Completed Fan-Made Portal Remake In Limbo Due To Valve

A fan-made remake of Portal, titled Alive & Kicking, has been in development since 2011 from developers Rhubarb & Rhubarb. Retrofitting the original classic with the engine of its sequel, fans began worrying that the game was being abandoned after such a long gestation in the lab. Responding to posts on the Steam page, the developers confirmed the game is not only alive, but completed and ready to launch. The only reason it isn’t kicking as well is due to Valve, who have reportedly stopped responding to their messages. “The game is done, but we do not have the ability to release it on Steam right now,” one of the devs, Dot Operator, responded on the Steam discussions page. “I have not had any updates from Valve since filling out a non-commercial license template a few months ago. I am grateful they initially gave us that option, but now we aren’t hearing anything.” Valve has never been shy around fan-made projects using their properties, assets or code. Multiple Half-Life fan games exist on the Steam platform, such as Black Mesa and Hunt Down The Freeman, on top of Valve outright publishing Garry’s Mod. Portal itself originated outside of Valve as a student project from Kim Swift, given resources to become the dark horse hit of the already competitive Orange Box in 2007. Surreal to think now, but there was a brief moment in time where Portal was Valve’s most renowned game, warranting a full, blockbuster sequel in 2011. Alive & Kicking remakes the classic with Portal 2 ‘s source code. Visual refurbishments and all. The page says on top of the original puzzles, they may introduce their own, new chambers to experiment in. Operator said that initially, Valve was supportive of Alive & Kicking, giving them access to Portal 2 ’s source code, though required to sign an NDA for the opportunity. What wasn’t signed at the jump was a non-commercial release form, which Operator said was filed more recently. Since doing so, Valve has reportedly been non-responsive, putting the now-completed game in limbo for months. The access that made the fan-game possible is now the same thing holding it back from release. With official channels unresponsive, fans are hoping that by raising enough noise will prompt the sought rubber stamp from Valve. 🕹️ Level up your inbox Don’t miss the latest reviews, news and tips. Sign up for our free newsletter. Leave this field empty if you're human: You May Also Like Culture News Multiple Meccha Chameleon Steam Workshop Maps Got Infected With Malware And Its Discord Server Was Hacked While Meccha Chameleon's developers have already rolled out a fix, but the game's official Discord server seems to be a lost cause By Lewis Parker Published July 25, 2026 Culture News Bethesda Addresses Concerns That The Elder Scrolls 6 Will Be Impacted By Xbox Layoffs And Claims ‘The Roadmap Is Unaffected’ Even after announcing four new Fallout games and firing hundreds of staff, Bethesda still seems confident that The Elder Scrolls 6's internal roadmap hasn't shifted By Lewis Parker Published July 25, 2026 Culture News Marvel Tōkon’s Open Beta On PC Is A Mess Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls open beta players on PC are running into some nasty performance related issues, which isn't a great sign when the game is less than two weeks away from release By Lewis Parker Published July 25, 2026 Culture News God Of War Laufey Joins The Growing Pile Of February 2027 Game Releases The PS5 exclusive barely seven months away from launching By Ethan Gach Published July 25, 2026 Culture News The Next God Of War Is In Development, Stars Kratos, Will Tie Directly To Laufey Faye's story is connected to whatever's next for her husband By Kenneth Shepard Published July 24, 2026 Culture News Dataminers Discover Xbox Backward Compatibility On PC Can Run Xbox 360 Games Turns out that Microsoft's new Xbox emulator is actually an Xbox 360 emulator in disguise By Lewis Parker Published July 24, 2026 Latest news Completed Fan-Made Portal Remake Stuck In Limbo As Valve Goes Silent Avengers, Ghost Rider, And More: Everything Marvel Revealed At San Diego Comic Con 2026 ‘Unfilmable’ Cyberpunk Classic Neuromancer Receives First Trailer Marvel Boss Responds To Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Backlash Over The Lack Of Build-Up Warren Spector’s Thick As Thieves Ends Support After Just Two Months: ‘Working In The Gaming Industry Is At Times Delightful And At Other Times Heartbreaking’ The Tactical Tank Turns Splatoon Raiders Into Vampire Survivors Multiple Meccha Chameleon Steam Workshop Maps Got Infected With Malware And Its Discord Server Was Hacked Rare Nintendo Console Discovered Throughout Japanese Love Hotel