Every Portal game, ranked
All 2 Portal games we hold, spanning 2007 to 2011: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 664,708 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Portal 2 (GamingPickz Score 9.1), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Portal (2007) and follow the release-order timeline below.
The Portal games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
2 best Portal games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Portal 2
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
9.1GamingPickz Scorehigh confidencePortal 2 at a glance Released 2011 Studio Valve Player sentiment 99% positive of 466,026 Critics 95/100 Price $9.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 8 GB Accessibility 7 declared features Raw 99% shrinks to 99.0 on 466,026 reviews, then blends with the 95 critic aggregate, giving 9.1.
What the data supports- 99% positive across 466,026 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 7 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
- 2
Portal
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.9GamingPickz Scorehigh confidencePortal at a glance Released 2007 Studio Valve Player sentiment 99% positive of 198,682 Critics 90/100 Price $9.99 Steam Deck verified Install size Not stated Accessibility 7 declared features Raw 99% shrinks to 99.0 on 198,682 reviews, then blends with the 90 critic aggregate, giving 8.9.
What the data supports- 99% positive across 198,682 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 7 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Portal game we can score is Portal 2 at 9.1. The lowest is Portal at 8.9, a 0.2-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Portal at $9.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Portal 2, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Portal entries on Steam:
- Verified: Portal, Portal 2
Platforms across the series
Where the 2 Portal games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 2 of 2 |
The Portal series, game by game
Every Portal game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2007
- 2011
Portal 2
9.1The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" has been expanded to allow you to design co-op puzzles for you and your friends! (Steam)
Plot
See also: List of Portal characters Setting The Portal series shares a fictional universe with the Half-Life series . The events in Portal take place between the first and second Half-Life games, while most of Portal 2 is set "a long time after" the events in Portal . Before Portal , Aperture Science conducted experiments to determine whether human subjects could safely navigate dangerous "test chambers", until the artificial intelligence GLaDOS ,… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Portal 2 was a strong favorite of gaming journalists during closed-door previews at the E3 2010 convention. The Game Critics Awards , selected by journalists and critics, awarded Portal 2 the title of Best PC Game and Best Action/Adventure Game, and nominated the game for Best of Show and Best Console Game. IGN named Portal 2 as its Best of E3 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 systems and Best Puzzle Game, and nominated it… (Wikipedia)
Portal, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Portal vs other series
How Portal stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Common questions
How many Portal games are there?
We hold 2 Portal games in the catalogue, released between 2007 and 2011. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Portal game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Portal 2 rates highest at 9.1. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Portal games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2007 to 2011. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.