Games like Portal and Portal 2

The Talos Principle, Superliminal and Viewfinder are the best picks after Portal. Each takes one rule about space and builds a whole game of puzzles around it. A free option and Roam portal puzzles follow.

What makes Portal special

Portal is Valve's first-person puzzle game from 2007, and Portal 2 followed in 2011 with a separate two-player co-op campaign. You carry a gun that shoots two linked portals. Walk into one and come out of the other, keeping your speed. GLaDOS, the AI running the test chambers, comments on every mistake.

The genius is that one tool does everything. Later chambers add gels, light bridges and lasers, but the question is always the same: where do the two holes go?

First-person puzzle games to play next

The Talos Principle. Croteam's 2014 puzzle game about lasers, boxes and a robot asking what it means to be human. The Talos Principle 2 came out in 2023.
Superliminal. Pillow Castle's 2019 game. Objects change size based on how you look at them, so a tiny box held close becomes a huge one.
Viewfinder. Sad Owl Studios' 2023 game. Hold up a photo and it becomes a real place you can walk into.
Antichamber. Alexander Bruce's 2013 game of impossible rooms that change when you turn around.
Portal Reloaded. A free 2021 fan mod for Portal 2 owners on Steam. It adds a third portal that travels through time.

How to think through a portal puzzle

Start at the exit and work backward. Ask what you need to stand on, carry or reach. Momentum is a tool: a long fall into one portal launches you out of the other. And if you are stuck, look up. Many solutions hide on a ceiling or a far wall you walked past.

Portal and dimension puzzles on Roam

TEST CHAMBER (Roam). A first-person portal puzzle. Step through. The narrator is watching.
Portal Shield (Roam). A third-person portal puzzle: throw the shield, open a portal, guide the light.
Switch Reality (Roam). A dimension-shift puzzle. One tap and the wall in front of you is gone.
Bend the Light (Roam). A light-reflection logic puzzle. Bounce the beam to wake the planets.