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Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2023 Abyss Asset Showcase!

Some of the questions we get the most often are “Is the mod dead?”, followed by “Can you please get out of my house?” and “Can't you just let me go?”, and our answer is always the same: No. Abyss is very much alive!

Jokes aside, whenever we tell people that there's a lot of things happening behind the scenes we always wish we could explain exactly just how much we really mean. Today we're very excited to show you some of the work we've been putting into the assets throughout the game, with over 40 custom models and materials made in just the last year alone.

An Aperture Industries branded vending machine, with eight delicious and mouth-eroding drinks to choose from.
“After the journey you've had, a fresh can of patented Aperture-brand Water* sounds great right about now.”


A keycard and lanyard branded in the modern Aperture logo.
“The reader chimes as you swipe the card through it, unlocking the door with an echoing click.”


A set of wall-mounted loudspeakers.
“It's just nice to have someone to talk to for a change.”


Multiple shots of an Aperture-brand overhead monorail crane.
"The hook of the crane sways as the facility shudders."


A large sliding industrial door, shown in a number of different appearances.
"The alarm blares through the tunnel, the door rolling closed with a resounding thud."


As a Portal 2 mod, Abyss relies heavily on some of those original Valve assets that gave Aperture the look and feel we've all come to love. But being over 12 years old now, some of those assets are beginning to show their age. We've taken the time to breathe some new life into these assets not only to improve how the game looks, but also to immerse you as the player into the story and give Abyss a unique visual identity.

A comparison between the Portal 2 gel pipes and the Abyss remaster.
"Miles and miles of these pipes carry their contents to every unseen corner of the facility."


Abyss runs on Portal 2: Community Edition (P2:CE), and one of the main benefits of this for us has been the support for PBR shading. PBR - or Physically Based Rendering - isn't a new thing in the gaming scene, but it isn't a technology natively supported by the Source engine. We found that in many cases the models themselves had sufficient detail, and even just retexturing them with a PBR material was enough to bring these assets up to date.

A comparison between the Portal 2 underground bipart door and the Abyss remaster.


A comparison between the Portal 2 gantry models and the Abyss remaster.


Abyss is so old now (over 10 years!) that we've even begun remastering some of our own assets! Here we've touched up the iconic Aperture Science logo hung over the first enrichment sphere in Avernus 02, seen right before the player enters the first testing track of the game.

A comparison between an old Abyss model of an Aperture Science sign and the new remastered version.


But models aren't the only assets we've been working on - world textures are also getting a noticeable upgrade, bumping up their resolution and getting the same PBR treatment we've given to the models. Many of these textures didn't even have a normal map beforehand, and the difference is staggering when compared to the originals. P2:CE's PBR implementation also supports parallax occlusion mapping, allowing us to give depth to otherwise flat materials.

A comparison between the 1970s floor tile texture from Portal 2 and the Abyss remaster.


A comparison between an office floor tile texture from Portal 2 and the Abyss remaster.


A comparison between a number of brick wall textures and their Abyss remasters.


We hope you've enjoyed this early Christmas present, and getting a glimpse into all the work we've been putting in behind the scenes. But there's much more to do, and we're always looking for more talent to help us out! If you'd be interested in joining the Abyss team, please consider submitting an application here. To stay updated, follow us on Twitter and join our Discord.

Thank you all for reading, and we'll hopefully see you with another big update soon!

THE DAY IS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1985

THE DAY IS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1985

News 3 comments

One of the main aspects that we’ve always touted about Abyss is the story and how deeply intertwined it is with the game itself. After a couple months...

March update

March update

News 3 comments

A lot of background work, We're slowly porting Abyss on P2:CE and we're setting up technical stuff to help streamline the development of the mod.

Our 2020 in a nutshell

Our 2020 in a nutshell

News 2 comments

This is a little summary of the year 2020. We've been quite busy both on the project and our personal life.

Looking for volunteer Artists

Looking for volunteer Artists

News 5 comments

We're looking for talented artists who would like to help us with the project.

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 100)
Rosidae
Rosidae

Seems very cool can't wait!

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BigTexasTony
BigTexasTony

I want to play the Portal 2 mod so badly.

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LimboWolf
LimboWolf

yessssssssss

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pvydrow
pvydrow

I heard this mod is pretty cool and that the team behind it is working like supe hard to make it as good as it can be, so excited :)

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kingdruiduk.AKA.DJ
kingdruiduk.AKA.DJ

there is a lot of work gone into this dont matter how many times I see it. i watched it again on bolloxed youtube.
Repect to you Team Abyss.

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cerberus_01
cerberus_01

There is too much of this mod out there imo, I feel like the image is oversaturated and just not interesting anymore, whomever is or was running the publicity side of this mod is or was incredibly loose handed with the content, is a good thing it stopped but i think the damage is already done, In my humble opinion.. cancele it, this must be by now a ginormus scopesaurus that is overfed and will just never release, you guys should just cut your losses and maybe just go on to another project, with the knowledge aquired on this you all will certainly make the best of your next thing.

Is just sad, I like the concept and media.. but, I feel like there is just no more interest on this anymore, granted there must be the ocasional new folk who just discovered, but for me at least that is following this for a number of years, I just don't care for it anymore.

Hope you folks don't get this the wrong way, if there is someone still sticking to this project, I hope you all prove me wrong, but I'll not keep my hopes up any longer.

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sirenman
sirenman

Aperture is 2027

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Idontknow9
Idontknow9

Mod Looks Fun I Hope It Gets Released Soon!

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lazulicreeper
lazulicreeper

So, this mod is cursed because it has a cool custom portal gun. all mods with a cool custom portal gun get canceled, the only exception is PS:M, but even then their studio is now defunct. so, when this mod is inevitably canceled because of the cool custom portal gun curse, could you at least release the cool custom portal gun as a model replacement for portal 2?

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xgamerxthegamer
xgamerxthegamer

i wouldnt say the same to portal desolation
i havent heard of it ever since but i think they are in good hands

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