Portal

Slick, quick, and a little bit lacking. I normally disagree with calling Valve's 2000s-era games tech demos but this one exists almost solely to show off the portal physics. Strongest in its middle act of tougher lab puzzles increasingly overshadowed by decay—the slow transition from blue-and-white to red-and-rust is really well done. Unfortunately the last act is full of samey industrial backrooms that somehow feel more artificial than the test chambers, plus weaker and more repetitive puzzles. Side note: It's wild to me that some people talk about The Talos Principle like it's a bad clone of this game. Even wilder when they say this game's harder than Talos.