It is no ‘Portal’ sequel, however Valve dropped a trailer for a ‘Portal’-adjacent Steam Deck freebie

Portal followers, rejoice — or reasonably, bask within the blended emotions of a brand new sport set within the beloved franchise’s universe that is not in any respect what you have been clamoring for over the previous decade.

Simply as Steam Deck pre-orders began going out, Valve dropped a shock trailer for Aperture Desk Job, a free Steam Deck sport that is approaching March 1 and is ready inside the world of Portal. BUT (is not there all the time a “however” in terms of long-awaited continuations of Valve video games?), as the outline on Steam emphasizes in bolded capital letters, it’s “Not Portal 3!“

As a substitute of a long-awaited follow-up to the enduring puzzle sport, Aperture Desk Job is characterised as a “strolling simulator” and playable brief. You start as a starry-eyed, entry-level worker of the sport’s eponymous and cheerily dystopic company (which sorta kinda in all probability by accident introduced in regards to the apocalypse), Aperture Science. Whereas wanting to jump-start your shiny future climbing up the company ladder, although, the whole lot just isn’t as hunky-dory because it first appears.

Hilariously, the sport’s Steam description accommodates a number of pleas for followers to desert any excessive hopes earlier than taking part in this prolonged universe title.

“Decrease your expectations: This isn’t a sequel to Portal,” it cautions, studying extra like a hostage negotiation than an outline for a online game. “Desk Job places you squarely within the driver’s seat at Aperture Science. Then rapidly removes the driving half and provides a desk in entrance of the seat.”

Right now, Valve is greatest identified for Steam, the mega-popular on-line PC sport retailer. However beforehand, the corporate was identified for housing the sport growth staff(s) behind such history-making, critically acclaimed franchises as Portal and Half-Life.

This is not the primary time the gaming titan lately resurrected a legacy IP in a means nobody needed or requested for. In 2020, Valve launched the not-Half–Life–3 digital actuality sport Half-Life: Alyx after launching its Valve Index VR headset. Whereas it is not technically a Steam Deck unique — you simply want a controller to play — Aperture Desk Job seems to be a case of Valve as soon as once more strategically utilizing one in all its beloved franchises to funnel fan fervor towards a brand new enterprise enterprise.

The Steam Deck is already off to a great begin because it launches, happily for Valve. However we propose that Portal followers heed the corporate’s warning and mood expectations for Aperture Desk Job.