If you keep an eye on game mods, you've probably been anticipating Portal: Prelude, an extremely promising fan project involving everyone's favorite sterile lab environment, Aperture Science. Calling itself "an unofficial prequel to the game Portal," the "Prelude" project has been in the works for nine months, and promises 19 test chambers, offering as much play time as the original game. Folks got fairly excited when they learned that the mod was a fully-featured, self-contained story, including original voice acting and a pre-GLaDOS Aperture Science environment, full of staff who are, so far, Still Alive. Nicolas Grevet, the project's leader, has been keeping a daily blog on the game's website, building excitement for the game's launch, and this morning, a new post revealed a surprise for eager players: Portal: Prelude will be jumping the gun by one day, and will see an exclusive release through Planet Half-Life tomorrow, October 9th, before its general release on the 10th.
As a puzzle gamer (and, like everyone else, a Portal fan), I'm always glad to see a well-executed mod for our favorite spatial reasoning title. It's been a while since the Portal:TFV MapPack was released, and based on early reviews, it sounds like the Prelude project is a solid offering. And, like so many great mods before it, it's completely free.
People who add value to my existing games, purely for fun/their own devotion, are all right in my books. Look for our own review of Portal: Prelude as soon as we can get our greedy mitts on it.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Haha, Awesome. you guys are my Source engine mod awareness station