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I’m not one to complete incredibly long, epic video games. Probably 90% of the media that I’ve consumed outside of school has been presented to me in the form of a sound-byte or snippet. Which is why, for me, Portal is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. It does away with the extraneous, shallow storytelling that fails to capture my attention in contemporary video games. The main character is without any discernible persona or backstory. The “story” is presented through the instructions and recitations of a computer, as the player solves puzzles. This computer’s demeanor seems helpful, but very sterile and neutral at the start, but becomes treacherous and murderous as the game progresses. Deadpan humor is peppered throughout, and I found myself laughing when the computer delivers her final, passive-aggressive evaluation of my performance in solving the puzzles. It’s presented in the MP3 below. Skip 2001: A Space Odyssey and play Portal.

The Computer’s Swan Song: Portal - This Was A Triumph.mp3