It’s nice enough in your own right to be one of the best games of the year, but it’s doubly so when you’re on the Mac day-and-date. This past April, Mac users got to indulge in the fun puzzlery, puns, and play of Portal 2 ($30), Valve Software’s follow-up to 2007’s Portal. The title, like many other Valve games, is available via Steam, the company’s online store. (In fact, we gave Steam an Eddy in 2010.)
Like its original, Portal 2 asks you to solve a series of puzzles using inter-spatial portals under the guise of “testing.” The sequel, however, vastly expands upon the world of the first game, introducing new plot-points, gameplay elements, and quippy characters to keep you entertained. If that weren’t enough, the game sports a fantastically fun co-op mode, letting you and a partner take control of sentient robot testers to save science together.
Portal 2 also hits that rare note many titles strive—and fail—to find: It’s accessible to both hard-core gamers and those with little to no interest in traditional video games, thanks to a hilarious script, stellar voice acting, and easy-to-understand mechanics. It’s the kind of thing you love to see in the gaming world, and we’re overjoyed to see it on the Mac.—SERENITY CALDWELL