Aperture Dating Simulator, a fan-made Portal game where it seems (at first, anyway) like you get exactly what it says on the tin, seems to have earned enough of Valve's seal of approval that it's due to launch on Steam next month.
"Set in an alternate universe from the series that inspired it, APDS will introduce you to a new Aperture - one that seems a lot more... normal than the original. At first," reads the Steam description.
From solo developer Ashleyanna Rivers, with fully voiced characters from a group of independent voice actors, Aperture Dating Simulator takes place in an alternate universe from Portal, but Rivers says it's canon by virtue of the fact that the Portal 2 DLC Perpetual Testing Initiative made alternate universes canon.
"And there's nothing you can do about it," reads a banner from the official trailer embedded just below.
Aperture Dating Simulator is based around a main character yanked from Aperture's manufacturing side and placed in its maintenance crew, now confronting the awkward situation of having to get to know new co-workers. In this case, eight personality cores with unique personalities. Make friends with them, make enemies of them, and yes, date 'em.
"From level-headed supervisor Miss Esther to hot-tempered sports fanatic Rob, there's plenty of new 'faces' to get to know," the dev says.
The game is billed as a "dating sim parody," but I think that might be selling it a little short. With 18 endings and over 30 cutscenes, it sounds pretty robust! I mean, it apparently passed Valve's sniff test, although I suppose that's not a particularly high bar.
Anyway, if you, like me, have been surviving off stale bread crumbs in the 13-year wait for something, anything about Portal 3, Aperture Dating Simulator comes out on August 28, and it may be good.
Alternatively, here are the best PC games you can play right now.
