The Darker SECRET Experiments of Aperture | Test Shaft 09 | FULL Portal Lore

The mysteries of Test Shaft 09 were sealed away from the public after many of the participants within disappeared, without a trace. The CEO of Aperture, Cave Johnson, wanted to "do science" without government interference, however, these experiments into teleportation, time travel and volatile materials were extremely unethical and dangerous.

What made these tests so horrendous that their chambers were sealed away? What was the worst? And do any of these experiments mirror our reality? In this video, we explore the lore and story behind Aperture’s secret experiments.

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
01:23 1950s | The Rise of Aperture
13:05 1960s & 1970s | The Decline of Aperture
18:49 1980s | The Fall of Cave Johnson
20:06 Legacy
21:12 Closing Thoughts

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Standard Sources
Game Manuals
Half-Life Series Playthrough Research
Portal Series Playthrough Research
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (Uncorrected Proof)
Half-Life 2 Prima Guide
Half-Life: Alyx Playthrough
Portal/ Half-Life Fandom
Dev Commentary
Old Valve Forums
Marc Laidlaw's Twitter
Marc Laidlaw Website
Breengrub Twitter
Reddit AMA (w/ HL: Alyx Developers)
Portal 2
Aperture Desk Job

AUDIO USED
Portal 2 OST: There She Is
Portal 2 OST: Technical Difficulties
Portal 2 OST: Ghost of Rattman
Portal 2 OST: 9999999
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage At Dawn

#Portal #Lore #Experiments

[Tiltigo]

To me there's something so eerie and creepy about a compound being so impossibly gigantic that you'd need thousands upon thousands of people not just to build, but to employ.
And then there's the extra layer of it being abandoned.

Probably one of my favorite things about Portal and HL1.

[I_like_stuff_le]

The idea that aperture can just go: “I don’t like you your blood is gasoline now” is beyond terrifying to me

[RelativelyBest]

Note: The repulsion gel isn't slightly non-toxic. It's "slightly _less_ non-toxic" than fiberglass insulation.

[danprentice]

I do love how old aperture looks, really gives off a foreboding scary vibe but without anything active threat or monster it's just empty which I think is much scarier.

[legogeneralgreivous]

Cave Johnson: “you ain’t from michigan if you ain’t ever done this before” *commits horrific crimes against humanity in the name of science*

[ledderfayes]

Aperture Science in 1950 when they discover that pouring 3 tons of cement down a man's throat kills him: ☝️ 🤓

[clockmaster]

Offering $60 in the 1970's would be equivalent to offering $500 today when adjusted for inflation. Hard to turn down if you're struggling

[panicpowerhouse]

I have a "when life gives you lemons" aperture poster on my desk in office. One fine day someone came and put up an aperture logo desk magnet on top of it. Best surprise of my life. Still don't know who did that.

[bullcheese]

It's hilarious to think that Eli and Dr. Kleiner might remember some of Aperture's products, to think that such wacky things existed in Half Life's bleak universe.

[summersnooze]

Not a single person—streamer, YouTuber, nor forum has ever made mention of the bizarreness and absurdity of the Borealis dry dock being UNDERGROUND. They just mention it being underground like it’s a normal place people build ships!

Or that the Borealis is at roughly the same depth as the Titanic… I get that a dry dock 3800 meters into the Earth’s crust (far far away from the Arctic Ocean I should add) is not really high on the list of “Oddities in the HL/Portal Universe, ” but it’s even more odd to me that nobody ever acknowledges that there’s a fucking dry dock for a ship UNDERGROUND.

[caroline]

2014 Portal: The cutest turrets opera 🥰
2024 Portal: Chell has terminal asbestosis 💀

[zannyrt]

I watch your Portal 2 lores on loop everytime I eat my dinner, or clean my apartment. A week ago, I was telling the story of Portal 2 to my girlfriend so that she falls asleep (she likes me to recite something I love so that she is able to sleep) and I was telling her about the reign of Cave Johnson and about Test Chamber 9. And tonight I will have a chance to tell her more through this video <3

[PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

That opening quote PERFECTLY defines Aperture's style of genius unbound by wisdom. Their creativity is unparalleled because they refuse to work within the bounds of convention, but this ALSO means nothing they do is EVER practical.

They're basically outsider artists, but for science.

[PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

_People always say hundreds or thousands of years passed between Portal 1 and 2, but that's EASILY disproven by looking at plant growth and water damage._


Aperture famously used the cheapest possible building materials for their testing tracks to offset other expenses. More than this, testing chambers were specifically built using modular parts to be maintained by GLaDOS. Knowing this, the level of decay and contamination we see within the surface-level chambers couldn't have taken more than 20-30 years AT MOST.

Yes, there's some cut dialogue that says it's been thousands of years, but there's a REASON why that was CUT. Even accounting for sci-fi tech, the facility's doors, elevators, and buttons would've rusted well beyond usability after 30-40 years. We even see this beginning to occur in-game, with some doors being broken or unable to fully open.

[FloridatedHO]

I absolutely love the aesthetic in test shaft 09 where you have human scale structures (offices, waiting rooms, etc) juxtaposed with these leviathan almost lovecraftian feats of engineering

[harvestercommander]

I love how you made many of Cave’s messages sound more dark and sinister than how they were presented in the game.

[thomasthejesusfromwish]

After playing other Valve games, the creepiest thought was what if Chel wasn't the only thing living down there

[lionocyborg]

The thing about repulsion gel not liking the human skeleton is simply they got covered in the gel and bounced uncontrollably all around the room. Since unlike Chell they don’t have long fall boots, they broke their bones landing on every bounce until someone washed the gel off.

[socialaccount]

$60 in 1960 is worth roughly $639 dollars today. Sounds generous, until you realize what you're getting yourself into..

[zerotwo]

something ive always wanted is a mod that takes place during the like 40s-60s+ era of aperture