Review Aruzo 2/5 · Dec 27, 2025
good tech demo, boring game
As a tech demo, it was pretty good, solid. Above the expected standard. But as a game, it was pretty boring, short and not all that engaging. So 5/5 tech demo, but 2/5 game.
Aperture Desk Job (2022)
Linux · PC (Microsoft Windows)
3.54 from 257 ratings
2147 members have it in their collection · 4 playing now · 926 backlogged · 23 wish listed
How long? Main story 2h · 100% 1h (from 42 logged playthroughs)
Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things.
You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work — your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they …
Read more
Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things.
You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work — your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs.
Designed as a free playable short for Valve’s new Steam Deck, Desk Job walks you through the handheld’s controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds.
Lower your expectations: This is not a sequel to Portal. Now get ready to raise them slightly, because it is in the expanded universe of those games. Desk Job puts you squarely in the driver’s seat at Aperture Science. Then quickly removes the driving part and adds a desk in front of the seat.
Read less
Details
- Developers
- Valve
- Publishers
- Valve
- Genres
- Adventure, Puzzle
- Themes
- Action, Comedy, Science fiction
- Franchises
- Portal
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release dates
- Mar 01, 2022 (Worldwide) Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows)
Featured in lists
Rating distribution
5 stars
36
4 stars
92
3 stars
108
2 stars
16
1 star
5
Community All Reviews Statuses
Review amar 3/5 · Nov 25, 2023
It's a playable introduction to the steamdeck
Cute and fun but didn't do anything immense. An entirely fine, super short experience and good intro to the steam deck.
Review tegiebear 4/5 · Jul 10, 2023
fun little way to teach
i enjoyed it and it really showed off everything available
Review TheTheory 3/5 · Jun 7, 2023
...
At a brisk 30 minutes in length, Aperture Desk Job is brisk. It's a very brisk experience. A brisk experience entrenched in that Portaly-snark thing Valve does so well. Those thirty minutes go down very smooth with a fun concept and lots of appliance destruction.
Created, essentially, to introduce new Steam Deck owners to the controls of their new system, …
At a brisk 30 minutes in length, Aperture Desk Job is brisk. It's a very brisk experience. A brisk experience entrenched in that Portaly-snark thing Valve does so well. Those thirty minutes go down very smooth with a fun concept and lots of appliance destruction.
Created, essentially, to introduce new Steam Deck owners to the controls of their new system, Aperture Desk Job competently—if somewhat perfunctorily—gets you pressing all the buttons and bopping all the doodads and swirling the whatchamacallits. Except, for the most part you're just shooting shit at a shooting gallery.
It's free. It's fun. It's a nice first thirty minutes with your brand new Steam Deck. Or, I guess, more like first two hours with the game because it takes forever to download. Should have come preinstalled, like the PS5 comes with Astro's Playroom. And meatier, like Astro's Playroom, which actually has multiple levels and takes, like, four hours to complete. The fact that Aperture Desk Job takes more time to download than playthrough is kind of ticking me off the more I think about it. But never mind, it's fun enough. Three stars.
Status SuperFieroStatus Feb 15, 2023
I hesitate to review this because I'm not sure it's even a game. It's a tech demo, for sure. And I don't own a Steam Deck, which is what it's demoing. I can say that I had an OK time with it. The one thing that struck me as weird was the voice acting. Your main companion, Grady, sounds like...well, …
Read moreI hesitate to review this because I'm not sure it's even a game. It's a tech demo, for sure. And I don't own a Steam Deck, which is what it's demoing. I can say that I had an OK time with it. The one thing that struck me as weird was the voice acting. Your main companion, Grady, sounds like...well, it sounds off. Like he's not a voice actor at all. He's got a little bit of what a vocal professor once called "mush mouth" to me. As in, he's combining words. I could be wrong, but maybe he's just a guy who works at Valve who was good enough to get the job done. I don't care enough to look it up.
Read less
Review Enrico 4/5 · Jan 15, 2023
Ist Aperture Desk Job ein Vorgeschmack auf Portal 3? Review GERMAN
Ich weiß, Ich bin spät aber Ich habe dieses Spiel heute endlich Durchgespielt und warum erst jetzt hat nichts mit dem Spiel zutun sondern wegen mein Controller aber das ist jetzt nicht mehr wichtig. Dieses Spiel hat mich daran erinnert warum Ich eigentlich die Portal Reihe so liebe.
Ich liebe diesen Humor, 
die Charaktere,
die Details, 
die Story,
die Atmosphäre, …
Ich weiß, Ich bin spät aber Ich habe dieses Spiel heute endlich Durchgespielt und warum erst jetzt hat nichts mit dem Spiel zutun sondern wegen mein Controller aber das ist jetzt nicht mehr wichtig. Dieses Spiel hat mich daran erinnert warum Ich eigentlich die Portal Reihe so liebe.
Ich liebe diesen Humor,
die Charaktere,
die Details,
die Story,
die Atmosphäre,
die Engine, 
das Half-Life und Portal Universum und viel mehr. 
