Portal Walkthrough

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Test Chambers 00 Through 10

These first chambers are very, very simple and really don’t even need a walkthrough, but just in case (and for the sake of continuity) we’ll cover them anyway.

Test Chamber 00 – Portal begins with you, test subject Chell, awaking in a small glass bedroom. You are introduced to GLaDOS (Genetic Life and Disk Operating System), the computer voice that will act as your guide throughout the game. When the counter (and GLaDOS’s introductory speech) runs out, a portal will open. Walk through it to begin. Down the hall from your room is the first test, picking up a weighted cube and placing it on a button on the floor. That’s it, you’re done! Get on the elevator to start the real tests.

Strategy Tip: This is your first run-in with weighted cubes and floor buttons, recurring props throughout the rest of the game. Cubes are too heavy to be thrown, but can be carried and dropped just about anywhere you can go. In the rare event you lose a cube, a new one will drop from the test chamber’s cube dispenser. Floor buttons will only remain activated as long as something is on top of them, either you or a cube. These buttons also have trails leading from them across the chamber to whatever they activate, usually a door.

Test Chamber 01 – In this test, you’ll drop into a room with a permanent orange portal on the back wall, while a blue portal shifts between three locations, a room with a weighted cube, a room with a floor button and a closed exit door activated by this button. You need to time your movements to get into the room with the cube, bring it to the room with the button and drop it there, then get out through the now-open exit. Despite GLaDOS’s somewhat unsettling warning, there’s nothing to worry about if you get stuck in the room with the button waiting for the blue portal to come back around. Tests that can kill you are still a little way off.

Test Chamber 02 – Here you’ll get to pick up the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, your main tool for the game. Wait for GLaDOS to finish her spiel and then drop down into the adjacent room to your right when the door opens. Usually timed on cue, a blue portal will be waiting for you (if not, wait for it, but not in front of that hole in the wall!). Walk through it and drop down into the main room to pick up the ASHPD. Right now, the gun will only shoot blue portals (with the left mouse button). Play around with it if you want. When you’re ready to go, use it to shoot a portal on the wall so that you can get back up to the orange portal. The door opens and you can continue on.

Strategy Tip: You can’t shoot portals everywhere! That would make things way too easy. Basically, you can shoot portals on any large, flat, non-metallic surface. You can easily see if a surface you’re aiming at is suitable or not by looking at your crosshairs. If the portal outlines are empty, the surface is invalid, if filled in, fire away. Also, you can only have ONE BLUE and ONE ORANGE portal in a room at a time, shooting a second will replace the one before it.

Test Chamber 03 – You may remember a variation of this test from the original teaser video for Portal released way back in 2006. All you have to do is shoot a blue portal on the wall next to you when you come to the first gap, walk through, then shoot a new blue portal on the far side by the exit. Piece of ca- oops! Almost spoiled your surprise!

Test Chamber 04 – A weighted cube drops into the pit in the middle-right of the room. If you can, shoot a blue portal right underneath it and it will tumble out the permanent orange portal by the floor button (otherwise just drop in and carry it through). Place the cube on the button to continue.

Strategy Tip: Don’t worry about heights. Chell is outfitted with special shock absorbers attached to her legs, allowing you to drop from any height without taking damage. Just make sure you’re not dropping down into a pool of acid!

Test Chamber 05 – First, drop down into the pit at the back of the room that the weighted cube fell in. Create a blue portal and carry the cube through it. You’ll be on top of a platform. Drop the cube off to the floor below, but don’t jump down yourself. Instead, shoot a portal across the room to the other platform where the second weighted cube is. Go back through the orange portal, pick up the second cube and bring it down to the floor, placing it and the first cube on each button to open the door. You’ll be stuck in a room with a glass ceiling, but then an orange portal will open way up high in the room above you. Shoot a new portal nearby to make your exit.

Test Chamber 06 – In chamber 06 you’re introduced to energy balls, something any Half-Life 2 veteran will be familiar with (and cautious of). Shoot a blue portal right above the energy socket on the floor, the ball will fly right into it and you’ll be on your way.

Strategy Tip: Energy sockets shine a distinct red light against their direct opposite surface. With a keen eye, you should be able to see these subtle red spotlights from great distances. Energy balls bounce off of whatever surface they collide with, leaving scorch mark, an even more visible target. These two visual cues are important to note, as they tell you exactly where to shoot portals to line up the balls with the sockets. Also note that the energy balls slowly lose their potency, faster upon collisions, eventually vaporizing and then replaced by their original generator.

Tester Chamber 07 – Shoot a blue portal against the scorch mark on the wall and the energy ball will fly through and up into its socket. Shoot a new portal on the ceiling on the far left of the newly activated platform track. Stand over the orange portal and when you see the platform slide into place "below” you, hop down on to it. Ride it to the other end and jump across into the exit.

Test Chamber 08 – At the guard rail, wait for the energy ball to bounce once and then shoot a portal on the scorch mark, then set your crosshairs on the wall right across from the energy socket. When the ball comes through the orange portal shoot a new blue portal on that spot. The ball will bounce and go right into the socket. Shoot a portal in front of you, walk through it onto the platform and then shoot another one on the ceiling over the end of the platform track. Look through the orange portal and when the platform is in place, hop through and ride it to the exit.

Strategy Tip: Beware the green water. Acidic pools kill almost instantly and, once you’re in, there’s almost no chance of escape.

Test Chamber 09 – "This next test is impossible.” Bulls**t! Shoot a portal on the wall and walk through it on to the platform. Then shoot a portal into the next room through the hole above the shielded door. Pick up a weighted cube and carry it through the portals, drop it on the button and get another compliment from GLaDOS.

Strategy Tip: Shields destroy not only what you try to carry through them, but also your portals. Bear this in mind as you progress through the test chambers.

Test Chamber 10 – A new concept is introduced here concerning the portals’ effect on momentum, or rather the lack thereof. You progress through this chamber by demonstrating. An orange portal appears on a section of wall above you. Shoot a blue portal below you and you’ll fall through. You’ll come out the orange portal and land on the stairs. In the next room, you’ll repeat this process three times, only this time an orange portal forms at the bottom of a pit. Shoot a blue portal on the highest section of wall available, jump down into the orange portal and you’ll shoot out onto a higher platform, with a new section of wall coming forward. After the third jump you’ll find the exit.

Strategy Tip: The farther you fall toward one portal, the farther you’ll shoot out of the other portal, like a canon. Portals have no friction. If you need to make a major leap, set yourself up for a long fall down into a portal, with the second aimed at where you’re trying to go. With more momentum you’ll clear more ground before gravity pulls you down.

That’s it for what’s considered the "introductory” tests. In Test Chamber 11 you’ll finally get the fully loaded version of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, but remember that with great power comes great responsibility, as the tests’ difficulty is about to start increasing exponentially.