Portal only four hours long

By Robert Purchese Published 14 March, 2007

Plenty of time to flummox you.

It won't take forever to finish Valve's Portal, reckons level designer Kim Swift, who guided us through a playable demo of the game at last week's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco.

"Currently the game runs about four hours," she told us.

However, it seems it may take some getting used to, as one of our reporters was reduced to a gibbering wreck as he attempted to get to grips with it. Still, Swift was apologetic and reassuring about the difficulty curve, saying she'd rushed the tutorial to get us to the action.

"In the game we take you very step by step in terms of being able to use your portals," she added.

Portal is a single-player experience fit to tie your brain in knots. You'll use a portal gun to manipulate your environment and objects, and it looks set to have an impact comparable to Half-Life 2's gravity gun.

It's due for release with Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2 this winter on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Pop over to our Episode 2 gamepage to see all the latest footage and screenshots of the game. Alternatively you can venture to the Portal teaser site for a taster of the gravity-defying puzzle-solving.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ChrisOTR #1 5 years ago

    I'm actually all for short and "dense" games, rather than so-called epics which rely on the same few tricks stretched on far too long...

    But 4 hours?! It wants to be cheap, if so...
    Edited by 1 at 14/03/07 @ 10:48

  • UncleLou #2 5 years ago

    Sounds okay to me - it looks great, but not like the kind of game you'd play for 30 hours.

    Besides - I expect to get stuck shortly after the tutorial for at least 4 hours. :)

  • Blerk #3 5 years ago

    As long as it's a great four hours then fair enough, although it's a little disappointing that it wasn't a bit longer. It is just a bundled mini-game at the end of the day.

  • peterfll #4 5 years ago

    I take all this stuff with a pinch of salt. Take Crackdown for example, apparently you can finish it within 8 hours. I'm currently just about to and it's taken me a good 20+, and I don't feel like I've been dragging my feet either.

    \leaps across building

  • brooza #5 5 years ago

    There's only one level after the tutorial...

  • skillian #6 5 years ago

    Hehe, who was the n00b reporter?

  • Nova5lag #7 5 years ago

    Cant wait really. I bet it will be ace for every minute of those four hours. I only get to play for a short while each day so this sort of game is perfect for me. :)

  • the_dudefather #8 5 years ago

    wonder if someone could 'mod' the portal gun into HL2 or CS:S (imagine how much that would screw with gameplay)

  • asphaltcowboy #9 5 years ago

    Depends if the 4 hours is for people that know the solutions or like me :)

  • bdc #10 5 years ago

    EuroSexMachine: How long is a piece of string?

  • reality_cheque #11 5 years ago

    Just get stoned first, it'll triple the length of time it takes to solve the puzzle - problem solved! :D

  • Overlush #12 5 years ago

    "about the same time it takes to finish a Xbox 360 game then"

    What a stupid comment to make. Are you really that desperate to clutch at straws?

  • Overlush #13 5 years ago

    I'm interested to know how they'll handle achievements with this: isn't Portal coming in the same package as HL, EP1, EP2, and TeamF?

    4k points in one box???

  • revlob #14 5 years ago

    So it's definitely not Portal that's the cause of the Episode 2 delay then.

  • stuarty_2003 #15 5 years ago

    Overlush:

    1,000 for HL2

    250 for Ep1
    250 for Ep2

    200/250 for Portal?


    Ep1/Ep2 are, by MS standards, not all that different to Shivering Isles....

    Just a thought
    Edited by 1 at 14/03/07 @ 11:51

  • Ulgen #16 5 years ago

    DLC FTW!!! Seriously, I'll buy every single map or expansion to Portal if they ever release that on the marketplace.

  • spongebob #17 5 years ago

    10-15 hours for a full game like Half-Life 2 is good for me. 20 hours is definitely the maximum I can take because otherwise I'd have to spend a month or more before I could finish it.

  • JayPee #18 5 years ago

    A game based around one pretty genious concept is OK. A game that includes that one pretty genius concept into its own universe and gameplay can be great.

    Just imagine if instead of HL2 we got a shorter mission-based game called "Gravity".

    IMO the portal gun would have made a fantastic addition to a good FPS. Basing a whole (short) game around it is probably a bit of a waste.

