Portal 2: Top 10 Test Chambers

Which one was it for you? Most of those who've made it through to the end of Valve's brilliant sequel will have encountered at least one test chamber whose solution remained so unfathomably elusive as to induce genuine despair.

Few puzzle games more skilfully manage and manipulate the player's emotional experience, capable of transforming us from humbled dolt to crowing genius in the space of a couple of trigger pulls.

Like that other notorious cortex-molester Braid, the solution in Portal 2 is always staring you in the face. It doesn't half make you feel stupid until you work it out, but Valve's environmental cues are often subtle enough to encourage the belief that your escape ranks alongside the discovery of fire in the pantheon of human achievement.

In recognition of this we've picked out the ten chambers we found most challenging, memorable and just plain great during our single-player playthrough. And, for those of you yet to beat the game in its entirety or keen to relive the moment from another's perspective, we've also captured the solution to each.

In short, these are the puzzles that left us bewildered, frustrated and awe-struck in equal measure – and filled with admiration for Valve's fiendish ingenuity.

This, of course, only represents our experience. We'd love to know how it was for you, so please let us know your standout, synapse-busting moments below. Meanwhile, here, in reverse order of misery/joy is our top ten.

And, if you haven't played Portal 2 yet then, y'know, spoilers.

10) Chapter 6-3

The further you get in the game, the better you get at it. Looking back on this chamber after completion, it all seems so blindingly obvious. But that just shows the extent of the brain-rewiring process you've undergone.

This test provides the first stiff challenge using Repulsion Gel. The key is to grasp the difference momentum makes when landing on blue paint: it's the only way to make it across the long gap toward the exit. And at this stage in the game, it might take longer than is respectable to hit upon the solution.

9) Chapter 7-4

"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". As the archived meanderings of former Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson echo around the facility, the game serves up its first big Conversion Gel test.

The introduction of the new gel requires yet another rethink of your approach, calling for something straight out of the Jackson Pollock school of painting. And the more OCD-inclined gamer may find themselves (as we did), fastidiously whitewashing every last pixel before eyeing the solution high up in the towers.

"If life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons!"

We've picked out the ten chambers we found most challenging, memorable and just plain great during our single-player playthrough. And, for those of you yet to beat the game in its entirety or keen to relive the moment from another's perspective, we've also captured the solution to each.

In short, these are the puzzles that left us bewildered, frustrated and awe-struck in equal measure – and filled with admiration for Valve's fiendish ingenuity. This, of course, only represents our experience. We'd love to know how it was for you, so please let us know your standout, synapse-busting moments below. Meanwhile, here, in reverse order of misery/joy is our top ten.

And, if you haven't played Portal 2 yet then, y'know, spoilers.

8) Chapter 7-1

To prepare you for the game's later stages, where you'll be combining each and every mechanic Portal 2 has to offer, Valve likes to focus on each one in turn to brief the player on their full range of possibilities.

The first part of this chamber is all about Propulsion Gel. Spraying it to carry Chell over a ramp is clear enough; building up enough speed to burst from the floor and press a button suspended high in the air may take a little more figuring out.

7) Chapter 8-4

The test begins with a dramatic set piece as Wheatley wedges two chambers together. This bodge job leaves a gap traversable only via light tunnels, and on top of that you've got to factor in a cube that needs to come along for the ride.

The final piece of the puzzle requires the cube to be floated up against a button high on one wall to release the door. It's the clever narrative set-up, with its suggestion that Wheatley is making up tests on the fly, that makes solving it that much more satisfying.

6) Chapter 4-2

Most of the real mind-benders are reserved for the latter stages of the game, but this chamber is one of the most gruelling encounters before Wheatley's corruption.

The sheer scale of the chamber takes time to digest, and a patient, methodical approach is needed to proceed through each step of the multi-part puzzle. The video shows a relatively speedy solution that belies the frustrated torment of our first attempt.

5) Chapter 8-10

The end is nigh. Clever deployment of light tunnels secures the cube easily enough (you're a pro by now, right?). But the real mind-slam comes from working out how to cross the vast gulf leading, you hope, to the exit.

All the familiar elements are there before you: but it's the revelation that Propulsion Gel can be carried via the light tunnel that provides this chamber's eureka moment. It's knowledge that will come in handy come the final test.

We've picked out the ten chambers we found most challenging, memorable and just plain great during our single-player playthrough. And, for those of you yet to beat the game in its entirety or keen to relive the moment from another's perspective, we've also captured the solution to each.

In short, these are the puzzles that left us bewildered, frustrated and awe-struck in equal measure – and filled with admiration for Valve's fiendish ingenuity. This, of course, only represents our experience. We'd love to know how it was for you, so please let us know your standout, synapse-busting moments below. Meanwhile, here, in reverse order of misery/joy is our top ten.

And, if you haven't played Portal 2 yet then, y'know, spoilers.

4) Chapter 7-2

Portal 2 is at its best when it delivers huge tests, set across – at first sight – numerous unconnected sections. The scale of it is overwhelming, leading to the daunting question: 'How exactly do I get over there?.'

And no sooner have you figured out the necessary Propulsion/Repulsion combo than you're presented with an entirely new perspective on the puzzle - and you realise you've got to be even smarter to make the final long leap to the exit.

3) Chapter 8-8

Oh, Valve, you cunning buggers. In a title not exactly short on great moments, the sheer craft and intricacy of this chamber stands out. So much is crammed into the (relatively) confined space, played on by the developer in Wheatley's instruction to solve it "ten times faster" than normal. Good luck with that.

And when the chamber is finally bested, Wheatley delivers the delicious line: "Why are you making it so hard for me?!"

2) Chapter 8-11

The final test, and by now you have been conditioned to realise that nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems in the world of Portal. The set-up may appear tantalisingly routine, but you know better than that.

Success here is measured by how long it takes to turn your mind inside-out until it stumbles upon a game-changer: reverse the flow of paint! We can confirm that this took us so long to figure out that we literally punched the air with joy when it was finally completed.

1) Chapter 7-5

Portal 2's greatest test is also its largest and most dramatic. Dizzying in scale and substance, this chamber (somehow that word doesn't do it justice) tasks the player with scaling a massive structure via great leaps and thrilling free falls.

All three gels must be utilised in concert to reach the top, only to then discover that you must climb higher and higher in a shower of Conversion Gel before emerging into a second huge area and finally ascending through a giant hatch in the sky. Magnificent.