The 10 Best Games Like Portal

What are the best games like Portal?

The Portal series is one that every gamer has at least heard of, and it has had a huge impact on the gaming world as a whole.

Not only has it spawned numerous means and famous quotes, but its puzzle-solving mechanics offer something extremely unique.

However, once you’re done thinking with portals, you might want something else to play, which is why we’ve created this list!

The 10 Best Games Like Portal

Each game featured on this list has been chosen based on its similarity to the Portal series, overall gameplay, and player reviews.

We’ve tried to include a little something for every type of Portal fan so that you can find a new game you’ll love.

So, stop daydreaming about cake and check out our list of the 10 best games like Portal:

10. The Witness

First up, we have The Witness, a first-person puzzle game set in an open world with dozens of unique locations to explore.

In this game, players wake up on a strange island with no memory of how they got there or who their player character is.

The only thing to do is push forward and explore the impressive collection of puzzles to try and regain your memory and find a way to get home.

What really makes this game shine are the over 500 puzzles you can come across, all of which are unique and present a different challenge.

The Witness also doesn’t believe in handholding and leaves it to the players to figure out how to overcome each obstacle.

It’s rare for games these days not to explain everything to death, so this approach is extremely welcome, especially in a puzzle game like this.

Suffice it to say; there is a ton of this to discover in this game, and every environment you stumble across is somehow more impressive than the last.

9. The Turing Test

Set on the moon Europa, this first-person game is filled with challenging puzzles that players will have to solve to progress.

In this game, players are given control of engineer Ava Turing, who is sent to the Europa station to learn why the ground crew has disappeared.

Upon arriving at the station, players are greeted by the AI, Tom, and a series of puzzles that have been designed so only a human can solve them.

Each puzzle has supposedly been set by the missing ground team, begging the question of why they felt the need to create them.

As players complete puzzles and delve deeper into the moon’s ice core, the differences between man and machine begin to get a lot blurrier.

Like Portal, The Turing Test perfectly fuses puzzle-solving with a fantastic story with different endings that depend on your choices.

There is a lot more going on in this game than meets the eye, and some of the puzzles will really make you stop and think.

Although it is a fairly short game, it definitely has Portal vibes during a lot of sections that make it feel familiar to fans of the series.

As one of the best Xbox One games like Portal, The Turning Test is definitely worth playing through at least once.

8. Superliminal

Superliminal is a mind-breaking game where forced perspective and optical illusions are absolutely everywhere.

An incredibly clever indie game, Superliminal challenges players to think outside of the box to solve puzzles, and it definitely is unlike any game that’s come before.

The entire game is set in a dream world where the player is taking part in a specialized therapy program.

However, while the good doctor behind the therapy will try his best to guide you, his AI assistant has other plans.

What really makes this game stand out for us is how unique all of the interesting puzzles are and how they literally warp your perception of the world.

It also lets you figure everything out by yourself and doesn’t bombard you with tutorials or quest markers, so you can breeze through it.

Nope. Every puzzle here needs to be solved using your own ingenuity, though there are always walkthroughs if you get stuck.

That said, we would definitely urge you to try to resist looking anything up because it is so satisfying when you figure these mind-benders out on your own!

Best of all, Superliminal is also one of the best online games to play with friends, thanks to its multiplayer mode, where 12 people can all play together!

7. Q.U.B.E. 2

Q.U.B.E. 2 is a first-person puzzle game where players control Amelia Cross, an archeologist stuck in the ruins of an alien planet.

In order to escape the ruins and find a way home, players must solve various puzzles inside a maze-like structure.

To help you out, Amelia has been mysteriously equipped with manipulation gloves that are capable of interacting with the environment in unique ways.

A lot like Portal, there are over 80 puzzles to solve in Q.U.B.E. 2, many of which involve manipulating colored blocks into different positions.

However, instead of portals, you will have to telekinetically bounce them around with your gloves while also using the environment to your advantage.

Along with the puzzles, the story behind Amelia and how she came to be trapped on the alien planet is also extremely engaging.

It sort of has a vibe similar to the best games like Subnautica, only with the puzzle-solving mechanics of Portal.

6. The Swapper

The Swapper stands out for being a narrative-driven sci-fi puzzle game that takes players into the furthest reaches of outer space.

Set on an abandoned research space station, players control a stranded scavenger who discovers an artifact that allows her to clone herself.

Each clone can be controlled manually, as players can switch the scavenger’s consciousness between them.

This ability is used heavily when it comes to solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles in the environment.

However, all clones move in unison, meaning you have to think carefully about your placement in order to solve problems.

What we love about the puzzles in this game is that they seem so simple once you solve them, but they can be deceptively tricky beforehand.

The art also makes The Swapper stand out, as everything has been constructed from everyday materials and clay, giving it a very unique aesthetic.

If you love puzzles that really make you think, The Swapper is a great game to pick up, and its inventive gameplay will make it easy to get hooked!

