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Portal Stories: Mel
The cover of Portal Stories: Mel, showcasing its logo and the game's environment
Developer(s)Prism Studios
Publisher(s)Prism Studios
Composer(s)Harry Callaghan
Platform(s)
Release25 June 2015
Genre(s)Puzzle-platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Portal Stories: Mel is a 2015 puzzle-platform modification for Portal 2 developed and published by Prism Studios. Set in the Portal universe, the player controls Mel, a test subject with a prototype of the portal gun who must escape an underground facility after spending decades in artificial hibernation by completing puzzles. The player is guided by maintenance core named Virgil. The game includes custom voice acting, a soundtrack, and texture assets.

The mod's development began in 2011, and its release date was pushed back multiple times. After passing via the Steam Greenlight system in 2014, it was released on Steam for free on 25 June 2015. Prism Studios released its virtual reality successor Portal Stories: VR in May 2016, which featured short gameplay with custom soundtracks, voice acting, and two guns rather than the standard portal gun. Portal Stories: Mel has been criticised for its challenging difficulty, but lauded for its graphic design, ambition, and detail. Writing and the soundtrack received mixed opinions from reviewers. It won The Game Awards' Best Fan Creation category, as well as the Mod DB Mod of the Year awards in both the Editors Choice and Players Choice categories. Both mods received strongly positive reception from the Portal community.

Gameplay

[edit]
See also: Gameplay of Portal 2
A schematic of two platforms separated by a gap and by height. One portal opening is located at the bottom of the gap, the other on a wall high above the lower platform. A human figure is shown by a trajectory path to be able to jump from the lower platform into the bottom portal and exit the top portal to land on the higher platform.
Like Portal 2, Portal Stories: Mel allows the player to solve various puzzles with portals.

Like the Portal series, Portal Stories: Mel is a puzzle-platform game played from the first-person perspective, in which the player must solve puzzles in "test chambers".[1][2][3] The player controls the protagonist Mel throughout the game instead of series protagonist Chell.[4][5] Mel was originally planned by Valve to be the protagonist of Portal 2, but was passed over in favour of returning Chell, the protagonist of Portal.[6] Mel was then proposed as a character in Portal 2's cooperative mode, but was replaced by ATLAS and P-body.[6] The developer of Portal Stories: Mel then incorporated the character in their game.[5]

The core principles of Portal Stories: Mel remain unchanged from the official games: the player is also equipped with a prototype of the portal gun, which can create two ends of a portal, respectively coloured orange and blue.[1][2][7] These portals can only be put on specific surfaces and can be blocked with electric barriers.[1] The game features Portal 2 components, such as propulsion and repulsion gels.[1][8][9] The propulsion gel, coloured orange, provides a speed boost to the player, while repulsion, coloured blue, gives the player a jump boost.[1][8] "Light bridges" for traversing gaps, "tractor beams" for controlling objects in space, cubes, turrets, and buttons are also featured in the game.[1][10][11] Portal Stories: Mel adds custom texture assets, new voice acting, and animations.[10][12][13]

Portal Stories: Mel was designed to be a prequel to Portal 2.[12] The game features 22 levels that are intended to be completed in around 6 to 10 hours.[2][5][12]

Plot

[edit]
See also: Setting and characters of Portal (series)
An overgrown testing chamber, with two platforms on the left and right.
Portal Stories: Mel is set in the dilapidated underground complex of Aperture Science.

In 1952, when Aperture Science is still a fledgling company, Mel, a German olympian who has been recruited as a test subject, arrives by tram at the Aperture Science Innovators headquarters in Michigan and makes her way through Aperture's company town and into a massive underground complex. Aperture's CEO, Cave Johnson, speaks to Mel through pre-recorded messages via intercom, informing her that she will take part in a test of the Aperture Innovators Short Term Relaxation Vault. The test goes wrong, and Mel is put in indefinite stasis.

Awakening in the distant future, Mel follows what seems to be the voice of Cave Johnson and obtains a portal gun. The voice reveals that he is not actually Cave Johnson but a maintenance core named Virgil, who offers to help Mel escape. Virgil guides Mel through the remnants of the old facility, explaining that the destruction of GLaDOS, the main overseer of Aperture's facility, caused most of the control systems in the facility to falter.[a]

Continuing upwards, they learn that the reserve power has caused a prototype security system, the Aperture Employee Guardian and Intrusion System (AEGIS), to become active. With GLaDOS absent, AEGIS attempts to track them through the facility to eliminate them by releasing deadly goo, deeming them potential threats to Aperture's (long-dead) scientists. Virgil realises the only way for Mel to escape is to disable AEGIS.

