Download Hints

Get quick and convenient access to just the hints you need for The Orange Box: Portal, without staying on our website. Just download a free trial version of our UHS Reader software and a copy of these hints. You will get the same gradual hints you see here -- unlike ordinary cheats or a walkthrough that can spoil your game.

You can also buy the full version of the UHS Reader for Windows or macOS. For just $14.95, you get full access to hints for hundreds of games and 1 year of free updates. You can also search, decode, or print an entire game's worth of hints at once.

Ask the Author

If you have questions about a puzzle that aren't answered anywhere in these hints, you may contact the author.

The Orange Box: Portal Hints

Piston Area #3

  • 1 of 13: You'll find yourself on the floor of a very tall room with a walkway around the top that you need to get to.
  • 2 of 13: There are also a lot of large pistons moving around at different heights between you and the walkway you're going for.
  • 3 of 13: The only part of the walkway that's portal-friendly is its floor, which you can't see from down on the room's floor.
  • 4 of 13: So you'll need to use portals to gain some altitude.
  • 5 of 13: Examine the two narrower walls in the room to see which one has two pistons set into it near its top.
  • 6 of 13: You can't put a portal above those pistons, but you can put one between them.
  • 7 of 13: Fire a blue portal up there when you've got a clear line of sight. (You'll probably have to wait for several pistons to move out of the way first.)
  • 8 of 13: Set an orange portal on a nearby wall (if you don't already have one), then look through it to find that you can now see the floor of the upper walkway.
  • 9 of 13: However, you can't fire a portal through a portal (unless you use the Advanced Portaling Tip), so watch for some horizontal pistons to appear across the gap right in front of you.
  • 10 of 13: When they do, step onto them and fire a blue portal at the floor of the upper walkway.
  • 11 of 13: Then carefully drop down to the floor of the room, making sure you don't get crushed by any pistons on the way.
  • 12 of 13: Back on the floor, go through your orange portal to end up on the upper walkway.
  • 13 of 13: Find the nearby spot where you can drop down onto the top of a storage cube tube, thereby leaving piston area #3.