I’ve seen those compare 80 Microsoft Point title “Human Subject” to Portal in tone (if not in gameplay), and I suppose you can make that comparison. The game that screams to mind when to me, though, is “Impossible Mission”. It was an ’80s game (popularised on the Commodore 64, and other systems of its day) that riffed on the (then largely forgotten, well prior to the movie reboot) TV show “Mission Impossible”, but had you platforming through a dangerous facility as you try to stop an evil genius. “Human Subject” has you platforming through a dangerous facility as you try to escape it. Both games have voices deriding you from hidden speakers. Both games focus (either primarily or entirely) on challenging platforming over enemies. And both are very good.
If you enjoyed the former, definitely try this out. If you haven’t tried the former, it’s worth a download. It can be challenging, but it’s not frustratingly hard and there are checkpoints. The gameplay gets mixed up a bit as you progress, and the level design seems very good to me. In fact, “Human Subject”‘s levels feel a bit like what Impossible Mission might have been if the technical limitations of its day had allowed for scrolling of huge levels, though I would expect the game would have had more killer robots. All in all this is another game that feels a bit like the sequel to Impossible Mission 2 that never happened, and I therefore recommend it to all fans and to those who never had the pleasure back in the day.
Here’s what the developer (BryanHendo) has to say about the game:
“You’ve been abducted by aliens who are conducting tests on you to determine whether or not they should invade Earth. Can you perform well enough to frighten them into changing their plans? Or do they have something else in mind?”
Writings of Mass Deduction 