Selbst für ein Spiel was 30 Minuten Spielzeit hat, ist dieses Spiel mit sooo gut gemacht worden. Und gerade deswegen frage Ich mich WARUM kommt da nichts mehr?
In der Portal und Half-Life Reihe sind noch so viele fragen offen, man kann noch so viel machen aber man gibt uns nicht mal irgendwelche Infos was so bei Valve abgeht.
Nun es ist bekannt das ein weiteres Half-Life Spiel auf uns zu kommt (Half-Life Citadel) aber ist Aperture Desk Job DAS ENDE der Portal Reihe oder ist das ein Vorgeschmack auf Portal 3?
Aperture Desk Job hat sich auf jeden fall gelohnt zu Spielen. Es hat unglaublich viel Spaß gemacht und die Idee mit den Toilet Turret finde Ich ist gut gelungen. Aber Ich will mehr Ich kann nie genug haben von Aperture Science oder Black Mesa, aber Valve soll sich zeit lassen, wie sagt man so schön: Besser spät als nie.
FAZIT: Aperture Desk Job ist ein gutes kleines kostenloses Spiel mit einer guten Story und viel Details, freue mich auf mehr :D
Review starfleetjames 4/5 · Sep 10, 2022
Simple but charming
This was a good intro to SteamDeck, similar to what AstroBot does for Playstation. It had all of the humor and charm of the Portal games. While playable on PC, I imagine the gameplay aspect would be pretty boring since it really is designed around showcasing the features of the SteamDeck.
Review lingsdook 3/5 · Sep 8, 2022
Please make a new Portal game already
A short tech demo meant to show off the capabilities of the Steam Deck, but what it really is, is a reminder that Valve could still craft a charming, witty and visually pleasing new Portal game if they really wanted to. They just choose not to for whatever reason.
Review Ricci 4/5 · Aug 7, 2022
Aperture Science Toilets "Huge Success"
While I'm waiting for Portal 3, I'm spending my time with a shooter that's about toilets.
Want to hear something even crazier? I love it!
It makes me happy to see Aperture Science from a different perspective. The developers here are coming up with a lot of new ideas. It makes the game feel fresh and experimental. Hopefully we'll see …
While I'm waiting for Portal 3, I'm spending my time with a shooter that's about toilets.
Want to hear something even crazier? I love it!
It makes me happy to see Aperture Science from a different perspective. The developers here are coming up with a lot of new ideas. It makes the game feel fresh and experimental. Hopefully we'll see more soon.
Thank you for reading my review. 🧡💙
Ricci
Review V1CGaming 3/5 · Jul 28, 2022
Food for Portal lore enjoyers.
Aperture Desk Job is literally a 30-minute mandatory turret session of last-gen shooters, but fun. When you play this game you really understand Valve made this game. Now, I want my Portal 3!!!
Review Vakil 4/5 · Jul 16, 2022
What a weird and wonderful little game
Took 31 minutes to finish and it was a fun 31 minutes. This may be the first time I’ve sat and watched credits for a game solely to watch what was happening behind the credits. Thanks Valve for the free bit of fun.
Review Convoy501_ 3/5 · Jun 16, 2022
It was free, and made by valve!
This was a pretty plain game. However, the lore implications, holy Shit the lore!! This game adds a lot of lore to the portal universe which personally I enjoyed discovering when playing this. This game did look great and the gameplay wasn't half bad, but this was all overshadowed by the lore. The voice acting is so fricking great too, …
This was a pretty plain game. However, the lore implications, holy Shit the lore!! This game adds a lot of lore to the portal universe which personally I enjoyed discovering when playing this. This game did look great and the gameplay wasn't half bad, but this was all overshadowed by the lore. The voice acting is so fricking great too, I would say one of the best voice acting I've heard in a game or in a TV show.
There's literally no reason to play this game, it's free!
Review Grimug 4/5 · May 28, 2022
I don't even own a deck
God i wish Valve made more games. For a small feature meant to show off the steam deck this is really well polished, looks great and has that portal comedy I love. Playing this game made me just want a full game. Either way it stupid short and free so just give it a try, it works with a regular …
Read moreGod i wish Valve made more games. For a small feature meant to show off the steam deck this is really well polished, looks great and has that portal comedy I love. Playing this game made me just want a full game. Either way it stupid short and free so just give it a try, it works with a regular controller so there's no need for a steam deck if you don't have it.
Read less
Review tylerisrandom 4/5 · Apr 13, 2022
A short, polished introduction to the Steam Deck and the briefest of nods to long-suffering Portal fans. Nowhere near as impressive an introduction to a new console as Astro's Playroom, but it's way more effective than an instruction manual and its tone is pitch perfect for fans of Valve.
Review Yaru 5/5 · Mar 9, 2022
A short but very fun experience that made me realize how much I miss Portal games.
Give me my Portal 3, Valve.
Review killerstar 4/5 · Mar 1, 2022
It's funny I guess. Not a lot of expectations riding on a short free game that's a tech demo for a new handheld, but it's worth the 30 minutes.