Day#5 takes me to the end of Portal 2. The final puzzle is not has stellar or original as I would like it to be, although the narrative does tie up quite nicely. The puzzles approaching the end finally reach a level of challenge that I enjoy with a couple of exception of pixel-hunting for portal-able spots and momentary frustrations. It’s a good ending as a whole, but like the rest of Portal 2, it’s a good game that followed an absolutely amazing one, and despite its successes, Portal 2 just cannot escape that shadow. Spoilers within.

Day#4 of Portal 2 is yet another improvement as the level design gets more and more interesting. I can’t say that the levels are as challenging as I would like them to be, but they are more interesting puzzles now and there’s another new mechanic that’s quite good. The narrative continues to explain backstory, and while it’s not making me cringe, I kind of wish it wasn’t. There’s a bit more narrative handholding here and I don’t like it, and the core pattern of the story is actually getting a bit old. I think I’m close to the end, and I think I can safely say that it gets better as it goes. Spoilers within.

Day 3 of Portal 2 changes up the narrative significantly. It’s pretty good, although there’s a revelation that I’m not sure about yet. The gameplay improves significantly with some new elements and there are some interesting puzzles now. It’s still not as difficult as I want, and the fact that these levels are significantly better just makes the earlier, more traditional levels feel perfunctory. It’s still good enough for me to continue and finish, but I feel very confident now that Portal 1 is untouchable in its brilliance. Spoilers within.

Day 2 of Portal 2 has the single player game making some interesting twists. The narrative is moving in a quite funny and consistent way and the game remains great visually. It also takes a quite interesting story turn. I do wish the puzzles were harder though.  At this point in the game, I feel like I’ve only had one puzzle that was even remotely difficulty. I’m having fun and the game is generally solid, but I’m still finding the original Portal much better. Spoilers within.

Day 1 with Portal 2. I will confess to being very skeptical about this game, as I thought Portal was a game that absolutely did not need a sequel. So how does the sequel stand up? Pretty well so far, but nothing particularly new. The single-player (which is what I’ve played so far) is doing an interesting retake on the original game, no new puzzles really, with a possibly interesting narrative taking shape. Add to that the game visual beauty and humor and it’s shaping up well so far. It’s nothing brilliant yet, but it’s definitely fun and I trust Valve enough to believe that this game could become something amazing, so more to come. Spoilers to come.