Going through overgrown test chambers, they eventually arrive at AEGIS's central core and successfully disable it. Mel enters the code to shut down AEGIS, but while doing so, she and Virgil learn that it was flooding the facility in an attempt to destroy GLaDOS's remains. Mel surrenders her portal gun and exits the facility in an elevator, bidding Virgil goodbye. At the top of the elevator, she finds the town where she entered Aperture in ruins.

In a post-credits scene, AEGIS has enough power left to initiate one final fail-safe: waking up test subject Chell by draining the reserve power so she can escape.[b]

Development and release

[edit]

Portal Stories: Mel was developed and published by an independent team of Portal fans under the name Prism Studios.[1][11] Its development began in 2011 and was originally intended to be published in early 2012.[1][10][14] Following multiple delays, Prism Studios announced in March 2013 that some maps were rebuilt to match acceptable quality standards, with several members of the team also changing.[15][16] The closed beta was announced in August 2013, after which maps were re-worked and modified to meet higher quality standards.[17][18] On 20 June 2014, Prism Studios announced that Portal Stories: Mel would be released in the first quarter of 2015, with support for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms.[19][20][21] Soon after, the mod was put through the Steam Greenlight system and was accepted on 1 August.[6][22] The mod was, however, delayed again in February 2015.[23]

During the development process, the team consulted Valve for development advice.[1] The mod was released on Steam for free on 25 June 2015.[1][3][5] Because it is a mod, users must own Portal 2 to play Portal Stories: Mel.[12] The game features an hour-long custom soundtrack composed by Harry "Harry101UK" Callaghan, who also previously composed the soundtrack for Aperture Tag.[12][24][25] An additional song for the game, titled "Time and Time Again", was written by Ian Wiese.[26] Prism Studios also published developer commentary videos on YouTube.[27] In response to complaints about the high difficulty level of the mod, the developers released a "Story Mode" campaign on 31 August 2015, with certain puzzles tweaked to reduce their difficulty.[28][29] The "Story Mode" puzzles became the new default mode, and the original puzzles were repurposed as an alternative, higher-difficulty setting known as "Advanced Mode".[29]

Prism Studios began working on a virtual reality game successor in 2016, using Unreal Engine 4.[30][31] Initially scheduled for April 2016, Portal Stories: VR, a virtual reality game for HTC Vive and the successor to Portal Stories: Mel, was released for free in May 2016; the game features a small campaign with 10 puzzles designed for room-scale VR.[30][32][33] The difficulty of the puzzles increases progressively throughout the game.[34] Additionally, the game features new custom soundtracks, voice acting, and two types of guns.[32][35] The first gun, the Aperture Science Instant Teleportation Device, lets the player teleport inside puzzle chambers while the second, the Aperture Science Apparatus Retrieval Tool, gives the player the ability to move cubes.[30][35] Portal Stories: VR also incorporates virtual reality elements, such as requiring the player to crouch down to avoid lasers.[36] Due to its short length, the game can be completed in approximately 30 minutes.[34] Because it was released as a mod, Portal 2 is also required to play the game.[33][37]

Afterwards, Prism Studios became a standalone game development company in August 2016.[38] They later released The Captives: Plot of the Demiurge in 2018, but shut down in December 2020.[39][40]

Reception

[edit]

Many media outlets complimented the mod's ambition and polish, but often criticised its challenging puzzles.[c] Felix Schütz of PC Games found it unbelieving that it was created by a team of Portal fans, claiming that it could simply be "a small add-on" for the Portal series.[11] Kyle Hilliard of Game Informer and Ian Higton of Eurogamer highlighted the game's similarity to Valve's Portal series.[5][9] Rock Paper Shotgun listed Portal Stories: Mel as one of the best Portal 2 mods, with Craig Pearson saying that "it's an impressively made campaign".[41] Digital Trends reported that the mod received a strongly positive reception from the community.[32]

Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer noted the game's challenging puzzles.[10] Michael Thomsen of The Washington Post similarly found the game to be difficult, and added that the game lacks tutorial puzzles, but that he was "hesitant to say those qualities are negatives".[1] He also contrasted the game to Portal 2's puzzles, which instead directed the player to seek solutions on their own.[1] Higton classified it as the Dark Souls of Portal games, noting the hard difficulty of puzzles, but nevertheless stated that it "nails what it means to be a Valve game".[9] Although he rated the mod 7.5 overall, Ruslan Gubaidulllin of Overclockers.ru criticised the game's pacing, stating that the developers do not give the player a break from solving puzzles.[2]

