Legendary puzzle game Portal returns with raytracing in November

It turns out Portal: Companion Collection isn’t the only update to the series we’re getting this year. The original PC game is getting a raytracing update soon, and it’ll give the legendary puzzle game its freshest coat of new paint since its 2007 debut.

Nvidia just held its GeForce Beyond showcase, which introduced its new 40 series of graphics cards. To show off the capabilities of the new 4080 and 4090 GPUs, Nvidia also broadcasted a number of trailers. One of those was Portal with RTX, which looked downright gorgeous. It’s full of familiar sights like companion cubes, high-energy pellets, and of course the swirling blue and orange portals themselves. The raytracing difference is immediately clear: those floating pellets cast light on the walls as they travel through the air, and there’s plenty of glow from the test chamber screens. In addition to the raytracing, brought to the game via Nvidia’s AI-assisted modding tool RTX Remix, there are also new art assets. You can see examples, such as the red pressure plate switches, in the trailer.

All of this beauty will come to Portal via an update in November, though no specific day was named. Portal with RTX will be a free update for all Portal owners, so if you have a capable machine, you’ll be able to see the game in all its new glory — an Nvidia 40 series card is not necessarily needed. Don’t expect to see the same results on Steam Deck without some modding though. Raytracing can be achieved if you run Windows on the device, but it doesn’t happen natively.

Portal has actually been in the news a few times this year, and one story was tied to the aforementioned Companion Collection on Nintendo Switch. Half-Life 2 and Portal 2 beta content was actually found within that game’s files. Portal writer Eric Wolpaw also recently expressed a desire to make Portal 3.