On the other hand, both of those examples are more about story than teaching you how to play the game. Half-Life has an actual tutorial mode which is optional.

On the other hand, both of those examples are more about story than teaching you how to play the game. Half-Life has an actual tutorial mode which is optional. Portal 2 is able to hit the ground running since it more or less assumes the player has already played Portal 1, but Portal 1 does start with essentially an extended tutorial. It's perfect for a first play but can be a bit much on successive plays. (You don't get the full portal gun until test chamber 11 out of 19! Though the later test chambers are longer, and the test chambers are only half of the game.)