The game's graphics were commended by reviewers. Higton praised the mod's eccentric graphic design as well as the cinematic videos.[9] Schütz said that the visuals "unfortunately had nothing new to offer" but this was compensated by the high quality of many areas.[11] Hilliard, Ben Hanson, and Jonas Gössling of GameStar were also impressed with the design and details of the game's areas.[7][42] Alice O'Connor of Rock Paper Shotgun lauded the portal gun's looks.[25]

The writing was met with mixed reception from reviewers. Schütz said that while the writing was not as outstanding as Portal 2's, the character Virgil enhanced the game's atmosphere.[11] Despite its long length, Gubaidullin said that the plot was unconvincing, claiming it lacked the "loneliness" and "hopelessness" of the Portal series and criticising Virgil's lack of charisma.[2] Livingston was not fond of the mod's humour, but he did say it was written "with a lot of enthusiasm".[10] Alexander Bohn-Elias of Eurogamer, on the other hand, felt the humour was "spot on" with Portal 2,[43] while Higton and Gössling found the story enjoyable.[7][9] Gender studies author Marc A. Ouellette wrote about Portal Stories: Mel, saying that "the recalamation of content by fans for purposes germane to themselves...can therefore include formations in which more fluid, post-binary sexual and gender identities emerge".[44]

Reviewers were mixed on the game's voice acting and music. Livingston and Bohn-Elias praised the voice acting, particularly the Cave Johnson imitation.[10][43] Griffin McElroy of Polygon regarded voice acting as a "great performance".[45] Hilliard and Hanson, however, were less impressed by the voice acting.[42] Schütz had mixed feelings about the custom soundtrack, but remarked that "the good tracks outweigh the bad ones".[11] Gössling said that the soundtrack "creates a mood that immediately captivates [the player]".[7]

David Jagneaux of UploadVR commended the voice acting and the surroundings of Portal Stories: VR.[35][46] He also stated that while the puzzles are not challenging, the majority of the game "feels like little more than a tutorial".[35] Jan-Keno Janssen of Heise.de said that the mod is similar to ambience in the original games.[36] Overall, the mod received a very positive reception from the Steam community.[47] The University of Sydney's School of Information Technologies included Portal Stories: VR as one of the games in their study about physical benefits of virtual reality.[48] The research team determined that Portal Stories: VR required little movement and that its participants "had the lowest exertion measures and the heart-rate score was equal to very light activity".[48]

