Aperture Desk Job Is Not Portal 3, But It Does Look Sick

Of course we’re not getting Portal 3, but we are getting a little something.

As touched on in David’s ‘This Week In Games’, Valve has concluded Steam Next Fest by announcing a new “playable short” set in the Portal universe called Aperture Desk Job. You can see it in action in the video below.

The game looks to be set at Aperture in the 1970’s, which is very aesthetically pleasing. I’ve always been a fan of the convergence of futuristic tech and the 70’s aesthetic. According to Aperture Desk Job‘s Steam page,

“Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things. You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work – your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs. “

No, it’s not Portal 3

Before anyone gets too excited, the page also notes that this is NOT Portal 3, and to ‘lower your expectations.” I admire the honesty of this. Valve likes to use the Portal universe to showcase the capabilities of their technology. Demo titles like The Lab, Aperture Hand Lab, and Moondust are all set in the Portal universe. All three were made to showcase Valve’s grasp of VR.

Aperture Desk Job will guide Steam Deck owners through the handheld’s controls and features. Don’t stress if you don’t have access to a Steam Deck, because it’s also playable on PC. And hey, chances are you don’t have a Steam Deck considering we still don’t have an Australian release date for the handheld console. I’m fine, it’s fine. Whatever.

While this isn’t Portal 3, all the minute world-building that has come from these tech demos could potentially lead to something bigger. That’s something I like to call ‘wishful thinking”, although others might refer to it as ‘pure delusion’. Despite this, it’s clear that Valve still has a lot of love for Portal, and is aware of the potential the universe has in terms of expansion, so there’s always the possibility that we’ll see another chapter in the Portal series. Anything’s possible if you’re optimistic enough!

Aperture Desk Job will be available to download for free on Steam from March 1st, 2022.