F-Stop – the canceled Valve project that was the original Portal follow-up – has leaked online and is fully playable after being found in the massive Steam leak earlier this year.
Back in August 12TB of Steam data from 2003 and 2013 dropped online which featured a ton of builds of Valve titles like Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. This data was apparently "hidden in plain sight, but with no protection whatsoever," and was easily accessible without hacking the whole time, proving to be a treasure trove for Valve fanatics, with early Portal 2 builds featuring bullet time being uncovered. And unless Half Life 2: Episode 3 is found anytime soon, the true holy grail of this leak may have been found.
As reported by Kotaku, users in the Valve Cut Content project’s Discord have managed to find the game's source code and map data, meaning that F-Stop is fully playable. YouTube user ToothpasteVixen uploaded the intro to the game – featuring earlier narration from a JK Simmons-less Cave Johnson – which will give you a good idea of the concept for those unaware, but to put it simply, it almost feels like an earlier take on the 2019 puzzle game Superliminal where taking photos allows you to manipulate the environment.
F-Stop was one of five projects coming from what Gabe Newell described as "Directed Design Experiments," where Valve's production was shut down for a few months which would have the company's teams participate in what is effectively a massive game jam. F-Stop was one of the standout projects from it, with Newell asking the team behind it to develop it into a prequel to Portal.
Ultimately, as per Portal 2 - the Final Hours, the project was canceled after playtesters didn't react entirely positively – namely, questioning why a Portal follow-up did not include the Portal Gun – but now, 15 years after the actual Portal 2 was released and with no sequel in sight, you can play a sort of new Portal experience.
Backrooms director posts from Valve's office again, and Portal movie speculation is intensifying.
