Portal Alive Kicking Guides
From a same-drive install to the last core on GLaDOS.
This hub is the map of every Portal: Alive & Kicking tutorial on the wiki. The remake is a single-player Portal 2 mod, so the first problem is almost never a cube puzzle. It is getting the handheld portal device to boot next to a legal Portal 2 install. After that, the campaign still asks you to fling, stack cubes, dodge energy pellets, and talk GLaDOS into a rocket. Use the pages below in order if you are new; skip ahead if you already cleared 2007’s Test Chamber 18 and only need the new escape.
Start here
If Steam hid the download button or the menu died looking for startup_loading.vtf, open the install and getting started guide. It covers the same-drive rule, the wishlist workaround from launch day, and what the first three chambers teach. Pair it with the controls reference so blue fire, orange fire, use, zoom, and crouch are bound before Chamber 04 asks you to look down a pit.
Once the gun is in your hands, read how to play. Alive & Kicking keeps original Portal grammar — cubes, buttons, emancipation grills, high-energy pellets, turrets, and momentum — but paints the rooms with Portal 2 panels and clearer puzzle cues. Players who jump in from Portal 2 gels will waste time hunting excursion funnels that are not in this campaign.
Campaign pages
The chamber walkthrough walks Test Chambers 00 through 19 without spoiling every joke. It flags the two launch-week softlocks testers reported: Chamber 17’s energy pellet catcher placement and Chamber 18 looping if a cube or portal is left in a bad state. Use it when you know the intended trick but the geometry in this remake is lying to you.
When the announcement signs start lying, switch to how to beat GLaDOS. Community posts on launch day called out a rebuilt escape sequence. You still need the rocket turret, the cores, and a stubborn refusal to stay in the elevator, but the path behind the glass is not a carbon copy of 2007. That page is the spoiler-heavy finish.
Advanced chambers covers the harder remixes of the late campaign and what the developers promised next: elite-difficulty bonus maps after launch. If you are ranking which rooms deserve a second visit, the chamber tier list scores difficulty and spectacle separately.
Steam lists nine unlocks, not original Portal’s fifteen. The achievements page maps story beats, Advanced leftovers, and why achieve.bsp is not a farm. If you already know 2007 by heart, read differences from Portal first so you stop looking for gel.
Tools that sit next to the guides
Guides assume the game is running. If it is not, leave this hub and use troubleshooting for the missing background image, -threads 1, multithreaded rendering, and extra Portal 2 mods that poison the menu. Language settings answers the launch-week thread about subtitle and voice language. Steam Deck collects the Linux boot crash reports.
Launch context lives under release notes and known issues. Those pages change when Rhubarb & Rhubarb ships a patch; the walkthrough pages change when a chamber solution shifts.
How this wiki writes puzzles
Every guide uses locale-agnostic links with trailing slashes, the way /guides/walkthrough/ is written here. We do not invent YouTube IDs. Demo playthroughs from Bolloxed and other Portal channels are embedded only on pages where the footage still matches the remake’s early chambers. The full 2026 campaign can differ in lighting, audio stingers, and the escape, so late-game pages prefer text over a ten-year-old demo.
Read one page at a time. Portal’s comedy dies if you tab between five walkthroughs while GLaDOS is mid-sentence. When you are stuck, jump to the chamber heading, place the portals described, then put the wiki away until the next grill.
What this remake is not
Alive & Kicking is not Portal: Still Alive’s extra Xbox maps, not Portal Stories: Mel, and not a two-player pack. Steam lists single-player, captions, full controller support, nine achievements, and Source SDK. Future free content was promised on the store page: elite maps and a downloadable soundtrack with fourteen reactive tracks. Until those ship, this hub’s job is the campaign you can play today.
If you came from the original game, treat the how to play page as a difference list: same momentum, new lighting, same companion cube, new score. If you came from Portal 2, treat it as a subtraction list: no gels, no faith plates, no lasers, no second player. Either way, the install guide is still the first click.
Suggested path for a weekend clear
- Install using the getting started checklist.
- Bind keys from controls.
- Play Chambers 00–10 with how to play open in another window.
- Finish 11–19 with the walkthrough.
- Beat the boss via how to beat GLaDOS.
- Replay hard rooms using the tier list and advanced chambers.
- Check achievements against the overlay, then the soundtrack if you came for the score.
That path is enough. The rest of the wiki is for when a map file misbehaves or you want to argue whether Chamber 18 still deserves S tier in this lighting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for testers stuck in Aperture.
Which guide should I open first?
If the game is not running, use the install guide and troubleshooting. If it is running, start with how to play then the walkthrough. Veterans can jump to differences from Portal or achievements.
Do these guides spoil the ending?
The walkthrough stays inside test chambers. How to beat GLaDOS is the spoiler page for the escape and the boss.
Are advanced chambers required?
No. They are harder remixes of late campaign rooms. Play them after a clean story clear, using the advanced chambers notes.
Is this a two-player game?
No. Alive & Kicking is single-player. There is no second player on the couch or online on the Steam store listing.