---
title: "Portal"
canonical: "https://openvibe.meme/m/portal"
updated: null
---

# Portal

HTML: [Portal](https://openvibe.meme/m/portal)

Internet meme · Classic

# Portal

Portal is a series of Valve puzzle-platform games, known for the portal gun and references within the game universe; it spawned internet memes tied to its content.

- First seen: 2007-01-01
- Last seen: 2026-10-31
- Uses cited: 3
- Revision: 1

## Where it started

Portal is a series of first-person puzzle-platform video games developed by Valve. Set in the Half-Life universe, the two main games in the series, Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011), center on a woman, Chell, who is forced to undergo a series of tests within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center by a malicious artificial intelligence, GLaDOS, that controls the facility. Most of the tests involve using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" – nicknamed the portal gun – that creates a human-sized, wormhole-like connection between two flat surfaces. The player-character or objects in the game world may move through portals while conserving their momentum. This allows complex "flinging" maneuvers to be used to cross wide gaps or perform other feats to reach the exit for each test chamber. A number of other mechanics, such as lasers, light bridges, high energy pellets, buttons, cubes, tractor funnels and turrets, exist to aid or hinder the player's goal to reach the exit. The Portal games originated through bringing students and their projects from the DigiPen Institute of Technology into Valve and expanding upon the ideas in Valve's Source engine. The concept was introduced by the game Narbacular Drop, which became the basis for the first game. Another DigiPen game, Tag: The Power of Paint, formed the basis of the "Mobility gels" introduced in Portal 2. Both games have received near-universal praise and have sold millions of copies. The first game was released as part of a five-game compilation, The Orange Box. Despite being intended as a short bonus feature of the compilation, it was considered the highlight of the collection. Its success led to the creation of the much longer and more in-depth Portal 2, which included both single player and cooperative multiplayer modes. In addition to the challenging puzzle elements, both games are praised for their dark humor, written by Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, and Jay Pinkerton, with notable voice work by actors Ellen McLain, Stephen Merchant, and J. K. Simmons. A number of spin-off media productions have been developed alongside the games, and several of the game's iconic elements have become parts of internet memes.

## The use timeline

1. 2007-01-01

    

   The games in the Portal series introduced several Internet memes, including the phrase "the cake is a lie", and the space-obsessed "Space Core" character.
2. 2007-01-01

    

   Wikidata Q7231475: Portal — video game series by Valve Corporation.

## Examples

No example is attached yet.

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