Coming from the mind of Dan Trachtenberg is Portal: No Escape. It debuted at Comic-Con and, for reasons you’ll soon see, was given a standing ovation by almost a packed room. The video was officially posted only recently, hitting YouTube on August 23rd and has since amassed over 200k views. No Escape features a female protagonist who may or may not be Chell (played by the kick-ass Danielle Rayne) who finds herself trapped in a cell with no way out. In a very stubborn Chell-like manner though, it doesn’t stop her from biding her time until she finds one.
The short also features some great visual effects, what feels like a dash of Half-Life 2, and some action that shows just how well it knows its source material. There’s usually a lot of companion cube and other visual cues that say ‘Hey, this is Portal!’, but No Escape takes it to the next level. I don’t want to spoil anything, so check out the video below.
There used to be an embeded media player here, but it doesn't work anymore. We blame the Tumbeasts.
Danielle Rayne also mentioned on her blog that she had to keep Portal: No Escape a secret for a year and a half. Now that’s some Chell-like willpower! It also means that this was made before Portal 2 released, which is very interesting.
