Valve Announces Portal Bridge Constructor Spin-Off

Game Rant

By Rory Young

Published Dec 7, 2017

Made in partnership with Valve, Bridge Constructor Portal will introduce vehicle-based test chambers on PC and mobile devices starting on December 20.

To the surprise of all, Valve made a Portal-related game announcement today. No, it isn't Portal 3, and no, it isn't even a game being made by Valve itself. Instead, Valve will be lending the Portal brand to the popular mobile, PC, and console game franchise known as Bridge Constructor. Bridge Constructor Portal will be launching very soon, available starting December 20.

Bridge Constructor Portal will task players with conquering engineering challenges by building bridges or jumps utilizing Aperture Sciences technology. That includes the blue and orange paints from Portal 2, the lasers, the friendly turrets, and, of course, the portals themselves. Just how much Portal will be added to Bridge Constructor remains to be seen, but the opportunities at hand are certainly plentiful.

A short announcement trailer was released to accompany the news regarding Bridge Constructor Portal. It features a bit of funny dialogue from Glados herself, which could imply some new Portal story are in the game, but this is just a teaser. Given the popularity of Portal and the game's quickly approaching release date, hopefully more details and gameplay will be shared soon.

Some controversy has been stirred up over Bridge Constructor Portal's announcement. Early leaks for the game indicated only that a new Portal game was planned to be announced soon. And while a Portal-themed Bridge Constructor certainly seems like a fun idea, it's difficult to live up to the expectations of a sequel to the Valve single-player franchise.

The result is a renewed discussion over Valve's lack of single-player development, among other related controversies. So far, the majority seems to respect that Bridge Constructor Portal is an interesting idea despite the Valve drama.

Developed by ClockStone and published by HeadUp Games, Bridge Constructor Portal will be a standalone title and the most recent of several similar games from the studio. Bridge Constructor Stunt, Bridge Constructor Playground, Bridge Constructor Medieval, and the original Bridge Constructor make up the standalone series so far. Portal will mark the first partnership for the series, a surefire recipe for success.

Bridge Constructor Portal releases December 20 on PC and mobile platforms. A console version of the game will be available in 2018.