A classic FPS puzzler returns to melt your GPUs in the shape of Portal RTX

Portal is a ground-breaking FPS puzzler that came out with The Orange Box package in 2007. That package also included classic games like Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. But what set Portal apart was its sense of humor, creating one of the most memorable and quotable stories ever made in a video game.

What made it special

Besides the great story, Portal was filled to the brim with mind-bending puzzles you had to solve. Your main objective as Chell is to try and escape the traps laid out by the main AI villain, GLaDOS. This AI is in complete control of the lab you find yourself in and will stop at nothing to ensure your demise.

As the name implies, the primary tool you could use to escape was the Portal Gun. This sci-fi gadget allows you to create two inter-connected portals. Traveling between the two is instantaneous while also respecting the laws of physics. Figuring out how to traverse the various rooms is up to you, and thinking outside the box is essential.

What does Portal RTX bring?

This version of Portal is the first test run for the new RTX Remix utility, based on the Omniverse software. After titles like Quake 2 RTX and Minecraft RTX took an insane amount of manpower, NVIDIA started thinking about better ways of creating these graphical updates. RTX Remix is the solution they came up with.

The old Portal game ran on DirectX 9, which is outdated by today’s standards. This RTX version improves the graphics with the help of new technologies. These include DLSS 3, NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA Real-Time Denoisers, and many more. These all help create a Portal game that genuinely looks modern, even though you will struggle to run it on older systems.

If you’re running an AMD graphics card, you will be happy to find out that Portal RTX will work well on newer versions. Ideally, it would be best if you were running it on a new RDNA 3 GPU. If you want the best performance, NVIDIA GPUs are the way to go.

System Requirements