A playable version of F-Stop, the canceled prequel to Portal, has reportedly been assembled by leakers, bringing the long-lost project back into playable form nearly 20 years after its cancellation.
Most of the game’s assets came from a 12-terabyte leak released in August. That material reportedly did not include the source code or map data needed to reconstruct the game. According to the available information, those remaining files were shared this week through the Valve Cut Content Discord, making it possible to piece together a nearly complete version.
F-Stop differs substantially from the Portal games that were eventually released. Its central mechanic involves using a camera to capture an object in a photograph and then placing it elsewhere with the resulting Polaroid-style image. Some of the project’s dialogue and other elements later appeared in Portal 2.
Videos showing the reconstructed game reportedly cover its entire campaign in less than an hour. The short length reflects the project’s origins as part of Valve’s “Directed Design Experiments,” a three-month initiative in 2007 during which the company divided developers into five teams to create new game experiments.
Sources: The Verge.