Nearly 20 years after it was canceled, the camera-based Portal prequel F-Stop is no longer lost media.Nearly 20 years after it was canceled, the camera-based Portal prequel F-Stop is no longer lost media.Nov 1, 2026, 4:19 PM UTCImage: The VergeLeakers have pieced together a playable version of the canceled Portal prequel F-Stop. Most of the assets came from the massive 12-terabyte leak that dropped this August. That didn’t include the game’s source code or map data, but those final pieces apparently hit the Valve Cut Content Discord this week, allowing a nearly complete version to be pieced together.Some dialog and elements of F-Stop eventually found their way into Portal 2. But it differs dramatically from the mainline Portal games in that it’s built around a camera mechanic that lets you capture an item by taking its picture and place it elsewhere using the resulting Polaroid-like photos. It’s not unlike Viewfinder in that way.The game is short, with videos showing off its full campaign all clocking in at under an hour. That’s not terribly surprising, though. F-Stop was developed as part of the “Directed Design Experiments,” a three-month period in 2007 when Valve broke into five teams to build new video game experiments.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Terrence O’BrienThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
A fully playable version of Portal prequel F-Stop leaked
