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About the StoryWhere are all the humans? Upon returning from your 100 year voyage in the milky way, you find earth empty and abandoned. Between the decaying remnants of civilization, you discover a terminal for Worldnet, the global network that recorded all human activities. The answer must lie deep in its database. Anxious, you log on. |
The Digital Antiquarian
Thematically fascinating on at least a couple of different levels
Yes, its pacing is often glacial... And yes, its actual story is fairly underwhelming... Yet for the thoughtful reader there’s a lot here. You may just find yourself chewing over what Portal has to say about the world — about our world — for some time to come.
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Vice
Back in 1986, Activision published interactive fiction not unlike Twine games.
Critics of the time frequently expressed the idea that it should have just been a traditional printed novel, but really, that was missing the point. Portal, as a novel, wouldn't have anywhere near the atmosphere and intrigue without the slow build up and interactive detective work to uncover the story. Indeed, Swigart released the text as a traditional novel and, sure enough, it didn't have nearly the same effect.
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Internet Archive
Zzap!64 Magazine Review of Commodore 64 version (March, 1987)
Portal is not a game, it is a computer novel. It would be unfair to compare it in any way with the type of program we normally review - thus there are no ratings.
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Textfiles
Computer Gaming World Magazine Review (May, 1987): A Very Novel Game
The story is interesting and well written, and well it should be, having been written by Rob Swigart, a noted science-fiction writer... It is a classic tale of a benevolent future society gone bad, a story of adventure, mystery, suspense, love, and plausible scientific fiction.
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Narrativium
Review: Portal (1986)
What's great about Portal is that everything is connected: what seems like utterly incongruous side-bars turn out to be central to the story of Peter Devore, and indeed the story of humanity. There is a great synthesis of medium and message here...
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Games which take place in chat messenger systems or on a digital interface by grimperfect
Specifically, works where the main mechanic is either exploring a in-game digital interface(ala Secret Little Haven) or communicating using a type of chat/text messenger system(think Emily is Away).