Walkthroughs

Bridge Constructor Portal tips and tricks - Thinking with Portals, mastering puzzles

Brush up on your Portal proficiency with this guide

Bridge Constructor Portal tips and tricks - Thinking with Portals, mastering puzzles

Finally we’ve got a brand new Portal game to play with, and we’re building bridges. But if you’re already well-versed in the art of bridge building, you might want a primer on how to think with portals.

Bridge Constructor Portal melds the two concepts perfectly, and with our guide, you’ll quickly be mastering the art of portals and building professional grade bridges.

Just take a look at our tips below, and if you need advice on building bridges, take a look at our guide.

Thinking with portals

First rule of portals is simply “What goes in one side, comes out the other side.” The portals are colour-coded, so when you see a blue portal, you’ll know that passing through will lead you to the other blue portal in the level.

Same goes for purple, and other colour portals - you’ll often be dealing with multiple, so take your time and plan out your route.

Follow the coloured portals and you’ll quickly be able to discern a path through the level. Sometimes, the path straight ahead isn’t the correct one, but portal usage will always point you in the right direction.

Turrets aren’t friends

Turrets and lasers will be the two main obstacles you’ll need to avoid while making your way to the exit - going into the path of turrets will almost always result in a swift end.

You’ll need to build your paths so you can eliminate turrets, either by driving through them from behind, or even having a cube slam into them.

You can avoid them entirely, of course, if you can find a path that allows it.

Cubes are friends

Cubes will be your method of offence and solving many of the more awkward puzzles Bridge Constructor Portal has to offer.

Cubes will be able to hit switches and smash through turrets, with enough force, and of course get affected by gels and other momentum changing elements, so you can bounce cubes through levels just like your car.

Keep this in mind when slamming your car against some of the tougher test chambers, cubes have more than one use. Use everything you can in any given chamber to find the solution.

Momentum

Portals will carry momentum through them, or as GLaDOS herself eloquently taught us many years ago; “Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.”

Some portals will require you to carry your momentum through, with some requiring you to building a ramp or rapid decline to help accelerate your passage, use propulsion gel, or even drop into the portal from above.

Use momentum going over ramps and through portals to clear massive gaps and reach awkward portals and goals. This goes for cubes too, of course.

Gel to win

If a stage has propulsion or repulsion gel in it, then it’s guaranteed to help you on your path to victory, so use it.

Just as in the main portal games, these two gels will do exactly what their names imply, speed you up rapidly in the case of the orange Propulsion Gel, or bounce you off of floors and walls in the case of the blue Repulsion Gel.

Propulsion gel will obviously help building momentum to help clear gaps or make big jumps upward, while Repulsion gel will mainly be used to haphazardly bounce you around test chambers to find the goal. Experiment with both and you’ll quickly master them.

Read more: your original beginner's guide to Bridge Constructor Portal is just a click away.
Dave Aubrey
Dave Aubrey
Dave is the Guides Editor at Pocket Gamer. Specialises in Nintendo, complains about them for a living.