Portal writer and Valve veteran Chet Faliszek says that one of the developers behind the 2007 puzzle game gem wanted it to be a tad more gory – something that the rest of the team, and Gabe Newell himself, didn't want to consider.
Faliszek reveals as much in a new video on YouTube (below), recalling how "someone had suggested we add gore to Portal – the original Portal." They weren't a small dev, either, although the former Valve writer doesn't clarify who it was. He does, however, make it clear that neither he nor anyone else was a fan of the thought.
As Faliszek puts it, "Somebody with enough oomph wants to add a bunch of gore and dead bodies all through Portal, and it's a horrible idea."
He continues, "The entire team thinks it's a horrible idea, but this person is being very verbal about it and calls a meeting and calls Gabe [Newell].
That's when Eric Wolpaw asked Faliszek to "just come into this meeting" and "just say no" – and point out "how stupid this is," because let's face it… Portal is no Half-Life, and gore just wouldn't fit into Aperture Science the way it slots into Black Mesa's own facilities.
"Other people didn't want to get in this fight with this person," Faliszek remembers – so he joins the meeting and breaks the hard news to the hopeful dev. "I'm like, 'Hey, so we're not going to add gore.' Like, I just jump to it. 'We're not adding gore. Just cut this out.'"
It's a bit amusing to listen to, honestly, as a fan of Portal myself. Hearing what Newell thought from Faliszek is brilliant, too, as the company head didn't hold back.
"Gabe's like, 'Why are we even having this meeting? This is the stupidest question ever. We shouldn't add gore to the game,'" as Faliszek says.
So, what happened? "The guy who proposed it kind of just shuffled off and that was it. It was like a five-minute meeting." I suppose no more needed to be said… and judging by comments, the majority of Valve isn't alone in finding gore ill-fitting in Portal.
As one reads, "Cannot imagine Portal with gore… It just doesn't fit with the thematic or expression of the game itself. So odd." Another adds, "Gore in Portal? That's crazy" – and, yeah, I can certainly see why they (and a whole lot of Valve) think so.
Backrooms director posts from Valve's office again, and Portal movie speculation is intensifying.
