Portal is an incredible game with a few unique characters that pop, despite the games' short run times and limited dialogue. Who knew a puzzle game could become so much more?
Most of those memorable personalities are Cores - artificial intelligences built by Aperture Science to perform various tasks. In this article, we review all of them.
12 Turrets
Yes, believe it or not, turrets are cores! Or, more accurately, turrets have cores in them. These little guys are adorable... whenever they're not trying to kill you.
Obviously, the cores that get put into turrets aren't very clever. They don't need to be, after all, all they're doing is shooting at you. See person? Shoot person. Simple as pie. But they will call you 'lady' sometimes in that adorable robot voice, if that counts for anything.
11 Atlas & P-body
Atlas and P-body get their entry together since they're partners. In co-op, two players can control them to solve puzzles together! These guys are really just Cores too.
In that co-op mode, you can actually do a funny emote where one of them steals the other's "head" - in reality, they're just taking their Core off of their limbs! ...Try to ignore how weird that sounds.
10 Party Escort Bot
Right after escaping GLaDOS in the first game, she will tell you to drop your portal gun and assume the "party escort submission position" with your arms at your sides as you lie on your stomach. Obviously, you didn't do that, but GLaDOS wasn't joking, either.
The Party Escort Bot is the robot that, had you actually assumed the party escort submission position, would have brought you to the "party." It's a Core with a pink eye and huge robot arms. This thing winds up being the reason Chell ends up back in the facility with GLaDOS for the events of Portal 2 - it pulls her back underground after she blows everything to bits.
9 Curiosity Core
Curiosity Core is a Personality Core, meaning it has a distinct personality when it's an individual. However, Personality Cores aren't really supposed to be individual; they're purposefully designed to attach to the Central Core of the facility to give it their personality traits.
In the case of the Curiosity Core, its personality is pretty self-explanatory. You meet it during the first Portal game and all it does is ask questions. Notably, its voice is the same as the turrets. Don't think too hard about the implications of that.
8 Intelligence Core
The Intelligence Core's name is a little misleading. It's a Personality Core that's meant to attach to the Central Core, but doesn't really seem to make GLaDOS more intelligent when it's attached to her.
Rather, it just holds one piece of information: the recipe to bake an unusual and lethal cake. When it's pulled off of GLaDOS during the first Portal, it just recites the recipe in a droning voice. Though, we suppose it being attached to GLaDOS explains why she was always trying to trick you with cake.
7 Morality Core
The Morality Core is a Personality Core that was designed to be GLaDOS's conscience. Just like your own conscience, it doesn't speak out loud. It was originally designed by Aperture scientists to stop GLaDOS from attempting to kill them every time she was turned on.
Unfortunately, it didn't do its job. GLaDOS tricked the scientists into giving her neurotoxin for an experiment and then killed them with it. The only one to survive was Doug Rattman, a scientist with schizophrenia who warned the others that "you can always ignore your conscience."
6 Anger Core
The Anger Core is another one of the Personality Cores that was attached to GLaDOS, though it's unclear why the scientists at Aperture would have wanted to make GLaDOS more angry. It's so angry that all it does is growl and roar at you!
All the Personality Cores in the first game were voiced by the same actress as GLaDOS, Ellen McClain, except for the Anger Core. It's voiced by Mike Patton, the lead singer of Faith No More, an alternative metal band.
5 Adventure Core
The Adventure Core arrives in Portal 2 just like an adventurer would - swinging from a rope! This Core, who calls himself Rick, is a Personality Core, but a corrupted one - meaning technical problems have affected its programing. All of its voice lines are hillarious and, as the pièce de résistance, he's voiced by the same man who played Nathan Drake in Uncharted: Nolan North.
We recommend you hold on to the Adventure Core for a while before attaching him to Wheatley. If you do, he will eventually tell you he wants Wheatley to say that Rick is a thorn in Wheatley's side, because Rick has a good retort. Then, when you attach him to Wheatley and Wheatley says it, Rick responds that "this thorn... is about to take you down." He proceeds to admit it sounded better in his head.
4 Fact Core
Another corrupted Personality Core, the Fact Core is basically a computer full of, you guessed it: facts! However, it's obvious why this guy is labeled a "corrupt" core because, while some of its facts are true, others are ridiculous.
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Correct Fact Core Facts |
Incorrect Fact Core Facts |
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3 Space Core
We all know Space Core. He's the corrupted Personality Core who ends up floating through Space with Wheatley at the end of the game, and it turned him into an internet sensation for a while.
Unlike the other Cores, we actually know what corrupted Space Core: he went insane, becoming consumed by his desire to visit outer space. That's basically all you need to know about him. 'Space' is basically every word he says, quickly and excitedly.
2 Intelligence Dampening Core (Wheatley)
The Intelligence Dampening Core goes by the name Wheatley. He's a corrupted Personality Core who doesn't know he's corrupted - or even what his own job is, really. He guides Chell through the Aperture Science Enrichment Center at the start of Portal 2 because he was put in charge of the Extended Relaxation Center (where Chell was asleep) and he decided to escape the facility. To do that, he needed Chell's help.
In reality, Wheatley was built to literally dampen GLaDOS' intelligence; he would have a string of terrible ideas, basically as a distraction technique. He was eventually removed from GLaDOS (probably because they realized he didn't work) and seemingly replaced with the Morality Core.
1 Central Core (GLaDOS)
Cave Johnson was originally planned to be the Central Core of Aperture Science; his mind would have been turned into AI and placed in a Core. Unfortunately, Johnson died before this could happen. As one of his final acts, he named his loyal assistant Caroline as his successor. While it meant becoming the CEO of a major corporation, it also required Caroline to be turned into an AI. We don't know for sure how Caroline took the news at the time, but a few unused voice lines in the game suggest she didn't want it.
Regardless, Caroline became a Core and was installed at Aperture Science. When she was turned on for the first time, though, she became enraged and homicidal. In an attempt to dampen those killing tendencies, the scientists at Aperture began attaching the Personality Cores we've discussed in this article. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, it just managed to dampen Caroline's original personality. GLaDOS, as she became, eventually tricked the scientists and killed all but one (Doug Rattman) with neurotoxin.