Portal in its simplest form is a puzzle game with one-sided dialog. At face value it does not seem like much, but once the player jumps through their first portal they are hooked. Portal pushed physics and gravity in games by offering a mechanic that functioned unlike anything the gaming world had done before. Allowing the player to interact and progress through the game by relying on the architecture of the game brought the user and the developers together. The point of each level is not to trick the player, but to make them think. In many ways Portal is a spacial story, it relies heavily on its level design and mechanics to make the game unique. Yet Portal is not just another puzzle game. Plenty of games force the player to interact with the space around them. Portal is unique because it makes the player think only allowing them a blue and an orange portal to solve complex puzzles. This simple design limits the player thus making the game more challenging. If the player was allowed more than one of each portal, then they could solve the puzzle much faster. The mechanic of using portals as a whole is what separates portal the most. The holes in the map allow the player to interact and reshape rooms to their needs and solve the level. Portal is famous for its portals because they allow the architects and the player to work as one.

Yet portal breaks from the classic puzzle game due to its antagonist GLaDOS. She provides the only dialog and therefor the bulk of the story. She is crucial to the game because she gives the player a guide and then an enemy. GLaDOS is a good example of how dialog can change the game. Her tone remains very level due to her robotic voice, yet what she says and her delivery gives away her current state of mind. Her dialog is complex and plan very unclear until the last level of the game, this only adds to the attraction of the game for many. You feel as though you not only solving the puzzles but the mystery of Aperture science as a whole.