Old Aperture (Cave Johnson's Era)

Portal 2 guide · Falling into the depths of the facility

Chell falls into the lowest sub-levels of the Aperture Science facility, navigating the abandoned 1950s through 1980s test spheres. Players must solve traversal puzzles using newly introduced mobility gels while listening to prerecorded audio messages from Cave Johnson and his assistant Caroline. The objective is to climb back up through the salt mine infrastructure, reactivate gel flow, and reach the upper modern facility.

Items

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Dual Portal Device: Mounted on a pedestal in an early testing sphere staging areaGLaDOS (PotatOS): Found impaled on a crow's beak in an overgrown area, then carried on the Portal Device

Secrets

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1953 portrait of Cave Johnson and Caroline | Located in a hidden office accessible through an open doorway off the main catwalk path in the 1970s test sphere area |Borealis drydock | Reachable by slipping through a cracked door behind a pile of cabinets into an empty underground dock area bearing the "Borealis" nameplate |

Tips

Look for distant white panels or patches of Repulsion Gel across large chasms to place portals and maintain your momentum.
You can place portals on surfaces covered by Propulsion Gel or Repulsion Gel, as well as spray gels through portals to reach otherwise unpaintable surfaces.
Blue Repulsion Gel negates fall damage entirely, allowing you to jump safely into it from any height.

Not listed for this area: enemies, shops and people.

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Aperture Science Enrichment Center (Wheatley's Domain)

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