In Portal, the voice acting, scriptwriting, clinical lighting, humming sound design was all from people preexisting at Valve, and you can see those elements as a progression of HL2. In particular, the fantastic dialogue was all in HL2, merely underplayed there.
Dr. Breen’s script and voiceacting doesn’t get much attention, but it’s politically insightful about a particular subculture. He’s a West Coast futurist, confident his knowledge of science and long-term historical perspective gives him the right to wield power. He might’ve been some kind of libertarian that was into cryogenic body freezing in the past. When the aliens take over and offer him a position, his political philosophy seamlessly transitions to an unprecedented variety of fascism.
The overheard radio chatter featuring all this incomprehensible Newspeak is also fantastic and no other game has done anything quite like it. Sample quotes:
- Contact, Target One.
- Target my radial: ninety seven degrees.
- Overwatch, Spear Seven, engaged in clean up.
- Target Ghost Two, go active intercept.
- Call contact suspect target one, grid twenty dash fifteen.
- Overwatch, we have non-tagged viromes, grid eight dash two.
- Overwatch confirms, helix vector tango is contained.
- Tracker Eight is holding at code sundown.
- Sector seven, outbreak, outbreak, outbreak! (I bet everyone remembers this one)
And from Overwatch Voice (the same actor as in Portal!):
- Individual, you are convicted of multi-anti-civil violations. Implicit citizenship revoked, status: malignant
- Attention all Ground Protection Teams: Autonomous judgment is now in effect. Sentencing is now discretionary. Code: amputate, zero, confirm.
- Individual: you are charged with Socio-endangerment, level 1. Protection Units: prosecution code: duty, sword, midnight.
- Priority Alert: Nova Prospekt exogen breach. Perimeter communication status zero. Internal stabilization teams deploy sterilizers in suspected infection blocks A5, A7, B2.
- divisive sociocidal counter-obeyance
- 10-103 disturbance by mentally unfit
- 50 percent reproduction credits
- Reward notice: Protection Team member: your family cohesion is preserved.
This script is so good right!?