Accolades

[edit]
Award Date Category Result Ref.
The Game Awards 3 December 2015 Best Fan Creation Won [49][50]
Mod DB Mod of the Year 22 December 2015 Editors Choice Won [51]
29 December 2015 Players Choice Won [52]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ As depicted in Portal
  2. ^ Which sets up the events of Portal 2
  3. ^ [1][2][9][10][11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thomsen, Michael (7 July 2015). "'Portal Stories: Mel' is a surprisingly difficult but imaginative game made by fans". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gubaidullin, Ruslan (13 August 2015). "Portal Stories Mel: рецензия на мод к Portal 2" [Portal Stories Mel: review of the mod for Portal 2]. Overclockers.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b Yoshimura, Naoki (14 July 2015). "『ポータル2』の無料MOD『Portal Stories: Mel』が配信中。PC版を持っているならプレイすべき充実した内容！" [The free mod "Portal Stories: Mel" for "Portal 2" is now available. If you have the PC version, you should play it!]. Famitsu (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  4. ^ Stanley, Alyse (22 December 2017). "The Joy of Chell's design in Portal". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Hillard, Kyle (31 January 2015). "Fan Made Portal 2 Mod Looks Good Enough To Be From Valve". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Phillips, Tom (2 February 2015). "Stunning-looking Portal 2 mod may be the closest we get to Portal 3". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Gössling, Jonas (26 June 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel – Für Portal-Profis" [Portal Stories: Mel – For Portal Professionals]. GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b Grimm, Michael (2 July 2010). "Portal 2 videos reveal Aperture Science's Repulsion and Propulsion Gels". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Higton, Ian (30 June 2015). "Video: Portal Stories: Mel isn't Portal 3, but it could be". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Livingstone, Christopher (18 June 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel is huge and challenging and free". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Schütz, Felix (3 July 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel im Mod-Test – Schon fast ein Add-on" [Portal Stories: Mel in the mod test – Almost an add-on]. PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e Moser, Cassidee (6 July 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel is a Free Prologue Mod to Portal 2". IGN. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  13. ^ Wilson, Nick (1 February 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel is a free Portal 2 mod with a lot of promise". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  14. ^ Prism Studios (17 December 2011). "Portal Stories: Mel : Coming soon!". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  15. ^ Prism Studios (27 February 2012). "A new delay, but we aren't dead!". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  16. ^ Prism Studios (21 March 2013). "Progress!". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  17. ^ Prism Studios (4 August 2013). "Portal Stories closed beta 1.0". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  18. ^ Prism Studios (18 April 2014). "Assuring quality". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  19. ^ Prism Studios (20 June 2014). "Portal Stories: Mel Releasing Q1 2015!". Mod DB. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  20. ^ Dane, Patrick (31 January 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel Looks Like A Fantastic Portal 2 Mod With Its Own Story". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  21. ^ Nunneley-Jackson, Stephany (31 January 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel is a fantastic looking Portal 2 mod". VG247. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  22. ^ "50 Titles Greenlit Today". Steam. 1 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  23. ^ "February Development Update". Steam. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  24. ^ Grayson, Nathan (16 July 2014). "Aperture Tag Is A Whole New Portal Game... Without Portals". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  25. ^ a b O'Connor, Alice (25 June 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel Released Free On Steam". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  26. ^ Prism Studios (25 June 2015). Portal Stories: Mel. Scene: Credits.
  27. ^ Prism Studios (9 July 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel Developer Commentary Playthrough Part 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  28. ^ Prism Studios (19 August 2015). "Introducing: Portal Stories: Story Mode!". Steam. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  29. ^ a b Prism Studios (31 August 2015). "Portal Stories: Story Mode update released!". Steam. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  30. ^ a b c Younger, Paul (3 April 2016). "Portal Stories: VR coming to Vive for free". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  31. ^ "Portal Stories: VR". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  32. ^ a b c Martindale, Jon (17 March 2016). "Portal Stories: Mel gives virtual reality headset owners their first taste of Portal in VR". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  33. ^ a b Younger, Paul (17 May 2016). "Portal Stories: VR released for Portal 2". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  34. ^ a b Janssen, Jan-Keno (20 May 2016). ""Portal Stories VR" im Test: In der Virtual Reality funktioniert "Portal" auch ohne Portale" ["Portal Stories VR" in the test: In virtual reality, "Portal" also works without portals]. Heise.de (in German). Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  35. ^ a b c d Jagneaux, David (16 May 2016). "Portal Stories: VR is Like a Brief Field Trip to Aperture Labs for HTC Vive". UploadVR. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  36. ^ a b Janssen, Jan-Keno (20 May 2016). "Portal Stories VR im Test: Virtual-Reality-Portal ganz ohne Portale" [Portal Stories VR in the test: Virtual reality portal without portals]. Heise.de (in German). Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  37. ^ Tucker, Jake (17 May 2016). "Portal Stories: VR has released on steam for free". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  38. ^ @PrismStudiosUK (5 August 2016). "We're very excited to announce that we're no longer a mod team, but an actual games company!" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 September 2017 – via Twitter.
  39. ^ "The Captives: Plot of the Demiurge". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  40. ^ "Prism Studios Closed". Prism Studios. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  41. ^ Pearson, Craig (20 December 2021). "The best Portal 2 mods". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  42. ^ a b Hilliard, Kyle (7 July 2015). "Test Chamber – Portal Stories: Mel". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  43. ^ a b Bohn-Elias, Alexander (31 July 2015). "Portal erleben, so als wäre es das erste Mal – Portal Stories: Mel" [Experience Portal as if it were the first time – Portal Stories: Mel]. Eurogamer (in German). Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  44. ^ Ouellette, Marc A. (2023). "Playing With Roles and Representations: Challenging the stability of gender, sex, and sexuality in video games". Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights (2 ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003278405. ISBN 9781003278405.
  45. ^ McElroy, Griffin (6 July 2015). "Portal Stories: Mel is a fan-made prequel to Portal 2, and it's fantastic (and free!)". Polygon. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  46. ^ Jagneaux, David (8 October 2018). "Someone Is Making A Portal Clone In VR With A Level Editor". UploadVR. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  47. ^ Horti, Samuel (8 December 2018). "The PC games we'd most like to play in VR". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  48. ^ a b Peterson-Ward, Jennifer (3 May 2017). "Virtual gaming makes easier workouts a reality". University of Sydney. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  49. ^ Guinness World Records 2017 Gamer's Edition. Guinness World Records. 2017. p. 14. ISBN 9781910561416.
  50. ^ Sarkar, Samit (3 December 2015). "Here are the winners of The Game Awards 2015". Polygon. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  51. ^ "Editors Choice – Mod of the Year 2015". Mod DB. 22 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  52. ^ "Players Choice – Mod of the Year 2015". Mod DB. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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