5. Quantum Conundrum

Quantum Conundrum looks like one of the best games like Fall Guys, but it’s actually a lot more like Portal with its wacky physics-based puzzles.

In this game, players take on the role of a mad scientist’s nephew who has to use his latest invention to navigate through a sprawling mansion.

Players can switch between dimensions to solve puzzles and get past obstacles using the Interdimensional Shift Device.

With this device, you can instantly switch to a dimension where the laws of physics work in your favor, such as an anti-gravity dimension to float to a high ledge.

There is also a small alien creature named Ike, that resembles a fluffy gray cat, who helps guide players throughout the game.

Ike is super adorable, and if it weren’t for all of the great puzzles, he would totally be our favorite part of the game.

Additionally, this game was designed by Kim Swift, one of the original developers of Portal, so it makes sense that it has a lot of Portal-esque mechanics!

4. Outer Wilds

If you’re a fan of Portal and the best games like Mass Effect, you will absolutely love Outer Wilds!

In this game, players find themselves as the newest recruit to the Outer Wilds Ventures space program and get the opportunity to take to the stars.

There’s only one problem. The sun goes supernova in 22 minutes, and then the time loop starts you back at the beginning of the game!

Because of this, players have a limited amount of real-world time to explore, learn about the lore, and uncover why this mysterious time loop exists.

Fortunately, you get to remember everything that has happened during each of your journeys, so no important information is ever lost.

Additionally, as the time loop progresses, the planets in the solar system start behaving differently, with some secrets being covered up and others becoming exposed.

You will have to time everything correctly to uncover all of the mysteries and break the cycle before time runs out.

Outer Wilds is such a fascinating game, and the way it makes use of physics and time is incredibly unique.

This really is a game you have to experience for yourself, and the less you know going in, the better!

3. Antichamber

Antichamber is a strange game for sure, and its puzzles will absolutely boggle your mind and make you wonder what was in those cookies you just ate.

It has a very simplistic design that resembles something from the sketchbook of an insane architect, but this only adds to its appeal.

In this game, nothing is straightforward, the halls wrap around each other, and the most infuriating obstacle is your own lack of creative problem-solving.

Every interaction makes you question whether or not you really know how the game works and every new puzzle will completely subvert your expectations.

Why it may be easy to write this game off as a Portal clone, but once you start playing, it’s incredibly easy to get hooked.

Antichamber encourages experimentation, and it’s incredibly necessary to play around if you want to be able to solve the puzzles.

The only real downside is that the difficult learning curve could put some people off, because this game definitely doesn’t provide instructions!

However, if you’re someone who really loves having your brain turned into an omelet by puzzles, you will absolutely adore Antichamber!

2. The Talos Principle

The Talos Principal isn’t just Ulfric Stormcloak’s philosophy in Skyrim; it’s a fantastically complex puzzle game about AI sentience!

In this game, players take on the role of an AI tasked by a voice called Elohim to complete a series of puzzles.

As players take on the over 120 immersive puzzles dotted throughout the virtual reality world, they will discover more about what’s going on.

This game is incredibly nonlinear, and players are left to make up their own minds about events and who their character should be.

If you’ve played any of the best games like Detroit: Become Human, you may have an idea of where things are going, but even then, the ending may surprise you.

The Talos Principle takes players down a winding path of exploration that will make them question the concept of consciousness and what it means to be alive.

It is a truly stunning game, and if the story alone isn’t enough to keep your attention, all of the complex puzzles will be!

1. The Stanley Parable

Taking our number one spot is The Stanley Parable, an amazingly hilarious and thought-provoking game where you can never be too sure what’s going to happen next.

This game is all about contradictions and the relationship between games, players, and predetermined fates.

As Stanley, players can follow the directions of the narrator or completely disregard them, with both choices causing the game to react accordingly.

Played from a first-person perspective, in this game, you can interact with numerous things throughout the environment, all while the narrator provides commentary.

In some cases, the narrator will break the fourth wall and start talking directly to the player about their decisions.

If you’re playing the Ultra Deluxe version of the game, there are 19 total endings you can achieve by making various choices.

The Stanley Parable itself is like one huge puzzle, designed to make you think and question every action you take.

We highly recommend this game to any fan of Portal, especially since the Narrator definitely gives us GLaDOS vibes.

Summary

We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the 10 best games like Portal as much as we’ve enjoyed playing them!

While all of these games are absolutely fantastic, we would strongly urge anyone who hasn’t played The Stanley Parable to check it out.

It may not give you a portal gun, but it will make you question your sanity and make you laugh hysterically every time you play!

Here’s a quick recap of the 10 best games like Portal:

1. The Stanley Parable
2. The Talos Principle
3. Antichamber
4. Outer Wilds
5. Quantum Conundrum
6. The Swapper
7. Q.U.B.E. 2
8. Superliminal
9. The Turing Test
10. The Witness

Which of these games will you play first? Leave a comment below.