Portal, Valve’s famous puzzle platformer, has yet to jump to VR headsets like Half-Life: Alyx did, but thankfully, Pixel Framers’ Warp Lab could be the next best thing. Arriving on Oculus Quest 2 (now Meta Quest 2) and PC VR in Spring 2023, Warp Lab provides a new twist on a familiar premise.
Giving you another excuse to load up your best VR headset, Warp Lab promises “immersive player-controlled portals across a diverse array of puzzle, combat, and sandbox levels.” Set across ten campaign levels, it doesn’t copy Portal’s iconic orange and blue portals, but Pixel Framers is using VR to provide a new spin on gameplay. For example, you can now grab objects directly through them or peek your head through to scout out enemies.
You can watch this above, but that’s not all. Warp Lab’s Steam page outlines some additional modes, including a physics sandbox mode designed for “unlimited experimentation” and online leaderboards. Alongside an Arena mode that “lets you take full advantage of portals in combat situations,” Android Central reports that multiplayer will arrive in a post-launch update.
Beyond mods, Warp Lab is likely the closest thing we’ll ever get to Portal in virtual reality. After Half-Life: Alyx launched in 2020, Valve’s Robin Walker previously told IGN that Portal VR was considered but ultimately turned down, citing the drastic gameplay changes needed to make it work. Given Portal’s momentum-based required puzzles, that’s a smart call to prevent nausea, and we already fear how that’ll play out in Warp Lab.