Why Haven’t You Played Aperture Desk Job?

A trailer was quietly released by Valve for Aperture Desk job on February 25, 2022. The video intentionally didn’t explain what the game was, but beyond including the word Aperture in the title, it was clear it took place in the Portal universe. You could see that the game would be released only a few more days later. It would also be offered for free.

As promised, the game released on March 1 and it feels like nobody played it, which is a shame because it is a fantastic, “Playable Short,” as Valve refers to it.

Aperture Desk Job doesn’t have portals in it, but it is a Portal game. The video features both an existing Portal character and a brand new one named Grady. Nate Bargatze, who is probably your favorite comedian after watching the clip, voices Grady.

The best pitch to Portal fans is the fact that the game is canon. Although you are most likely to spend your time with Grady (and Cave Johnson), there is also time for Cave Johnson. Not only did Portal and Portal 2’s writers create more lines for the lemon-hating Aperture founder, but J.K. Simmons jumped into the recording booth to perform the new dialogue. Neither Cave Johnson nor J.K. Simmons’ participation was teased in the game’s limited marketing. It was a lovely surprise for me when I played, but I have decided to tell you because if you haven’t played yet, maybe that will push you over the edge to finally engage the download.

Aperture Desk Job was created to showcase the Steam Deck’s best features. It is best played on Steam Deck as it takes advantage of the console’s various hardware capabilities, but it does not RequireThe Steam Deck. It was released in a period when Steam Decks were scarce, so it may have been underplayed. Many people assumed that it needed the Steam Deck. The comparison isn’t perfect, but it’s a little like Astro’s Playroom on PlayStation 5 – if it had also been released on PlayStation 4. It was also criminally overlooked.

Portal was a game I loved as much as mine. It’s funny and it inches the Portal story forward a little bit. I fear that if more don’t play it, Valve will point to it as a reason not to continue making games in the Portal universe. One completely random person on twitter said about it, “I really underestimated how thrilling it would be to spend a little more time in the Portal universe and hear new Cave Johnson dialogue in Aperture Desk Job. It is a short experience, but it made me so happy.” Wow, they sure sound smart.

Here’s a direct link to add the game to your Steam library. Try to play the game if you already have one. If you don’t, play it wherever you can – it’s great, it’s short, and it’s probably the closest thing we will be getting to a new Portal game any time soon.