Aperture Science requires you to stare at art for “intellectual sustenance” during the tutorial – but look a little closer when you wake up the second time. The painting’s not only darker because the room has grown darker. Based on the presence of the moon in the sky, the painting has somehow transformed from a day scene into a night scene.
2. Test subjects
Wheatley hauls you through the crumbling facility so quickly that details of your environment can get lost in the blur. Take a moment, however, to read the creepy information plastered across the other test subjects’ rooms. Some are male, others female. Some are short and fat, others tall and thin. Most are adults, though the option for child exists. All are expired.
3. Chell's science project
Holy crap. This is a doozy. Remember the “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” science fair, full of lazy potatoes and lazier volcanoes? Zoom in on the final project – the mutant potato that’s grown to the ceiling – and read what name is written on the cardboard. Chell!
Let that sink in for a moment. This is more than an Easter egg. This implies that Chell, the protagonist of Portal, is the daughter of one or more Aperture employees. That her father was high-ranking enough to provide “special ingredients from Dad’s work.” That she was present when GLaDOS attacked the facility with neurotoxin. That she has been trapped or imprisoned in the laboratories since she was a child.
4. Black Mesa rivalry
Chapter 6
If you’re unfamiliar with Valve mythology, you might have glanced at this award case in the original Aperture offices, laughed at the fact that owner Cave Johnson was once a shower curtain salesman, and moved on. But Half-Life fans will also notice that – based on how many #2 and Runner Up trophies are displayed within – the rivalry between Aperture and Black Mesa was raging as far back as 1949, 1952 and 1954.
5. Portrait of a lady
Chapter 7
Holy crap. This is a doozy, too. Hidden between the first and second orange gel test spheres in Chapter 7 is an office with a portrait hanging on the wall. By this point in the game, you’ve seen plenty of pictures of Aperture owner Cave Johnson, but this is the only one in which he’s joined by his assistant Caroline. GLaDOS exclaims that these people “look so familiar,” and if you’ve put the rather obvious pieces together, you should realize you’re staring at someone far more significant – GLaDOS as a human, before she was uploaded into a robot.
That’s not the only mind-blowing implication. Think back to the science project – Chell’s father, possibly both parents, worked at Aperture. And here are two Aperture employees with “C” names, suddenly looking closer than mere boss and assistant… suddenly looking similar to our heroine, who happened to receive a new face for Portal 2. Oh, and did we mention the meaning of the name Caroline is “free man” or “Freeman”?
6. The turret song translated
Behold, our favorite Portal 2 Easter egg by far. You thought the turret opera during the single player’s ending was heart-achingly beautiful already? When the lyrics have been translated from Italian to English and you realize how much bittersweet metaphor is woven into every line, you’ll get chills. When you reflect on the possible relationship between GLaDOS and Chell, you might cry. And when you notice that this is actually the voice of GLaDOS – Ellen McLain is an opera singer in addition to a voice actress – you’ll want to put the video on repeat. Forever.
7. Headcrab
We’ve captured and freeze-framed a lot of trash chutes during the making of this feature, desperately hoping to prove this screenshot real. Sadly, we’re pretty sure it’s a fake. Still, we want to believe. Enjoy either way.
