Welcome to Harmonics, an American tech company from the turn of the millennia that has made perhaps the most important innovation since the microwave oven: E.M.M.A., or the Environmental Mass Manipulation Apparatus. Using E.M.M.A., you can manipulate the very fundamental forces of the universe by turning gravity off or on its head. This invention could lead to a new industrial revolution.
That’s the premise of Punt, a new game coming to Steam later in 2023 using the Source Engine. Punt got started as a Portal mod at least as far back as 2015, and almost a decade later, it’s finally getting a release window and becoming a full stand-alone game.
Punt starts on January 1, 2000, at the Harmonics headquarters. You'll play Lt. Daniel Tekashi of the United States Air Force sent to Harmoics to test E.M.M.A. and see what use it might be for the nation's defense. There, you'll put E.M.M.A. through its paces in Harmonics obstacle course, using its various functions to solve puzzles and progress to the next area.
Being originally a Portal mod, the inspirations from Valve's classic puzzle game are obvious, but the differences are also pretty stark. Rather than creating portals for the player to travel through, puzzles revolve around manipulating gravity. You can grab and manipulate objects much like Portal's handheld portal device, but E.M.M.A. seems to have more in common with Half-Life 2's gravity gun. You can grab and throw cubes a fair distance, E.M.M.A.'s real party trick is being able to shoot objects to change their own personal gravity. You can suspend cubes in midair or reverse gravity to make them slam into the roof. You can even shoot objects to propel them forward or shoot the ground to propel yourself.
Punt arrives sometime in 2023 on Steam. You can wishlist the game now on its storefront page and follow Punt’s Twitter account for updates.
If you're more into the classic Portal, then there's a fan remake on the way that aims to bring Portal to a new generation of gamers with updated graphics and expanded gameplay segments. You can check out Another Slice in our previous coverage here.