Valve returns to Aperture Science with new VR experiments called The Lab

Valve will debut a new virtual reality test next week that returns players to the world of Portal. The studio revealed the project in a press release ahead of its formal unveiling at next week's Game Developers Conference 2016.

According to Valve, the "compilation of new VR experiments" are collectively called The Lab and are set in Aperture Laboratories. That location is best known as the setting of the Portal titles, Valve's fan-favorite first-person puzzle games.

When The Lab launches on Steam later this spring, it will be available free of charge. It will also show off various ways to test out the room-scale VR features of HTC Vive, the $800 headset Valve is producing in collaboration with HTC.

Valve recently used the backdrop of Portal for another VR release: The SteamVR Performance Test is a tool for HTC Vive owners which uses Valve's Aperture Robot Repair demo to determine if your computer is capable of running the headset's software. It's currently available as a free, 1.9 GB download.