Portal 2
Contents
History
(2007-2008) F-STOP
Gameplay
Story
Characters
(December 2008 - 2009) Experimental Era
(2009) Core Hub Era
The Core Hub Era demonstrates Valve's first attempt to create a proper follow-up to Portal after the cancellation of F-STOP. This era is named for its inclusion of a hub world that would have interconnected the game's six testing courses.
Gameplay
The player was able to progress through the testing courses in any order.
Story
The player reactivates GLaDOS and attempts to repair her by retrieving six personality cores. The ending of this iteration of Portal 2 is unknown.
Characters
- GLaDOS (Carcass)
- Mel (early Core Hub Era) / Chell (late Core Hub Era)
- Aquarium Sphere
- Paranoid Sphere (early) / Morgan Freeman Sphere (late)
- Pendleton
- Quint Sphere
(2010) Multi-Core Era
After discarding the nonlinear progression that was being developed during the Core Hub Era, Portal 2 transitioned to a new era known as the Multi-Core Era.
Gameplay
Story
Wheatley is killed off by GLaDOS after her reactivation.
Characters
- GLaDOS
- Wheatley
- Aquarium Sphere
- Morgan Freeman Sphere
(June 2010 - October 2010) E3 Era
Portal 2 was demonstrated at E3 2010.
Gameplay
Story
Portal 2 did not have a proper ending during this era.
Characters
- GLaDOS
- Wheatley
- Chell
(2011) Retail Era
Unused Content
Characters
Aquarium Sphere
The Aquarium Sphere was a personality core that was extremely fixated on aquariums. It was directly inspired by a commercial for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was replaced by the Space Core.
A map from the singleplayer campaign in retail Portal 2 suggests that the Aquarium Sphere was in the game until a very late point of development. The map tries to initiate a sequence that involves a brief appearance of the Aquarium Sphere, but it fails to do so because all the relevant entities have been deleted and are nonexistent.