    Don't get me wrong though, I'm all over this like something on a something else that the original something would be all over.

  • mazzl #19 5 years ago

    this would be wicked with a map editor and then play multiplayer deathmatch in a maze filled with spikes an all sorts of traps :)
    4 hours sound more like a live arcade game then anything else. still the gameplay video was awsome

  • Steroyd #20 5 years ago

    Xiphos... Portal's coming to PS... awe hell what's the point you're so krazay!!

  • urban #21 5 years ago

    i bet kim's hot.

  • Bezzy #22 5 years ago

    I like the idea of a short, concise examination of the mechanic... the idea that the mechanic alone is strong enough to stretch an experience out to 4 hours means that it's a pretty rich mechanic, and shouldn't need to add ill fitting producer-designed stealth sections, or Gun Pimpin', or driving sections.

    It's not Homer's Odyssey. It's "An Ode to the Portal Gun".

    Still Looking forward to it. Sorta wish it weren't taking until winter to come out, though.

  • Corvus #23 5 years ago

    I wasn't expecting portal to be much longer than 4 hours anyway. Bear in mind that it is coming out as part of a package with two other games, so it's not as though we'll be paying full price just for a four hour game.

  • Inquisitor #24 5 years ago

    Portal is set in the HL universe, it has already been confirmed. There is even a story of sorts that will illuminate some of the muddier elements of the main HL story.

  • Shabtai #25 5 years ago

    Portal IS set in the Half-Life universe.

    4 hours is fine for a game that is solely about 1 mechanic. Valve mentioned that the portal gun will be used in more challenging situations (prolly will be part of Episode 3) so Portal is kind of tutorial for us how the wepon and mechanism work.

    And of course you'll have countless of user created maps and levels to d\l. At least if you are a PC gamer.

  • Frumper #26 5 years ago

    Anyone sussed the teaser site yet? The only command I can find that gets a reaction is HELP.

  • Kazzahdrane #27 5 years ago

    About twice as long as I expected it to last.

    Awesome :D

  • symmetry #28 5 years ago

    Urban wrote: i bet kim's hot.

    Kim Swift

    She's not bad.

    I would.

    Because she's so damn intelligent more than anything else.

  • YourMessageHere #29 5 years ago

    I'm sure I read somewhere that the Portal protagonist was female; if this is so, well, it ain't Sheppard. Maybe one of the female HEV suit crew (Gina the hazard course hologram or one of those two from HL:Decay)? Or then again someone Gordon will meet in Ep.3?

    I wish this was available seperately. I'm not all that chewed about Ep.2, to be honest, after the letdown of Ep.1, though I'll still get it, but I have zero interest in TF2. It irritates me that I have to buy it to get Portal and Ep.2.

  • JayPee #30 5 years ago

    Yeah this thing was, if it's like a 4 hour tutorial on how to use the portal gun and think about its uses, it will kinda weaken the experience of it when it does come to a 'proper' FPS.

    The brilliance of the whole HL thing was to give you a weapon unlike anything and then show you by doing all the uses it can have. And when you worked it out you had a big grin on your face and a re-affirmation of how fun and good gaming can be.

    I just think the whole thing being based around the concept wouldn't be as fun as the game gradually introducing the concept through gameplay and story.

    Again, not that it won't be spankingly good.

  • teamonkey #31 5 years ago

    Four hours is as long as Ep1 takes to complete and that was well worth the money.

  • SuperBas #32 5 years ago

    Don't you get this game, along with Episode 2, AND Team Fortress 2, for the price of one? Four hours suddenly doesn't sound bad.

  • Strifer #33 5 years ago

    Guys, imagine Portal with a level editor.

  • smelly #34 5 years ago

    4 hrs was pretty much how long it took to play the freeware game this is based upon..

    Any longer and you'd get bored (Without it fitting in with the main plot)

  • Ryuken #35 5 years ago

    "The brilliance of the whole HL thing was to give you a weapon unlike anything and then show you by doing all the uses it can have. "

    Euhm no, the Gravity gun lost its appeal soon enough if you ask me and HL2 never quite managed to make the same impact as the original and OF. A lot of weapons actually got a lot worse (pistol, shotgun and standard automatic rifle coming to mind).