Return PortalReturn Portal is a puzzle-platformer where you drop a teleport marker, grab keys, and warp back through locked doors to clear each level.
Return Portal
Return Portal is a puzzle-platformer built around a single trick: you can drop a portal marker anywhere you’re standing, then teleport straight back to it later. Robert Alvarez designed each level as a small lock made of keys and doors, and the portal is the tool sharp enough to open it — plant it before a gap you can’t clear on foot, grab what’s on the other side, then warp back instead of trying to platform your way home.
A level plays out more like a short puzzle than a race: you look at the room, work out where the portal actually needs to sit, then chain a jump, a teleport, and another jump to reach a key or slip through a door before it closes again. Reading the layout for a few seconds before you commit usually matters more than quick reflexes.
Controls
- Move: A/D or the Left/Right arrow keys.
- Jump: W or the Up arrow key.
- Place or return to your portal: Spacebar or X.
- Restart the level: R.
Tips
- Drop your portal on ground you can land near safely, not the exact spot you’re aiming for — you’ll often need to jump again the instant you warp back.
- Grab a key before you place a portal next to its door; teleport too early and you can strand yourself on the wrong side with no way back.
- Stuck on a level, retrace which door your last key opened — your portal marker is usually the fast way back to it, not a dead end.
- R resets the level instantly, which beats platforming all the way back from a portal you placed badly.