to activate a staircase. Walk up the staircase.

Here, you’ll find two red buttons. The one on the left drops a cube onto the slanted platform; the other will bring up a wall. Shoot a blue portal at the center of the slanted platform before you start, then press the left button. When you see the block falling through the blue portal, activate the right button to stop it from tumbling into the water. If you mess up, don’t worry — you have as many tries as you want. Once you save the block from certain doom, grab it and place it on the block at the top of the staircase. Now you can exit! Head on down into the elevator.

''“This next test applies the principles of momentum to movement through portals. If the laws of physics no longer apply in the future, God help you.”''

When you walk up the stairs into this room, you’ll see that you’re in a small box that you can’t get out of…well, you can’t get out of it without a blue portal on one of the walls. So…shoot a blue portal on one of the walls and drop into the main area.

There’s a pit in the middle of the area. If you drop down it, land, and then shoot a portal at your feet, you’ll come out of the orange portal rather slowly. You want to exit the orange portal FAST. So jump down the pit and shoot a blue portal at your feet so that you pass through it without landing. If you do it right, your momentum is conserved and you’ll come flying out the orange portal and land by the exit.

To continue, you’ll need to place a block onto the button. Luckily, you have access to one. If you look at the corner of this upper area, you’ll see a block in a small glass box. Shoot a blue portal through the hole on the top of this box and it’ll drop into the main area, where you can now use it.

Now you’ve got to fly up to this platform again, in the same way, this time with a block. Do it the same way: shoot a blue portal at the bottom of the pit. While holding the block, jump on into it and sail up to the exit. Place the block onto the button and the door will open! Forge ahead.

Pass through two doors into the next area.

This is another momentum puzzle. To the left of the entrance, you’ll see a slanted wall. Shoot a blue portal on it. In the center of the room is another pit with a pre-placed orange portal in it. Drop into it and you’ll fly out of the blue portal and right next to a block.

From here, pop a blue portal on the top of the wall to the right of the entrance (if you’re looking at the entrance door, to its left). With the block, jump back through the pit to fly next to a glass panel. Walk around that panel and place the block on the button that’s there. This opens the door and a platform appears in front of it. We’ll need to do one more momentum-based jump. Place a blue portal at the top of the wall opposite the exit and jump into the pit. You should appear right next to the exit!

Head on into the elevator and continue ahead.

''“To ensure that sufficient power remains for core testing protocols, all safety devices have been disabled. The Enrichment Center respects your right to have questions or concerns about this policy.”''

When you walk into this room, an ecstatic Wheatley will greet you. He’ll tell you to pop a portal on the wall behind him, so do that and pass through the orange one into the next room. After some talk, he’ll drop down. Pick him up and place him into the panel in the wall. He’ll open up a panel in the wall. Pick him up and he’ll tell you to “follow the rail.” It’s a fairly straightforward path to follow, and you get a good look at some of Aperture Science’s underbelly.

Wheatley tells you that you need to pass through “her” chamber. After expressing some doubt, continue ahead. You’ll enter a broken chamber where a ruined GLaDOS (Portal’s villain) lies. Pass through to the other side and head down some stairs. Make a jump and continue through the railings to the “main breaker room,” a huge series of colored switches. After a bit, Wheatley will ask him to plug him in. The platform you’re on will start to ascend back up to GLaDOS’s chamber. GLaDOS will come back alive and confront you both!

After a threatening talk, she drops you into a giant pit.

You’ll fall for a great while and eventually land in the incinerator room. Walk across a bridge made of debris. After walking through an opening, you’ll find the dual portal device. Now you can shoot both blue and orange portals.

Place a blue portal at the opening above you and an orange on one of the walls next to you; pass through it to continue. You’re blocked by another wall, so portal your way to the other side. When you walk ahead, GLaDOS will move a wall so that you can portal up to it; do so and continue on. After you drop down and turn left, you’ll find a wall above you that you can portal to, so go up there. You will then be able to portal across the way into a larger room. There’s an exit, through which you should continue. GLaDOS moves some panels and lets you go through a door, down some stairs, and into an elevator.