Would I Lie About Cake?

After Valve's mini-adventure Portal became the darling of 2007, a sequel would be inevitable. There was so much unexplored with the concept, and so many lovable characters to bring back (by "so many" I of course mean "GLaDOS"). There were rumblings of a Portal 2 early on and expectations were set at a fairly reasonable place: Chell had escaped, GLaDOS had survived--her "death" appeared to have been part of the test. I imagined, as most others no doubt also imagined, that a sequel would follow basically the same way L4D2 did... new protagonist, same basic gameplay in a slightly expanded world with perhaps a new technology to play with and some kind of multiplayer involved. But, all in all, the same game with different maps and a couple new twists. Maybe we'd finally get to meet the Rat Man.

When Portal 2 was officially announced a few months ago, I was excited, but nervous. I trust Valve to make a quality product, but the details that were coming out didn't exactly thrill me. 300 years have passed, and the lab has been overgrown by jungle. GLaDOS is dead, but rebooting. The ending of the first game was ret-conned to show Chell being dragged back into the lab after her escape, but for what purpose? Also, there were dynamic paints that you could put on surfaces to make them more bouncy and what-have-you. I didn't get it. Why bring back Chell? Why put the lab in a jungle setting where your portal gun won't work?

Then I saw the E3 trailer (Tom's Hardware has the trailer and a gameplay demo that are definitely worth your time). And I get it now. The two big bits of information are that the lab is capable of quickly reconfiguring itself, and GLaDOS's dialog during the trailer defines your relationship with her, and how that relationship is going to drive the story of the second game.

You see, in the first game, GLaDOS was always twisted and planning to kill you (for science!), but you were at least somewhat endeared to her. Now, she's angry. She wants nothing more than to kill you on the spot, but with the lab in such a horrible state, you can't get out, and she can't really do much of anything. You need each other. As you solve puzzles, you effect repairs to the lab and the test chambers. As those repairs occur, you get closer to your goal of escaping the facility, but GLaDOS grows more powerful. There's probably a lot more to it than that, but one thing's for certain, this game is going to be a lot bigger, a lot more dynamic, and a good deal darker than its predecessor.

So, I'm excited.

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Side note, anyone want to start a campaign to get Yahtzee Croshaw to voice the British personality sphere?