When comparing Portal vs Darkwood, the Slant community recommends Portal for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Linux?” Portal is ranked 3rd while Darkwood is ranked 83rd. The most important reason people chose Portal is:
The main mechanic of the game revolves around solving different puzzles using a handheld portal device - a device that can bend space and time to create a wormhole through which you can move.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Requires solving spatial and physics based puzzles using portals
The main mechanic of the game revolves around solving different puzzles using a handheld portal device - a device that can bend space and time to create a wormhole through which you can move.
Pro Humorous telling of a dark story
Portal is known for its humor. Even years after it's been out in the world people are still quoting and referencing it in everyday situations.
Pro The game leaves clues to a deeper story
Throughout both Portal games there are hints left in various forms that fill in more of the story, including information about Chell's personal history.
Pro Innovative gameplay
Portal has won multiple awards for innovative design. Using a first person view and portals that allow one to traverse a room through one placed in one location to the other placed in another location to solve puzzles was and still is a very unique game design.
Pro Created one of the most memorable characters in gaming history - GLaDOS
GLaDOS, or Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is the main antagonist of Portal games. She is voiced by Ellen McLain with the voice later processed to sound closer to how a text-to-speech program would synthesize a voice.
GLaDOS initially functions as a guide to the player and is only later revealed as a manipulative, narcissistic, sinister and passive-aggressive character that wants to kill the protagonist.
GLaDOS is the main force that moves the humorous yet dark narrative of Portal series with her remarks being simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
Pro Character-driven
Even though the only organic sentient being in this game is the player's character, this game features some of the most memorable and intriguing characters in fiction or in gameplay. GladOS obviously, but also the drone robots that sweet-talk the player to a sudden death (and then forgive you when you dismantle them), the clues left behind by former test subjects, the abandoned hints of what the lab used to be like. It tells a story without telling a story, and immerses you more than most other games can ever hope to achieve.
Pro Made people fall in love with an inanimate, virtual object
The game made people emotionally attach to The Weighted Companion Cube and feel uncomfortable when later forced to incinerate it.
Pro Merges first-person shooting mechanics with platforming and puzzle-solving
Portal uses an engine that was meant for a first person shooter and creates puzzles that need solved through various stage with the use of platforming. While not the very first game to merge platforming with and FPS the puzzle aspects make it unique in that no other game had done this specific combination yet.
Pro Making it halfway and completing unlocks new content
Getting to the halfway point in Portal will unlock challenge maps and finishing the main story will unlock advanced chambers.
Pro The sequel contains an AI powered by a potato
If that is not funny, then nothing is.
Pro Beautiful top down graphics that illustrate a creepy and murky world
Darkwood is a top down game that has dark murky graphics with misty fog that fit the mood really well and awesome lighting effects from the players flashlight.
Pro The random generation of the game makes it all the more terrifying, as you never know what will come next
The game is really dark, has a lot of atmospheric tension, and is randomly generated to keep it from being to predictable. This way the player never knows what will happen next, which ups the element of surprise by quite a lot.
Pro Extremely replayable thanks to the random generation of the game
The maps are randomly-generated, adding extra replayability value since you never know what you will find with every new game.
Pro Optional permadeath makes for an easier time for those that want it
If you die and don't want to start from the beginning losing all of your progress you don't have to.
Pro Immersive sound effects suits the game and its creepy environments well
Sound in horror games can really make the difference on whether it’s scary or not and Darkwood's has really awesome sound.
Cons
Con Somewhat short
Portal takes 2-3 hours to complete which means it can be completed in one sitting. This may not be enough game for the money for some people and should be considered before purchasing.
Con Portal mechanics not used much to their best ability
Certain parts of the game sees the player using portals to manipulate sentry guns that fire rockets in order to progress in that stage, Mechanics like this make for a really enjoyable way to manipulate ones environment but sadly are not used too often.
Con Outdated graphics
The game was released in 2007, making it somewhat of an older title, because of this the graphics will not be on par with modern releases.
Con May start to feel extremely tedious
It's very hard to find valuable gear in this game. Most of the caches the player finds will be filled with items that can be crafted into useful gadgets, and even they are very rare.
Not having good gear means that you will be dying a lot, especially in the early stages of the game, since you will be venturing to find anything you need while being practically defenseless.
While pretty fun at first, scouring the map with little to no protection will start feeling pretty tedious soon enough.
Con Poor tutorials
The short tutorials in the game do not do a good job of explaining certain aspects of the game such as cooking or leveling.