Container Ride (Introduction / Test Chamber 00)

Before you start

• None found. Start a New Game and choose Chapter 1, The Courtesy Call. A developer README for the Switch/Mac port says this chapter loads sp_a1_intro1, but that README is low authority.
• No items, earlier quests or skills are required. The level has no formal quest giver. The Announcer gives the opening instructions and Wheatley appears at the second wake-up.
• Controls matter only slightly. On PC the prompt to say yes uses the jump key. On Xbox 360 it uses A.

1. Complete the first wake-up exercises

You start in a small bedroom-style chamber with the bed on your right and a short hallway to the door on your left. Do what the Announcer asks: look up, look down, look at the artwork, then lie back in bed. You cannot proceed until you go back to bed and the sleep cycle runs. Just follow each prompt in order and wait for the next line of dialogue.

Checkpoint: The screen fades after you return to bed and the room is quiet before the second wake-up.

2. Second wake-up: meet Wheatley

When the Announcer wakes you again, walk toward the door in the hallway so that Wheatley can come in. He asks you to nod or say yes, then to say 'apple'. The game never actually lets Chell speak, so the on-screen prompt is a gag. On PC the prompt is bound to the jump key, so Chell just hops. On Xbox 360 you press A and she jumps. Both prompts produce the same jump, so no response is wrong. Wheatley's closing line, close to 'That's close enough. Just hold tight', tells you the ride is about to start.

Checkpoint: Wheatley connects to your chamber, tells you to hold tight and the container starts moving.

3. Hold on during the container ride

You cannot steer or interact with the ride, so look around and listen. Your chamber is moved through the facility. A section of wall cracks open and shows the wider Extended Relaxation Center, and you bump into other Relaxation Chambers along the way. Wheatley explains that reserve power is failing and that an old testing track behind a wall has equipment you will need. He then tries a 'manual override' on that wall. The ride is scripted, and you cannot interfere with the crashes. A developer commentary note reported in the research says the player is really standing in a hidden room with collision, and the view is projected from the chamber. This is secondhand, so treat the technical detail with some caution.

Checkpoint: The music ends, dust settles and you are placed at the point where Wheatley's override has smashed through the wall.

4. Step onto the glass and drop into the old vault

When the ride finishes, walk out onto the glass floor. It shatters and you fall into the old test chamber below. You do not need to aim or time anything. The 'Survive the manual override' achievement is tied to this sequence. Its exact trigger is disputed (see troubleshooting).

Checkpoint: You land in a dilapidated Relaxation Vault, which a fan guide identifies as the room where Portal 1 began.

5. Wait for the Announcer and use the portal out of the vault

Stay put while the Announcer finishes her dialogue. A portal then opens. Walk into it. The vault portals come as a pair, with one entrance inside the vault and one outside. After you emerge, go around the corner and through the door. A fan guide says you can put the clipboard in the toilet in the vault. It is optional, and I found no reward for it.

Checkpoint: You are through the portal and past the corner door, standing in the first test chamber.

6. Solve the chamber: cube on the red button

This is the only puzzle in the level. Pick up the Weighted Storage Cube and place it on the red Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button. The chamber introduces portals, the cube and the button. I found no sources that require you to place a portal of your own. Sources differ on how the cube arrives. One note says you step on a button and collect it from a dispenser, while another simply says to pick it up. If the cube is not in front of you, look around the room for it and any button or dispenser that releases it. I could not confirm the exact layout.

Checkpoint: The cube rests on the button and the button registers as pressed, which opens the exit door.

7. Leave through the exit door, grill and Chamberlock

Go through the exit door, which a fan guide calls slightly broken. Walk through the Emancipation Grill, then enter the Chamberlock and the elevator. The level ends once you finish the chamber, pass the grill and leave through the Chamberlock.

Checkpoint: The elevator takes you out of Test Chamber 00 and the level ends.

Choices and things you can miss

• There are no meaningful choices. The only apparent fork is the Say yes or Say apple prompt, and either one just makes Chell jump.
• The clipboard-in-the-toilet gag in the vault is optional and has no verified reward or consequence.
• No missable content is known. The level is linear and automatically progresses.

Rewards

• Wake Up Call (Survive the manual override) is the achievement tied to this level. The notes list it as 5 Gamerscore with an avatar hat on Xbox 360 and a Bronze Trophy on PS3, and mark it as story-related. I could not confirm the exact reward values in the numbered sources, so treat those numbers as reported but unverified.
• No items, weapons or experience are listed as rewards.

Troubleshooting

• The unlock timing of Wake Up Call is disputed. One Steam guide says it unlocks after the ride ends, TrueAchievements says it unlocks when your feet touch the ground in the test chamber, and a user there says it appears after you crash through the wall. Sources agree it unlocks as part of the scripted sequence and I found no way to miss it. My inference is that it cannot be earned separately in Test Chamber 00.
• If you seem stuck at the glass or waiting for a portal, be patient. The sequence relies on the Announcer's dialogue and scripted timing. The Portal Wiki lists no bugs or hazards for this level.
• If you cannot find or reach the cube, remember sources disagree on how it appears. Check the room for a dispenser or a button that releases it.
• Do not apply Portal 1 Test Chamber 00 notes, such as its soft-lock bug and radio note, to this level. I found no Portal 2 equivalent.
• If the jump prompt confuses you on PC, remember that the 'say yes' key is just the jump key.

Release and platform notes

I found no gameplay differences between versions. The only difference is the input wording: the jump key on PC and A on Xbox 360. Xbox 360 and PS3 differ only in the reward type for Wake Up Call (Gamerscore versus a trophy). I did not verify any Switch or Mac port behavior beyond a developer README confirming that Chapter 1 loads sp_a1_intro1, and that README is not an official source. The research found no official Valve walkthrough, and room-by-room geometry could not be confirmed. Some sources are old fan guides.