Aperture Desk Job (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): March 1, 2022
- Release Date (EU): March 1, 2022
- Publisher: Valve
- Developer: Valve
Game Features:
Announced just a few days ago, Aperture Desk Job is a tutorial for the Steam Deck. It plants you behind a desk with the same buttons, paddles, and sticks as the Deck, and walks you through a short story that cleverly makes use of a lot of its features. However, that's not the most interesting thing about Aperture Desk Job; the most interesting thing about it is that it's a return to the Portal universe, taking place when Aperture Laboratories was running in the mid-to-late 1980s, a period we haven't seen yet.
I should mention right off the bat that I didn't play this on a Steam Deck, I just played on a regular PC with a controller (mouse and keyboard controls aren't supported). That being said, it's pretty effective as a demo of what the Steam Deck can do, and walks users through some of the controls that may not be super intuitive. For example, one section requires you to type something on the on-screen keyboard, and press Enter (separate from the keyboard), both of which require hitting the Steam button at the same time as another input. You'll also be introduced to some features more casual users may not be aware of, like the microphone, gyroscopic controls or the back paddles. While it's an effective tutorial, playing on PC felt like an ad for the Steam Deck had been snuck in front of me, and it worked pretty well. It forced me to think about what playing on that machine would be like, and it's the most tempted I've ever been by one.
However, the interest for most people in Desk Job is probably its connection to the Portal universe. Gameplay-wise, it shares very little with the mainline Portal games; it's not even in the same genre, as there are no puzzles to solve here. From a story perspective, though, this is a worthy entry into the series--if you keep your expectations in check. Desk Job only runs about thirty minutes and takes place decades before Portal begins, so it's not going to drastically change the narrative or our understanding of the world.
But, what it manages to fit into those thirty minutes is impressive. We get some expanded lore on the history of Aperture Science, and more of J.K. Simmons' ever-popular Cave Johnson. The humour is pretty on point, too. It more closely resembles Portal 2 than the original; without a huge antagonistic presence like GLaDOS, there's none of the insult humour that was in the first game. Instead, the focus is more on the robotification of people, the ruthless corporate structure of Aperture and the absurd, amoral pursuit of science for science's sake. (It doesn't hurt, of course, that our only two characters are Johnson and a Wheatley-esque personality core named Grady.) The game also has some fun with the fact that it's a tutorial, playing with the contrived circumstances that let players test out the Deck's features.
Aperture Desk Job isn't revolutionary by any means. It's not the first game designed as a hardware demonstration, and it's not the first to have a popular IP slapped on it to help promote it. It's also certainly not the Portal 3 fans were hoping for, but if somehow you're the only person whose played through everything in their Steam library and want something to test out on their Deck, this is a fun, free diversion.
Verdict
- Clever integration of Steam Deck features
- Fun expanded lore on the Portal universe
- It's not Portal 3
